Miracle leaned back and eyed Hardy suspiciously, but did as he asked. Turning back in the direction he’d placed her, she pulled the lens cap off and scanned the landscape through the viewfinder. She was on her second pass when she saw the first one rise above the tree tops.
It was a single pink balloon. Although she wasn’t sure where it came from or what it meant, Miracle snapped a photo of it as soon as she saw it. She was just about to let the camera fall away from her face when she saw the others.
First three or four and then ten or twenty pink balloons crept into the sky. Within seconds, hundreds filled the horizon. Miracle clicked the button on her camera and caught their ascent, capturing the way they rose and then drifted off in every direction, carried away by the light breeze. From their vantage point, the balloons looked like an enormous bouquet of round, pink flowers that grew larger by the second.
When it appeared that no more balloons were being released and the others were not much more than colorful pin pricks against a cloudless blue canvas, Miracle lowered her camera. She turned her wide green eyes on Hardy.
“What was that?”
“My mom’s on pretty much every committee in the town and when I overheard her talking on the phone to another lady about cancer awareness, I suggested she get some pink balloons for the survivors and bring them to the park to let them go.” He watched Miracle’s eyes fill with tears and knew how deeply she was touched.
“Why?” she whispered.
He didn’t need for her to elaborate; he knew what she was asking. “I don’t want you to be afraid of dying. All those people have survived cancer. You just watched hundreds of reasons to have hope drift off into the sky.”
Miracle brought her hands to her trembling lips and then buried her face in them. Hardy could hear her weeping softly. Tenderly, he gathered her into his arms.
She mumbled something into his chest, but he couldn’t understand her so he leaned back. “What?”
“You’re gonna break my heart, aren’t you?”
Hardy grabbed Miracle’s wrists and pulled them apart until they were no longer covering her tear-streaked face.
“Never. I will never hurt you, Miracle.”
He said it with as much sincerity and conviction as he could muster. He hoped she would believe him, because he meant it more than he’d ever meant anything in his life.
Placing her hands flat against his chest to keep her balance, Miracle rose up onto her toes and gently pressed her lips to Hardy’s. It was a sweet kiss and a wet kiss, but not wet with passion. It was wet with tears. Her tears. When she pulled away, Hardy could taste salt on his lips. Miracle eyes pleaded with him. “Please don’t.”
Taking her face in his hands, Hardy leaned his forehead against hers. “I won’t,” he declared. “I promise.”
********
Hardy was trying his best to keep his mind on what the coach was saying as he sat on the bench in the locker room. He knew tonight’s game was important, but for some reason, he just couldn’t drum up any enthusiasm. He was more anxious to get out onto the field and locate Miracle in the stands. She’d promised she’d be there with Mila.
As they took the field, Hardy scanned the bleachers. He didn’t see Miracle right off. Mila either.
“Get your head in the game, Bradford,” Coach called to him when he almost ran into the line of cheerleaders at the sidelines.
“Yes, sir,” Hardy said, dragging his eyes from the stands.
A couple minutes later, Hardy walked to the center of the field for the coin toss. He called heads. It was tails. The choice of the opposing team was to get the ball in the first half. Hardy walked back to the sidelines, scanning the crowd again for any sign of Miracle.
He was getting more and more frustrated the longer he couldn’t find her. He saw his family, his father glaring at him warningly. He saw many faces of people he knew, but there was no sign of Miracle. His first thought was to worry that something had happened to her. If she said she’d come, he believed her.
The game started, but Hardy paid little attention to the drive. He kept turning around to scan the stands.
“Dude, go talk to her so you can concentrate on the game. Man, you are one pathetic loser!” Nate exclaimed, shaking his head.
“She’s not here yet.”
“She’s right over there, Hardy,” he said in exasperation, pointing to the fence that ran between the cheerleaders and the stands.
Hardy’s heart picked up its pace as his eyes followed Nate’s finger right to a smiling Miracle. She was standing with her sister at the bottom of the first row of bleachers. She grinned and waved to him when he spotted her.
Feeling the smile split his face, Hardy waved back. He saw Miracle say something to Mila and then turn to leave, presumably to find a seat. Quickly, Hardy left the other players and jogged to the fence, calling Miracle before she got too far. When she walked back to the fence, Hardy leaned over it and gave her a peck on the lips that made her smile and blush becomingly.
“Thanks for coming.”
“Miss a chance to see you in tight pants? I think not,” she teased, the color in her cheeks deepening at her audacity.
“Then watch this,” Hardy said, turning to jog away and tossing her a grin back over his shoulder. She was looking at his butt. He chuckled, certain his heart might sprout wings and take flight.
Mila put her arm around Miracle’s neck and said something in Miracle’s ear. Both girls laughed before Miracle smiled at him and waved again, letting Mila lead her into the stands.
As Hardy, still smiling, turned back to the game, his gaze collided with Cheyenne’s furious one. He nodded once, refusing to let her ruin the moment. After that, he put as much focus as he could back on the game.
********
Hardy had a fairly good performance. Nowhere near his best game, but nowhere near his worst either. He doubted his father would be pleased, but they’d won and that was the main thing. Hardy hated to let his teammates down.
Spirits were high in the locker room. Towels were being snapped, fake jabs were being thrown, and nookies were being performed. Between that and his growing feelings for Miracle, Hardy was on cloud nine when he exited the locker room.
Until he saw his father waiting for him.
Wayne Bradford clapped his big hand onto Hardy’s shoulder and, with a tight squeeze, guided him away from the others.
“What the hell was that?” the elder Bradford spat, careful to keep his back to the others so that no one would see his upset.