Tackling Her Obsession with the Tight End

Chapter 10: Little Moments

Sarah

"At the end, we'll fade out to black before ambient lighting comes on and you'll see the light gleam off their helmets and jerseys. You'll be able to see them moving and as the lights slowing come up, that's where my last trick comes into play. Their uniforms will slowly morph from the old white and green to the new green and black beginning at their feet as the light slowly moves up their bodies. I'll have the logo on their helmet shine out and then fade back in with the voiceover 'time to step into the light of victory. See you on the field.' We can do the sound of cheering after that or leave it silent with the players calling out a countdown." The video presentation ends and I step back to gauge their reactions. The chief of sales and marketing for the Tornadoes, Lindy Roberts, sits watching me along with their owner, the head coach, and the social media marketing manager. The owner, Tynes Hunt is very involved in his team and oversees almost any team decisions. I know my parents are friendly with him, but I made sure they didn't mention my last name today. I've never met any of the people before me. I want to get this job based on my work, not my last name. I am the fourth presentation today.

My boss, Janna Moses, spins around in her chair to face them fully. "Sarah is our final presentation for your hype video. Thank you for your time and work, Sarah."

I nod. "Thank you ladies and gentlemen for watching." I move to walk out the door when Lindy asks me to wait.

"Sarah you have captured the excitement of the game, the lead-up, and the absolute rush the players experience when they suit up for each game. I felt my heart pounding with them the entire time this was playing. I was ready to leap to my feet, cheering for them and say 'let's go' at the end. Yours is the clear winner. Agreed gentlemen?" She looks at her companions who all nod, smiling at me. "There you go. It appears you have this ready to go. All we need is a live shot of the team in the tunnel, correct?"

"Yes. I have all the other images we need. Grant and Noah were more than helpful when I got them to do the shots for the rest of the video." I answer. And they were. I secretly think Noah made sure I got more footage than my competition but he'd never admit it to me.

"We will get that done tomorrow and get it to you. How soon can you have this ready to air?" Mr. Hunt asks.

"About two hours after I have that footage." I reply confidently. I might suck at every other aspect of my life, but I am damn good at my job.

"Perfect. We can air it tomorrow night online then. I must say, you have to be a football fan. The other three were well made, but they didn't seem to truly get the anticipation and excitement fans feel." He adds watching me closely.

"Yes sir. I love football." I tell him with a grin. If only he knew how much.

"It shows. Thank you for your time and effort."

With that, I leave. Janna will finish up the details with them. I move back toward my cubicle. When I get there, I see that my candy drawer is slightly open. I will need to start locking it again. Some of my coworkers are professional food foragers or candy squirrels.

"How'd it go Sarah?" My neighbor, Ida asks. She isn't competing for this project, but I learned long ago not to spill the beans early or brag on myself. Jealousy breeds wherever there is competition. The first time I ever said I had just landed a big account, the person went behind my back and tried to ruin my success before it became official. My boss thankfully nipped it in the bud and then gave me the best piece of advice about waiting to toot your own horn.

"They didn't run me out of the room so that's always a win in my books." I tell her with a smile. She's very friendly and we don't compete for jobs. She creates still background images as her main assignment.

A few hours later, I've signed the contract for the job and I head for home feeling somewhat happier than I have in a while. I can't wait to tell Mom and Dad about this video. We have the monthly birthday party in Nutville tomorrow night. Maybe they'll get to see the commercial in real time.

I call Mags first though. "Did you get it?" Her excited face fills the screen. If you ever need an optimistic champion in your corner, Mags can fill that. I think Violet is about the only other person who gets even more excited for others.

"I.....did." I exclaim happily.

She squeals. "I knew it. My talented sister is the obvious choice to come up with a football project."

"Thanks Mags. Are you coming tomorrow night?"

"No I can't. I won't be done at work until six. By the time I drive in, it will be almost over. Send me pictures. And maybe get Chad to video when you tell Mom and Dad about the Tornadoes." I nod and end the call.

