“Just the name of the game, unfortunately,” Trance said. “Not that your sport isn’t fun, but you don’t have the crowd pull that football does. And I think that they’re hoping that he’ll change his mind. Not that he can.” He paused. “I heard that you have quite a few schools offering you scholarships.”
I did.
In fact, I had thirty-two of them offering me scholarships.
I had two that I was choosing from, though.
One was a small junior college right outside of Coronado, and another was a university just a little bit further away, which was an hour away from where he would be stationed.
Luckily, I had about six months to choose where I wanted to go. Also luckily, it would give Banner enough time to see where he was being stationed.
“I got the two that I wanted,” I told him. “Now we’re just waiting to see which one I need to choose.”
Trance squeezed my shoulder, and we walked into the stadium.
Today was the last day that Banner would ever play football—at least he said.
Sadly, over the season, the Kilgore Bulldogs football team had suffered more than a few injuries. Those injuries causing the team to kind of collapse.
Sadly, Slone, Titus, and a few other key players had been among those injured. They weren’t ‘out’ forever, but they were definitely out for the season.
Banner just couldn’t do it all on his own.
Not that he didn’t try.
Which was exactly what he did.
And he won.
With a half a roster full of junior varsity players, the Kilgore Bulldogs scraped by with the district championship by the skin of their teeth.
And there were about thirty bikers that roared their approval when they did it.
“That’s…” I said. “Kind of impressive.”
Viddy turned to survey the men.
“They’re the Dixie Wardens MC,” she said. “They are impressive.”
I shook my head as I watched Banner break away from the dog pile—and the Gatorade dunking—to head to his dad.
Trance wrapped his arms around Banner and pulled him in tight, hugging the shit out of him.
Only when he was done hugging his dad did he look for his mom and me.
When he finally got to us what felt like hours later, he offered his mother a hug, then turned his attention to me.
“Hey there, pretty girl,” he said as he pulled me in by the neck of his jersey I’d had made. “You look so hot in this.”
“On that note,” Viddy said. “I’m going to find your father.”
We both laughed.
But we stopped laughing when Banner’s lips met mine.
***
December
“I’ll write you as soon as I can,” Banner said, squeezing me so tight that every single molecule of oxygen left my lungs.
I squeaked out a ‘too tight!’ causing him to laugh.
“Sorry,” he said. “I’m scared.”
A frown filled my face. “Why?”
“Because I don’t want to leave you,” he admitted. “Everything’s been so fucking good over the last couple of months, and I’m rocking the boat.”
I smoothed my hand up his arm and squeezed his bicep.
“We’ll figure it out, Banner,” I promised. “It’s just that your dream starts a little earlier than mine. Soon we’ll be back together. And in the meantime, you’ll write me every single day that you can… won’t you?”
He rolled his eyes as if that was the most ridiculous thing he’d ever heard.
“Of course. And call. I heard that it’s usually week three or four that we get our phones back,” he said. “Good luck with your cross-country meet tomorrow, and let me know immediately how you do on your SATs, okay?”
I lifted up onto my tiptoes and pressed my lips to his.
Backing away, I allowed his mother and father to have their chance with him.
Ford threw his arm around my shoulders.
“It’s okay, Little P. We’ll take care of you,” Ford teased. “And you can babysit. It’ll be like Banner never left.”
I snorted out a laugh.
“Banner should be out of bootcamp before your wife has her baby, Ford,” I said.
“True,” he agreed. “But he’ll still be there when he is finally done. You’ll just get to talk to him then. My baby will cure all your woes.”
“You just want to have sex with your wife and have a babysitter there when you want to.” Banner punched his brother in his arm.
Ford shrugged. “You gotta do what you gotta do.”
Snickering, I curled my arm around Banner and held on until his name was called.
When he pulled himself away, I could tell he didn’t want to go.
“Go, our dreams are waiting.”
He did.
The next twenty minutes we watched as he was sworn into the United States Navy.
I’d never been so proud in my life.
Chapter 28
Know this: you can damn well start over every fucking morning.
-Coffee Cup
Perry
Navy Graduation - Seven weeks later
I was nervous as fuck.
Oh, and I was also skipping school.
I looked over at my dad who was sitting in the straight-backed chair beside me and wondered how much longer this was going to take.
Then I heard the marching of boots as a man that looked important made his way up to the podium.
“Greetings, friends and family,” he started.
I watched for the next hour as the recruits filed in and the men and women spoke about boot camp. They told us all about what they did—some of which I knew because I’d become a grade-A stalker of the Facebook page that gave the updates. I’d also learned a lot from Banner. His letters and his calls, all he talked about was how great it was.
And I knew that he’d made the right choice.
And finally, finally, his name was called, and I practically bounced in my seat.
I hadn’t been able to find him in the sea of faces in the crowd.
They all looked the freakin’ same.
But seeing him now on stage, I would know that face anywhere.
Apparently he didn’t have the same problem finding me in the crowd as I did him, because the moment he could, he turned his gaze toward me.
I grinned wide and blew him a kiss.
He winked at me and caught
