by Kitty Parker
Copyright
Copyright © 2017 by Kitty Parker.
All rights reserved under Kitty Parker. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, or distributed in any form or by any means including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Part One.
"Which one's yours?"
Jack turns his head away from having been watching the practice on the field to look at the man standing next to him. For a second, he's not sure that he's talking to him since the man's own eyes are still set to the field but there's no one else around them for the question to be asked to. Most of the other parents there are on the other side of the field, on the parking lot side, some getting things ready for when practice ends and the kids can get something to eat and others watching the practice like Jack.
Jack jerks his chin towards the field. "#22. Matty," he answers, watching as Coach T blows his whistle and starts yelling at the kids for not running the play right for the fourth time in a row.
"Damn. Heard about that kid even in our other league," the man replies.
"Which one's yours?" Jack asks, trying to be polite though all of the parents know that Jack Belton's not one for small talk and when it comes to watching the practices, he likes to do it on his own. Even his wife, Daisy, doesn't stand near him.
"#7. Henry. We were up in Cherokee County but we moved here this summer for work," the man continues talking. "We had to make sure there was football though. We couldn't even think about moving here if they didn't have football." He chuckles at that and then glances back to Jack again. "But your kid's getting famous for his age. Where does he get it from? You or your wife?"
"Definitely not me," Jack smirks a little at that with a shake of his head and he watches as Coach Tyreese bends down in front of Matty to talk with him. "Not my wife much either. Her brother though, Matty's uncle, was into football. 's one of the coaches now."
Jack's actually surprised himself by saying so much at one time to this stranger.
"Henry doesn't really take after myself or my husband. I played baseball but never football and Eric is a bit of a klutz by his own admission," the man smiles.
Jack looks at him. Can't really help it. It's not a big deal. Not to him anyway. He's just actually never met a gay man before. Especially in their little town where there are none. And he must have been looking at him for longer than he meant because the man then smiles a little at him and Jack snaps himself out of it.
"Sorry," Jack mumbles but he just smiles and shrugs and Jack wonders how used this guy is to people looking at him as if he has horns. "Didn' mean to…" he trails off when the man chuckles and shrugs again. "How you like it 'round here so far?" He asks.
"We came from a town with about two hundred people so this is a big city to us," he smiles. "I work from home and Eric did have a job but he was feeling unsatisfied so he quit and was able to find something else. I told him we're too young for mid-life crises like that but it seemed to work out for the best. What about you? Do you like it?"
"Lived here for a long time," Jack gives his head a nod. "Like it well enough. Quiet and small and 's a good place."
It's more than that. This is the town where he has a good job – managing Martinez's auto garage for him – and he has a wife, Daisy, and she has her cupcake shop, and he has a son, Matty, who is nine-years-old and is already having high schools come and watch him on Saturdays during his football games. His family and friends are here. It's not just a good place. He would have never thought it but this little town is the best place in the world. He knows not everyone will think the same. Who knows if this guy and his husband and kid will even like it?
"Tavon! You have to nail this pitch! If you can't pitch it to Sammy, the play is over and what are you going to do?" T-Dog is yelling at the quarterback, holding the front of the boy's facemask so he has to look at him. "They are all expecting you to hand the ball off to Matty and they are going to be so far up that kid's ass, you won't even be able to think about handing him the ball! You need to get it to Sammy if you want to see points up on that board! Now, tell me what you don't understand about that?"
Jack finds Daisy across the field as she helps some of the other moms set up the cups for water and he can see her frowning to herself, not surprised to see her doing so. She has never been comfortable with the way the coaches sometimes yell at the boys.
"He's intense," the man comments and Jack realizes he still doesn't know his name.
"T's good," Jack says and he realizes he still doesn't know this guy's name.
And then, as if he can read Jack's mind, and has realized that, too, himself, he turns towards Jack and holds out his hand. "Aaron Raleigh," he says.
"Jack Belton," Jack returns and shakes his hand.
"Tavon!" T-Dog blows his whistle again. "You see that tree? You run to that tree and back until I tell you to stop! Maybe it will help get your memory working. And Matty, you keep glaring at me like that, you can join him!" He blows his whistle again and the two boys begin to run off, side by side.
Jack looks to Daisy again from across the field and he's pretty sure he can see smoke coming out of her ears. Daisy then turns her head and seems to instantly find Jack's eyes and he watches as she walks around the entire practice field, coming to his side, and she seems to be completely unaware of Aaron standing there for the moment.
"What is his problem today?" Daisy asks as if Jack has any insight into T-Dog's mind.
Jack shrugs. "Jus' tryin' to teach the boys discipline…" he then says as if he has any idea what the hell he's talking about but he figures that's what's going on.
He watches Matty as the boy runs side by side with his best friend. Matty's the fastest runner on the team – damned near one of the fastest runners in the whole county, probably – but he doesn't leave Tavon's side. Not that Tavon is a snail but Matty can run laps around any of these kids. Doesn't mean he will though.
