over her shoulder, “that’s what I thought you’d say.” And Ryder didn’t think she was talking about football.
Later, when the teams were settled, signed up, and leaving, when their fellow teammates were packing up, Ryder caught up to Reese as they started for the parking lot.
“You were good with them,” Ryder said, slowing to Reese’s side as they ambled from the field. Out on the street, the fans gathered, and he spotted Pérez and Baker moving toward them, pens in hand. Reese followed his gaze, her eyes curious, a little nervous. “Don’t worry,” he told her. “None of the media or fans can get into the parking lot.”
“Oh, I was just wondering how many of them would tell me to make them a sandwich.”
Ryder winced, stopping Reese from walking any closer to her car. “Hanson is an asshole.”
“Agreed,” Reese said, tugging up the strap on her bag. “But he’s not the only one.” She moved the tip of her shoe against a piece of loose gravel, a distraction that made her look nervous. Reese inhaled, seeming to steady herself with one long, large breath before she spoke. “Thanks.” Ryder frowned, not sure why she thanked him. “I mean, you didn’t have to lay into Hanson that day he tried filming me at practice.”
Maybe it was his worry over the team and their new kicker. Maybe there was some long-buried sympathy he felt for Reese. More likely though, it was Coach’s words that had penetrated. The guilt he’d mustered in Ryder lay thick in his gut. It had only grown wider, heavier in the three days since the old man visited him at the stadium. He hadn’t been wrong. No matter what had happened between Reese and Ryder, the quarterback needed to remember what he’d learned from her. He needed to remind himself that once there had been love and respect between them. He needed to remember that she’d felt his sister’s loss just as deeply. He was her captain. He needed to honor that title.
Something came over him, had Ryder softening his voice. “When are you gonna learn, Noble? I’m your captain. I. Have. You.”
She looked surprised, eyebrows shooting up like she wasn’t sure he’d correct her. “You got my back?”
He didn’t hesitate, shrugging like she should know he meant it. “That’s what I said.”
“Well.” Again, Reese shuffled some of the loose gravel on the ground, staring at it as she spoke. “Thanks, Ry.” Ryder blinked, surprised when Reese jerked her gaze up, looking worried and embarrassed all at the same time. “Sorry. I just…”
He shook his head, silencing her apology. “I like it.” The smile stretched across his mouth without him meaning it, and Ryder deflected, scratching his neck as he looked across the parking lot at the fans along the fence line. Two of Greer’s friends, both WAGs, watched him, their attention moving between Reese and Ryder and he sighed, figuring just talking to his kicker would drum up drama he’d never be in the mood for.
He ignored their long looks, glancing back down at Reese, remembering his admission of liking her calling him by that nickname again. “Ry,” he said, laughing. “Reminds me of when you were just my kid sister’s annoying friend.”
“I wasn’t annoying,” she started, clicking her tongue to the roof of her mouth when Ryder shook his head at her. She had to remember the shit she and Rhiannon did just to get under his skin. Reese lowered her shoulders, smile quick and sweet. “Okay, fine,” she said defensively, “but so were you.”
“Maybe.” Ryder liked this. He remembered it. The teasing, the irritating attitudes. They’d always given it back and forth anytime she surfaced at his folks’ place or on the field at practices, especially when Coach would invite him to his place for Sunday dinner. Reese had always been there, in the middle of his conversations, disrupting his life in one way or another, but back then, he hadn’t minded it so much. Before that lake party, before he realized she wasn’t just some annoying kid part of the landscape of his life, they’d been friendly, if not friends. He’d missed that. Despite how things had ended with them, he still had missed his friend Reese.
Watching her now, Ryder realized he could have done serious damage with that kiss and knew he needed to explain himself. He bit the corner of his mouth then took up messing with the loose gravel, too, not realizing he copied her when he did it. “I…I think