Game day always charged up Gabe. He was all smiles as he woke me up and pushed me into the bathroom to get ready. He had breakfast waiting for me when I got out. I wasn’t sure how he had managed that since he wasn’t supposed to have access to room service.
Matt walked with us down to the lobby where the guys were all hanging out and signing autographs. I liked to stay in the periphery but Matt put his hand on my back and steered me toward the guys.
“Hey,” I tried to wiggle away, but he pulled me close.
“No way, sweetheart. You’re going to stay right here where I can keep an eye on you.” Matt said.
Gabe gave me a quick smile and signed, “He feels bad about your clumsiness.”
My clumsiness? My eyebrows rose past my hairline. My clumsiness, indeed. I looked over at Matt and he just shrugged and signed another notebook that was thrust into his face. I silently pictured myself attacking Matt, going for the knees and bringing him down. When had I gotten so violent?
sure anyone even knew who he was. I mean he had just been signed on to the team. He played great in college, was an All-American and whenever they men- tioned his name on ESPN or other sports shows they always mentioned that he was deaf. With his ball cap on you’ couldn’t tell he had a cochlear implant.
A teenage boy stood in front of Gabe and signed, “I hope you win today.”
He signed back, “Thank you. What’s your name?”
The two continued their conversation and I turned my attention to Matt. He was sweet with the fans. He wasn’t flirty at all with the women, which surprised me. They were definitely throwing themselves at him, but he was politely deflecting it. I was ashamed about openly ogling him last night. He seemed to get that a lot.
Gabe said aloud, “Hey man, that’s my sister!”
All eyes turned to the two of them and I watched as the kid apologized to me. I signed, “That’s ok.”
We were urged to keep moving and Matt sidled up to me, “What did the kid say?”
I shrugged, I hadn’t been watching Gabe, I had been watching Matt, but I wasn’t about to admit that.
Jeb’s wife, Caroline, took me to the box where we could watch the game with some of the other family members. It was a great game and Jeb had done an amaz- ing job. They were tied 21-21 at the end of the fourth quarter. They were at their eighty yard line and the game went into overtime. I watched as Gabe took the field and stood behind Jeb. He hopped up twice and then took his place ready to kick the ball.
“Can he make it from there?” Asked Caroline.
“He has before.” I crossed my fingers and watched as my brother kicked a per- fect field goal eighty yards.
The crowd went wild. Jeb ran up and hugged Gabe and the other guys were slapping him on the back. The game was over and they had won. Gabe’s first away game was a success.
My mom was babbling about hugs and kisses and congratulating him. Dad was far more pragmatic. “Cami, he will be interviewed after the game. You need to get to the locker room.”
“Ok, Dad. I’ll ask how to do that.”
“Good, do it now.” Dad hung up. He sounded worried. Caroline looked at me, “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing, it’s just I should probably get down there to help Gabe with inter- views.” I admitted.
“Oh, ok.” She stood up and went over to door and opened it. A security guard was posted outside.
“Hi, Ms. Lansing needs an escort to the locker room.”
“Certainly, ma’am.” The security guard nodded and motioned for me to follow him. We passed another security guard who took his place standing sentry.
He led me to an elevator and inserted a key. When the doors closed he asked politely, “Is he injured?”
“No. They won and my brother just made an eighty yard field goal. He doesn’t like doing interviews.”
“Better every day, thank you. How about you? Did you get hurt? You took kind of a big hit today.”
“Nah. I’m a big boy, I can take it.” His voice was soothing. Someone walked by and he pulled me in closer to his body and I rested my forehead on his chest, my eyes still closed. He smelled good. He put one arm around me and rested his hand against my back. I tried to not think about how nicely we fit together or that his em- brace was pleasurable. His thumb caressed my back, and I moved even closer to him.
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