Total pages in book: 82
Estimated words: 77051 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 385(@200wpm)___ 308(@250wpm)___ 257(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77051 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 385(@200wpm)___ 308(@250wpm)___ 257(@300wpm)
“So, everyone has their room assignments. You have free time until tomorrow morning. We start at seven o’clock on the dot. Anyone not on the field by 6:55 is late and will spend the morning running gassers,” Houston threatened.
“See what I have to deal with?” Cullen joked as the kids dispersed to enjoy themselves before we made them question why they loved football so much. All in good fun, of course.
“Anything we need to know?” I asked. We already had the schedule set, all of us knowing our responsibilities for the following days.
“Not anything pressing, but we should all be thinking about how we plan to spend that donation from Whitt’s parents. I think more scholarship programs are a good way to go. It’s a lot of money, though, so we’ll have some left.” Ramsey crossed his arms. He was the numbers guy and did a lot of the financing.
While we had high hopes for the Whitt family after the conference finals game they’d gone to, things didn’t go as well as we’d wished. They definitely tried, but the truth was, they were just built differently. Writing a check was easier for them than the consistency of being in someone’s life on a day-to-day basis. Unless you were working for them. Their business was their world, and while Patrick knew he was loved, they would never see football as important as we did.
When we’d retired and had decided to just enjoy our lives without much responsibility before starting Dream Big, there had been a whole new discussion over Patrick going to work for his family. It wasn’t what he wanted, what he would ever want, which had created a new ripple of tension between them. They accepted it now, and Patrick had learned to be okay with yearly visits and random phone calls.
“Strippers and booze?” Atwood suggested.
“I second that,” Baby G added.
We all ignored them. It was par for the course by now. “We’ll figure it out. The money isn’t going anywhere. For now, we should probably make sure these kids don’t set the place on fire, and then I’d like to disappear into our cabin with my husband before this camp kicks our asses and we’re too exhausted for sex,” I teased. Patrick and I had gotten married the summer after our last season in the league before he had moved to Denver for good. Dream Big was located here, too, which made it easier.
Garrett clapped Patrick on the shoulder. “Yikes. Sorry about your luck, bro. The rest of us don’t have that problem.”
“Ha-ha.” I gave him the finger.
It was a few hours before lights-out, and we took shifts keeping an eye on things. Patrick and I headed back to our cabin first because we had a video call scheduled with Mom and my sisters back home in Florida.
Kayla had a son who was a year old, named Steven after our dad, and the little shit was obsessed with my husband. “You’re not supposed to love Uncle Patrick more than me,” I told him when he started clapping and reaching for Patrick like he could grab him through the computer screen.
“Don’t be jealous,” Savanna told me.
“It’s not fair,” I pretended to pout.
“It’s not his fault he has good taste,” Zuri teased, and we all laughed.
We chatted for about thirty minutes before they had to go. Kayla and her husband lived next door to my mom now, and they had to get Steven to sleep.
When my phone buzzed, Patrick handed it to me. There was a text from Andre there. He was just checking in. He’d moved to California for college, but we were still close. Patrick and I were helping to put him through college, and that was the best feeling in the world.
Later that night, we were lying in the bed, lights out, the camp quiet around us. We’d be up early the next morning for a high-protein breakfast before we’d start with warm-ups and drills.
“I still remember the last summer we were at camp together. When I heard your dad while I was under the bleachers. That was the first moment I realized there was more to you than I’d ever let myself see. It’s weird, but I felt connected to you from that moment on. I just wouldn’t admit it to myself.” I brushed the dark hair off Patrick’s head as he took me in with those eyes that screamed how much he loved me. I would never understand how I got so lucky, but I would spend my life making sure I deserved him.
“And now we’re here, married, with our own camp. Funny how that came full circle. Hell, for all we know, there could be two other boys here right now that will fall in love with each other one day.”
“They still won’t be as cool as us,” I teased.