For good reason, want to see it?
Austin Cooper
Careful, your ego’s showing.
Gareth Fox
It always is. That’s why half the team hates him.
Jensen Fields Jr.
It’s not my fault they all feel inferior to me.
Gareth Fox
Your holier-than-thou complex will be crushed if the rumors are true and Marsh gets traded to the Bears.
Austin Cooper
Not only will that be funny as hell, but talk about some Nat Geo shit. FIELDS and MARSH on the BEARS.
Austin Cooper
Why do you hate him again?
Jensen Fields Jr.
Because he’s a piece of shit.
Gareth Fox
Childhood rivals, I think.
These three are making my head pound harder than it has been, so I toss my phone onto my bed and strip down, opting to ignore the guys and rinse off my stress instead.
As the shower water heats up, I press my palms against the bathroom counter, letting my head hang, the weight of my life pressing against my shoulders. Steam rises from behind the shower curtain, and when my gaze hits the mirror, my reflection is hidden. Swiping the condensation with my palm, I stare at the man in the mirror and wonder how this life ismine.
Equal parts happiness and sadness consume me as I catalogue my appearance—the scruff of my beard that’s quickly evolving from unkempt to mountain man. The length of my hair thatisovergrown. The pools of dark collecting beneath my eyes.
I can’t get a grip on my emotions as everything bulldozes into me at once. The laughter I expelled earlier when Hailey made her unintended comment about hercookieopened the floodgates of everythingI’ve been bottling up for the last year or so.
Right now, I feel like I could laugh and cry, and I haven’t cried since I was a child.
Being a dad is hard.
Doing it on my own is harder.
Add coaching on top of that?
Some days it feels impossible.
But I am grateful, truly I am. Sailor and I are healthy. We have a beautiful house that I bought long before I met Addison. My truck and car are paid off, and my bank account has more than I could ever need.
My cup is overflowing, yet in some aspects it’s still empty.
I’mlonely.
So damn lonely, and I’m not sure I realized it until I watched the embarrassment bloom through Hailey’s porcelain skin, and it dawned on me how much I miss laughing with someone. Making jokes.Smiling.
