“Hi, Reese. I have a proposition for you.”
“I’m all ears.”
“Great. This is what I have in mind…”
Chapter 31
Collin
Once again I was out of sync, and I didn’t know what to do about it. My temper was short, my mood sucked, and it had started to affect the way I played. We were down by ten at the two-minute warning of the first half. Nashville’s last score had been a deflected pass off my hands. I may as well have handed it to the defender, who ran it back seventy-two yards for a touchdown.
We couldn’t have asked for a better January day for the championship game. The air was crisp, the sun was out, and the turf was dry. There had been no reason for me to be playing worse than my freshman year in high school. Heck, even then I wasn’t this bad. Being the only freshman on the varsity team had boosted me to prove my place on the team—which I did.
“Shake it off,” Jackson said as we stood on the sideline, watching our special teams unit get ready to receive another kickoff. “We still have another half.”
“Yeah.” There had never been a time in my life since I’d started playing this game that I didn’t want the ball. Starting now at this stage in my career didn’t bode well for me. After the kickoff and short return, we’d be starting on the sixteen-yard line.
I put my helmet on and jogged onto the field. Lined up ready to sprint toward the fifty-yard line, thanks to the play Anton had called, my fingers twitched, waiting for the ball to be hiked. As soon as it was, I took off and cut to the middle. The pass was high. I jumped up and was slammed to the ground before the ball reached me.
Dammit! The way he hit me sent a shooting pain down my leg. Thankfully it felt more like a cramp than anything. Still, I found it difficult to move. The training staff ran onto the field. My leg was lifted and stretched to the point where the pain dulled and I could stand.
“Get into the locker room,” Mica, our head trainer, said. “We’ll work out the knot and you’ll be ready after halftime.”
Nodding, I let them help me off the field, and I headed down the tunnel. The scent of wildflowers teased me as I passed what used to be Charlie’s locker room. Turning down the hall, I pushed open the heavy metal door, letting it slam behind me with a clank, and headed to my locker. My phone dinged with a message. Normally I wouldn’t look during a game, but I was alone and decided to check it.
And for the first time all day, I smiled.
Charlie:Believe in yourself as much as others do, and greatness will be imminent. You’ve got this, Collin. I’m rooting for you! XO — C
She’d opened the gift. But then I looked at theC.I must have read it three times before it clicked. Reaching down, I grabbed my duffel, unzipped it, and pulled out that pink, tattered square I’d kept with me since I’d received it about a decade ago. Unfolding the paper, I read the exact words Charlie had just written, the same I quoted back to her. That was when I noticed theCin the heart.
My heart slammed against my ribs. I didn’t care about my leg anymore. All I wanted was Charlie. I put my head down and swore I smelled her perfume. Like a fool, I brought the paper to my nose and sniffed it.
I was flooded with memories of the day I’d found it in my duffel bag; of Charlie sitting on the bench, tying her pink Converse; of kissing her for the first time, making love, and then saying goodbye. All while never knowing the person who had penned the note that I’d read more times than I could remember was thousands of miles away.
“I can’t believe you wrote this,” I whispered, as though speaking to the piece of paper.
“Believe it.”
Turning, I saw Charlie standing there, looking as beautiful as the day I’d spotted her on the field. It took me a minute to register that she was wearing navy pants, a white golf shirt with our team logo just above her left breast, and her pink Converse. Her silky hair that I missed playing with was pulled back in a ponytail. “Hi, Collin.”
“Hey, yourself.” I took a step toward her, ignoring the small twinge in my thigh. Without wasting another second, I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her against me. Damn the pads I wore preventing me from feeling her body against mine. Cupping the back of her head, I leaned down, and kissed her. When she looked up at me, I stared into those sea-blue eyes. “I can’t believe you were the one who wrote this. Do you know how much this meant to me?”
“I can’t believe you still have it and that you quoted it back to me.”
“All those years ago, you knew, didn’t you?”
She stared up at me. “That you were a plagiarist?”
Smirking, I shook my head. “No, that we belonged together.”
“Oh, yeah. That.”
I chuckled. “Yeah, that. I love you, Charlie Nicholson.”
“I love you too, Collin St. James.”
“Not that I’m not thrilled to see you, but what are you doing here?”