“Let’s win this,” he said to us, and then he nodded his head at me. “Some of us have a girl to impress.” A few of the guys thumped me on the helmet, making smart-ass remarks that I took with the goofiest grin I’d ever worn stretching my face. They could hound on me all they wanted to. Nothing could get to me, not now that she was here. We clapped our hands and sprinted to our spots on the line with seven seconds left on the play clock. Just before the ball was snapped, I looked back up to Mary in the stands. She had my number on her chest. And my heart in her hands.
