Just Play

by Taylor Hart

  He reached forward, taking her hand again. He half-smiled. “It’s okay. We all make our own mistakes.”

  Now the tears came full force. She hated herself for judging him. For shaming him. She felt her body start to shake out more tears. “I was awful to you…I thought…I never realized…” She broke off.

  He was on his feet, around the table, and pulling her up. He tugged her into his arms and then ran his hand down her back. “Oh man, Tiffany Chance, don’t cry.”

  She sucked in a long, shaky breath. “I’ve been so horrible to you.” She tried to get a hold of herself. “I’ve been mad at you for judging me when I judged you so poorly for so many years.”

  He let out a light laugh. “Well, my life has been all over the news. I haven’t had as long to judge you.”

  She laughed. “Stop.”

  He pulled her back, and she felt this thing between them. This attraction. This was something different than she’d ever felt. She wondered, half-hoped, half-feared, that he’d kiss her.

  But he only gave her a slow smile.

  In this moment, she felt brave. “I’m proud of you.”

  He frowned. “Why?”

  “For wanting to marry her and make her an honest woman.”

  At this, he put back his head and roared out a laugh.

  “What?” She squeezed him.

  He shook out another laugh that turned into a sad smile. “Tiffany, I don’t think you realize it wasn’t that I wanted to make her an honest woman. I wanted to make myself an honest man. Then I realized she’d just used me, and…I’ve been ruined ever since.”

  Pulling back from him, she pulled her arms back. She needed some space from him, but she also needed to evaluate what he was saying. “Wait. You mean, you attribute your bad game playing to her?”

  Throwing up his hands, he shrugged. “What can I say? I wrecked my life.” He held out a hand. “I’m not saying it was Sheena’s fault. Believe me, I know I made the poor decisions, but…I haven’t known how to get back to myself.” He sighed. “I’ve even been having these stupid panic attacks sometimes.” His brow creased. “I haven’t had one since I’ve been here though.”

  She studied him, completely baffled that this man was truly this vulnerable. “You have panic attacks? Are you kidding me?”

  “Yes, I know, I keep up a good veneer on the outside.”

  Putting her hands on his hands, she peered deeply into his eyes. “Sam, you are the most talented quarterback I’ve ever watched play.” She pointed at him sternly. “And if you repeat that to Roman, I will deny it. But…” her thoughts went to all the statistics her father used to rattle off. “When you joined the Destroyers I can still hear my father shouting at the television, ‘Put in Dumont! He can see the field. He can see the play before it’s made. Put in Dumont, you idiots!’ And,” she said, gathering more proof, ‘you did win the championship game for them two years ago. That was you, not Roman.”

  The look on Sam’s face, one of complete shock, made her grin. “What, Dumont, you think you’re the only one who can be passionate about someone else’s life?”

  He shook his head and laughed, pulling her into him. “That means a lot.”

  She liked being in his arms, against his solid chest. Looking out over Nashville, in this moment, so many things seemed possible.

  25

  Sam lay awake in bed after sneaking in the back door to Roman’s house. It was nearly four in the morning.

  After holding her for a couple of glorious minutes and staring down at Nashville, he’d gotten a message from the chartered jet company that had told him they needed to get in the air or they wouldn’t be able to leave until tomorrow.

  Sam had asked Tiffany if she just wanted to stay in Nashville for the night. Of course he would pay for separate rooms for both of them, but she’d insisted she had to get back to work the morning shift.

  They’d gotten on the plane and mostly just stared at each other on and off for the whole plane ride back to Salt Lake. It was like they were sharing this magical, insanely romantic moment.

  He’d called ahead, and a car had been waiting to drive them back to Wolfe Creek. They’d spoken about trivial things on the cab ride. As they drove through Ogden, they’d relived some things from the afternoon spent surfing there.

  In the car, he’d held her hand. She hadn’t pulled away or anything when he’d taken it. Oh, he’d wanted to kiss her so badly, but more than anything, he didn’t want to push her.