"Maybe T's jus' tryin' to distract Tavon from everythin' that's goin' on," Jack then suggests, turning his head back towards Daisy.
She's been watching the boys, too, and she looks to Jack. She sighs softly. "Maybe…" she agrees though it seems like she's still unsure and not at all happy with the harshness the team's head coach is expressing to the boys today.
She then notices Aaron standing there and her mood does a complete one-eighty. She bursts into a smile. "Hi!" She greets cheerfully like she does everyone. "I'm Daisy Belton."
Aaron smiles. "Hi. Aaron Raleigh. My son just joined the Gators this year," he says.
"Oh, you're Henry's dad," Daisy keeps smiling. "He's a really good corner-back."
"Thank you. Your husband and I were just talking. We don't know where the kids get it from," Aaron chuckles a little.
"Definitely not me," Daisy smiles wider, shaking her head, her eyes drifting back to watch Matty. "But I'm glad he has it. It makes him happy."
T-Dog blows his whistle. "Tavon! Matty! I said run! Not take a stroll!" He blows his whistle again and both boys abandon their jogs to start running at a faster speed.
Daisy sighs heavily and stands beside Jack, her arms crossed over her chest and her lips pursed together. He knows she won't complain to any of
the coaches about this – not even to her brother. Parents who complain to the coaches – either about their boys getting yelled at or their boys not getting enough play time during the games – usually get their sons yelled at more because of it. Not to mention that the boys on the team are all now at that age where they're starting to get embarrassed by their parents and Daisy would never want to embarrass Matty.
"Michonne's here," Daisy says then and Jack looks across the field to see Michonne, Tavon's mom, walking from the parking lot with her youngest son in her arms.
Without another word, Daisy stands on her toes and kisses Jack's cheek before hurrying away, walking back around the field towards their friend. Jack watches Michonne for a moment and Daisy approaching her and the two women talk with one another away from the others. Michonne has recently just left her husband and she and the two boys have moved in with her mother. Daisy offered them a place immediately but Michonne had assured her that they'd be alright with her mom. Besides, they have just bought a house and should get the chance to settle into it before having house guests stay over.
T-Dog has resumed yelling at another player and Matty and Tavon are still running, not having been told to stop yet.
"Is it always like this?" Aaron asks from beside him with a slight frown on his face.
"Not always," Jack answers truthfully. "Sometimes, it's just football."
Aaron nods but doesn't comment further, his eyes still watching sharply and not looking away from the field, and Jack doesn't say anything else either. It does take a while to get used to – to watch your kid getting yelled at even though they're just eight and nine year old boys and it's just football and not life. And most of the time, Jack knows he's actually still not used to it.
…
After practice, Matty is on the verge of tears, he's soaked with sweat and he has a nasty cramp in his side because even though he loves running, even he has to stop eventually. Jack gets him a bottle of water from the table and he and Daisy walk him away from the others. He's panting heavily, trying to catch his breath, and Daisy helps him take off his practice pads and Jack pours some of the water over the boy's head and back of the neck before handing him the bottle and Matty chugs the rest of the water down.
"Are you having fun?" Daisy asks as she gently runs a towel over his head.
She asks him this from time to time because she's always said that if Matty ever answers with anything other than a yes, they'll stop. Just like that, they'll walk away from the team and playing for the season because it's just football. It's supposed to be fun. And Jack agrees with her. Everyone else is already talking about high school and universities and drafts into the NFL but he and Daisy only care about what Matty really wants to do and the decision is entirely up to him. Because if Matty burns out at nine or winds up hating the sport, what the hell's the point of planning this kid's future around it?
For the first time, Matty doesn't say yes. He's still out of breath, trying to catch it, and he closes his eyes as Daisy gently rubs the towel over his sweaty face. But he doesn't say no either. He actually doesn't give her question any answer and Daisy and Jack look at one another over the top of his head, wondering exactly what that means.
…
They moved out of their apartment a couple of months earlier and bought a little blue house on a quiet street with quiet neighbors. Daisy had sat down and figured out that they would be paying as much in a mortgage as much as they pay now in rent and it was time to move out of the apartment into their very own house.
The house is small but it's still more room than they've had. The kitchen is bigger – which is a plus for Daisy – Matty is excited to have a bedroom upstairs, the backyard is fenced in so Otter, their pit bull, has plenty of room to run around in and Jack has a garage where he can do all of his own projects when he's not at work.
When they get home, Otter is barking, excited to have them home again but Matty barely pets him before he's trudging upstairs to get himself cleaned up before dinner. Otter almost follows him up the stairs but Jack calls his name and the dog comes, obediently going out the backdoor into the back yard. Daisy is at the sink, where she had put a few chicken breasts in there this morning to defrost for dinner, and she now gathers the eggs, flour, and container of breadcrumbs.
