Page 83 of First Down Promise

“Hey, you turn your location off?” I ask as I greet her at the front door.

“You know it.” She steps past me into the foyer and pauses, eyeing me up and down. “Was the Stetson weird? I’ve been dwelling on it all afternoon.”

I pull her into my arms and kiss the top of her head. “No, it was great. Very thoughtful. Might have to get you one and take you back to my roots.”

Her face lights up. “I’d love that. Coop’s road trip idea sounded so fun, but let’s just go now. Just you and me. Leave it all behind and be us,” she says, but I peck her on the lips before she can run too far with the idea. I would if I could, but I’m contracted to play the rest of the season.

“Soon.”

Being at Pete’s this afternoon, I didn’t have time to prepare anything fancy for dinner, but I ordered takeout and have it plated on the dining room table. I pour her a glass of red wine as she takes her furry boots off, but I stick to water with a game coming up.

“This afternoon was fun,” Abby says when we finish eating and swirls the wine in her glass.

“The cookies for Dane were really thoughtful. I’m sure that meant a lot, and it was cool of you to support a small business, too,” I reply.

Abby shrugs. “It was fun trying a new recipe. Truthfully, I didn’t have the time to make a bunch of cookies for the cookie baskets.”

“Still. You’re so damn amazing.”

“I try,” she says with a small smile.

“Um, I didn’t want to give you this in front of the guys.” I pull the velvet box from my pocket and slide it across the table to her. It’s a flat square box, so she doesn’t have to sweat about it being a ring. That’s a little fast, but when I was getting her this bracelet, I couldn’t stop myself from browsing the engagement ring section, trying to figure out which style she might like someday.

“You didn’t have to,” she mumbles.

“No, I really did,” I say. I suck in a breath as she pops the velvet box open and lifts the gold cuff from the satin lining.

“Oh, Josh, this is beautiful.” She pops it onto her wrist and holds out her arm to admire it.

“There’s more to it,” I murmur.

She pauses, her eyes darting back to her wrist. She pops it off and inspects it a little closer. On the inside, I love you—Josh is engraved into the gold. The bracelet slips out of her fingers and clatters onto the table after she reads the inscription. “I’m sorry,” she says, picking it up. “But you mean it?”

“Absolutely.” I gently take it from her, put the cuff back on her wrist, and hold her hand in mine. “I love you, Abby.” My thumb runs along her bare fingers.

“You know I’ve loved you for years,” she whispers.

“I think I loved you for a long time too, but I wasn’t honest with myself.”

“No, you just loved Pete more.”

“Yeah, and I still do. But you snuck in,” I add with a light laugh.

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. No matter what happens with Pete, the squad, the team…it’s you and me, Ab. The way it was always meant to be.”

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Pete

The season is winding down fast with only a couple of regular-season games left now. One at home and one away, leaving us teetering on the edge of making the playoffs. I usually have days off when I can relax, but those have become fewer as we get closer to the final games.

Today, the team is off, yet I’m scheduled for back-to-back meetings and interviews—the usual behind-the-scenes stuff most football fans have no idea about.

And between meetings this morning, I realized I forgot my damn change of clothes at home for an interview. It’s not for a couple of hours, but I need to prep beforehand. It’s all part of the fun of being the face of the franchise, like bye week in New York and the extra time I spent on the West Coast last week.

I leave the training facility and race home to pick up the duffel I left on the kitchen counter. I whip into the driveway and open the garage, leaving my car idling while I head inside. Walking through the garage, Abby’s car isn’t here, but if I had to guess, she’s at yoga or grabbing something to go.