“Soon, I’ll be back soon,” was what I finally ended up saying.
“Good,” she told me and then there was a slight pause. “I’m proud of you, hon. You know that, right?”
I was speechless. My mother had never acknowledged how hard I had worked to get where I was, let alone told me that she was proud of me. I felt my throat grow tight. Suddenly I missed her terribly. No matter what, she was always there for me. And she always gave the best hugs when I was upset. And I really could have used a hug at the moment.
“Thanks, Mama,” I told her, rushing through the words before I could start crying.
“Now go write that fancy-assed article,” she told me and hung up.
I looked at the phone in my hand and laughed. It wasn’t the kind of pep talk I would have given myself, but it certainly didn’t hurt.
There had been no texts or calls from Tim that day, which I could only assume meant that he had run out of sources. Either he would give up and head back to Houston after the game tomorrow—unlikely—or he was out hunting for more people to give him dirt on Nathan. I was grateful to have a break from him but the silence made me a little nervous.
At least it gave me time to work on my own article. I was really pleased with what I had so far and was starting to look forward to presenting it to Mike. I knew he was going to give me a lecture for not sticking with the original assignment, but I hoped that Tim’s article would give him enough on Nathan that he would be able to appreciate my forward thinking. I was also hoping that Tim’s article on Nathan would be so boring and lacking in drama that it would get pulled. I doubted I would be so lucky, but a girl could hope, couldn’t she?
I hadn’t heard from Nathan all morning, though, and I was starting to get a little bummed out when there was a knock at the door. A glance through the peephole showed the kid from the front desk, Greg.
“Hi.” I opened the door, curious as to what he needed. He had a huge box under his arm and a hand behind his back.
“Afternoon, Ms. Hall,” he said, his strong Texas drawl as adorable as ever.
“You can call me, Sophie,” I told him. “I’ve been here long enough for that, I think.”
He grinned at me. “Well, this was dropped off for you and I thought I’d bring it up.” From behind his back he pulled out a bundle of beautiful red roses and laid it on top of the box, which he then handed to me.
I was dumbstruck, but before I could ask who had sent them, or even reach into my pocket for a tip, he was already halfway down the hall.
“Thanks!” I called out to him.
“See you at the game tomorrow,” he responded with a big smile before disappearing into the elevator.
For a moment I wondered how he knew I was going to the game and then I remembered that it was Texas and everyone was going to the game. Besides, he had probably figured out I was a journalist. My mom had worked in a hotel for a while, she told me that people always ignored the staff, which was a dumb idea, because they saw everything. You couldn’t keep a secret from cleaning ladies and busboys that was for sure.
My face went hot at the realization that they had probably seen Nathan coming and going from my room a couple of times now and had made their own—fairly correct—assumptions that something was going on between the two of us. No doubt I was the subject of gossip downstairs. I thought of my last encounter with Nathan and grinned. If I had my way, I’d make sure to really give them something to talk about.
I realized that I was still standing in the hallway with a box and a huge bouquet of flowers, so I quickly ducked back into my room to examine my surprise gifts in peace. I didn’t have a vase, but I figured an ice bucket would do for the roses, though it hardly did them justice. I couldn’t remember the last time someone had sent me flowers. I had been lucky if Nick had saved me a cookie when we shared a box in front of the TV during our date nights.
There was no card with the flowers, so I figured the box was going to hold all the answers. Boxes usually did. They also usually held presents. I liked presents. I was human, after all. It was packed with orange tissue paper, and I had to dig to find anything, but once I did, I discovered the box held an envelope and a jersey. A Longhorns jersey with Nathan’s number on the back.
I opened the card.
Sophie,
Please come to the game tomorrow. Here’s a ticket so you can watch the game in my box with my family. They’re nice folk and I’m sure they’ll tell you plenty of embarrassing stories that they’ll be happy to share ‘on the record.’ I’ll be looking out for you during the game and hopefully afterwards as well.
Nathan
Chapter Twenty-Six
I tugged on my jersey nervously. The stadium was packed and overflowing with orange Longhorn memorabilia. Everyone was cheering and the game hadn’t even started yet. The excitement seemed to buzz all around me.
Down near the field, in the seats designated for players’ family and friends, I saw a row of dark hair that I could only assume belonged to Nathan’s family. Like everyone else, they were dressed in Longhorns colors. His sisters had ribbons in their hair, and they all wore matching jerseys, like mine, that had Nathan’s name and number across the back. Sitting behind them, to my relief, was Mandy, wearing Chris’ number, talking to who I could only assume was Nathan’s father.
For a moment, I thought about turning around and going up to the press box where Tim was. Or back to the hotel. Or back to Houston. What was I doing? I didn’t belong here in Nathan’s special section with his family, wearing his jersey. This was crazy. This was moving too fast.
But before I could turn around, Mandy spotted me.
“Sophie!” she cried out and every member of the Ryder family swiveled their head to find me. I gave a nervous wave and began my way down towards the field, my stomach twisting in knots. The closer I got, the more out of place I felt. Yes, we were all wearing the same shirt, but all of Nathan’s sisters looked far more put together than I ever had in my life. Their jeans were expensive, as was their jewelry. I was pretty sure his mom had just come from the hairdresser. Even his dad looked well-to-do, wearing a fancy watch on his wrist. They all stood when I approached the aisle and I saw, with horror, that they had saved me the spot in the very middle of all of them. Oh great, being surrounded by such majestic creatures was going to do wonders for my self-esteem.
“We were wondering when you’d get here.” Nathan’s mother was the first to greet me and gave me a big hug. Her perfume smelled lovely. And expensive.
“It’s so nice to meet you, Mrs. Ryder,” I said. “Mr. Ryder.”
“Oh please.” She let out a twinkly little laugh. She looked like she could have been one of Nathan’s sisters, her hair still chestnut brown and her face barely lined. “You can call me Sara.”
“And call me Matt,” Nathan’s dad said, looking like an older, more distinguished version of his son, with some gray in his hair and a few wrinkles around his eyes.
“This is Robin, Maureen, and Brandi,” Sara introduced Nathan’s sisters. From what Nathan had told me, he was the baby by about four years. Robin was the eldest, a doctor, then came Maureen, the lawyer, and then Brandi, the big-time editor, who had flown in from New York to be there. All of them had the Ryder green eyes and dark hair, though they shared their mother’s petite build, while Nathan had inherited his dad’s broad shoulders and height.
“Nathan’s told us a lot about you,” Brandi said, patting the seat next her. I sat down, feeling nervous as hell as all five Ryders stared at me.