by Tim Green
“You don’t think Georgia will do the same thing to me?” Ty asked.
“I doubt it,” Coach Bavaro said.
“Why?”
Coach Bavaro looked up into the stands himself, and Ty knew that he was looking at Troy White. “Thing is, I don’t know if they’re going to think they have to double-cover you or anybody. Not with that kid up there.”
“Troy White?”
Bavaro nodded.
“You think he’s for real?” Ty asked.
“I know he is.”
Chapter Fifty-two
AFTER THE RAPTORS’ VICTORY, Coach Bavaro insisted the entire team stay and watch the other semifinal game.
“We’ll dig into the film tonight,” Bavaro said, “but I want you guys to see them in real time. Watch the guys who you’re going to have to cover, or the guys who’ll be covering you. It’s great that we’re playing on Super Bowl Sunday, but boys, there’s only one team in the whole country that gets to go home a winner, and that’s gonna be us.”
There was time before the next game, and one of the coaches showed up with several boxes of pizza and a couple of cases of soda. The team members and their families found a spot on one of the practice fields, where they ate their lunch and reveled in their victory.
“You know we’re going to be on ESPN Two?” David Bavaro asked several of the players.
Ty felt the thrill of being on TV, then remembered there really wasn’t anyone who would watch for him. He had a fleeting notion of trying to get word to Charlotte. She’d watch, but Charlotte was living another life in another city, someplace Ty would never see. He looked over at his brother, who was swapping football stories with Coach Bavaro and Michael Strahan, and his heart ached. It was just the two of them. That was all it would ever be, and although Ty was eternally grateful to have his brother, Thane, it somehow seemed unsafe to have an entire family made up of only two people. It seemed like a lot of pressure, maybe too much to be healthy.
Ty sighed and got to his feet, wandering over toward the fence, from which he could see the Georgia team already warming up against their opponents from Dallas. Receivers ran deep passing routes while Troy dropped perfect bombs into their hands.
David Bavaro joined him at the fence. “You think Dallas can beat them?”
Ty shrugged. “Anybody can beat anybody, right? That’s why you play the game.”
“True,” Bavaro said.
Soon the others were ready, and the team moved back into the stands to watch. The stands filled steadily until not a seat remained and the crowd spilled around the edges of the field outside the fence. The wind picked up as the Georgia offense took the field. Dallas was bigger and faster, and they hung on all the way until the end, when Troy ripped off three unanswered touchdown passes in a row.
After the final whistle, the Georgia team raised Troy up on their shoulders and marched around the field chanting, “Super Sunday, Super Sunday, Super Sunday.” Ty looked at Coach Bavaro’s face, unmoving as a statue’s until he blinked and got up out of his seat, turning to the team. “Guys, you take the rest of the day off, and let us get this film broken down. We’ve got all day tomorrow to get ready for Sunday. We’ll start early with film at eight and then practice after lunch. Make sure you get yourselves to bed tonight at a decent hour. Okay, see you tomorrow morning at eight. Congratulations.”
Ty and Thane returned to the hotel and changed into their bathing suits.
“Should I bring a ball?” Thane asked.
“Nah,” Ty said, showing him a book. “Let’s just sit by the pool.”
“Okay. You deserve a rest.” Thane swapped his football for a book on the bedside table.
They rode down in the elevator with a couple of teammates and their parents, and everyone still chattered excitedly about the next day and playing on TV. The pool area was crowded and noisy, but Thane spotted a couple of chairs over by the beach. As they spread some towels on the chairs, Ty saw Tate by the pool. There was a chair next to her with a towel on it, but Tate was alone. Finally.
Ty lost his breath, but he bit into his lower lip and told Thane he’d be back in a few minutes.
Thane looked in the direction Ty was staring and said, “Oh, I get it. Good. Go for it, buddy.”
Ty wanted to ask her if she’d friend him on Facebook. There was something about her that made Ty determined to override his fear of her saying no.
He circled the pool without her seeing him. She lay much as she had four days ago, with sunglasses on, listening to an iPod.
