Page 114 of The Way the Heart Breaks: Jade’s Story

“Say that again?”

She smiles. “You have a beautiful voice.”

“When I feel like I may puke, I am going to play that over and over in my head.”

The whole way to the ticket stand, she whispers, “You have a beautiful voice.”

We totally love Phoebe Maxwell.

As we’re heading up the bleachers, I spot Aunt Maggie with Jake and Kendall, and something in my chest loosens. I feel bad I haven’t called her, but I would feel bad if I did. This is incredibly difficult. But Tessa isn’t here yet, so when she sees me and her face lights up, I head their way.

“There's my Jade.” She wraps her arms around me and hugs me tight, one hand rubbing my back like she always has. “How are you doing today?”

I squeeze my eyes shut for a second and whisper against her shoulder, “I’m good. And I don't know what's going on, but I love you, Aunt Maggie.”

Her arms tighten around me. “I love you too, Jade, always.”

I pull back and smile at her, then reach down to hug Kendall before Jake throws himself at me.

“Hey, you two.”

“You came!” Kendall says.

“I did.”

Jake grins. “We're gonna win.”

I laugh. “That's the plan.”

24

GAME DAY

Tommy

The locker room is loud but not Stoneville loud, not yet anyway.

There’s music playing somewhere behind me, shoulder pads are being slammed into lockers, somebody is yelling for tape, and Coach Harris has already told us twice to keep our heads in the game. Coach Saville is doing what he’s done since joining the team, standing back, not taking over, assisting.

I sit on the bench with my elbows on my knees, staring down at my cleats. Across from me, Lucas is standing in front of the team. He doesn't need to yell. When Lucas wants everybody to listen, he just talks, and somehow the whole room shuts the hell up.

“In one way or another, this game raised us up to be the men standing here today,” he says. “Not just this game. All of it. Every practice when we wanted to quit. Every morning we got up when we didn't want to. Every time somebody told us we weren't good enough.” He looks around the room. “They're expecting us to play like a team that doesn’t like each other, doesn’t have a groove or rhythm. They're expecting us to fold because they've played together for years, and they’re more experienced as a unit, a team.” A few guys shift on the benches. Lucas shakes his head. “Fuck that.” A grin pulls at my mouth. “We know what we can do. We know what we've done. And we know what happens when we play our game, when we leave egos off the field because we know there is no better team than this Blue Valley Saints Team.” He looks at me as everyone cheers, then he looks toward the rest of the team and points to the logo on his helmet. “These wings mean something; it means we go out there and fly.” They all cheer again. I glance at Ryan and see his lips tip up for just a second as he looks at Alex, who nods to him. Lucas continues. “We don't go out there trying to win the whole damn game on the first play. Do your job. Trust the guy beside you. One play at a time.” He pauses. “And when it gets hard, we get harder.”

As they all cheer and high-five each other, Lucas and I just look at each other, no words needed to exchange. This is our year. Not our fathers. Not college offers. Not scouts. Not the people waiting to see if the two rich kids from Stoneville can actually live up to all the shit they've been saying about us. The two of us who have been doing this together for years. Brothers because we choose to be. Lucas holds out his fist. I bump mine against it.

“It’s you and me,” he says quietly.

“You and me.”

He turns back to the team. “Now let's go show them what Blue Valley football is all about.”

The room erupts.

I grab my helmet and hold it up. “Let's win this shit!”

We file out of the locker room and head out to the field, helmets tucked under our arms, shoulder pads knocking against each other as we make our way there. The noise gets louder with every step.

Then I see Jade. She's sitting with Becca and Phoebe, wearing blue, and for a second, everything else disappears.