Hello Quarterback (Hello #8)

36. Mia

36

MIA

There he went, holding my hand again.

The way his hand enveloped mine, all warm with rough callouses, strong, it was the best. I hadn’t felt this way about a man in so long, and here Ford was, making my heart go crazy just by lacing his fingers with mine.

I tried to enjoy it, live in the moment like I rarely allowed myself to do, but my brain was going crazy, wondering where we stood. He'd met my parents and said that I was meeting his family this weekend. That had to mean something, right?

The more analytical, logical side of myself reminded me that our agreement would soon reach its expiration date. The football season was just a few months from being over, and the board would vote on the Andersen sister acquisition in just a couple weeks.

“What are you thinking about?” he asked. We were somewhere between Dallas and Cottonwood Falls, nothing but short grass prairies and gently rolling hills passing out the window. Every so often, an oil derrick broke up the prairie, beating its rhythm—a reminder that business never sleeps.

I looked away from the countryside and back to him. “It’s been fun getting to know you,” I said, squeezing his hand.

He smiled over at me, lifting my hand to his lips. “I’m glad it was you.”

My heart did a somersault at his words. “Me too.”

It was on the tip of my tongue to ask him if we were a couple, officially. The right answer could put me on the moon. The wrong answer would lead to a very awkward weekend.

So I promised myself that I would ask him on the way back home, when I had a chance to escape back to my house and not have to play nice with his family with a broken heart.

We rode in silence for a moment before I said, “What should I know about your family?”

He seemed to contemplate it. “How do you mean?”

I shifted in my seat, hooking my feet in the door pocket and asking, “Is there a word everyone hates? Or topics I should steer clear of?”

“Maybe I should warn you... I don’t know.”

I straightened in my seat. “Warn me about what?”

He glanced at me before looking back at the highway. “So there’s this pig...”

I let out a laugh. “ What? ” That was the last thing I was expecting to hear.

“It’s a thing. My brother Knox is a real prankster. And he and his friends are always releasing a pig at the least opportune times. In fact, it made an appearance at Knox and Larkin’s wedding. I spent half an hour trying to chase that thing away.”

I giggled, picturing it.

“I'm lucky it didn't make national news,” he retorted. “And just so you know, Hayes will probably try to charm the panties off you. He thinks you’re hot.”

My eyebrows raised at that. “What? He does?”

He chuckled. “You'll know him when you see him,” he said. “He’s a real ladies’ man. Rolling stone, that kind of thing. But he’s a good guy under it all.”

“Does your family know...” I began.

“That it’s fake?” He looked sadly at the road ahead of us. “No, Sunflower, they don’t.”

We were quiet for a moment, heaviness settling between us, our linked hands connecting us through it all. I kept watching out the window, seeing horses, cows, sometimes goats or llamas in passing pastures. Then the speed limit reduced, and I saw the sign...

Welcome to Cottonwood Falls.

I smiled, knowing how much Farrah loved it here. It felt special to be visiting this town too, another way we were connected.

It wasn’t a big town, so just moments later, we were turning off the blacktop, going onto a dirt road. The side mirrors showed dust billowing behind us, clouding out the bright blue sky.

I imagined Ford as a kid, riding a big yellow school bus home from school. Or a teen, driving his truck down these dirt roads. He must have been popular with the girls in high school...

“Were you the homecoming king?” I asked.

He gave me a sheepish smile.

I let out a laugh. “I knew it.”

“Were you homecoming royalty?” he asked me.

“Me? I was too cool for that.” I laughed. I wasn’t interested in vanity titles, even as a teen. “I was student body president, though.”

“Of course you were.” He chuckled.

I grinned over at him.

He slowed the truck and pointed ahead at a sign hanging over a turnoff. The metal letters said GRIFFEN FARMS. “That’s the way to Gage’s family’s farm. They have cattle, but they grow some crops as well.”

A little farther ahead there was another turnoff. This sign said MADIGAN RANCH.

I smiled up at it, knowing how special this place was to Ford. It wasn’t lost on me that he was taking me to his home, letting me meet his family. Regardless of our title or status as a couple, he was showing me that I was special to him. That meant a lot.

He steered us under the sign, and then we started on a dirt road that led up a hill. On either side of the road, I saw black cattle grazing in the pasture, and I realized why he said it was the most beautiful place on earth.

You could see for miles, nothing interrupting your view.

It wasn’t a mountain range or miles of sandy white beach but...

“This is home,” he said.

We had crested the hill, and a home came into view. A white farmhouse with clapboard sides and dark blue trim and...

Hundreds of yellow sunflowers.