Ty walked right up to her.
He stood at the bottom of her chair. His shadow darkened her face. Tate removed her sunglasses and sat up.
Chapter Fifty-three
“TY. HOW ARE YOU?”
“Good.” Ty’s tongue tangled and nothing more came out. Everything he thought of saying, everything he wanted to ask her, now seemed foolish and lame.
“So, what are you doing?” Tate shielded her eyes from the sun with one hand.
Ty shrugged. He stuffed his hands into the pockets of his bathing suit and looked down at his feet. Tate laughed softly, and he looked up at her.
“You’re just standing there,” she said.
Ty swallowed and cleared his throat, summoning up all his courage, knowing that this might be his last chance. Tomorrow he would be practicing all day and then Sunday morning was the 7-on-7 championship. After that, the Super Bowl itself. Things would be crazy and people would be everywhere. Tate might be traveling with the team, for all Ty knew, and she might be headed home on a charter flight right after the big game. If he didn’t say something now, he might never see her again for the rest of his life and he was sure he’d always regret that, no matter what happened.
“I . . .” Ty began to speak, but stopped when he realized someone now stood beside him.
“Hey,” Troy said, and not in a friendly way. “What’s up?”
“We were just talking,” Tate said.
Ty looked from Troy to Tate and back again.
“Look what I got, Tate,” Troy said, holding up two big tickets. “Platinum tickets for the Falcons VIP party tonight. Toby Keith and Beyoncé are going to be there. How good is that?”
“Wow.” Tate swung her legs off the chair and stood up to take one of the tickets. “This is so cool.”
“I know, and Beyoncé is going to do a sound check in about ten minutes. If we show them these tickets, we can watch. You want to?”
“Awesome,” Tate said, then she looked at Ty and smiled. “If I don’t see you, I hope you do good Sunday, Ty. Even though you know how I think it’ll turn out. It was nice meeting you.”
“Yeah.” Troy acted like a puppet with someone else pulling the strings when he extended his hand to shake Ty’s. “Good luck, Ty. Nice meeting you. Maybe I’ll see you up in New York.”
Ty said nothing as he watched them gather up their things. Tate waved again and said good-bye before heading for the hotel, and still, all Ty could do was silently return the wave. When they disappeared from sight, Ty shuffled back to where Thane sat.
“How’d it go?” Thane lay back in his chair, facing the sun. Only his lips moved, and it sounded like he might have dozed off.
Ty sat down in the chair next to his brother and put his face into his hands.
“What’s wrong?” Thane asked. “Everything okay?”
“Thane, do you think there’s any way you could get tickets for the Falcons VIP party tonight?”
“That platinum ticket thing?” Thane asked.
“I guess.”
“Man, Ty,” Thane said, scratching his ear, “that’s just for the Falcons and a couple of real big shots. I heard Beyoncé is going to be there.”
“I know. Can you?”
“I doubt it.”
Ty bit into his lower lip.
“But, for you? I’ll sure try.”
Chapter Fifty-four
THANE STARTED DIALING UP friends and acquaintances. He called his agent. He called
teammates. He called players he knew from college all-star teams, and even a couple of people in the media. No one had platinum tickets. Finally, Thane snapped his phone shut and shrugged.
“I don’t know, buddy. Sorry.”
Ty tried not to let his disappointment show. He tried to cling to the hope that he’d somehow see Tate during the day tomorrow, or after the championship game, even though he knew it was highly unlikely. Even if he did, chances were they wouldn’t be able to talk.
“Maybe I’ll just hang out in the lobby and see if I see anyone there,” Thane said.
“Want me to come?” Ty asked.
“No, I’m better alone. You just sit.”
Thane left Ty alone with his book, but Ty couldn’t concentrate. He kept looking at his watch and wondering what Thane was doing. He looked around the pool himself, desperate for a face he might know who could possibly have extra tickets. The more time went by, the more desperate Ty began to feel. Finally, he took out his phone, looked in his contacts for Agent Sutherland, and dialed his cell phone.
