“We weren’t trying to kill you!” My mom stomps her foot. “Charles was supposed to blow out your knee. If football wasn’t an option anymore, then what would be left for you here? Nothing! You’d come home. That’s all I’ve ever wanted. It’s your rightful place.”
“I think we’ve heard enough.” Lennox grabs my mother’s arm and, with the help of the police, ushers her out of the hospital wing. “Give Rose my best,” he calls over his shoulder.
I nod. I’m completely at a loss as I stare after them. My brain keeps starting and stopping, but what I’m hung up on is the fact that my mom really doesn’t know me at all. Just because my time on the team may come to an end one day—hopefully not for several years yet, but it will end—my friendships with my teammates and the relationships I’ve built here won’t disappear.
“There you are.” Poppy’s voice sounds from behind me. I spin around. She’s standing in the doorway at the end of the hallway, smiling. “Rose wants to see you.”
40
The Do-Over
Anton
Ipause outside the door to Rose’s room, trying to collect myself. Poppy left me to, as she said, “kiss and make up.”
Bold of her to assume that’s what I want.
Bold. But correct.
Still, I’m timid. Because what does Rose want? Where do we even begin with each other?
“I see your shadow under the door.” Rose’s voice sounds hoarse and distant from behind the partition. “Why don’t you come in here?”
So much for getting my bearings before I face her. I open the door, and the sight of her in the hospital bed steals my breath. She looks small and frail—two words I have never once associated with the tough-as-nails woman I know.
That’s when the truth hits me. Idoknow her. In spite of the deception, I know who Rose is. I like who she is. I think she likes me too. I take a tentative step forward.
As if reading my mind, Rose waves a hand through the air. “I look like I got run over by a truck. Feel about the same.”
I nod. “How’s the leg?”
“I get to keep it.” She pauses. “It’ll be a while before I’m back in the weight room, though,” she adds quietly.
“You’ll be back. There’s a rack with your name on it at the River Foxes stadium when you’re ready.”
Her eyes zing to mine, and I relish the flicker of determination I see in their blue depths. “Really?”
“After what you did today, the whole organization is bowing down to you.”
Rose presses her lips together and dips her chin. “What about you?”
“What about me? You want me to bow down to you?”
“No!” She rolls her eyes, and I’m grateful to see them spark with humor before she turns serious again. “Are you alright?”
This is so typical of Rose. She’s laid up, nursing a gunshot wound, and yet she’s concerned about me.
“I will be. I just confronted my mom.”
Rose pales further.
“I’d rather not talk about it right now, if that’s okay.”
“Very much okay.” She nods hurriedly, and then she studies me.
“What is it?”
Her hands fist the sheets, as if she’s trying to quell her worries about something. “Before either of us say anything else, I’m wondering if I can have a do-over.”