  So he didn’t do anything more than that.

  Now, he tried to keep his eyes closed, but he was too keyed up, thinking about her, how she smelled, how she felt against him at the concert. He couldn’t believe he was acting like some lovesick kid.

  He didn’t know what to make of it. Everything was uncertain in their lives. Nothing was ever set in contract negotiations until all signatures were on the papers. The Surf could take him or trade him elsewhere.

  So basically he was homeless at the moment.

  His thoughts flitted to Tiffany. She was still so broken from Brett. He could feel it. At the same time, it felt like they’d both crossed this huge, gaping chasm of belief between them while in Nashville.

  He understood her. Her belief in something greater than herself. He wished he felt so convicted. But something that was becoming more and more clear was that his shrink had been right…apologizing to Roman and ‘mending’ the past…had helped his mental state.

  It wasn’t just about Sheena or even Roman. He’d betrayed himself. And making things right with Roman…felt good.

  Smiling, he thought about how he hadn’t taken any situational anti-anxiety medication for a week. That was a big deal for him. He hadn’t needed it because he hadn’t had a panic attack since he’d been in Wolfe Creek.

  Since he wasn’t tired, he checked his email. Then he saw that email—the email that officially told him Miami had agreed to a contract.

  Adrenaline surged through him. He shot up in bed. This was everything he’d wanted.

  He was back, baby! He was going to be the new star of the Miami Surf!

  Settling back down, he thought he heard a baby cry. He jumped out of bed and met Roman in the hall and told him to go back to bed.

  “What?” Roman said sleepily.

  “I got Maddy. You get some sleep,” Sam commanded.

  Twenty minutes, two cans of baby food, and fifty push ups later, Sam finally felt himself kind of winding down. But he couldn’t get Tiffany out of his mind.

  He got Maddy all cleaned up and took her out of her high chair.

  “Gaa,” she said as she hit the carpet with her legs and hands in front of the toys.

  He smiled down at her. Given how late it was, he couldn’t believe that the last thing in the world he wanted to do at the moment was sleep. “Gaa,” he said back.

  Pulling in a big breath, Maddy giggled.

  “You think I’m funny?” He sing songed and sat next to her on the carpet, picking up one of her stuffed animals and jumping it up and down on the carpet. “You’re a happy girl now, aren’t you, Maddy?” He couldn’t stop himself from grinning. He got a contract! He got a contract! It made him feel so good that he had to share it with someone.

  “Gaa,” she said again.

  He checked his running watch on his wrist. It was five fifteen. He thought of Tiffany pulling into the diner and gearing up for an eight-hour shift.

  Part of him felt guilty that he’d kept her out all night. As he remembered their night, his grin grew. Mostly, he felt supremely happy about the time they’d spent together.

  He jumped up and gently padded up the stairs to get his running shoes.

  26

  Tiffany couldn’t believe she didn’t feel at all tired. Going through the morning list of opening chores didn’t bother her at all. She started coffee, said hello to the cook, gave Lou a brief run down of all the side work that she would do—the ketchup bottles she would fill and the silverware that she would roll—before the main
group of customers hit the restaurant.

  Lou had frowned and scrubbed a hand over his face. “What’s wrong with you?”

  They’d been friends in high school. How could they not in Wolfe Creek? But, they weren’t close. They were casual friends. They worked together. He’d been a best friend with Katie’s first husband, but he’d had a thing for Katie for a long, long time. Tiffany knew, even in high school, he’d liked Katie. But he’d never liked Roman. Tiffany could see it in the way he stiffened when Katie and Roman would come in with the family. From what she’d observed, Roman didn’t particularly care for Lou, either. But after she and Katie had buried the hatchet, Lou hadn’t really talked to her about much. He was the suffer in silent type.

  Small towns.

  That’s how it was. People just got used to each other and moved on.

  “You seem…different.” His eyes questioned. “Are you okay? Has this got something to do with Sam Dumont yesterday?”