As I lay in bed staring at the ceiling, I wonder if Liam is coming. I can't really text him and ask. I'm wondering how our next in-person interaction will go after our talk. I roll to my side cradling my head. Four weeks left and then I will be free; one way or another. Then I will tell him everything. I've already written it all down and left it in a safe deposit box in case something happens to me. I came home the minute I left that dinner with Quentin to write two letters. One to my parents and siblings and the other to Liam. PawPaw knows about them. With that small morbid comfort, I close my eyes to sleep.

I finalize the video for the Tornadoes and send it along to Lindy and Janna. With that done, I leave early to drive to Nutville. This will be the last monthly party for a while because football season makes get together impossible. We are missing a few already but the majority will be here. It's at Uncle Webb and Aunt Sofie's house. I make my way there knowing my parents are already helping. And by helping, I mean Dad is in the kitchen stealing whatever she cooked. To my surprise, I find them in the backyard setting out the lanterns and lights. "There's my Sarebear. Hey baby girl." Dad comes to envelop me in his bear hug. He always holds on for at least two minutes. That was his thing when we were kids. "Two minutes is how you perform CPR to restart a heart. So it should be the timeframe for a hug too because what better way to kick-start a beating heart." We laughed at it growing up but now I treasure it.

"Hey beautiful girl." Mom comes to grab me next. "You look great. I like this new outfit."

I smile. "Mags told you she dragged me shopping, huh?"

"She said for once you went without kicking and screaming. I asked if she checked you for alien possession." She pushes my hair behind my ear.

"I have something to show you. I want to keep it quiet for now." I pull out my tablet from my tote purse and key up my video. They watch it intently before Dad looks up.

"You created this didn't you, my talented Sarah?"

I nod, waiting to see what they think. My lips are pursed together nervously. "This is awesome. You are damned good baby girl."

"Sarah, that's the best one of those I've seen. Is that Noah and Grant in the opening, facing off?" Mom is watching it again.

"Yes. Noah helped me a lot." I admit. "He met me on a second day at the field, so I could get the extra footage."

"That's Noah. But this is a work of art. When do I get to brag on my talented offspring?" Dad is grinning with anticipation.

"Next week. It will be online tonight and television during Monday night football."

"Perfect. Colby is doing a guest announcer spot that night. I'll make sure he knows."

"No Dad. I don't want the Tornadoes to know who I am. I made sure not to use my last name and I don't want to ruin that." I protest.

"He won't say it's his friend's daughter. Just will bring attention to the talented person who created such a masterpiece."

I shake my head chuckling. "You exaggerate with the best of them Dad."

Uncle Webb comes out the back door and Dad winks at me. "I want to go put my stuff inside. Will see if Aunt Sof needs any help." I hug Uncle Webb as he makes it to us.

"Hey pretty girl. We've missed you around here." He says with meaning and walks away. In the kitchen, I see Aunt Sof lining dishes up ready to take outside.

"There's our Sarahbelle." I'm engulfed in her hug. She's called me that since the first time I cried to her about the names at school.

"Hey Aunt Sof." I set my bag down near the island in my usual spot and take a deep whiff. Every house has a different scent to it that I could pick out blindfolded. Hers always smells like cinnamon and vanilla. "You look less troubled. Like some weight has been lifted off your shoulders from the last time I saw you."

"I am." No sense in lying to her.

"That makes me feel better." She moves back to the stove and I hear her muttering. "Still might let Pop use his sense whacker."

I grab dishes to help haul outside as the house begins to fill up with visitors. I hear Sean and Liam bantering back and forth as I lift the final dish. My eyes travel that way automatically to find his green eyes staring back at me. Violet comes racing over to hug me forcing me to look away first. I always found him first at any event we have and he seems to do the same. Like our own little moment where we silently reach out to each other. It has to mean something.

