The QB's Nerdy Addiction novel · Chapter 16 of 24
Chapter 16: The Dedication
"Twelve of fourteen," Gage said again, and the tunnel went on roaring around us.
"I heard."
"The two I missed were mine. Not yours. You were right on every read."
"Gage."
"Walk with me."
We went out the side gate to the dark end of the practice field, where the floodlights didn't reach.
He stopped by the goalpost and put his hand on it.
"I said don't come. I was wrong. You came, and I looked up, and you were the only face I could find."
"I had to say something first," I said. "Let me say it all the way through."
He nodded.
"The post was true. You do play scared when your father is in the stands. I saw it on film, and I wrote it down, and I put it where anyone could read it."
My voice shook, and I let it.
"It cost you a year. Your father read it on the radio and it followed you everywhere. I never said I was sorry because I couldn't without saying who I was. That's not an excuse. It's only the reason."
"Hallie."
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."
He didn't answer for a moment.
Then he took his hand off the post.
"I let you sweat," he said. "I watched you lie to me, and I told myself it was patience. It was pride. I wanted you to come to me, and I didn't want to be the one who went to you."
"You were waiting for me."
"I was waiting for you, and I was punishing you. Both. I'm sorry."
I held up my phone.
On the screen was a post I had written an hour earlier, in the bathroom of the stadium, with Dani guarding the door.
It was signed Hallie Vandiver.
It said that SnapCount was done, that the writer owed one quarterback an apology, and that she was going to make it to his face.
"I'm retiring the account," I said. "Four hundred thousand people can read it."
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