“Sure,” the guy said.

Drew reached into his pocket for a little cash and bought a bouquet of long-stemmed red roses.

“Go big or go home,” he muttered to himself.

“Excuse me?” the woman selling the flowers said.

“Oh, nothing. Don’t worry about it.” He gave her a grin and got back into the SUV.

He wasn’t sure if Kendall was home from work yet, but there was only one way to find out. They pulled into the driveway of her house.

“Would you mind waiting a few minutes? I’d like to drop these off,” he said to the driver.

“Not at all,” the guy said. He shut off the engine and unsnapped his seatbelt.

Drew slid out of the SUV and mounted the few stairs to Kendall’s front door. His stomach was in knots. His heart was pounding. He forced himself to breathe. He hoped he’d know what to say.

Who was he kidding? He’d been rehearsing what to say for the past week. He reached out to ring the doorbell. He waited. He rang it again. A minute or so later, he heard light footsteps and a woman’s voice.

“Just a minute,” Kendall called out.

The front door flew open. She stared up at him. “Drew,” she whispered.

He cleared his throat. “I’m new in town. I was wondering if you could show me around or something. I’m planning on being here for a while, and I want to—”

She threw her arms around his neck before he could get the rest out. He wrapped his good arm around her and breathed in the scent of green apples.

“You’re staying?” she said.

“For as long as you want me to.”

Her fingers were already in his hair. He saw the sheen of tears in her eyes. “How about always?”

“Works for me,” he said.

Epilogue

One year later

DREW PULLED INTO a parking space at the Sharks’ training facility. He glanced into the rearview mirror. His passenger had no comment about visiting his workplace, at least so far. He got out of the car, opened the door behind the driver’s seat, and looped a black leather baby sling over his head. He pulled his ponytail free of the strap, reaching into a car seat to scoop up his infant daughter, Tessa.

Three months after he’d opened the damn thing at Kendall’s baby shower, he was a pro at slipping his baby into it and making sure she was comfortably (and safely) situated against his chest. He grabbed something called a “bouncy chair” out of the car as well.

Tessa gave him a gummy smile and cooed a little. His heart melted. He took her tiny hand in his. “Let’s go, gorgeous. We’ll find Mommy.”

Tessa looked pleased and glanced around as he walked through the front doors of the training facility.

He never knew it was possible to love someone else more than his own life, but now he had two of them: Kendall and Tessa. They loved him too. If he started dwelling on it, he’d be a big-ass tearful mess again. Kendall’s pregnancy had been a complete surprise to both of them, but he couldn’t remember what his life was like before he saw his daughter’s face for the first time. She had Kendall’s dark hair and his light blue eyes, a button nose, and a dimple in one cheek. He could look at her for hours. Holding Tessa while she slept on his chest was even better.

Drew paused at the reception desk so Molly could say hello to the baby. Joanna, the former receptionist, spent twenty-five years with the Sharks before being tempted away by Zach Anderson’s wife, Cameron. Joanna was now Cameron’s assistant. Molly had big shoes to fill, but she was already a team favorite. Maybe that had something to do with the huge platter of homemade chocolate chip cookies she brought in every Friday for the guys.

“She looks just like her mama.”

“She does,” Drew agreed. “I’m a lucky man.” He tenderly kissed the top of his daughter’s head. “Have you seen Kendall at all?”

“She should be finishing up with her meeting. Let me find out.” The receptionist punched a few buttons on her phone and said, “Sydney, are they out? Okay. I’ll let Drew know.” She clicked off the headpiece and said, “Kendall will meet you in the training room.”

“Great. Thank you so much.”

His wife had been hired by the new owner of the Sharks as their director of football operations five minutes after the other league franchise owners approved him. She’d managed to turn things around in San Francisco, but she wanted a change, and she wanted a lower-profile job as well. Drew, Kendall, and Tessa were now living in the big family house in Clyde Hill Drew bought before he had any idea his wife and daughter were only a year away.

Drew walked through the lobby, glancing over at the two Lombardi Trophies on display and a huge trophy case full of team memorabilia. He’d spent the past year recovering from a torn shoulder labrum and rotator cuff, and the resulting surgery to fix it. It was the greatest year of his life, but in some respects, it was the hardest. He was a happily married first-time father, but he wasn’t sure what the future held for him professionally. He was having a physical today. Shortly afterward, there would be a meeting to discuss whether or not he could play in the league again.

His teammates had practice. He had physical therapy. He missed the camaraderie of the locker room, the laughter, and the pranks. The Sharks had gone thirteen and three, but missed another trip to the championship game by a last-minute field goal. The Miners went instead. The only comfort for Sharks fans everywhere was the fact that Pittsburgh beat the Miners like a rented mule.

As Drew continued rehabbing and running, he had something else to think of besides getting back on the field: his wife and his daughter. The silver lining in his cloud was the three months he’d spent at home with Tessa. He never dreamed he’d actually find fulfillment in things like cooking dinner for his wife for the first time, or being the guy that took Tessa to doctor’s appointments and baby gym and play dates with other people’s babies. He now knew how to get baby spit-up out of anything, among other useful skills.

He still wasn’t sure about the “play date” thing. Three month olds mostly lay on a blanket and smiled at each other, but if his wife, both grandmothers, and the pediatrician assured him it was a good thing, he’d make sure it happened for Tessa.

He elbowed his way into the trainers’ room and came to a halt. The room was full of his teammates, the team doctor, and his wife, who advanced on him with arms outstretched. His teammates were applauding. He glanced around at guys who had no problem trying to remove some other guy’s lungs on a football field beaming at his little girl.

“Our little angel,” Derrick said.

“Let me hold her,” Zach called out.

“We got her a present,” one of the guys from the Sharks’ secondary said. They held up a tiny pink bedazzled T-shirt with the Sharks’ logo, pink fleece warm-up pants, and some baby-sized tricked-out football shoes. “We also got her an early admission letter to USC.”

“You do realize I graduated from UCLA,” Drew said.

“Is that so? USC? The University of Washington might have something to say about that,” one of the rookies called out. This started a loud discussion among Drew’s teammates as to where Drew and Kendall’s daughter would matriculate.

Tessa wasn’t ready to commit. She let out a big yawn and squeezed her daddy’s thumb.

“This is going to go fine,” Kendall said. “We’ll be waiting for you when it’s over.” She reached into the baby sling for Tessa. “I’ll take that,” she said as she pulled the sling over his head. She kissed him and whispered, “I love you.”