The party starts and I'm laughing at Pop talking about his latest book club assignment. Fifi sits beside him shaking her head. Apparently, he talked Papa and Gigi, Uncle Webb's parents, into joining them this time and Papa is having some regrets. "This book is absolute trash. Murphy calls the main guy a zero instead of a hero, but honestly, for me he's like a negative ten. So neg ten believes that he can cheat on his wife and she will forgive him as long as she gets to keep spending money. At the same time, he's hunting some stalker for his business partner through the internet. And of course he's sleeping with her too. The ending and I will spoil it for all of you young ladies thinking of killing brain cells with this utter garbage, is that he's going to go home after killing the stalker who turns out to be his wife's cheating partner and his wife commends him on a good hunt for a villain. That he proved his loyalty to her and he can resume his cheating ways as long as he doesn't forget he belongs to her." Pop's face is absolutely outraged as he finishes. "And it was rated almost five stars on all the review sites."

Papa shudders. "I stopped at chapter four. Arthur naturally has to finish it. I think the definition of good literature needs to be revisited."

Pop points to him knowingly. "I like to give people a complete chance for redemption. Wait until Clay comes back here in a few months. We'll talk him into going too." I laugh at that. My PawPaw is skeptical of Pop's book club already.

"Dad is not going to follow you there Pop." My dad tells him with a wry grin.

"Sure he will. I'll pick a better book though." He shivers with disgust. "Felt like I got punked when I started reading this one."

At that I lose it laughing along with a few others. The things that come out of his mouth.

I catch Dad grinning like a pirate after that. He sits up taller. "Speaking of getting punked. Someone left me a surprise in my truck last week. Anyone get confused and forget what they drove?"

I am confused but I see a few guilty faces in the crowd. My brother is one of them. Which means the four musketeers helped him. No one volunteers their confession.

"I figured as much." He reaches under the table and I watch as all of OG Nutville as Dad dubbed them, pull out huge white cardboard canisters. They fire them off sounding like cannon blasts and we are pelted with silly string and confetti. Enough to completely cover us.

"We look like a rainbow threw up on us." Alex calls out laughing.

"Next time confess and maybe we'll only shoot confetti at you." Uncle Clint says laughing.

There’s some good natured pelting with confetti globs toward our dads before we call a truce.

We start cleaning up and I step next to Liam. "What happened?"

"He didn't tell you?" I shake my head and he laughs. "We...someone filled his truck with balloons that were rigged so when he opened the door, it pulled a string with pins and they popped releasing confetti everywhere. It was all in good fun for his actual birthday. At least I imagine that was what the culprits thought."

I laugh harder. "Guess the culprits might be known as something along the lines of new and hotness."

"No clue what you mean." He grins and reaches over to my hair. "You are going to be finding rainbow vomit for days in all this thick hair."

I motion for him to bend forward as I roll my eyes. "You have silly string and confetti stuck to your hair too. I am sure that will not go unpunished." I manage to pick the last piece out, trying to ignore how close his head is to my face.

"Revenge is going to be mine. I might have to bide my time until they are all here, but I will have it." He jokes and I laugh harder.

"I want to help. I think water balloons or paint guns are the only acceptable returns.”

He lifts his head grinning. “We’ll assemble a team. Your dad’s going down.”

"He's earned it probably a hundred-fold by this point." I say with truth. "He's got to be related to Pop somehow."

"Pretty sure PawPaw and he were separated at birth. Only explanation I'll accept."

I nod as I stare up into his eyes. I'm about to tell him how happy I am that we can talk like this again when I hear Sean call out "Liam you ready? We need to get home."

He yells back. "Coming." Turning back to me he pulls a piece of pink string from my hair. "See you later Sarah. Take care."

"You too." As I drive home, I think of all the possible reactions my family will have once this masquerade auction is over. I imagine they will run the gamut from angry to relieved or shocked.

Maybe I can temper the shock a little for one of them....an idea begins to form and I let it build as I make my way 'home.' Another thing that will change is my apartment prison. As soon as this is over, I am moving. Somewhere that's never been visited by Paul or his goons. I'll have to break my lease but I could care less. After getting inside, I pull out my laptop and set up a calendar countdown. Now to search for the things I'll need. I might have to ask for some help as I make my shopping list. Nothing too fancy but they should all bring up memorable little moments from the past. After that's done, I note that I'll need Uncle Webb or Caylee to pull a few strings for me. That will be the last piece I use. I set up the different items into my calendar. I hardly recognize the warmth spreading throughout me. It's been gone so long. Nothing like feeling hope again.