Page 78 of The Penalty

She lets out a breath as she nods. “Yeah, ok.”

I give her leg one last squeeze before we turn onto my parents’ street.

The house is big, not bigger than the one I have in Nebraska, but big enough to make someone question how much money the owner has. Which I can tell is exactly what’s going through McKenzie’s head right now.

My parents have lived in this house my entire life. I tried to buy them a new house when I hit it big in the NFL, but they shut me down. They like this house and wouldn’t hear of moving. My mom did let me buy her a car, but that was only after a lot of begging and insisting that I had to buy her something. That was years ago, and she still has the damn thing. Wouldn’t even let me trade it in or anything.

“This is nice,” McKenzie says when I park the car in the driveway behind Shae’s Range Rover that I’m sure my previous child support payments paid for.

“Yeah, my parents had this house custom-built before I was born. I think they love the house more than they love me.”

McKenzie smiles, and I hope she’s finally starting to relax a bit. We get out of the rental car and head to the front door. I put my hand on her lower back but quickly remove it in case someone is looking out a window or something.

This is going to be a long night.

THIRTY-ONE

TYLER

As soon as the door opens, my mom pulls me into her arms for a hug. She just saw me last week at Christmas, but apparently, that wasn’t enough.

“Mom, this is Kylie’s friend McKenzie. She’s also a student at La Vista. She came down to watch the game today.”

“It’s so nice to meet you, McKenzie. Kylie has told us so much about you,” my mother says. She’s always so welcoming. My mom has a huge heart. I wish I could be introducing McKenzie as my girl instead of Kylie’s friend because I know she would accept her with open arms. Everyone else? Not so much.

“Congrats on the game, Son,” my father says, coming to the front entrance and clapping a hand on my shoulder. “That was a hell of a win.”

“Thanks, Pops. This is Kylie’s friend McKenzie.” My dad nods in her direction. He’s not quite as welcoming as my mom.

“Well, come on in. Shae and Kylie are in the kitchen,” my mom says, motioning us to follow her back. McKenzie looks at all the pictures hanging on the wall as we pass, smiling as she takes in all my childhood pictures and then more recent pictures with me and Kylie. I want to stop and tell her about every one of them because I want her to know everything about me. But it might look weird if I do that, so we keep walking in silence until we’re in the kitchen.

My ex is sitting next to Kylie at the kitchen island. Kylie’s face lights up when she sees us. I barely got to see her after the game, so she runs up to me and gives me a hug to congratulate me on the win. That’s new for her. She usually doesn’t say anything about the games afterward.

Then she hugs McKenzie and takes her away to meet Shae.

“Mom, this is McKenzie.”

“It’s so nice to meet you in person,” McKenzie says, holding her hand out.

Shae stands and pulls her into a hug instead. “I’ve heard so much about you. It feels like we’re family already, and families give hugs.”

McKenzie awkwardly hugs Shae back. I can tell how uncomfortable she is just by the way her shoulders go rigid. I know she would rather not be anywhere near Shae, but she’s doing her best to be polite.

“It’s so nice that you got to fly down here for the game,” Shae says.

“It was. I spent all semester with the team for my journalism class, so getting to see them get to this point was so great. They’re all incredibly talented.”

“Are you big into football?” Shae was always more interested in dating a player than actually watching football. I’m not even sure she could tell you what offsides means and she went to a ton of my games when we were younger.

“Yeah, I am. It was something I always watched with my dad and brothers growing up. It’s always been my dream to be a sports journalist.”

“Kylie told us about your father. I’m so sorry for your loss.” I stiffen at Shae’s words. McKenzie has been a lot better recently, but she definitely has moments when grief overcomes her. I’m not sure how comfortable she is talking about her dad yet. I usually let her bring him up when she wants to.

She nods and puts her hands in the pockets of her jeans. “It’s been tough. My family has always been really close. But thankfully, I had Kylie and Coach Danvers to help me through some tough times.”

She looks at me over her shoulder and smiles. I smile back like I always do. But when she turns back around, I notice Shae staring at me with a questioning look in her eye. There’s no way she could suspect something with just one look. . . could she?

“Alright, y’all. Dinner is ready,” Mom calls out. “Let’s sit at the dining room table.”