“I feel okay I think. I mean, I don’t love that I have to do a whole press conference, and I still don’t understand why I can’t just issue a statement or something, but I’m ready.”
In the month since I found out about my shoulder, I’ve done nothing but get ready. The first week was a whirlwind of meetings with my coach and the team owners and phone calls with my agent to get everything in order. It wasn’t the easiest week of my life, and by the end of it, I was exhausted. So once my part in the planning process was over, Julie and I took a long weekend at the Parkers’ lake house with her friends and all the guys. The weekend skiing, building a bonfire on the lake shore in the freezing cold, and spending time inside by the fire was just what I needed to get my head back on straight, and when we came back, I started going into Jeremy’s foundation office a couple of times a week to figure out what my new position is going to looklike. I’m not going to officially start for another month or so, but I realized pretty fast that sitting around and doing nothing wasn’t for me. I need a project, and the sports camps are perfect.
And my favorite part of the last month is that Julie moved in with me. She hadn’t spent a single night at her house since she got back from Boulder, and a lot of her stuff had migrated over here. So, when we got back from the lake, she hired movers and we made it official. I love going to sleep with her at night and waking up with her in the morning knowing that this is her home too. My house never feels lonely or empty when she’s in it. She has filled my entire world with so much light and joy, and I am just so damn grateful for it. No one on earth could convince me that we weren’t made for each other.
Julie studies me and seems satisfied with what she sees. “I think you are. Come on, Hot Shot. We better go now so we get there in time.”
She turns to leave the bedroom, but I grab her wrist, spinning her back to me. “What’s the rush, Juliette? We have plenty of time.”
I slide an arm around her waist and tug her against me. I cup her cheek with my other hand and kiss her, pouring everything I have into it, the taste of her invading my senses until I have half a mind to toss her onto the bed and skip the press conference entirely. As always, she knows what I’m thinking because she pulls away and puts a hand on my chest.
“There’s no time. But when we get home later, we can do that thing with the ties again.” She grins at me wickedly, then glances over at where the green tie lays on the bed and then back at the tie around my neck, and I immediately get hard.
“It was so hot, right?”
“Bet your ass it was. This time do my legs too,” she says, before sauntering out of the room as if she didn’t just put thesexiest visual of all time into my head. Fuck, I’m obsessed with her.
A hard on in snug suit pants is not ideal, but I’ll have to roll with it because by the time I make my way downstairs, Julie is putting on her coat.
“What’s the rush, Juliette? We have a whole bunch of time.”
She mutters something about traffic and then grabs my hand, pulling me outside with her where I pause because there, right in my driveway, is a black car that’s not exactly a bus, but bigger than a van, with blacked out windows and a yellow stripe along the side.
“Juliette, why is that thing in my driveway?”
She smiles at me, shrugging a shoulder. “Why don’t you go over and see?”
As I approach the bus, the door opens, and noise spills out. When I get to the top of the steps I freeze, and emotion clogs my chest because crowded inside are all the people I love most in the world. Hallie and Ben, Jordan and Allie, Jeremy, Emma, and Molly sit along one side with Steven and Rachel Parker. And along the other side are Charlie, Annie, Kyla, and Lucy with their husbands and my parents. Five of my nieces are spinning around the poles that line the center of the bus, and the three babies are strapped into car seats.
Julie comes up behind me, wrapping an arm around my waist and kissing my cheek. “Surprise.”
“What are you all doing here?” I knew my parents were in town and would be coming to the press conference with Julie, but everyone else is a surprise.
“What, you think we would let you do this alone?” Jeremy stands and tosses an arm around my shoulder. “No way dude. No one in this group does anything alone.”
“What he said,” says Ben. “If there’s one day you need your people, it’s today.”
My people. God, I am so fucking lucky.
I put a hand on Julie’s face, turning her to face me before kissing her breathless right there in front of everyone. “Thanks.” I grin at her and the way her eyes go a little hazy when I pull away.
“I wish I could take credit for it, but this is a Hansley girl operation.” Julie smiles over at my sisters.
The words are barely out of her mouth before I’m attacked by my sisters on all sides, and then my nieces abandon the poles to throw themselves at me, and by the time we pull out of my driveway, it really does feel more like a party, and far less like what it is, which is the official end of my football career.
Julie
“Wow, there are…a lot more of you than I was expecting.” The head of PR for the Renegades stands outside the press room, staring at all of us. “Some of you are going to have to wait out here and watch on the TVs.” She points at the TVs mounted on the hallway walls. “I’m not sure we’ll have room for everyone.”
Asher opens his mouth to talk but I put a hand on his shoulder and step in front of him. “So make room. Asher has been the starting quarterback for this team for eight seasons and he is retiring today. He gets to have his family with him when he does that. They’re all coming in.”
“Fucking right, we are,” I hear Molly saybehind me.
Asher slides an arm around my waist and tugs me back into his chest. I don’t have to look back at him to know he’s grinning at the PR rep.
“What she said.”
The PR rep lets out a long-suffering sigh and rolls her eyes. “Athletes,” she mutters as she turns and walks into the press room to, presumably, do some rearranging.
