Miracle blinked her eyes several times before she sighed and rolled them dramatically. “Fine. Let’s go play dress up.”
Mila squealed, clapping her hands excitedly. Miracle laughed as she watched her bounce down the walkway in front of her. It was worth the next four hours of torture just to see Mila so happy.
Miracle knew Mila needed things like this—carefree times, sisterly times, normal times—to add to her abundance of bad memories. There was always the hope that the good would eventually outweigh and eclipse the bad. They all needed some good times.
CHAPTER FOUR
Hardy had never been more nervous before a game. Although he was nodding at all the right places as his dad spoke, his mind was already wandering through the crowd, looking for Miracle.
“Now, son, you know how important this is. Your dream of playing college and professional football might very well start tonight. Go out there and do your best. Make us proud,” Hardy’s father was saying and, again, Hardy nodded. Wayne Bradford grabbed Hardy by the back of the neck and brought his face in close, searching his eyes. “Head in the game, Hardy. Head in the game.”
With great difficulty, Hardy pulled his mind back into the present, back into the locker room. “Yes, sir.”
Wayne gently slapped the side of Hardy’s head. “That’s my boy,” he said, seemingly satisfied that Hardy was paying attention. “Go out there and show ‘em how the Bradfords do it.”
“Yes, sir.”
With that, Hardy’s father exited the locker room to make his way into the stands with Hardy’s mother and much younger brother, Clay, just like he did before every game. Everyone in Hardy’s life stuck to the ritual. Everyone.
As the coach gave them his usual pep talk and this could be the game that defines your life speech, Hardy purposed to keep his mind on football and off Miracle. His father was right. His entire academic and professional future could be riding on his performance this year, maybe even this night. He’d been groomed for this practically his whole life. There was nothing more important to his family, to his father, than Hardy’s future career as a professional football player. And Hardy had never felt the weight of those expectations more than he did tonight.
As the Seminoles took the field, Hardy struggled to keep his mind on the game, to keep his eyes out of the stands. He concentrated with all his might. And it worked until the coin toss was over. Then, as she had at the beginning of every game for three years, Cheyenne bounced over to him, pressed her fingertips to her lips and then pressed them to his through his face mask. It was the switch that flipped his mind back over to thoughts of Miracle.
After he’d dropped her off, Hardy had driven Cheyenne’s car to school and left it parked so that he could drive his own car home. He’d called her cell to tell her she’d need to get a ride back to school with someone else. She’d been aggravated, but not overly so. She knew he was still angry over what she’d done to Miracle. Despite her apologies and assurances to the contrary, Hardy still felt she’d been out to embarrass Miracle all along, even though she’d had no idea about the scar. She’d have done something else to humiliate her. That was just the way Cheyenne was. And Hardy had had enough.
Cheyenne just didn’t know that yet. And neither did his family.
Hardy stood still for her display, hating himself for it. The instant she pulled her fingers out of his face mask, he turned away from her, his eyes scanning the hundreds of faces for one in particular. And he found it.
Sitting about halfway up, looking directly at him, was Miracle. Her eyes were alight with the excitement of the crowd and her cheeks were flushed with pleasure. He was certain Cheyenne, arguably the most beautiful person he’d ever seen, had ever looked so amazing.
Miracle smiled at him and waved shyly. As always, he was spellbound, raising his hand to return her gesture automatically. He didn’t realize that he’d tuned everything else out until someone smacked the side of his helmet.
“Bradford, man you’re up.”
Reluctantly, Hardy pulled his eyes away from Miracle and jogged to the huddle. They’d lost the coin toss and the opposing team had opted for getting the ball first in the second half, which meant that Hardy and his offense would have the first opportunity to score. And he had to do exactly that.
It was under the watchful gaze of Miracle and the rest of the town that Hardy had the best game of his life. His stats were off the charts and the one time he’d glanced at the scout his father had pointed out—the one time he’d glanced at anyone other than Miracle for that matter—he’d seen him give a nod of approval.
One down, six more to go, Hardy thought, hoping he could perform so well in front of every scout that was likely to visit. Football was the key to his future.
For Wayne Bradford, it was his chance to live vicariously through his son, to live the life of a professional football player. For Hardy, it was about going to a college that would allow him to pursue his dreams, not everyone else’s. But still, football was the vehicle that would get him there, so in the end, he and his father shared the same goal—impress the scouts, get the scholarship.
Hardy dawdled on the field longer than usual, chatting with everyone who wanted to congratulate him. All the while, he kept an eye surreptitiously trained on Miracle as she descended the stands.
When she’d reached the bottom of the bleachers and was making her way toward the exit, Hardy excused himself and jogged to the fence ahead of her. She stopped when she reached him, her eyes sparkling like the gemstone they so closely resembled.
“You were incredible.”
Hardy was positive no one else’s praise had ever made him feel more alive, more successful, more invincible, more like a winner than Miracle’s. He beamed, not knowing what to say; thank you seemed far too trite. So he just stood there smiling like some sort of brain-dead imbecile.
Finally, Miracle chuckled and nodded. “Well, I guess I’ll see you Monday.”
That jarred Hardy out of his stupor. “Wait. What are you doing tonight?”
“Going home I guess. Why?”
“Do you want to come out with us? I mean, do you want to come to a party that one of the other football players is throwing?”
Again, Miracle made that face that said she was going to say no even though she dreaded it. Hardy got the feeling she didn’t like to say no. He didn’t think it was because she was spineless. No, hardy fully suspected it was because she was so concerned with other people’s feelings. Miracle was selfless and he’d never met anyone like her.