“God, that guy was an asshole. What was his name?” I asked, and Mayson shrugged.
“Edie,” I hollered out, and she looked over at me.
“What?”
“What was the name of that double-crossing twit you dated in high school?”
“Cayden, why?” she asked with a furrow to her brows.
“Mayson and I were just remembering the time we dunked him through the partially frozen lake,” I was teasing, but my eyes settled on Brett’s face as he took in our words.
He didn’t look away, didn’t back down, so at least he had that going for him.
“I still can’t believe you all did that. He was so much older and bigger than you,” Edie said, shaking her head sadly.
“But there were four of us with Dalton, and he was a pansy-ass waste of a human being, no matter his size,” I continued to make my point to Brett.
“Your testosterone is oozing out all over the floor, and it looks rather ugly,” Maleena said, flicking me on the shoulder, and that was the only reason I removed my gaze from Brett’s.
“You telling me you wouldn’t chop off someone’s dick if they messed with your sister?” I asked.
She laughed. “Are you kidding? They wouldn’t be able to find any of the pieces of him when I was done.”
“This is why I love you,” I muttered. Maleena stilled for a minute as if adjusting to the fact that I was declaring more than just my affection for her in front of everyone, and Mayson choked on his beer.
“I’ll be right back,” I said, kissing the top of her head. “Make sure this asshole doesn’t try to hit on you.”
“After that announcement?” Mayson responded. “I’d deserve my own dunking in the lake.”
Mayson and my eyes met for a moment before I left with him grinning at me.
I hit the bathroom and then the office. I was just sliding Aunt Cam’s notebook back into place when I heard a deep breath behind me. I turned to find Aunt Cam leaning against the doorframe, much like Edie had done the day before. We stared at each other for a moment. I knew I should have been feeling all sorts of bad, but I wasn’t. I couldn’t. Her words had helped me.
“Football was his whole world,” she said.
“I kind of think you were his whole world,” I responded quietly.
She swallowed hard, looked up at the ceiling, and then away, and then finally back to me where I saw tears in her gray eyes. Even after all these years. Years she’d spent loving Blake and Stephen and Khiley. Loving her family.
“Maybe, after he quit, but I’m not sure I would have ever caught up to him if he’d been able to stick with the game.”
The honesty, raw and painful in her voice, was surprising.
“He wasn’t as hard-assed as you,” she continued. “He liked to charm everyone into thinking he was the boy next door, but he was as driven as you.”
The comparisons, that normally would have sent me slamming out of the room because they’d always made me feel like less, didn’t do that to me today. I just stared at her some more. Not sure what to say. Not sure where she was going with this discussion.
“He would have been happy for you. That you’re entering the draft, going pro.” She smiled.
“Thank you?”
She laughed. “Listen to me. All mopey. He would have given me shit about that, too. The thing I really wanted to say is: there may be a lot of people who want you to be him, but I’m glad you aren’t. I’m glad you have your edge and your health…” She stopped, more emotions flowing over her face again. “I’m glad you can have something he didn’t.”
“You don’t think I should stay another year at college?” I asked.
She shook her head. “I think life is so short you should always live your dreams as soon as they show up on your doorstep.”
She came into the room farther and pulled something from her pocket. “I want to give something to you. It’s something he gave me, which I never thought I’d part with, but I think you might just need it more than me.”
She put a necklace in my hand. It was a pair of dolphins, nose to nose. “He named a star after me. Did you know that?”
I nodded my head. It had been in her journal.
“I like to think he’s out there, looking after us all from that Delphinus constellation. And I quite like the idea of you carrying a little piece of him into some games. Into the battle. He’d get a kick out of it.”
She looked down at the dolphins I was fingering and continued. “They used to be a pair of earrings, but I had them made into a charm when the backs started to break off. I know they’re girly. I know—”
“Thank you. I’ll make sure I find a way to take him with me.”
She gulped, and a tear rolled down her cheek that she brushed away. Then, she came in and hugged me, holding me tight. “You’re him in so many ways, Ty, but you are more you than him. Don’t let anyone try to talk you into anything else. Just be you. Do it all your own way. That’s all that matters.”
I smirked, purposely lightening the mood. “Do it your way. Really? I didn’t know you were into cheesy motivational songs.”
“If you tell anyone, I’ll send Blake’s assassins to kill you in your sleep.”
“Mama would be devastated.”
“She’d get over it. You aren’t even her favorite,” she teased back.
I put my hand over my heart. “Wow, that really hurts.”
She pushed a hand through my curls. “Do you love that girl you brought with you today?”
“More than football.”
And I knew it was true. I thought I’d have to think about that choice between football and Maleena if I was forced to make it, but I’d responded without a moment’s hesitation. She was the only choice.
Aunt Cam smiled. “Don’t let her ever forget it.”
She walked out, and I looked down at the necklace in my hand. It was girly. Kissing dolphins. But I’d figure out a way to take it into every game with me. There was no way I’d go back on my word. There was no way I’d piss off a god who was sitting out there in some faraway constellation, waiting to cause havoc on me if I pissed off the love of his life.
Which just made me think of the love of my life and how much we still had to say to each other.
Maleena
UNDERNEATH THE TREE
“'Cause you are near and everything's clear
You're all I need
Underneath the tree.”
Performed by Kelly Clarkson
Written by Kurstin / Clarkson
Ty had left me with his family while he put back his aunt’s journal he’d stolen and read. I couldn’t blame him exactly. I understood why he’d taken it. Living in the shadow of a dead football god couldn’t have come easy. Especially when Ty loved football more than anything on this earth.