Playing to Win

judging you on your family and how you relate to them. Seeing you with your parents and your sister helps me formulate your image in a much better way than just reading a paper bio. It’s more three-dimensional. I can’t help your future without knowing about your past.”
    “If you have questions about my past, just ask.”
    “All right. Tell me how you got started in football.”
    “That’s all in my bio.”
    “It’s more engaging coming from you.”
    “Pee Wee league. I was five.”
    She took a seat at the center island. “You played every year?”
    “Yeah. I loved it. It was physical and loud and I was always a fast runner. My parents said I had all this excess energy. Which in parent speak means I was an unruly pain in the ass. Football gave me an outlet for it.”
    She could picture him as a rambunctious kid. “I imagine it would. What did you do when it wasn’t football season?”
    He quirked a smile. “Mostly got in trouble.”
    She laughed. “I see. Did you play any other sports?”
    “Yeah. When my parents figured out that sports equaled the outlet I needed, they signed me up for soccer and baseball, too. I didn’t like those as much as football, but it was something to do to pass the time until football started up again.”
    “We have photo albums with all of his sports photos. Would you like to see them?”
    Savannah turned around to see Cara coming in to refill the iced tea pitcher. “I’d love to.”
    Cole frowned. “Mom. No. Don’t drag out the old albums.”
    Cara waved her hand at him, grabbed another pitcher of tea, and started toward the doorway. “Oh, come on. What fun is it to be your mother if I can’t embarrass you?”
    Curious, Savannah slid off the stool and followed Cara into the family room. Alicia and Jack were playing a card game. Alicia looked up when Cara crouched down and opened up the lower cabinet of the bookshelf.
    “Oh, god, Mom, not the photo albums.”
    “Yes. I’m going to show Savannah the ones of Cole when he was younger and in sports.”
    Alicia cast Cole a sympathetic look as he trailed in. “Sorry, dude.”
    Cole grimaced at Savannah. “I hate when she does this.”
    “Have a seat on the sofa,” Cara said, then took a spot next to her and laid one of the thick photo albums on her lap. “This is Cole playing Pee Wee football. His first year. He was five.”
    Savannah watched the pride cross Cara’s face as she flipped the pages, stopping every now and then to smile and lay her hand on a photo of Cole when he was small.
    Oh, heavens. Savannah was struck with such a fierce sense of longing. This was a mother’s love, a mother’s pride in her child. So this was what it was like.
    She hadn’t known, had never felt it. Her heart ached with wanting something she’d never had—would never have. She was shocked when tears burned her eyes. She hurriedly blinked them back and shook off the melancholy. This wasn’t about her. This was about Cole.
    Focus on Cole and stop feeling sorry for yourself.
    She returned her gaze to the photo album, concentrating on the pictures as Cara turned the pages.
    Cole was adorable as a kid, with dark shaggy hair, kneeling for the cheesy photo with his helmet in his hand and a wide grin.
    “You were so cute,” Savannah said.
    Cole, who’d taken a seat across from her, said, “So, you’re saying I’m not cute now?”
    No, he was definitely not cute. More like devastatingly handsome. “I didn’t say that.”
    Cara flipped through the pages and Savannah got to see Cole progress from year to year. It was amazing to see his growth spurts, from adorable child to losing his teeth to adolescence to his high school photos. In college, he’d added more muscle—and even more good looks.
    She lifted her gaze to his. “Didn’t you ever have an ugly phase?”
    “No,” Alicia answered. “It’s disgusting. He’s always been perfect and beautiful. I, on the other hand, had braces and acne and was chubby.”
    Cole laughed. “That’s true. You did. You were lucky to have me as your older brother. It’s the only thing that saved your social life in high school.”
    “Yeah, thanks. Didn’t help me much with the guys, though. They still weren’t interested in dating me.”
    “Not until you grew boobs and lost the baby fat.”
    “And by then I wasn’t interested in them because they were all egotistical, single-minded pricks. I was a virgin until I got to college.”
    “Way too much information, Leesh,” Cole