“Probably.”
“What?”
“I have absolutely no idea.”
She gave me the look Gavin used to give me whenever I was useless during football conversations.
Then a door opened.
Cole Brennan was waiting on the other side.
Maisie stopped walking.
For the first time all day, she was completely silent.
Cole smiled and crouched slightly so he wasn’t towering over her.
“You’re the girl with the sign.”
Maisie nodded.
He looked at it again.
“What was your dad’s name?”
“Gavin.”
Cole’s expression softened.
“He was a big fan?”
“The biggest.”
I laughed quietly.
“That’s unfortunately true.”
Maisie finally smiled.
“He said you were the best receiver on the team even when you dropped easy catches.”
Cole put a hand over his heart.
“That sounds like a loyal man.”
“He yelled at you a lot too.”
“That sounds even more loyal.”
Maisie laughed, and hearing that laugh in a stadium Gavin had always wanted to bring her to nearly broke me.
Cole asked for the football.
Then he pulled a marker from his pocket.
“I usually just sign my name, but I think this one needs something better.”
He wrote slowly across the white panel.
When he handed it back, Maisie read the message.
For Maisie and Gavin — keep watching together.
Her lips trembled.
She hugged the ball against her chest and started crying again.
Cole looked at me with mild panic.
“Did I make it worse?”
I shook my head while wiping my own face.
“Those are good tears.”
Maisie nodded hard.
“The best ones.”
Cole gave her a signed pair of gloves as well, then arranged for us to stand near the tunnel when the team came out.
As players ran past, Maisie screamed until her voice cracked.
For those few minutes, her tears had nothing to do with the accident, the empty chair at home, or all the Sundays she would never have with her dad again.
She was simply eight years old and ridiculously happy.
After the game, we saw Parker near the concourse.
Denise was standing several feet away on her phone.
