Page 144 of Bluffed By the Offense

Yes. It’s Christmas week. For some reason, that makes Winona being gone tonight all the worse. We just celebrated our final Christmas living together earlier this week. We started off the morning here at the house, then we went to Mom and Dad’s. At lunchtime, Winona left and went to Declan’s for the rest of the day. I came home, alone, and curled up by the fire with a book. Later that day, I went over to Ginny’s to bring some donated gifts to the family staying in her back house.

I didn’t see Marcus. He flew home overnight to see his family in Georgia, came back and prepped for the game against the Colts, which they lost this afternoon.

I can’t tell if I’m moping because of Winona being away again tonight, or the Thunder’s loss, or because I miss Marcus and our clock is running out.

He botched a play. We might not have won either way, but he threw an interception. He thought he could get the ball to Trey. It was like I could read his mind from my spot in the box. We were up seventeen to thirteen at the Colts’s thirty-yard line. Walker was right in front of Marcus—the safe choice. But Marcus’s head flicked up and he thought, If I can get this to Trey, we could make a play. So he took the chance, only the Colts's safety came out of nowhere and snatched the ball out of the air before Trey could get to it. Our possession turned over and the Colts made a touchdown right after that.

I watched Marcus’s face fall from his spot on the bench. He still went out and fought, but we ended up never regaining our lead. Winona went to meet Declan after the game. I sent Marcus a text, but I didn’t go to the family room to meet him. He didn’t need the pressure of performing as my fake boyfriend when his head is bound to be a mess.

I scan the movie channels and find something Winona would never watch. Mission Impossible. She hates suspenseful movies and isn’t a big fan of anything action-oriented either. She won’t be home for a while. I might as well have a girls’ movie night for one. I pop popcorn in the microwave, heat cocoa on the stove and grab my favorite blanket.

I’m curling up on the sofa with the movie queued up and ready to play when I hear a car pull up out front. Winona can’t be back this early. I step over to the window and look out.

A black Escalade is parked in front of my house.

Marcus? What is he doing here?

I open the door and step onto the porch.

He’s in the driver’s seat staring up at my front door, both hands on the steering wheel. I walk down the steps, wrapped in my blanket, wearing sweats and my fluffy slippers. It’s chilly out and I look like such a major homebody, but he’s not really my boyfriend, so it doesn’t really matter.

The window on the passenger side lowers as I approach. I walk up to it.

“Hey,” I say. “You lost?”

“Maybe,” he says, a dejected expression on his face.

“It takes a team to lose a game,” I say.

“A team and one really poor call.”

“I saw what you were thinking. There was a chance Trey could have gotten open. Slim chance. But you didn’t get to where you are by playing it safe all the time.”

“You told me to play my running game more often.”

“What do I know?” I say. “I’m just an office manager at a real estate office.”

“Yeah. Right,” he says. “Well, I let my team down.”