Free Full Court Devotion by Cami Checketts Page A

just being in the room made her feel like a
carefree child. She had to dust-mop the floor, but then she was ready. She
danced until sweat ran down her back and the stress of the past three months
poured out of her. She was about ready to collapse from exhaustion when she
heard clapping behind her.
    She
whirled around and grinned. “Porter. What are you doing down here?”
    “Watching
the most amazing dancer.”
    She
blushed and turned off the music. “I’ve missed it.”
    “Why
don’t you dance at school?”
    “No
time.”
    He
looked at her knowingly. “Maybe you should make time. Mom says to shower and come
for breakfast. Our first game is at nine. Are you going to come watch?”
    “Watch
Ty thump you? Sure.”
    “Ha.
We’ll see how tough your pretty boy is.”
    ***
    The
high school parking lot was crowded. “Is there something other than the
tournament today?” Kazlyn asked.
    “No.”
Luke grunted. “Word spread that Jamison brought some hot shot from USU, so
people are actually turning out to watch the tournament this year. Ty and
Jamison had a game at eight.”
    Kazlyn
remembered him saying something about that last night. She should’ve been here
earlier. She vowed to herself she would support him better; she wasn’t going to
miss another of his games.
    One
of her church friends, Molly, was working at the concession stand. Kazlyn waved,
but didn’t want to stop if there was a chance she could see the end of Ty’s
game. She’d come back later to chat.
    They
entered the gym in time to see Ty pass the ball to Jamison’s little brother,
Jacob. Jacob scored and the buzzer went off. The score was 68-20.
    “Ouch,”
Porter muttered. “Glad we don’t play them first.”
    Porter
and Luke found Shawn and went to warmup. Shawn and Luke had been the superstars
while they were in high school, but Kazlyn didn’t think they stood a chance
against Ty.
    “Kazzy,”
Ty called out to her. The entire crowd seemed to watch as he made his way
across the floor.
    “I’ll
go find us some seats,” her mom said and slipped away.
    Ty
jogged up to her, grinning. “You look beautiful this morning.”
    She
glanced down at her sweatshirt and jeans. “I’m going to look better tonight
when the champ of the tournament takes me to dinner.”
    His
grin broadened. “You just gave me even more incentive to thump on the locals.”
    “Be
nice.”
    “I’ll
try.” He winked and the buzzer sounded.
    “I’d
better go sit with my mom.”
    He
grabbed her hand. “Will you cheer for me?”
    “Obnoxiously.”
    He
gave her a quick peck, and even though he was sweaty and hundreds of people
were watching, she wanted to melt. “I’ll see you later,” he whispered against
her lips.
    “Plan
on it.” She walked away on unsteady legs.
    There
were eight teams in the single elimination tournament. Luke, Porter, and Shawn
easily won their first game and their second. Ty won two more games. Kazlyn and
her mom busted out a cooler full of sandwiches, fruit, and Gatorades to feed
Luke’s team. She wished Ty would’ve come over to eat with them, but she’d
noticed Jamison’s mom feeding him earlier. He’d stopped by their spot between
his games to chat with her and her mom several times.
    It
quickly became apparent that her brothers would be battling Ty, Jamison, and
Jacob for the championship game. It had been a long day of basketball, but
nobody was leaving, the gym just seemed to get fuller as the day wore on.
Kazlyn hoped Ty really would be nice to her brothers, but it wouldn’t hurt
Luke’s pride any to get beaten.
    ***
    Ty
dunked it a few times in their brief warmup. Showing off for Kazlyn. It was so
fun to play these easy games and know she was watching. He still didn’t have a
plan for a date tonight, but hopefully Jamison could give him some ideas.
Billings wasn’t that far away and there had to be some nice restaurants and
something fun to do there.
    The
buzzer sounded and although he was exhausted from playing all day,