“Really?”
She nodded. “Running back was his favorite position. He said quarterbacks and wide receivers always got the praise for their fancy work in the air, but running backs were the workhorses. Without their legs on the ground, the offense doesn’t stand a chance.”
“Smart man. I think I would have liked your dad.”
“Everybody
loved
my dad, even the players who were intimidated by that big, deep voice.”
“If he could have played ball, you think he would have been a running back?”
“Nah.” She shook her head. “Too much brawn. He would have been a defensive player. But he still loved your position. In fact, that’s how I got my name.” She glanced over at him. “Walter Payton. Greatest running back to ever play the game.”
“Your dad was right. Footage of Walter Payton’s days with Chicago is required viewing for every member of the Sabers running core. He’s hard to emulate, though.”
“You’re not too bad,” Payton said, her mouth tipping up at the corner in the kind of smile that made him want to kiss her.
Stepping away from the trophy case, she walked a few steps over to a colorful bulletin board with flyers about everything from a 4-H bake sale to the final pep rally of the season, which would take place tomorrow afternoon in the school gymnasium.
“Being back here reminds me of why I left to do this in the first place. To become an agent,” she clarified. “This place, this game, it was his life. My dad would be so proud of me for taking that leap.”
“He is,” Cedric said.
Her eyes traveled back to that picture of her father carrying her on his shoulders. “Yeah, he is.”
As he studied her profile while she smiled fondly at the photograph, Cedric accepted the inevitable.
He was totally, completely, indelibly in love with her.
He couldn’t pinpoint what did it. Maybe it was her love and knowledge of the game that had always meant so much to him. Or how easily she could make him laugh, sometimes just by smiling. More than likely it was a combination of all of those things that made Payton the most amazing woman he’d ever encountered. One thing he knew for certain, he loved her.
The question was, what was he going to do about it?
He had to be smart in his approach. His last attempt to take things to the next level had nearly cost him the most important thing: her.
When he recalled the hurt and sadness he’d felt over the last few weeks when they had been separated… Cedric would take a knife to the gut before he put himself through that again.
There had to be something he could do. It didn’t matter how long it took, he was going to figure out a way to make Payton his.
Payton jumped to her feet as Manchac’s star running back scampered down the field on a sixty-three-yard run for a touchdown, bringing the score in the school’s longest-running rivalry to twenty to six.
“I bet your dad would be loving this,” Cedric said over the roar of cheers.
“Oh, he would have been running down the sideline right along with the running back. Dad lived for this.” She nudged Cedric’s shoulder as they took their seats on the bleachers. With a grin, she said, “You may have to watch out. That running back is no joke. He may be gunning for your job in the next few years.”
“Nah, I’ll be long gone by the time he gets to the NFL. Shelf life for a running back isn’t all that long.”
Payton waited until the point-after kick was up in the air and through the goal posts before she asked, “Have you thought about what you’re going to do once you’re done with football? You’d probably make a good sideline analyst.”
Cedric shook his head and adjusted his legs in the limited space the packed bleachers afforded. “My degree is in physical therapy. I’ll get my certification and work as a therapist.”
“With the Sabers?”
“No.” He was quiet for so long Payton thought that was the end of it, but then he said, “There’s a group home in Woodbridge, New Jersey. It’s for adults with disabilities, multiple sclerosis, cerebral palsy. Stuff like that.” Turning his attention back to the field, he paused for another long stretch before saying, “My brother is there.”
A bolt of shock zipped through her. A brother? Payton was stunned. She’d researched Cedric thoroughly before seeking him out as a client. She’d never run across a brother.
“My twin brother,” Cedric expounded, as if he’d read her thoughts. “Derek. He was born with cerebral palsy.” He glanced over at her again. “He’s the main reason I don’t want to leave the Sabers. I’m only an hour away from Woodbridge. I drive down to see him every chance I get.”
Payton remained silent. She couldn’t help staring at this man she’d misjudged on so many levels before getting to know him. What a surprise he’d turned out to be.
