Beyond The Goalposts:
Edge of Almost
The season is over. The performance is not.
The lights are off, the stadium is empty, and Matt Garrett is no longer protected by the jersey everyone knows him for.
After a devastating playoff loss, Matt is left with the physical damage he tried to hide, the future he can no longer control, and the question he has avoided all season:
Who is he if football is not enough?
Book Two in the Beyond the Goalposts Series
The Perfect Girl With Secrets
Amber Brown knows something about hiding behind a perfect image.
To most of Edna High, she is still the flawless head cheerleader with the polished smile, the sharp comebacks, and the daily routine that makes her look untouchable. But Amber has her own scars, her own secrets, and a blue spiral notebook full of things she notices but rarely says out loud.
When the gossip around Matt and Amber starts getting too loud, they make a choice.
A fake relationship.
A strategic alliance.
A way to control the story before the school controls it for them.
At least, that is what it is supposed to be.
But somewhere between the hallways, the senior bench, the darkened field, and the quiet places where neither of them has to perform, the lie starts feeling more honest than anything else in their lives.
Read Chapter One For Free
A 1980s Texas High School Coming-of-Age Novel
Beyond the Goalposts: Edge of Almost is a 1980s Texas high school coming-of-age romance about fake dating, football pressure, hidden wounds, friendship, identity, and the risk of being truly seen.
If you love the emotional depth of Friday Night Lights or One Tree Hill, the ’80s high school atmosphere of The Breakfast Club, or YA sports romances where confident athletes are carrying more than they let anyone see, Edge of Almost takes you behind the performance.
Matt Garrett and Amber Brown know how to play their parts.
He is the golden-boy athlete everyone expects to keep winning.
She is the flawless head cheerleader no one expects to break.
Their fake relationship starts as a way to control the rumors, but it becomes something far more dangerous: a place where both of them might finally have to be real.
Story Elements
Fake Dating as Survival
Matt and Amber are not pretending because it is cute. They are trying to control the noise before Edna High controls it for them.
The Golden Boy Without the Armor
The season is over, the pads are off, and Matt has to face who he is when football no longer protects him.
The Perfect Girl With Secrets
Amber’s polished image hides more than anyone knows. Her blue spiral notebook holds the truths she is not ready to say out loud.
Small-Town Pressure
In Edna, rumors move fast, reputations matter, and every private moment risks becoming public.
The Sanctuary
Away from the hallways, the senior bench, and the eyes of the town, Matt and Amber find quiet places where the performance starts to fall apart.