Pass Interference (26 page)

“Yeah. Mostly they want to see how my knee is doing.”

Sara fixated on his knee and gently touched it. He grasped her hand and brought it to his lips. “It’s fine, sweetheart. I’ve got a lot of practice time ahead of me for the next week, but this is it, Sara. It’s happening.”

Sara chuckled. “You just told me not to get too excited, and look at you.”

“Ah. To hell with that.” He put his arms around her and hugged her tight.

Leaning away a little, she looked into his face, and she could see how happy he was, how content, and she was honestly delighted for him. “Philip, this is incredible. I mean, this is your dream, your passion.”

“Yeah, I know.” He swallowed hard. “It’s that miracle we’ve been praying for.”

She nodded. “Wow. I can’t believe it. Someday I’m going to be able to say I knew Philip Mason before he was famous.”

Philip’s brow knit, and he released her again. “That’s something people say about someone they used to know. Sara, we’re still in this together. This doesn’t change anything between us.”

She could see he really believed that, but he was wrong. “Philip, I don’t want to put a damper on your rainbow, but it does. We have to be realistic, and the reality is…it changes everything.”

“Only if you want it to,” he said, his voice suddenly cold.

“It’s not a question of wanting it or not.” She took his hand and threaded their fingers together. “Philip, your life is about to change. Like a million percent. You’re gonna move away, and I’m sorry, but I told you I’m not going to follow your team from town to town to cheer you on. Those women who are wives or girlfriends of players, well, that’s what they do. That’s their life.” She looked into his eyes and tried to hold back her tears. “You know I love you more than anything, but that’s just not how I see my life.”

Philip got quiet. “I get that,” he whispered. “But suppose I get drafted by Atlanta? Or Miami? Or even Philadelphia?” he asked, throwing in Sara’s hometown team for good measure. “Could you maybe see yourself living there with me? They have Special Ed programs at schools in all the major cities. You can still do what you planned. You don’t have to come on the road with me, but you could be there when I get home from my away games.”

Sara’s eyes widened. She hadn’t really thought about moving to a different city with Philip. She only thought about his travel schedule. And the media. And the groupies. “What about…what about the girls?” she asked hesitantly.

“I’m not following.” He squinted at her. “What girls?”

“You know,” she huffed impatiently. He was pretending to be naive and she hated having to spell it out. “The women who follow teams around the country and throw themselves at the players. I’ve heard them referred to as ‘Road Girlfriends.’ They’d go crazy for a guy like you.”

Philip rubbed his chin hard. It seemed like he was a little annoyed now. “I see,” he said. “And what about the faculty at whatever school you’ll be teaching at? What happens when a fellow teacher hits on you?”

Her jaw dropped. “Philip! Oh my God! Are you suggesting I’d cheat on you? I’d never do that to you.”

“Good! And I’d never cheat on you either.” He touched her chin and held her gaze. His sweet smile and gentle touch made her heart skip a beat. “Hey, I’m the guy who wrote those essays, remember? The one with those family values and that strong character you told me you fell in love with. That’s still me, you know.”

Sara nodded and sheepishly smiled back at him, a little embarrassed that she presumed Philip would cheat on her.

“Look,” he continued, “I’m not asking you to give up your life or change your plans to become a teacher. Not at all. I want you to do what makes you happy.” He took a deep breath before continuing. “Selfishly though, I gotta tell you. I can’t imagine my life without you anymore, so if I do get drafted, I’d love it if you’d consider transferring to a university in the same city, so we can be together. But that’s your decision. All I want… All I’m asking is just to be part of your life.”

Sara blinked back her tears. She finally understood. Philip wasn’t asking her to fit into his life. On the contrary, he was asking to be part of
her
life. Not only that—he was telling her he’d no more cheat on her than she would cheat on him. On top of all that, he was offering a solution to the problem she feared would end their relationship if he got an professional football contract. He was saying he wanted her to go with him to whatever city he wound up in and to live with him there. It was such a simple solution, one in which both their dreams could come true—his dream of playing football and her dream of being with the man she loved.

She nodded. “Yes.”