  “No,” she replied quickly, not wanting to brag about the fact she’d just had pretty much the best night of her life. She also did not want to explain that Sam Dumont was nothing like she’d thought he was.

  He looked her up and down doubtfully. “Well, then get to work.” He waved her away.

  Normally, she would have given him a sarcastic look or something, but she rushed away smiling.

  Ding.

  Looking up from the ketchup bottles, she saw ‘The Wanderers’ walking through the door.

  Her heart leapt. “Hey.”

  Joe, the lead singer/guitarists, grinned at her.

  Her heart fluttered and she took in the two gage’s in Joe’s ears and the spiked overly highlighted blonde hair, that was longer on top and shaved on the sides. “We heard this was your shift.”

  Letting out a laugh, she went over to them.

  “Sup, Tiff?” Eric, the drummer offered, putting out his fist. Eric had long hair and a tattoo of a butterfly on the side of his cheek, complimented with the heavy eyeliner.

  She grinned and knuckle bumped him back. “Hey.”

  Luke, the tall and lanky, Rolling Stone t-shirt wearing keyboarder patted her on the back. “How are ya?” His hair was jet black and he also wore eyeliner, but he had a six inch Mohawk.

  Grinning, she blinked, not understanding why they were there. “You guys want some breakfast?”

  Joe nodded. “Let’s sit.”

  She grabbed some menus and took them to a booth. After they sat, she laid out the menus and waited.

  Joe looked at her with serious eyes. “We’ve been offered an official opening spot for the Iron Stix. That country-rock band. Have you heard of them? They recently sky rocketed on the charts. They’re from that little town, I think…” he hesitated, then snapped his fingers. “From Snow Valley, Montana. Do you know who I’m talking about?”

  “Oh.” Her mind was humming fast. “The Real Thing, is that their song?”

  Eric nodded and gave Luke a high five. “Yeah, baby, best song ever. But it does sound like a book title or something.”

  Tiffany waited, her heart rate spiking.

  “Anyway,” Joe continued, “they saw all of us perform the other night at MacCools and they only want us if they can have you, too.” His teeth flashed white and his smile stretched wide. “So what do you say? Join the band? Come on tour? This is our shot.”

  Nodding quickly, Luke shoved out his bottom lip. “Come on, Tiff, we need your voice.”

  Eric pretended to drum the table. “You make us rock, sista!” He winked at her.

  She blanched, trying to take all of this in.

  Joe put up two fingers. “After the first two month tour, if it doesn’t work out, if you want out, no hard feelings.”

  Two months. Her mouth went dry. It sounded risky. She thought of her mama, but she knew, deep down, Mama would be fine. Sam had been right…she was afraid.

  She was.

  For a second, she couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t think. She could hardly get two sentences strung together to answer him, but as it turned out, all she needed was two words.

  Then she grinned. “I’m in.”

  27

  Sam ran up the hill toward the diner, already loving the familiar coffee smell that wafted out. He was even gonna be crazy today and not even eat eggs for the protein—he would go straight carbed out pancakes.

  All kinds of outrageous thoughts and plans about him and Tiffany had been circling in his mind.

  If she didn’t want to be a country star, that was none of his business. One thing he had determined was that he wanted her in his life.

  Maybe she would come to Miami with him, but he assumed she would want to take things slow. He could do that and was, in fact, prepared for it.

  He had too many thoughts. Too many dreams. Too many things he unexpectedly wanted with her.

  And he was still scared. Terrified. Of himself more than anything else. He didn’t trust himself after what he’d done to Roman, and he really didn’t trust his heart. But…it was good to want something good. Maybe. Right? He shook off the doubt and focused on how he’d felt with her last night. The words from a song came to his mind, ‘if that’s wrong, then I don’t want to be right.’

  Grinning to himself, he picked up the stroller, carried it up the steps, and opened the door. He loved the sound of the chime signaling their arrival. Gently setting Maddy down, he smiled at her. “Today we’ll get to finish all the pancakes, okay.”

