The Quarterback’s First Love – Episode 31
The envelope lay between Maddie and Cameron like an accusation. Neither touched it at first. Linda’s message—Ask him why you really forgot—was designed to turn silence into suspicion before they read a single page.
Cameron locked the door and checked the hallway, but whoever delivered it had already gone. Maddie photographed the envelope, then slid the contents onto the table without disturbing them more than necessary.
The copied medical notes described her childhood head injury, memory loss, and warnings about emotional distress. Several lines had been highlighted to suggest that recalling Jack could trigger dangerous neurological symptoms.
Maddie read the pages twice. “This doesn’t say you caused my amnesia,” she said. “It says the collision caused it.” Cameron’s face remained troubled. Linda’s message mattered because it exploited the guilt he still carried.
A second report referenced medication administered after the accident and requested by an unnamed guardian. The signature page was missing. Maddie wondered whether the adults had suppressed memories intentionally or merely treated trauma with the limited methods available then.
“Did you know about this?” she asked. Cameron answered immediately. “No.” Their rule demanded truth, and she believed him. The ease of that belief proved how much had changed between them.
They contacted the orphanage administrator again and arranged access to the original file. Until then, Maddie refused to let selected pages define her health. She kept the neurological appointment she had already scheduled.
At the clinic, scans showed no acute injury. The specialist explained that headaches could accompany stress and returning memories, but the old report alone did not prove serious danger. Maddie left with monitoring instructions instead of the catastrophe Linda wanted them to imagine.
Cameron tried to hide his relief. Maddie caught his hand. “You don’t get to decide I’m fragile because your mother highlighted a sentence.” He promised to follow medical evidence and her choices, not fear.
Practice began that afternoon. Coach Reynolds expected his new quarterback to master an unfamiliar offense quickly, but Cameron missed two reads and overthrew a receiver. His mind remained on the envelope and the possibility of Linda escalating.
The coach stopped the drill. “Good tosses don’t matter if your head isn’t here.” Cameron called it personal business. Reynolds reminded him that leaders handled personal crises without leaving teammates guessing.
“Fix it,” the coach said. “I need your eyes on the future, not trapped in the past.” Cameron knew the advice was meant for football, but it struck the part of him still living beside an orphanage gate.
After practice, Maddie found him throwing alone. His shoulder was tiring, yet he kept demanding one perfect pass after another. She stepped onto the field and took the ball from his hands.
“Punishing yourself isn’t preparation,” she said. Cameron admitted he feared Linda would hurt her because he had refused to obey. Maddie answered that Linda’s choices belonged to Linda, just as the childhood accident belonged to the driver.
They reviewed the security plan for the apartment and notified campus authorities about the records. Cameron wanted private protection. Maddie agreed only to measures that did not turn her life into confinement.
That evening, they cooked together badly and laughed when the smoke detector protested. Domestic ease returned, though both glanced toward the door whenever footsteps sounded in the hall.
Maddie realized how quickly living with Cameron had begun to feel right. The safety came not from expensive rooms but from being consulted. Still, sadness sometimes shadowed his eyes, and Linda knew exactly how to deepen it.
When Cameron left for an early film session the next morning, Maddie stayed home to organize scholarship applications. The building’s front desk called to say a visitor insisted on seeing him.
Before Maddie could refuse entry, the elevator opened. Linda stepped into the apartment accompanied by two security men carrying identical black briefcases.
“Where is my son?” Linda asked. When Maddie answered that Cameron was gone, satisfaction replaced concern. “Good. Then we can finally discuss what it will cost for you to disappear.”