“Yes, what?” he asked with a chuckle.

“Yes, I can see myself living in some other city, as long as I’m living with you.” She looked at him through tear-filled eyes. “And you wouldn’t just be
part
of my life, Philip. You’d be the best part.”

He leaned closer and kissed her lips. Then he brought her hand to his lips and kissed it. “I’m glad we got that settled.” Rising to his feet, he tugged on her hand. “Let’s go celebrate.”

She got up from her spot, and they walked down the bleacher steps together.

Sara had a final exam the day of the exhibition game. Instead of sitting for her behavioral health exam, she wanted to be in the stands watching Philip play, or at the very least, know what was happening on the field and how Philip was doing. Was he strong? Was he in pain? Was he performing well, or was it going to be a repeat of what had happened in January when he collapsed on the field? No. She reminded herself that Philip was much healthier now than he had been then. He was strong and prepared and ready to play. Plus, he’d be playing with teammates—mostly second- and third-stringers, since none of the potential draft choices wanted to risk getting injured—so at least both the offense and defense were in his corner.

When she told Carter she couldn’t be there in person, he immediately offered to text her and let her know what was going on. Every time Philip made a play, her phone screen lit up and she’d sneak a peek at Carter’s text.

“Miss Ross!” Sara’s head jerked up at the sound of Professor Randall’s voice. “What are you doing?” the instructor called from the front of the room.

“Um. I was just. Um.” Sara couldn’t explain it in just a few words.

Professor Randall made his way to Sara’s desk in the middle of the lecture hall. “You know the rules,” he snapped. “No mobile devices allowed during tests.” The professor held his hand out, waiting for Sara to give him her phone.

Sara placed her hand over the phone on her desk to protect it from being confiscated. “You don’t understand. I’m not cheating or anything. I swear I’m not.”

Professor Randall folded his arms and squinted at her. By now, a hundred pairs of eyes were trained on Sara, more interested in the teacher-student confrontation than in their exams.

Fidgeting in her seat, she tried to explain. “Okay, see, you know Philip Mason, right? He’s the Barracudas quarterback who got injured. Well, a couple professional football team scouts are on campus and there’s an exhibition game and—”

“How’s he doing?” one student asked.

“What’s the score?” another called out.

“I thought he switched to baseball,” a third classmate yelled.

The professor scanned the lecture hall as more and more students chimed in with similar comments. He turned his attention back to Sara. “Well? Don’t keep us in suspense. What’s the score?”

Sara smiled as she picked up her phone. She tapped the screen and read Carter’s texts out loud. “Carter says Philip is throwing to his tight end. Oh no. Interception. Wait. Call on the field is pass interference. Five yard penalty on defense. Yesss,” she exclaimed, reacting to the good news before reading Carter’s next text. “Back at the line of scrimmage. Philip’s looking for an open man. Oh no. He’s about to get sacked. Wait. He’s running the ball instead. Gained five yards for a first down!” Sara paused as the classroom erupted with cheers. Laughing, she continued. “He says Philip’s going long. Throwing to his wide receiver. Caught in the end zone for a touchdown!” The classroom erupted with cheers, and before Sara even realized what she was doing, she had jumped to her feet and hugged the professor. “Oh my God, I’m so sorry.”

“No problem.” The professor smiled at her before turning around. As she watched him head toward his desk, she caught sight of a friendly face near the front of the classroom. It was Kevin. When Sara waved at him, he smiled back and gave her a thumbs-up signal.

Sara returned her attention to her phone screen again and saw a new text from Carter. This one, she read to herself.
Miami scout is talking with Philip’s dad.

»»•««

After finishing her exam, which she frankly had no patience for, she dashed out of the lecture hall and rushed across campus as fast as she could. From Carter’s texts, it sounded like Philip had a great game. She hoped the scouts thought so, too.

When she arrived at the stadium, she scanned the people on the sidelines and immediately spotted Philip and his father talking with the coach and some men who were probably the scouts. They all appeared friendly and animated. She approached somewhat hesitantly. She didn’t want to interrupt, but at the same time, she was dying to know what was going on. She decided to keep her distance, but Philip must have seen her out of the corner of his eye, because he smiled and motioned for her to join them.

