The Hail Mary by Ginger Scott

Author:Ginger Scott [Scott, Ginger]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Ginger Scott

Chapter Seventeen

Reed

I can’t wait to get through with the damn media room. I’m amped up with this toxic mix of urgency from just getting off the field and needing to call my family.

Nolan. I’m panicked, because fuck…that was amazing! And she’s going to hate how I feel.

My brother’s hovering behind me. I’m glad he’s serving as a human barrier. The questions are coming in shouts. It’s been a while for me to have a circus like this. When someone gets knocked out and rushed to the hospital, they sorta get to do the talking through their publicist. I’m not sure I’m ready for the front line again.

We get to the media room and I file into the long row of chairs behind the table covered in mics. The flashing never stops.

My body hurts.

“All right, we’ve got a lot to get through here, so let’s just settle down and take this a topic at a time. That all right with y’all?”

Our head coach, Lowell Simms, is a lot like me. We were both brought here to send this ship out with some senior leadership behind it. He’s committed for three years, but the man is sixty-four and been around the block a few times with two heart surgeries and a hip replacement. Granted, coaching doesn’t have the same physical risks as playing, but I can’t believe any of this is good on his heart. The man knows how to win, though. And he knows how to work with young quarterbacks. He’s here for Duke, just like I’m here for Duke. And now here we both are…without Duke.

The room quiets down, and the training staff steps up behind Coach to help him answer questions.

“Here’s what we know. Duke is getting care from a great medical staff at Southern Bell Hospital undergoing evaluation. We can’t speculate how bad the injury was and what it means in terms of him being on the field when we play next Sunday in L.A. I can promise you this, though—we aren’t going to put him back on that field until we know he’s ready and can handle it.”

The room lights up with questions. Even though they’re all asking the same thing, they talk over each other and make everything sound jumbled as they jockey to be the one to be plucked out of the audience to ask the question on their own.

“Mark, go ahead,” Coach says, pointing to the man from ESPN. They always pick ESPN.

“Are you going with Johnson under the presumption that Duke Miller will be out next week?”

Coach levels Mark with a serious gaze and wraps his hands around either side of the podium, shifting his weight and sighing.

“Mark, we go way back. What part of what I just said do you think means I can say anything for certain to that question? Use your damned logic, would you? We have three quarterbacks. Reed’s in the two-spot. If Duke’s not ready, then yes…you’ll see Reed. Do I know if Duke will be ready? No.

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