“Ty Lewis?” Agent Sutherland said.
“Hi, Agent Sutherland. Yes, it’s me. I’m sorry to call you.”
“Ty, I told your brother: I have no idea if the Blade is in Miami. You didn’t think you saw him again, did you?”
“No, I’m not calling about that.”
“No? Oh. What’s up?”
“Well, you’re down here in Miami for the game, right?”
“Yes.”
“You aren’t by chance going to that platinum party with Beyoncé, are you?”
Sutherland snorted and laughed. “Are you kidding? How would I be going to that?”
“I thought the FBI might be doing, like, security or something.”
“It’s Beyoncé, not the president.”
Ty felt silly. “Oh.”
Sutherland laughed again. “Tell your brother again how much I appreciate the tickets, will you? Sorry I couldn’t help, Ty.”
“I’ll tell him, but, uh, Agent Sutherland? Do you think we could keep this conversation between you and me? I feel kind of stupid.”
“You got it,” Sutherland said, “and the only stupid question is the one you don’t ask. That’s what I always say. You keep your eyes open, Ty.”
“What do you mean? Why?”
“I don’t mean anything. Just an expression.”
Ty thanked him and hung up, just as Thane appeared, circling the pool and heading his way. Thane flopped down in his chair and folded his arms across his chest. He wore an expression Ty just couldn’t read.
Ty asked, “Well?”
Chapter Fifty-five
THANE REACHED INTO THE deep side pocket of his bathing suit and flipped two glimmering tickets into view.
“You got them!” Ty jumped right up out of his seat. He high-fived Thane over and over, alternating one hand and the other.
“Easy, easy.” Thane laughed.
Ty stopped and took the tickets and examined them. “How?”
“I wasn’t kidding when I told you there was no way I could get them, but who did I see in the lobby? Mr. Cole.”
“The owner?”
Thane nodded. “He pulled them out of his coat pocket like they were two sticks of chewing gum and gave them to me like nothing.”
“You’re kidding!”
“Yeah, I guess his wife—you know his wife’s the big singer, Helena, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Yeah, well, I guess her plane got stuck in Europe somewhere and she can’t make it back for the party. He told me he just got off the phone with her and he didn’t want to go alone. How about that for luck?”
“It’s great.” Ty couldn’t keep from beaming.
“We’ll have to get you something fancy to wear.”
Ty looked down at his faded bathing suit. “I thought we didn’t care what we looked like.”
“Not usually,” Thane said. “But this is really big.”
“Brett Favre was really big.”
“Not like Beyoncé, though.”
“He is to me.”
“Well, I’ll tell Favre when I see him, or you can. Anyway, let’s go get something so we look the part. I don’t want us using the owner’s tickets and showing up looking like Uncle Gus.”
“We never look like him.”
“But you know what I’m getting at. Look, see?” Thane pointed to the ticket. “It says ‘formal attire’—that’s a suit and tie. Come on, we’ll go to that Weston Town Center. They’ll have something there, I think. We’ll arrive in style.”
They changed out of their bathing suits and went to the Weston Town Center, where they bought clothes Ty normally thought of as stiff and uncomfortable, but weren’t.
“I can’t believe how this feels,” Ty said that evening as they got ready for the party. He smoothed the leg of his pants and tugged on a jacket sleeve. “I always thought a suit and tie was like getting wrapped up in sandpaper and duct tape.”
Thane laughed and fidgeted with his tie in the mirror. “When you get the right stuff, it’s supposed to be comfortable. Mom just bought whatever was on sale at Marshalls and stuck us in it. Didn’t hurt us any, though, did it?”
Ty’s throat tightened at the mention of their mom. He could almost smell the strawberry shampoo she always used and feel her long, cool fingers against his cheek. The room was silent for a minute before Thane said, “Sorry. I know you miss them.”
“Don’t you?”
Thane crossed the room and hugged Ty to him, resting his chin on Ty’s head. “Sometimes I forget they’re gone. Sometimes I think that’s a good thing, just pretending that it never happened.”