As soon as she got close enough, Philip put his arm around her shoulder and pointed at the scouts. “Sara, I want you to meet Bob Dorrance and Mike McGill from Miami. This is my girlfriend, Sara, who I was telling you about.” Sara shook hands with the men. She was still processing the fact that Philip just said he told them about her. He was smiling from ear to ear when he told her, “The team invited me and my dad to come down for the weekend and meet the general manager and coaches.”

Sara’s eyes widened. She didn’t know a ton about football, but she knew that was a good sign. “Philip, that’s wonderful.” There was so much more she wanted to say, so many questions she wanted to ask, but she decided to wait until they were alone where she could speak freely.

»»•««

On the walk back to the dorm, Philip’s father mentioned that the Atlanta scout said he’d be in touch, but Joe surmised there was probably a behind-the-scenes deal between Atlanta and Miami, with Atlanta agreeing to let Miami have Philip in exchange for some other draft pick.

Within a minute of getting home, Carter arrived, followed by Coach Fairchild and a couple of the Barracudas’ assistant coaches. The men all huddled around the kitchen table, briefing Philip on what to expect from the visit to Miami.

For some reason, the whole scenario reminded Sara of those old gangster movies where the men sat around a smoke-filled room ordering a hit on some mob boss as casually as ordering a steak. Sara put her fingers to her lips to keep herself from laughing at that thought.

Sara stood off to the side and watched the proceedings from a polite distance. She was seriously out of her element in this crowd, but if she and Philip were going to embark on a life together in another city, she’d have to get used to it. She would do it for him. She’d do anything for Philip.

She listened as Joe told the others that he was convinced the invitation meant Philip was a lock. He said it was highly unusual for a team to invite an individual player to visit—normally they invited a group of players, but Philip had been out of commission during the Combine in February.

Sara understood that much, but most of the rest of the conversation sounded like a foreign language. She was thinking about going into the bedroom and making herself scarce when she heard Philip say her name out of the blue. “Sara’s coming too,” he said.

She took a step closer to the kitchen table. “Coming where? Where I am going?” Sara asked.

“With us.” Philip pointed at his father and then back at himself. “To Miami.”

Sara blinked several times. “I am?”

“Of course.” He stated it like it was a known fact.

The room fell silent, and Sara scanned the faces of the men around the table. Their expressions were blank, but she detected a little awkwardness. Finally, his father broke the silence. “I’m not sure that’s a good idea, son.”

“Why not? This affects her too.”

“Eventually, yes,” Joe stated calmly. “But for now, you need to be fully focused on the task at hand, and that’s making a good impression on Miami’s front office.”

“But—”

Before Philip could say another word, Sara placed her hand on his shoulder. “It’s okay, Philip. We can talk about this later.”

When the men finally left, Sara and Philip went into the bedroom to change out of their clothes. Each of them were a little lost in their own thoughts when Philip blurted forcefully, “You’re coming with me and I don’t want to hear any arguments.” He pulled his jersey over his head and angrily tossed it onto the floor. “I don’t disagree with my father often, but dammit, he’s completely wrong this time.”

“I don’t know, honey,” she said soothingly to balance Philip’s anger. “I think he’s right.”

“What?”

“Please don’t get upset, but I don’t think I should go with you on this trip.”

He looked at her with surprise. “But Sara, this is your life as much as it is mine.”

“I know that, honey, and I love it that you want me to be with you, but this is your moment. Not mine.”

“Totally disagree,” he interrupted. “Hell, Sara, you’ve been there for me through some of the worst times in my life.” He reached for her hands and pulled her toward him. “I want you there for the best times, too.”

Sara felt her cheeks warm. “I
will
be there, for every one of them. But I happen to agree with your father. You need to be focused on this interview. I mean that’s really what it is, right? You’re going to meet the owners and the coaches, you need to say the right things, impress the right people, and decide if it’s the right place for you. You don’t need any distractions.”

He dropped one of her hands so he could run his fingers through her hair. “You’re not a distraction.”