True to his word, Harding makes the story go away. I don’t hear anything more about it. In fact, a couple weeks later, I get a phone call from him. It’s Tuesday morning, and I’m laying on the couch after a particularly physical game last night.

His phone call isn’t about the Football School or the investment, it’s about my brother.

“I had an interesting video slide across my desk today, Mr. Matthews,” he says when I pick up. My heart starts thumping. “It’s your brother getting in a fairly violent, drunken fight at a bar last night.”

I sigh.

Harding goes on: “One word from you, and this will be plastered on all the major news outlets. Show him that you’re not one to be fucked with.”

I sigh, shaking my head. “I don’t want to do that to my brother.”

“Even after what he tried to do to you?”

“Yeah,” I say. “I can’t do that to family.”

Harding starts chuckling, and I wonder if that was a test. “You’re a good man, Jesse. Have you given any more thought to what we talked about?”

“I need more time,” I tell him, and then we say our goodbyes and hang up the phone.

I stare at the screen for a few moments. I don’t know what to do. I know that I have another season or two in me. And the team is in top shape—we could even win another Super Bowl!

But… then what?

I groan as I get off the couch. Every bone in my body aches. I’m definitely not recovering like I used to. Farrah is at work, and I’m in my house on my own, again.

How much longer can I live like this? And there’s always the threat that Elijah will take his bullshit story to the press somewhere else. If I was retired, the story wouldn’t have nearly as much weight and Farrah would be safe from scrutiny.

Plus, my Football School could go nation-wide! I’ve thought of that many, many times over the past couple weeks. Maybe it’s time to just hang up the helmet and move on?

Farrah comes over to my place in the evening, and we cook dinner together. These are my favorite times with her, when it’s just her and me, living our life like normal people. There’s no football, or jealous exes, or anything except her smile and our love.

“You’re very quiet today,” she says as we wash our plates. I get a dish towel out and start drying. I sigh.

“Yeah.”

“What’s going on?” She looks over at me, and her sharp eyes aren’t missing anything. I put a plate away, and I can still feel her eyes on me.

Finally, I look at her. “I’m going to take Harding’s deal. I’m going to retire at the end of this season.”

Her eyes widen. “Are you sure?”

I nod. “Yep. My body can’t take this kind of damage anymore. And plus, I have an opportunity to make a real difference with the school. It would be on a scale that I never even could have imagined.”

Farrah’s eyes gleam. “So, this has nothing to do with me? With Elijah and all that?”

I shake my head, and then wrap my arms around her waist. Her hands are still wet from the dishes, but I don’t care. I touch my nose to hers and smile.

“It has nothing to do with Elijah, and everything to do with you. I want to have time for you, to build a life together. I want to move on from my time in the NFL and do good things. You’ve shown me that there’s more to life than just football.”

“Well, technically, your life will still be all about football,” she laughs.

“You know what I mean, smart ass.”

She laughs, wrapping her arms around my neck. “I know what you mean. And I’m proud of you.”

And with that, it’s decided. I’ll retire at the end of the season, and I’ll partner with Harding to expand the Football School on a scale I could have only dreamed of. Farrah’s support means more than I could possibly say. It feels almost like a relief—like I’ve been dragging out the idea of retiring, but now I have something to retire for. I have a life beyond the NFL, and I have something to look forward to.

I put my heart and soul into my last season. I tell Coach Williams right away, and a couple weeks later I tell Jordan, Rigley, and Boots. They understand. Jordan grins and shakes my hand.

“Congrats, old boy. Exciting times ahead. When are you going to marry that woman?”

“Soon, I hope,” I say. He grins, and I nod. I hadn’t realized it until he said it, but it’s true. I’m going to marry Farrah.

Halfway through the season, Elijah is caught in a string of scandals. Drugs, alcohol, prostitutes—it gets ugly. I don’t follow the news too closely, because I don’t want to see his spiral. I try to call him, but he doesn’t answer. He’s suspended for the rest of the season and fined heavily for his infractions.

I want to help him, but I don’t know how. Part of me thinks he doesn’t deserve my help for how he treated Farrah, and what he did to me.

Still, this isn’t how I wanted it to end. Maybe I was naive to think that we’d be a big happy family together. That was never in the cards for us.

By the time Christmas rolls around again, my parents invite us to the cabin-mansion. Elijah opts not to come, so Farrah and I make our way there. Farrah is nervous.

“Don’t worry,” I say as we drive towards the cabin. “They already know we’re together. They’re fine about it.”

“It’s just… I don’t know. It’s just awkward to go from one brother to the other.”

“If anyone has a problem with it, I’ll just punch them in the face and break a lamp over their head.”

That makes her laugh, and she relaxes. She puts her hand on my thigh and chuckles. “Even though I’m nervous, this drive is a lot more pleasant than it was last year.”

“What happened last year?”

She smiles sadly at me, and shakes her head. “You’re just a much better driver than Elijah is. Better than him in every way.”

Mom and Dad welcome her with open arms. I know that they love her, and they were sad to see her and Elijah break up. Dad raises his eyebrow at me.

“Stealing your brother’s woman is not what I meant when I said you should find someone like her.”

“I was not his brother’s ‘woman’,” Farrah interjects. “I’m not some helpless damsel in distress who needs a man to save me.”

My father grins, and nods. “No, I guess you aren’t. Glad to have you back here.”

Mom leans in towards Farrah. “I always thought the two of you would make a better couple. Don’t tell Elijah I said that.”

My eyebrows shoot up and Mom just shrugs. Maria appears and wraps me in a big hug in the living room.

“Congratulations, Jesse,” she says. Then she hugs Farrah, and I breathe a sigh of relief. Maybe we are one big happy family, after all.

There’s a bit of awkwardness, but that’s to be expected. There’s no going back when you start dating your brother’s ex-fiancée. But all in all, I think when they see Farrah and I together, they get it. They see how I feel about her, and how she feels about me. No one can deny the depth of our love, and so everything else just becomes irrelevant.

It’s her, and me, until the end.