“This part sucks. They’ll have my scrawny butt in there in a few minutes. It’s the results that matter. When you’re done today, I guarantee you’ll feel a hundred percent better. You’ll also be ready to practice on Monday,” I offered him my sage advice.
“I hope so. I was so stiff this morning that my mom had to help me get out of bed.”
“I’m glad your mom was there for you.” I think the smirk gave it away. Smack. “Ouch!”
Jill just grinned at me.
“Be nice to Wolf. You know what happens if he forgets to block for you,” Becky said.
Yes, someone puts me on my backside. I looked back and tried to figure out who’d hit me.
“I sure do. I get tortured by you two.”
Wolf looked confused. Becky sent him to the massage table, and Jill gave me her best evil grin. I was feeling cantankerous, so I just stripped and looked her in the eye. She couldn’t help herself, and she peeked. When she looked back up, I gave her a knowing look. Wolf saw me get bare-assed as I climbed into the ice water.
“Come on, Dawson, we see you parading around in the locker room. No need to do it in front of these nice ladies.”
“First of all, I’m not the one with freezing-wet shorts on,” I said, and he realized I was right. “And secondly, these two are evil. They’ll abuse you and try to tell you it’s to make you better.”
As I was literally freezing my balls off, Wolf started to moan. I knew exactly what the two of them were doing to him. When my ten minutes were up, I dried off and strolled over to get on the other table. Jill made no secret of checking me out this time as she got a big grin. Yes, freezing water does cause shrinkage, but I didn’t care. Soon Wolf was done and left.
“I guess I need to tell you something: I had blood in my urine this morning.”
I knew the drill. If I still had blood in my urine come Monday, it was probably an issue. More than likely, it was from being hit on my kidney and it would heal itself, but they got upset when I didn’t tell them things like that. Jill pulled my folder out and made notes. My body was a mass of new and older bruises. They had a drawing of a body and ‘X’ marks identifying all my injuries.
When they were done, I changed into street clothes and went to the coaches’ offices. Coach Engels and Bo had waited for me to finish. Bo had a couple of boxes packed, so we helped take them to his car. We went to Granny’s for lunch because I loved that place. It was in a small town a few miles away, and they served the best comfort food I’d ever had. We all had their lunch special of cornbread and beans. You could see Granny as she worked in the kitchen, and when the waitress put in our order, she said something to Granny. She looked at me and winked. When the food came out, my serving was twice the normal size. Granny always took care of me.
I would miss Bo. He had helped me tremendously in just a few weeks. Bo had gotten me to start thinking like a quarterback.
“I want to thank you. Let me know if there’s anything I can do for you.”
“I have some ideas. We’ll be in touch.” He shook his head. “I watched the news this morning. It seems both Coach Engels here and Coach Lambert are geniuses due to some cocky quarterback’s comments. I lost it when their coach was interviewed, and he gave them credit for the game plan.”
He gave a dismissive wave to Coach Engels.
“Don’t get me wrong, Coach, but you guys would have lost big-time without a certain player who will remain nameless because he obviously has an ego.” They turned on me, and Coach Engels said, “What was that crap about winning by a couple of scores?”
“Easy, Kevin and I were not going to lose.”
“Really?”
“Really! Our dreams for the season weren’t going to die on that field last night.”
They both saw that I was serious.
Bo pointed his chin at me.
“My point exactly. Coach, that’s why you won.”
“I hear you,” Coach Engels said.
On our way out, I went into the kitchen and hugged Granny. I never left hungry. She had a loyal customer for life. Bo dropped me off at my house, and we said our final goodbyes.
I WENT TO THE MAIN house, stole Kyle from his dad, and took him to my apartment. I was getting more comfortable being with a newborn. Today he was cranky, and Greg was happy to see me take him. I spent an hour rocking him and telling him about my day. Finally Kyle fell asleep, and I took him back to his bassinet.
As I put him down, Angie cornered me.
“Thank you for taking him. We love him to death but having some alone time helps. Can I ask you something?”
“Sure.”
“I want to ask my parents and sister to come to lunch tomorrow. Do you think anyone would mind?”
“Angie, you keep forgetting something.”
“What’s that?”
“You’re part of this family now. We switch off cooking on Sundays and it’s Greg and Dad’s turn. Just tell one of them, and they’ll make sure there’s enough food.”
“If I’m part of the family, shouldn’t I be in the rotation?”
“Good point. Talk to Mom. She has final say on these things.”
THAT EVENING JIM AND Suzanne picked me up. While we were sitting at the restaurant, Gina and Alan came in. When they were seated, Gina motioned for me to come over. I excused myself and joined them.
“I hear you’re a real crier,” Gina said with a smirk.
I felt an icy dagger pierce my heart. I kept a happy face on as I looked at Alan and all but dared him to say anything. He was embarrassed that Gina had said it.
“I guess I’m a little surprised she told you that.”
“Don’t worry about it. We tell each other everything. She plans on breaking up with Tony tonight. I knew you two would hit it off.”
“Break up with Tony?”
This was news. I had a strict rule about dating girls that are going out with someone else. I guess this was partly my fault for not asking.
“He’s a real jerk. We all wanted her to dump him like forever. We’re happy you’re in the picture now.”
“Could you give me her number? I need to put it in my phone.”
“Sure, it’s 555-3256.”
Alan gave me a pained look because he knew why I wanted the number. I figured I might as well do it now. I dialed her number.
“Kara?”
“Yes.”
“It’s David. I’m with Gina, and she gave me your number.”
“It’s really not a good time. Mind if I call you tomorrow?”
She sounded stressed.
“Well actually, I do. Gina shared some info with me.”
“Shit! Look, it’s not what it seems. Let’s talk about this tomorrow.”
“No need. Oh, before I forget: my brother’s girlfriend’s family is coming to lunch tomorrow, and we’ll be packed, so I have to withdraw the invitation. Sorry for the short notice, but I wanted to give you full disclosure. I’d hate to hide something from you.”
“Okay, I understand.” I could tell she didn’t understand, but right now, I didn’t care.
I disconnected. Gina looked concerned.
“What just happened?”
“I talked to your sister.”
There was no need to share details. While Gina had only heard one side of the conversation, she’d figured out the rest.
“I know that. Did you just break up with her?”
“No. We were never together.”
“I’m confused.”
“Gina, he’ll never go out with Kara now,” Alan said softly.
“Why not? They’re made for each other.”
She looked at me as if I were mentally challenged.
“Two reasons: he’s a very private person, and he’d never date someone who has a boyfriend. Why do you think we never get jealous when he flirts with our dates?”
I got up and went back to my table. I would leave it to Alan to explain it all to Gina. Suzanne and Jim wanted to know what was going on. They could tell that my mood was shot. I made the best of it, and by the time the lasagna came, we were having a good time. Jim and Suzanne told embarrassing stories about each other. I was laughing about Suzanne cutting the heads off all of Jim’s GI Joes when I felt a hand touch my shoulder.