We’re in the fourth set of the match. Our team is ahead two sets to their one. If we win this set, the match is over, and right now we’re winning twenty-three to twenty-one. The Texas server sends the ball over the net. Brooke is our libero this season—she receives the ball and sends a near-perfect pass to our setter. I call for the set on the outside. The ball is set high to me, giving the double block time to set up. But I don’t let that stop me. I send a punishing hit down the line for a kill. My fortieth kill of the night. I’ve never played this well in my life. Match point.
I can hear Carse and Griff’s voices cheering me on above the rest of the crowd.
It’s my rotation to serve. Standing a few feet behind the service line, I catch the ball one of the ball girls tosses to me, bounce it three times, and take a deep breath as the referee blows her whistle.
I get five seconds to focus on getting my serve over the net, but this is always the moment I take to think of Katie. I can feel her here with me as I toss the ball up and jump-serve it over the net.
The ball hits the tape of the net, and my breath catches in my chest as I watch it land on the opposite side of the court without any of their players touching it.
An ace. Meaning we just won the National Championship. Oh my god.
My teammates swarm where I stand on the court.
Confetti rains down on us from the rafters. This is the most amazing moment of my volleyball career.
After a few minutes of hugging, tears, and screams of celebration, our team breaks apart to shake our opponent’s hands.
I look back to where my family is all standing and cheering for me. My mom and dad are hugging, Carson is clapping his hands with the biggest grin on his face, and Griffin is standing, holding a sleeping Cadence on his shoulder, wearing the sexiest smirk on his face—winking at me when our eyes connect.
By the time I finally break away from the team’s trophy celebration, I run over to my family to thank them for coming.
Dad scoops me in his arms, and I tell him I couldn’t have done it without their support.
Carson squeezes me so tight I think I’ll suffocate. “That’s our first team All-American right there, ladies and gentlemen! You fucking did it, Mack Attack.”
Mom cries tears of pride. When I step out of her embrace, Griffin steps up next in line.
He wraps me in an embrace that threatens to bring me to my knees if he weren’t here to hold me up. Cadence is now awake in his arms—I’m not surprised she was unable to sleep through the chaos of the crowds cheering.
“I’m so proud of you, Sunshine. You were on fire out there,” Griff says before placing a kiss on my sweat-soaked forehead. He’s still got his arms wrapped around me when he adds, “She would be so proud of you too.”
“She is. Katie is always with me. No matter where I go or what I do, I feel her with me everywhere.”
I hear Griff get choked up, so I pull my face away from where it was nuzzled on his chest. He grips my hip to keep me from fully pulling away from his embrace.
I look into his eyes, surprised to see them dry and clear. His face breaks into a dazzling smile. “I feel her here, too.”
Cadence takes that moment to grab Griff’s cheeks and say, “Dada, look, Mama!”
Griff’s eyebrows shoot up to the snapback of his backward hat. “Did she just?”
I nod my head, tears filling my vision. “She did.”
The most radiant, devastating smile spreads across his handsome face. “My sweet, smart Cadeygirl just called me Dada for the first time. And her gorgeous, talented mama just won the National Championship. I think this is cause for celebration. What do you say, Sunshine?”
I hardly remember to breathe when he looks at me like this—like he’s undressing me with his eyes. I’m so entranced that I’m just about to kiss him when a reporter comes up and taps me on the shoulder, asking for an interview.
Barely able to blink out of the haze Griff just put me in, I turn and smile at the reporter. I don’t remember a single word I said during the interview, too distracted by the hum of my body. I’m wound up, not just from the game but from the way only he can make me feel.
My control is hanging by the loosest of threads. I’m so screwed.
28
December
Being Cadence’s father brings me so much contentment and fulfillment. I got to Carson and Kenna’s place a few hours ago to visit my girls for Christmas Eve.
Yes, I said my girls, as in both Cadence and Kenna. She’s been keeping things platonic between us, and I’ll respect that for now. But it doesn’t change that I’m hers, and she’s still mine. Even if she’s not willing to admit that to herself quite yet.