  Immediately, he scanned for Tiffany, but he only saw the two old men he’d seen the day before, sitting like sentinels guarding a castle. Both of them were eyeing him with almost threatening gazes, letting him know they wouldn’t put up with trouble in their diner. He grinned at them. “Hey there.” Man, this town was beginning to grow on him.

  He didn’t go to the breakfast bar today. Instead he sat down with Maddy at a booth next to the window that overlooked the mountain. He had just finished buckling Maddy into the high chair when Tiffany came from the back of the restaurant. A huge grin on her face.

  “Sam!”

  Surprised, at her reaction, but not at all disappointed, he laughed and opened his arms.

  She rushed into them and let out a giggle. “This is so crazy.”

  He pulled back, evaluating her. “What’s going on?”

  He loved the way she was holding him, but he was definitely confused.

  Jerking back from him, she looked all out of sorts. “You’re not going to believe what I just did.” She hesitated and then let out another laugh, putting her hand to her mouth and shaking her head.

  Her eyes were raw with emotion and he knew he would burst if she didn’t tell him what was going on. “Spill it.” He commanded.

  She laughed, and her eyes fluttered as she swiped a piece of hair out of her face. “So that band from MacCools the other night, the one you hired, was here just a few minutes ago and guess what?”

  “What?” He could feel her trembling. He was getting more nervous.

  “They got offered an opening spot with Iron-Stix, but only if I join as their lead singer.” She let out a puff of breath and grinned. “So they asked me to come and I said yes.”

  This had not been the news he expected, but warmth filled him. “Are you serious?”

  She rapidly blinked. “Can you believe it?” Tears filled her eyes. “I thought about what you said, about being afraid. And I thought about how your father said ‘just play,’ and I want to do that. I want to just play my music. I want to be like you. The way you don’t quit. Even when it’s hard.” She broke into a grin as the tears spilled down her cheeks. “I don’t think I told you that I totally admire that about you.” She laughed.

  “Wow.” He pulled her in, hugging her. “That’s amazing. You’re…amazing.”

  She pushed back. “Do you really think so?”

  He loved the way she looked so vulnerable and beautiful and happy. He grinned. “Of course I do. That’s why I got so frustrated with you when you wouldn’t take a chan
ce…Chance.”

  She let out a light laugh and hugged him, then pulled back. “Oh man, I have so much to do.” She shook her head. “We leave tomorrow.”

  “Tomorrow?” If he were to describe this surprise in football terms he would have to say this would be like getting sacked by a kicker during a play. It sounded that improbable.

  Her face held excitement and expectation and worry all rolled into one, and she was waiting for his reaction.

  He recovered from the shock. “I’m really happy for you.” She was going to live her dream. He covered his disappointment that she was leaving so soon by picking her up in a big bear hug. “Woot! Ladies and gentleman, I give you Tiffany Chance—famous Country Western Singer!” He put her down and cupped his hands around his mouth and made a stadium noise.

  Her face burned red, and she laughed, hitting his shoulder in embarrassment.

  The old men looked at him curiously with smiles on their faces now.

  She laughed even louder.

  “What’s going on?” Lou rushed out.

  Tiffany turned to Lou with a big grin on her face. “I’m quitting, Lou.”

  Looking baffled, he scowled at Dumont. “What did you do?”

  She laughed again and peeled off the apron. “It’s not him, Lou. It’s me.”

  He looked dumbfounded. “Why?”

  She grinned and moved to Sam. “I’m going on tour. And,” she said with a mischievous look in her eye, “I’ll be joining Sam and Maddy for breakfast, and we’d like pancakes.”

  Sam stared at her and wondered how he’d fallen in love…in only two days? He grinned. “Yes, let’s eat pancakes.”

  28

  Tiffany sat across from Sam, shoving in another bite of pancake and starting to feel sick from carb overload, but she couldn’t stop herself from laughing at another one of Sam’s silly impressions he was doing for Maddy.