Page 136 of The Backup Plan
“Can you scribble out my name and write ‘Property of John Keyes’ on it real big?”
Christmas presents? Avery mouthed. Cam nodded.
“That, I can do,” Pippa said. “Okay, your name isn’t showing. But it’s not exactly inconspicuous.”
“Are any of the guys still around? See if they can take it down to the locker room and leave it there for me. Please.”
Avery smashed her hands over her mouth to keep from giggling.
“I don’t know where they went after they got off the bus.” Pippa lowered her voice to a whisper. “She is looking at me.”
His thumbs flew over the screen to message any teammates close to the facility to get back and help Pippa with the box. You won’t regret it, he told them.
“Help is on the way, Pips. Thanks for the heads-up.”
“And thanks again for the sideline pass,” Avery piped up. “I had so much fun meeting you today. We should hang out again, okay?”
“We absolutely should. Hey, there’s Tucker, so I’m going to—Cam? What’s in this thing, anyway?”
“Remember the blue and gold Dunks that make me so limited-edition and special because no one else has them? I’m not so special anymore. Go team.”
“You must be joking. How did you do that?”
“My P.R. crew made me look good all year, so someone who knows someone at Nike was happy to take my call. I was going to do just the O-line for the traditional Christmas present, but they cut me a hell of a deal, so the whole offense gets them. Defense can have theirs on my next check. There’s a pair in there for Garrett, and the smallest ones I could get for you and Shay. If they don’t fit, I’ll get more with the next round. The equipment room staff doesn’t keep P.R. shoe sizes on file, for some reason.”
“Did you get a pair for Shelby?”
“What do you think?”
“I think you did.”
“And I am signing them with your favorite glittery gold pen.”
“You do passive-aggressive so well,” Avery said, rolling over to tickle his stomach after he ended the call. “I like how you made that crew your buddies. You were green at the thought of P.R. when I first met you, and you’re a total pro now. Shay and Pippa went to work on you because I know it wasn’t Shelby helping you along.”
“A lot of people helped me along.” He snuggled her close. “In lots of different ways. I hated it so much at first because it didn’t make sense why I had to do any of it. I just wanted to play ball and not get singled out.”
“What changed? Besides your amazing girlfriend coming on the scene to be your biggest fan.”
“The ‘why’ is becoming a little clearer. Why people care so much about who does this job, for one thing, but also why it had to be me.”
“Do you think you know why Jordan left, then?”
“Some of what happened today helped it click. On the drive down, you brought up some questions I should have been asking myself. Maybe I was deliberately not asking them, because I was afraid someone else would ask me.”
“You think your coaches knew more than they told you?”
“The vibe from the podcasts and other stuff they fed to P.R. all spring and summer made it so obvious. They had to have suspected something was wrong.”
“And yet they didn’t look for a veteran starting quarterback in the meantime.”
Avery reached up and stroked his hair, pushing curls off his forehead, and was relieved to note the flush of emotion had cooled. Ethan and his girlfriend Kaia had offered to change their original plans to take them to a campus party if Cam was up for a quiet booth in the hotel restaurant instead, and she knew he’d be miserable if he didn’t go. Ethan knew something about Jordan too, and maybe, like Cory, he was clinging to a promise made for reasons Cameron would never understand.
He squeezed her tighter. “Maybe it was worse than Jordy ever let on. Maybe the coaches just thought that if he didn’t come back, I could handle it. I’m not sure I’ll ever know why he did it this way, or the whole truth about why he left at all. But I think I can forgive him for ditching us, and that might have to be enough.”
Part II
ONE YEAR LATER