The last day of camp had arrived, and Coach Woods had been railing on him since he stepped onto the field that morning. Carmine was close to giving them all the middle finger and strutting away, his irritation to the point of no return.
The whistle blew, and Carmine lined up to grab the ball. Taking a few steps back, he looked for the wide receiver and snapped the ball, grinning at the perfect spiral as it soared through the air.
“Wipe that smirk off your face, DeMarco,” Coach Woods said. “There’s no room for your ego on the field.”
Mistake after mistake was made in their scrimmage, balls fumbled and throws missed more times than Carmine could count. He got sacked more than once, pain radiating through his back as Coach Woods berated them for their incompetence. After the final whistle blew, signifying the end of camp, the coach called Carmine’s name and clapped him on the shoulder. “You played well today.”
Carmine just stood there. He hadn’t expected to hear those words.
“I’m hard on you because you have potential,” the coach said. “It might not be appropriate for me to say this, but the UNC coaches were watching and expressed some interest in you.”
His mouth dropped open. “No shit?”
Instead of chastising him for cursing, the coach laughed. “Yes, but they don’t like hotheads, DeMarco. No one does.”
* * *
It was late evening when Carmine reached Durante. He pulled up in front of the house and climbed out, stretching his sore back when the front door swung open. Haven came toward him, leaping off the porch. Their bodies collided, and Carmine stumbled as she buried her face in his chest. He wrapped his arms around her as she looked at him adoringly, a hint of worry in her eyes.
“Your face,” she said, running her fingers gently across a bruise on his cheek. “What happened?”
He smirked. “I fell.”
Rolling her eyes, she reached up on her tiptoes and pressed her lips to his, her hands passionately locking in his hair. When she pulled away for air, Carmine laughed. “If I’m gonna be greeted like that, maybe I should go away more often.”
“No way! You’re not allowed!”
“Okay, then.” He pulled her to him tightly. “I fucking missed you, hummingbird.”
“I missed you, too.”
Haven grabbed his arm and tugged, pulling him inside. Carmine bypassed his father’s office and his brother’s bedroom, foregoing greetings for the time being. “Did you do anything exciting while I was gone?” he asked as they settled into his room.
She shrugged. “Mostly just normal stuff.”
Normal stuff. Never in his wildest dreams did he think he’d hear those words from her.
Sitting on the bed, Carmine rubbed his aching back as Haven eyed him suspiciously. She pushed his hand out of the way to massage him, and he moaned involuntarily at her touch. “You’re too good to me, tesoro.”
“You always say that, but it’s not like it’s agonizing to touch you,” she said. “So did you get sackled or something?”
He laughed. “Sackled?”
“Isn’t that what it’s called when you get knocked down?”
“When everyone else gets knocked down, it’s a tackle. When I do, it’s a sack. Two different things.” He let out a moan as she rubbed his sore muscles. “I had my ass kicked out there this week, but I impressed some of the coaches. They mentioned me playing after high school. I don’t know if I wanna go to school here, but it’s nice to know the option’s there.”
She continued working on his back. “Where do you want to go?”
“Wherever you wanna go,” he said. “I’m gonna leave that up to you.”
38
Haven stood off to the side and fought back the tears welling in her eyes. Everyone gathered in the foyer and chatted animatedly, the excitement palpable as Dominic’s booming laughter rang out above it all, infiltrating Haven’s ears and causing her grip to falter.
It was a Sunday afternoon at the end of August. Summer was coming to an end when, to Haven, it felt like it had just begun. The past month and a half had been filled with activity: art galleries, museums, aquariums, and zoos. She drove and read, laughed and played, loved and learned, and in the bustle of life, everything else faded away.
Carmine occasionally had football practice and took her along. There were others there—family, friends, and girlfriends—gathered in groups, but Haven sat off to the side on the bleachers, watching Carmine by herself. He was confident and aggressive on the field, and she told him he made her proud, but he shrugged it off as if it weren’t a big deal. It was, though, because it was his future . . . their future.