Eventually she returned her eyes to the field, but her brain continued to ruminate over what Cedric had just revealed and, more importantly, the fact that he’d revealed it to her. His brother’s existence was not common knowledge. In fact, Payton would bet it was something Cedric had worked hard to keep out of the public eye. With all the articles that had been written about him over the years, not a single reporter had discovered he had a twin brother. If they had, surely she would have uncovered it.
But she hadn’t had to uncover anything. He’d told her outright. He trusted her with this part of his life.
Payton was relieved the game ended at that moment. She could blame the tears that had begun to flow down her cheeks on the heightened emotion of the team winning one for her dad on this night dedicated to his memory. But the tears were for herself and what she would miss out on with the man sitting next to her.
If circumstances were different, they could have had something special.
“Hey, why the tears?” he asked, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and hugging her to his side. “There’s no crying in football. Unless you’re on the losing team. Then you can cry like a baby and punch out anybody who taunts you for it.”
“Don’t you go around punching anybody,” Payton chastised with a weak grin.
“Just kidding.” He chuckled. “My agent has turned me into a new man, remember?”
The more she learned about him, the more Payton realized just how amazing a man he really was. And, for the most part, it didn’t have anything to do with what she’d done over these past few months. Cedric had been misrepresented in the media, shouldering a reputation he didn’t deserve. All Payton had done over the course of the time they’d worked together was bring more of these good qualities into the limelight.
“Come on.” He took her wrist as he started for the closest bleacher exit aisle. “I was invited to give the kids a postgame pep talk. The locker room is always more fun after a win.”
Ten minutes later, Payton found herself submerged in nostalgia, standing toward the back wall of the familiar locker room. There was fresh paint on the walls and the benches sandwiched between the rows of lockers were new, but it was the same old locker room. Coach Moe’s locker room.
As she watched Cedric over the heads of the high school players still in their dirt-laden uniforms, Payton could only imagine how excited her dad would have been to have a real, live NFL player giving a pep talk to kids from little ol’ Manchac High. He’d probably have the same look of awe Payton witnessed on just about every face in the locker room.
How proud would her dad have been, knowing that
she
was the one who’d made this happen for the kids.
I did it for you, too, Daddy.
She’d never felt as close to her dad as she did at this very moment. This moment was why she’d sacrificed it all. Why she’d followed her heart.
This moment made it all worth it.
Payton held back the tears that threatened to spill over. Cedric was right, there was no crying in football. Instead, a grin so wide it hurt her cheeks spread across her face.
The entire team converged on the center of the locker room, and Cedric led them in a victory chant that ended with scores of chest bumping, fist pumping and all the other violent forms of male celebration Payton would never understand. Cedric was bombarded with slaps on the back as he made his way through the crowd of smelly players.
“What are you smiling about?” he asked as he stepped up to her.
“I bet you didn’t think you’d need to hit the showers after watching a football game where you weren’t even on the field,” she said with a laugh.
He shrugged it off. “I like this smell. It’s what I’m used to.”
“I happen to like this smell, too,” Payton said.
“Some women like Egyptian Musk, you like dirt.”
Payton gave him a playful punch. “I guess it’s what I’m used to, also. I practically lived in this locker room as a kid.” Over Cedric’s shoulder she spotted a bare teenaged butt. “And just like old times, that’s my cue to leave. What is it with boys and their total lack of inhibitions?”
Cedric glanced over his shoulder and laughed. “Come on, you’re not five years old anymore. These days you can get arrested for being in here.”
They left the locker room and headed for the concession stand, where her mother and other members of the Manchac Mustang Booster Club had spent most of the game selling hot dogs and Frito Pies—corn chips topped with homemade chili. As they drove her mother home, she regaled them with anecdotes of her entire season behind the concession stand that had both Payton and Cedric laughing to the point of tears. Apparently violent confrontations were not solely for the football field. Her mom’s retelling of the chili-flinging fiasco during the Manchac versus Wesley game would keep Payton laughing for ages.
