The night before, Kelly spent nearly an hour making a sign in crooked blue letters:
“My daddy loved this team. He’s in
heaven now, so I’m cheering for both of us.”
She carried it into the stadium like it was something precious.
During warmups, one of Austin’s favorite players noticed the sign. He stopped, read it twice, then pointed directly at Kelly.
Her mouth fell open.
A second later, he tossed a football into our section.
Kelly caught it against her chest.
“Mom!” she screamed, laughing and crying at the same time. “Daddy would’ve gone crazy!”
Then a hand reached across me.
A woman in a designer coat and high heels ripped the ball straight from Kelly’s arms and handed it to the teenage boy beside her.