“I wish it didn’t.” Ty felt the tears welling up in his eyes.
Thane squeezed him even tighter. “I know, buddy. I know.”
Thane separated from Ty and put his hands on Ty’s shoulders. “She’d be proud of us now, though, right? You and me decked out like a couple of GQ models?”
Ty had to laugh. Any time they’d complained about the clothes they were given growing up, their mom had always responded by saying, “What do you think you are, a GQ model or something? Just wear it.”
Thane turned Ty around so that they both faced the mirror in their dressy clothes.
“We look good,” Ty said.
“So, let’s go.” Thane clapped his hands.
Chapter Fifty-six
THE ELEVATOR WAS FILLED with people dressed for the party as well, women in glittering gowns and men in tuxedos. Ty looked at his own yellow necktie and straightened it a bit. Thane winked at him and grinned. They moved with the fancy crowd through the hotel lobby and toward the entrance to the gardens. Ty hadn’t seen them before, but he was impressed when they walked outside and down a red carpet. A fat yellow moon looked down from above. Only a tatter of ghostly clouds blotted the stars. Towering on either side of the garden entrance were spiral bushes reaching for the night sky. The rest of the hedges had been cut so tightly that it was hard to imagine they were real. Flowers along the path exploded with color.
Thane presented their tickets and in they went, through an archway woven with yellow roses perfuming the warm, gentle breeze. At the center of everything was a long and narrow reflecting pool. Beyond it, maybe twenty tables with chairs draped in white fabric. Beyond that was a stage whose backdrop looked like an enormous seashell. Different-colored lights shone on the spot where Ty presumed Beyoncé and Toby Keith would play. Off to one side, a woman sat strumming a harp. The peaceful notes seemed to float on the breeze. Grass as smooth and thick as carpet bordered the reflecting pool. A bar for drinks flanked either side, backed up by more hedges and trees beyond that.
“Let’s look around,” Thane said, and Ty followed.
Pathways of small white stones ran throughout the garden, where statues and gurgling fountains stood among jungle trees, rainforest flowers, and twisty shrubs. The sights and smells and sounds made Ty pinch himself. They wandered through the gardens, run
ning into random pairs of people. Some were obviously Falcons players. Jon Abraham appeared and recognized Thane, calling him Tiger as most people did. Thane introduced Ty, and his hand disappeared inside the defensive end’s grip. They kept going but saw no sign of Tate.
Finally, they emerged through an opening in the hedge along the reflecting pool just beside one of the bars.
“You want a soda or something?” Thane asked.
“I guess,” Ty said.
“Okay, I’ll be back.” Thane disappeared into the little crowd of people at the bar.
Ty turned away and looked at the people along his side of the pool, and that was when he saw Tate.
She looked very pretty with her hair piled up atop her head and woven with small white flowers. On either side of her stood Troy and Troy’s mom. Ty felt a different kind of lump in his throat from the one he’d had over his mother. Ty waited and watched through the crowd. When Troy’s mom and Tate began talking to what looked like a Falcons player and Troy began talking to a man who looked like a coach, Ty made his move.
He left his spot and walked right up to Tate and tapped her shoulder. “Hi. Hey, in case I don’t see you, I wanted to ask if I could friend you on Facebook. Maybe I could even get your cell phone number.”
Tate turned her head. Her mouth fell open like she didn’t know what to say.
“Can I have your number?” Ty persisted.
Tate told him her number, speaking over her shoulder, and Ty punched it into his phone with great satisfaction even though Tate had already turned her attention back to the player.
Troy turned away from the coach he’d been talking to and stared at Ty in disbelief for a moment before he asked, “What did you just say to her?”
Chapter Fifty-seven
TY DIDN’T GET A chance to answer.
Before he could squeeze a single word from his mouth, Troy’s eyes slipped past Ty and his face lost all expression. Ty recalled the look Troy had worn in the restaurant on Lincoln Road. Troy sprang forward so quickly that Ty winced.
