AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Yet she can’t be the answer to any of it.
How do I give fair interviews to the press if I’m involved with a rival reporter?
How do I ensure the things I’m telling her that are meant to stay between us actually will?
How do I trust that she doesn’t always have an ulterior motive?
How do I get past the feelings of distrust I have because of how her father treated mine…and likewise, how does she get past those same feelings?
I’m not sure what the answer to any of that is other than jumping in feet first and taking the goddamn risk.
All I know for sure right now is I need to haul ass over to the stadium. I’ve spent too much time with her this morning already, and if I don’t get moving, I’m going to be late.
I toss two twenties on the table. “I need to go,” I say after I wolf down my omelet.
She glances at my empty plate then back at hers, still half-filled with her food. “Oh, okay.” Her eyes rise to meet mine, and she looks a little startled by my sudden pronouncement.
“I’m sorry. I need to get over to the stadium. I hadn’t realized the time. Thanks for breakfast.” I bolt out of there as fast as my legs will carry me in this goddamn suit.
I walk to the stadium. It’s a pleasant morning, and it’s early enough that the sidewalks around here are mostly empty. It’s a short walk, and I pull out my phone to check the directions for where I’m supposed to go once I arrive.
I get to where I need to be, and I spot the continental spread.
I should’ve just eaten here. It would’ve been safer.
Instead, I’m going into this speech a nervous wreck that I said the wrong thing, or that somehow my feelings will be plastered all over the media later today.
I need to focus on my speech. I know it well, and I’m ready to go.
It’s still a couple hours until showtime, and the current head coach here at the university greets me. We chat football a while, and he fills me in on some promising prospects. I know this program, and I know I’d love to have some of these kids on the Aces.
The media starts to show up, and when it’s a mere fifteen minutes until the ceremony begins, I spot her. She walks in with another reporter—identified only by the color-coded credentials they’re both wearing—and she’s laughing.
The other reporter is male, and my hackles rise.
I’m already on edge with this speech, but seeing her laughing with another man tips me right over that edge.
Ignore her, Nash.
I close my eyes and suck in a deep breath, and when I open them again, I spot her grabbing a bottle of water from a table.
“You all ready, Coach?” a voice nearby says, and I turn to see Hank Elkins, my old tight end coach from when I attended school here.
“Coach Elk!” I say genially, and we shake hands before I give him a quick hug. “How’ve you been?”
“Living the dream.”
“Still coaching?”
He nods. “You bet. I’ll be on that field until the day I die.” He grins. “Congratulations on your new position, Lincoln. I just couldn’t be prouder of the man you’ve become. I always saw bright things for your future, and I knew you’d make the big time.”
“I appreciate that, Coach.” We chat a few minutes, and I can’t help when my eyes edge over to Jolene as we talk. I want to be here in the moment with a man I’ve known a long, long time—a man who’s saying things I wish my own father would say to me—but I can’t. Not when she’s here being the sort of distraction I don’t need right now.
The media is called out to take their seats, and a few minutes later I’m called to line up with the rest of the bigwigs for the procession so we can take the stage for this ceremony.
And then it begins. The music, the pomp, the circumstance.
The president gives his opening remarks, the graduates promise to contribute to society, a couple students give speeches…and then I’m up. I try not to fidget as I listen to the president speak to the rather large crowd assembled here. I’m told there are around twelve thousand graduates along with their family and friends, bringing the total number here at the stadium to over fifty thousand people…all listening to what I have to say.