Cedric ignored her mother’s request to be dropped off at the end of the driveway. Parking underneath the aluminum carport adjacent to the house, he and Payton accompanied her inside to make sure all was okay.
After chastising them both for making a fuss, her mother said, “Now, if you two will excuse me, I need to wash the smell of nacho cheese from my hair.” She turned to Payton. “I’ll probably be in bed by the time you get back from bringing Cedric to his hotel. You still have your key, don’t you?”
“Of course,” Payton said. “Don’t wait up for me. You’ve had a long night. I can see myself in.”
Her mother kissed her on the cheek, then turned and did the same to Cedric. His eyes widened, but the grin on his face stretched from ear to ear.
Back in the car, Cedric settled behind the steering wheel and said, “I love your mom. She’s hilarious.”
“That’s Mom. If I have any sense of humor at all, that’s where I got it from. She and my dad were a good match. Whenever he was being too serious, all it took was one look from her to put a smile on his face. I’ve never seen two people who loved each other more.”
“Must be hard for her since he died.”
“She’s strong,” Payton said. “I was living in Austin at the time. I offered to move back to Manchac but she wouldn’t hear of it. And when I told her I was moving to New York to become a sports agent, she couldn’t have been more supportive. We both knew how much Dad would have wanted this for me.”
“You’re a very lucky woman, Payton. You know that?”
“I do,” she affirmed with a poignant smile.
The rest of the twenty-minute drive to the hotel was made in companionable silence. Cedric pulled under the portico and motioned for the valet.
“Why are you calling the valet?” Payton asked.
“Because we can’t leave the car parked here,” he stated matter-of-factly.
“We’re not. I’m just dropping you off,” she said. He slid a glance her way and a corner of his mouth hitched up in a wicked grin. “Cedric, what are you doing?”
“Stop asking questions and follow me,” he said.
“Cedric,” she sighed, climbing out of the car and nodding at the valet who held the door open for her. “It’s been a long night and you have to wake up at an ungodly hour to get back to the airport for your flight out.”
He grabbed both of her hands and gave them a light squeeze. “Stop asking questions and follow me,” he repeated.
Fighting back the rush of anticipation that started a tingling hum across her skin, Payton obediently followed him into the hotel’s wide revolving doors. They moved swiftly across the luxuriant lobby, with its rich, modern furnishings, vibrant floral arrangements and flowing rock waterfall behind the reception desk.
Cedric pulled her into an elevator and slipped the plastic keycard into the slot required for access to the top three floors where the penthouse suites were housed.
“Is there a reason you can’t tell me what’s going on?” Payton asked.
He lolled his head to the side and gave her an exasperated look. “Don’t you know how surprises work?”
“You have a surprise planned for me?” Payton exclaimed. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because that’s how they work,” he said as if he were explaining it to a four-year-old. He raised her hand to his lips and pressed a light kiss over her fingers. “Yes, I’ve planned a surprise for you.”
The elevator chimed their arrival to the top floor and Cedric urged her to go ahead of him. They walked a few steps down the hallway to his room. He inserted the keycard, ducked his head inside, then turned to her and smiled. He pushed the door open and made a sweeping gesture. “After you.”
Payton’s gaze narrowed at the self-assured smile on his face. She stepped into the room and gasped.
The spacious suite was bathed in the warm glow of dozens of thick pillar candles placed throughout the living area. Scores of white and yellow roses occupied every available surface, their delicate fragrance perfuming the air.
In the center of the suite’s living space were two massage tables covered by fine linen and sprinkled with a smattering of rose petals. On a nearby table a silver bucket held a champagne bottle submerged in crushed ice, along with a footed, ceramic bowl filled with plump chocolate-covered strawberries.
She turned toward Cedric who was hanging up the hotel phone next to the suite’s wet bar.
“I can’t believe you did this,” she said as he strolled toward her.
“I haven’t been the easiest person to get along with these past couple of weeks,” he said. “I’m hoping this will make up for it.”