I take a deep breath. “And I’m involving Cam in it. Because two years ago, he cosponsored a bill in Congress about institutional child abuse. It got held up in a committee and died. I asked about it at the reunion. That’s why I was so insistent on going even though I originally didn’t want to. I was afraid if I tried to arrange meeting him through his office my parents would find out. I wanted to know from him what it would take to get that bill back to Congress.”

Fitz’s jaw tenses, as if he knows the answer before he’s even asked the question. “And what’s that?”

“Me.” I swallow. “Testifying in front of Congress.”

A storm brews in Fitz’s eyes. “Do you trust him?”

“I trust him wanting to make a name for himself, and this would be it. The soonest he could get it through would be in early September, which is after the convention and I have a feeling I can’t go through with that if I promise to work with Cam. He needs to meet to review everything we have. Your season will have started by then. I never wanted this to touch you. If you want…if you need an out⁠—”

Fitz drops his face to mine, and his voice is accompanied by an angry breath. “Do you think that’s a reason for me to run from you? You trying to do the right thing?”

“It would be a big deal, Fitz,” I tell him. “And selfish, because⁠—”

“Making yourself vulnerable with purpose is selfish?” He shakes his head. “It’s the most selfless thing you can do. I’ve gone to war for people I don’t love an iota of how much I love you,” Fitz tells me. “I’d never hold you back from something like this, Parker. I’d hate you if you didn’t because of me.”

A typhoon of relief whooshes out of me.

“I’ll be with you,” he promises. “Every step of the way.”

Chapter 38

If I ever had a soundtrack to my life, its melody would be written on the field and constantly punctuated by a whistle.

Start.

Stop.

Line Up.

Or, apparently, Fuck me sideways, that was god awful, which is an awful thing for a coach to say on a media day filled with kids and some of our families.

But if I’m being honest, I’m only hearing Coach halfway today, I’ll admit it. He can bust my balls for it too. When I woke up as the sun rose, looking at a sleeping Parker next to me, her head a mess of tangled brown waves and mouth parted slightly, I realized today was different.