Chapter 599

With everything that had blown up around us, we had lost track of the Houston football season. Oh, the parties rolled on at the Hooker House, but even Jess only put in short appearances at them. She was content to leave it to Katie and Crystal to manage, and they were flourishing.

As Christmas approached, though, the team had locked up home field advantage throughout the playoffs with three games left in the regular season. Even the skeptical national press was buzzing about them being legitimate Super Bowl contenders. Johnny Burris, having a career year, was the frontrunner for league MVP.

Time slipped by quickly, mostly because things came at us fast and furious. Crystal moved out of our guest house, which was a sad day -- but also a joyful one because she and Jason had bought a house together. They had developed an incredible bond as a couple and had also started to play a bit together. Since Jess and I were less-frequent presences at the Hooker House for the time bei