“Uh, Reese.” Trevor smiles. “I think you should turn around.”
“Why? Are they all staring at me?”
“Just do it, sweetheart,” my dad says.
Mom and Ann grin and nod, as Mom drops her arm from mine. Taking a deep breath, I turn, and tears prick my eyes. There is a line formed, but not to exit the stadium. No, it’s formed, waiting for me.
“He’s my favorite,” a teenage boy says, who is first in line. He takes the hat off his head and hands it to me with a Sharpie. “Will you sign this?”
I nod, unable to speak from the knot in my throat. I sign Future Mrs. Reeves with Cooper’s number and hand it back to him. The next person steps up, and I repeat this same step over and over again. It’s surreal, and these are his fans. I can’t turn them away. They’re showing their support for him and for me. I was scared of being judged by his fans, by the media, but here on his home turf, this is their way of telling me they don’t care about my past, only our future. They support their favorite player and, by association, me.
I stand here with our parents at my side and sign every item placed in front of me. There are maybe ten people left in line when Cooper appears. He shakes hands, and signs items sent his way, and when he makes it to me, he pulls me into his side.
“Looks like you have some fans.”
“They’re your fans.” I smile up at him.
“You better get busy so we can go home.” He nods, and to my surprise, the ten or so people are still there. I figured once they got his signature, they would leave, but they stayed. I take the seat cushion and sign what I’ve been signing all day.
“That’s fucking awesome.” Cooper grins when he sees it.
I laugh, not looking at him, and sign the next item given to me. Once they are all gone, I turn to look at our parents and Cooper, who are watching me. All five of them are smiling. “What?”
“It’s a good thing you aren’t the one with the professional career. You’d never be able to leave the house.” Ann chuckles.
“Why?”
“Because you can’t tell them no. I don’t know of anyone, even me, who would have stood there that long to sign autographs,” Cooper explains.
“But they’re your fans, and they support us. I thought that was the least I could do.”
“The media is going to love her,” Trevor comments.
“America’s power couple. I can see it now,” my dad replies dramatically.
“Come on, you goofs. I’m starving.”
“Let’s go home.” Cooper takes my hand in his and leads us up the steps and out of the stadium. The six of us head back to our place. The guys throw some steaks on the grill, while Mom, Ann, and I make some sides. It’s the perfect ending to a day I thought was going to end in disaster.
Chapter 23
Cooper
It’s the week before Thanksgiving, and the Defenders have a bye this week. You know who else has a bye? The Louisiana Badgers. That means that Nixon and Tessa are free. Reese and I are free. Our parents made themselves free when I called them last week.
I don’t want to wait until February to marry Reese. I need her to be my wife now. As in this week. She already has a dress; it’s at her parents’ place. Her mom is bringing it with her. She sent me a picture of it in her luggage. Tessa, Mom, and Eve have helped me so much with this little plan of mine. I owe them. Mom and Eve assured me they knew what Reese wanted me to wear and after rattling off my measurements, they’re taking care of it. That was last week, and I’m not worried. I know they will come through for me. For us.
Our parents, as well as Tessa and Nixon, are already on a flight to Fiji. They’re taking care of everything; the hard part is getting my gorgeous fiancée there without her knowing what’s going on. I have a plan for that as well. I’ll just have to see if I can pull it off.
Speaking of my fiancée, she’s currently still sleeping peacefully. We don’t have to rush; our flight doesn’t leave until later this afternoon. I thought that was best in case I need to do some convincing. Careful so as to not wake her, I push her hair out of her eyes. Leaning in, I kiss her forehead and pull her a little closer. I can never seem to get her close enough.
“Morning,” she says, slowly blinking her eyes open.
“Morning, beautiful.”
“What’s got you so chipper?” she asks over a yawn.
“Bye week.”
She smiles. It lights up her face and warms my heart.
“You still have practice and stuff, though, right?”
“We do, but Coach is giving us a couple of days off to rejuvenate before we get back to it. We don’t play again until next weekend.”
“I’m so excited to get some time with you.”
“Yeah?”
“You searching for compliments, Reeves?” she teases.
“Nope. But I do have an idea.”
“Oh, yeah? What’s that?” she asks, snuggling up to me.
“I was thinking, we should go check out the resort where we’re going to get married. Make sure the pictures do it justice. I don’t want to get there, and the place be a shitshow.” I know it’s not, and so does she, but this is the best I could come up with.
“The pictures are nice, and the reviews are great. I think we’re okay.”
“Just humor me then. I still want to go. We can’t stay long since I have to get back for practice, but it would be nice to go away with you for a couple of days. We’ve never done that. Just the two of us.”
“That does sound nice. I wonder if we can even get a flight, and it would cost a fortune.”
“We can afford it,” I assure her. “Let me look.” I grab my phone from the nightstand and pretend to search for flights while she uses the restroom. I pull up my ticket confirmation email and scroll to where she can’t see the date it was sent, and I’m ready. “Done,” I say when she steps out of the bathroom.
“What do you mean, done?” she asks.
“I mean there were two first-class seats this afternoon. We have to be at the airport by noon. Our flight leaves at one thirty.”
“You booked it?”
“Yep.” It’s always better to ask for forgiveness instead of permission; at least, it is in this case.
“Coop, this is crazy. We can’t just fly to Fiji.”
“Sure we can. You better grab a shower and pack a bag. We’re only going to be there for three days, so pack light.” Not that she’s going to need much. Everything she needs for the wedding is there, and I don’t plan on getting dressed any time after we say I do. At least not until we have to go home.
“You’re serious?”
“Yes. I’m going to grab a quick shower and make us some breakfast.”
“You need to pack.”
“I know, but I’ll just toss some shorts and whatnot into a bag. I’m a guy. I’m easy. Besides, I don’t plan on us needing much clothing, if any.” I wink at her.
“Where are we going to stay?” she counters. “We can’t just fly to Fiji without a reservation.”