LEOA nerve jumped in my cheek. "You think I haven't done that? God, Nate. How many times have I told Quinn that she comes first? How many times have I said I'd give up football in a minute if it meant making her happy? Remember the summer before college, right after Bill died? I told Quinn that I'd give up Carolina so I could stay with her. I offered to go to Birch. And then this spring, at Matt's funeral ...I told her I'd give it all up for her. She knows it's all for her, everything I do.""Does she?" Nate spoke without moving his head. His gaze stayed fastened on my face. "You've made the offers. You'd said the words. But what have you actually done? When did you ever act on the offer?"I leaned forward, resting my elbows on my knees. "Quinn never wanted me to. She refused.""Because she's not stupid, and like it or not, Leo, she knows you better than you know yourself. She knows what football means to you, and she'd never be the one to take it away from you. Quinn realizes tha

QUINN The stadium in Philadelphia appeared on the screen, and as I'd guessed, snow flurries filled the air, frosting the players just coming out onto the field as well as everyone in the seats. I found my phone and texted my mom, asking her if they were keeping warm. When the phone buzzed, I assumed she was answering me. Instead, though, I saw Zelda's name on the screen. Zelda: Hey, doll. You watching the game?I sighed, wondering if she was at the stadium, too. As glad as I was that Leo had so much support, I couldn't help feeling a little like Cinderella, forced to stay at home while everyone else went to the ball. Quinn: Just turned it on. I'd no sooner hit reply than another text from her flew across my display.Zelda: Want some company?I frowned, but before I could wonder too long, there was a soft knock at the front door. Grinning, I jumped up from the sofa and sprinted to answer it."About time, woman! We're freezing our very fine asses off out here." Zelda pushed

LEO"I'm pretty sure I just ate my weight in fried chicken." I pushed back a little from the dining room table and exhaled. "It was so delicious, Ellie. Everything was. Thanks so much."Ellie Iverson beamed at me from the other side of the table. "Good. I'm glad you enjoyed it. Now maybe you'll come over more often."Next to his wife, Corey laughed and brought her hand up to his lips, turning it to press a kiss to the palm. "Nothing fires up my woman more than the thought of a single man living alone and going hungry. If she had her way, she'd feed all the bachelors on the team every night.""Hey." She swatted at him playfully. "That's not true. I just like to cook, and I love to see people enjoy what I've made.""Nothing wrong with that." I crumpled up my napkin. "I'm more than happy to enjoy it. I'm sorry it's taken me so long to get over here. Moving down here and getting settled has taken me some time.""Well, now you know your way here. Don't be a stranger." She stood up and

QUINNWinter used to be my favorite time at the shore. Ocean City was nearly a ghost town during December, compared to how it was in the middle of summer; the locals were there, but thanks to the biting cold and damp air, most of us stayed indoors unless it was absolutely necessary. I loved having the beach to myself, or just about, when my parents and I would come down before Christmas. The ocean seemed wilder, loud and forbidding, the sand was blown into peaks and valleys, and I often found shells I didn't at other times of the year. But this year, the creeping gray of each new dawn felt threatening instead of comforting. It seemed that death drew nearer every hour, no matter how much I tried to ignore it. I'd fought against the sense of impending doom by going absolutely crazy with my Christmas decorating; we had a huge tree in the great room, and then I'd also bought a smaller artificial one for Nate's room. He didn't venture beyond his bed anymore, but he'd smiled faintly when

LEONate had planned his own funeral. Quinn told me that he'd actually had parts of it figured out since high school. That didn't surprise me. Nate had said once that he'd always known his life expectancy wasn't very long, and death had hovered near him time and again as we all grew up. We gathered in the church his family had attended for years on a cold afternoon in mid-January. I sat in a pew with my parents, my brothers Simon and Danny, and Simon's girlfriend Justine, two rows behind the front pew where Quinn and Carrie had joined Mark and Sheri. The church wasn't even near full, and I couldn't help comparing the turnout here with that at Matt's service last year. That day, the church had been so full, they'd had to stream the service outside to the people who couldn't get in, and his grandparents' house had been crowded afterward for the repast. It made me unreasonably angry; Nate had fought with everything he had to hold onto life, and Matt had thrown his away with both hands.