Chapter 21: Clause 61

Zach's POV

Janie gave me the envelope on Saturday night, on Lyle's porch, with a rule.

"You don't open it until you're standing on the fifty-yard line," she said.

"Why the fifty?"

"Because the stadium is empty at eight, and nobody can interrupt you," she said. "I've had enough of reading things in front of a crowd."

She went inside before I could say anything.

I'm a quarterback.

I know what it is to be handed a play.

At eight on Sunday morning the Stampede's stadium was empty and cold, and the grass was wet.

Lyle's friend from the bus garage had let me in through the tunnel gate with a visitor sticker and a mug of coffee.

I walked out onto the field alone.

The seats went up and up in every direction, all of them empty, and my footsteps were the only sound.

I stood on the fifty and took out the envelope.

It was three pages, in her best capitals.

It was headed CLAUSE 61.

*Page 61 of the prior agreement is blank. This document fills it.*

I read the next line twice.

*1. Term four said no feelings in writing. Term four is struck. This is the writing.*

My ears went hot, and no one was there to see.

*2. I read a 61-page prenup forty times because nobody gave me anything else to read.*

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