Page 6 of It's Always Sonny

And it was all because of football. She thought I should transfer to the bigger school offering me a scholarship. I thought football was overrated and wanted to stay with her.

She didn’t think she could be with someone who “couldn’t take his future seriously,” and broke up with me. All my efforts to convince her we should be together failed, so I transferred.

Now I’m the top running back in the league with a Super Bowl ring and a second knee injury.

To say I have complicated feelings about playing in the NFL is to put it mildly.

No, I can’t think like that. I love the game.

I hear a snap. “Hey, earth to Luciano,” Michael says, snapping at the space between us again. “You with me?”

Whoa. I was definitely not with him.

But I smile. “Always, Mikey, you know that.”

“Good. Now you got ten minutes before your physical therapy, so let’s talk big picture. You won a Super bowl. What do you want now?”

I force myself into the present and say the first thing that comes to mind. “What about a podcast?”

“You can be a guest on any podcast in America.”

“What if I start one?” I ask. Michael takes a loud breath. “Or I could guest host for someone during their summer vacation. Buster already asked if I would.”

“Your bromance with ol’ Buster ‘Bulldog’ Jackson is a bigger deal in the sports world than Travis Kelce and whoever he’s dating,” he lies. “Maybe we should talk to Netflix about you two doing a football movie. Sonny and Bulldog.”

“That sounds like a movie about a kid and her talking pet.”

He waves his hand in the air. “I’m just work-shopping. Podcasts are great, but any kid with a laptop can start a podcast.”

“Including the Kelce brothers.”

Michael waves my comment away. “Think bigger. Dream bigger.”

What is wrong with me? I live for this type of conversation. Dream bigger? No one dreams bigger than me. I wanted to take a year off college to travel around the country. Backpack across Europe. Hike Machu Picchu. I would sky dive right now, if it weren’t expressly forbidden by my NFL contract.

I’m not even allowed to water ski.

Shoot, I’m not even allowed to skateboard.

And that’s okay. I don’t need to skateboard to be happy. I don’t need anything to be happy.

“Dream for me, Mikey. As long as I can keep my dignity, let’s do it.”

“By dignity, you mean keep your shirt on, right?”

I really grin this time. “You know me. Let’s take over the world.”

Chapter Three

Parker

The meeting goes as well as I could hope. I conference in the rest of the team, and after lots of questions and ideas, we gather enough information to move forward. Cecile is a dream client: she’s comfortable admitting what she doesn’t know, is open to new ideas, and trusts that we can help. And the fact that she offers to adjust my back for free when we’re done makes me like her all the more.

“You are so tense,” she says, putting her adjustor down and manipulating my back with her hands. Cecile looks like she could flip a tire with her bare hands, but she uses just the right amount of force on me. “Have you thought of stretching?”

“I do yoga every day.”

Her hands stop on my back. “Every day?”