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Prologue

TWENTY-ONE YEARS AGO

An ocean of scarlet undulated in the sold-out stadium The Horseshoe was a restless sea of red coats, blankets and hats, covering nearly all of the ninety thousand people in the stands, and the sea would turn violent if Michigan scored a touchdown

Ohio State was up by three points Just three nail-biting points

If it were any other game, Stephanie McCarthy wouldn’t be as stressed, but this? This was The Gaainst those loathsome blue and yellow ones worn by the convicts up North Three stinking points wasn’t going to cut it, not when Michigan’s offense was already at ?

Breath streamed from beneath facemasks into the cold air as the e, and once they were set, there was noout, and as soon as the center snapped the ball, OSU’s wall of defense was unleashed

“Get hie of her red blanket It was cocooned around her so only her face was visible “Put his ass on the ground!”

She was thirty rows up in the stands, but when the pocket collapsed and the quarterback was sacked, she’d swear the players could hear her

The announcer’s voice boomed over the roar of the crowd “The quarterback is sacked for a loss of eight”

It didn’t matter if her voice was too loud By now the people around her were used to it

“All day long! You hear rass all—Oh!” Her hand shot out and latched onto the shoulder of the gentleman in front of her, one ron He startled and turned, casting a glance back

“You okay?” Concern streaked across his expression

“Yeah” She straightened and released hi”

His gaze flitted down over her red cocoon “You sure you wouldn’t be more comfortable in the box with the other ladies?”

She feigned outrage “Who the hell told you I was a lady?”

He laughed, but it was nervous, as if he wasn’t sure she was joking “Johnson’s wife is up there She’s only five nant”

“You’d think being a coach’s wife, she’d” Stephanie made a face “I don’t think she likes football very much At least, not as much as me”

His eyebrow lifted “I don’t think I like football as much as you”

On the field, the huddle broke Michigan’s quarterback shook his throwing hand out, as if trying to relieve a stinger