Jack stands at the back door for a moment, looking at her, not too sure what to say. He and Daisy have been married for a while now and he's been Matty's dad for a while, too, but he still sometimes feels like he has no right to say anything when it comes to certain things even though he knows this is as much his family as theirs. He's just worried about saying the completely wrong thing and pissing Daisy off. After all, she's the one who actually made him and gave birth to him and when it comes to Matty, Jack admits that he usually just follows her lead.
She goes to preheat the oven and she must feel his eyes on her because she looks at him. "Do you mind going in the garden and getting some green beans to have tonight? I think we probably have just another couple of more harvests before they die."
"Yeah," Jack nods and is silently relieved to have something to do. He goes into the backyard, seeing Otter sniffing at a spot in the fence where a squirrel had probably been, and he goes to the vegetable garden they have growing in the back corner of their yard, surrounded by chicken wire to keep the wild animals – and Otter – out.
Otter starts barking and Jack looks to see that there is a squirrel in the sycamore tree planted in their backyard, clearly taunting the dog.
Over the summer, they had planted tomatoes, green beans and radishes and had gotten plenty of the vegetables from each plant and they are already planning as to what they'll plant next spring. Jack likes being able to take care of himself for some things without having to rely on a store for everything.
He hears the back screen door open and then slap shut and he lifts his head, seeing Daisy cutting across the grass towards him. He straightens and waits for her to reach him, she obviously wanting to talk with him or else, she would have waited until he got back into the house. She steps into the garden and closes the little gate behind her.
"Our baby is not allowed to be an athlete of any kind," Daisy informs him. "Either they'll bake or fix cars and that's it."
Jack smirks a little at that. "Not too sure that's up to us."
Daisy sighs and without another word, she comes to him and slips her arms around his waist, turning her head and resting it against his chest, her ear over his heart. Jack holds the small plastic bin with green beans in one hand and his other arm wraps around her shoulders, holding her close.
He drops his lips down to the top of her head and rests them there and he stands there, holding her and letting her hold him.
They've been trying. Ever since they got married, they've been trying. She wants another baby and he knows he's ready for one, too. And he's going to try his hardest to not wonder why it hasn't happened yet. Daisy obviously has no problem getting pregnant. Maybe it's him. Maybe something's wrong with him because it's not like they aren't trying. He's pretty sure they're trying as much as they possibly can.
But it just hasn't happened yet.
But Jack isn't going to wonder why not or worry about it because Daisy doesn't seem worried and he knows she believes in everything happening when it's supposed to so probably, in her mind, she's not worried because they're just not meant to have a baby yet. Jack will admit to himself that he's getting a little impatient for it to happen. It's not like he's getting any younger and he wants a baby with Daisy a lot. A lot. Probably more than anything, to be honest.
They finally break apart and head back into the house, Otter on their heels, and Matty is in the kitchen now – his blond curls damp from the shower he has just taken – sitting at the kitchen table, one of his notebooks for school opened in front of him. Otter trots over to him and nudges his leg with his snout and Matty absently rubs him behind his torn ear with one hand as he continues writing with his other.
"Dinner will be ready
in a few minutes," Daisy tells them both. "Matty, do you want to drink milk or apple juice tonight?"
"Apple juice," Matty answers without lifting his head from his notebook. He writes for another moment and then looks up as Jack begins setting plates on the table and Daisy is standing at the counter, cutting the ends off the green beans and tossing them into water to steam. "Can I call Grandpa?"
"Of course, sweetie," Daisy answers. "You don't have to ask that."
Matty gets up from the table and steps up on the stool that's beneath the old fashioned rotary phone that hangs on the wall. Jack pretends that he isn't listening as he goes into the small room laundry off of the kitchen to get Otter some dry kibble for dinner.
"Hi, Grandpa," Matty says. "It's Matty," he then says as if Johnathan Greene wouldn't be able to guess that for himself. "If God makes you really good at something but you don't know if you want to do it, are you going to make God angry?"
Jack looks at Daisy as she stands at the counter, seeing that she has gone completely still, her eyes frozen on Matty.
The oven beeps but Daisy still doesn't move and Jack goes to take the chicken out before it can burn. Matty talks for a few more minutes and then hangs the phone up, hopping off the stool and heading back towards the table.
Daisy serves them the green beans and Jack serves them each pieces of chicken and he then goes to get the jug of apple juice from the refrigerator for both Matty and himself. They all sit at the table and Daisy says grace and they all then begin eating. Jack watches Daisy as she continuously looks at Matty and hardly eats any of her dinner. Matty doesn't seem to notice though and if he does notice, he's acting like he has no idea.
Jack takes a sip of apple juice from his glass and then clears his throat. "Matty," he says the boy's name and Matty instantly looks to him. Jack takes a deep breath. "Do you think you wanna keep playin' football?" He then asks what Daisy can't seem to be able to at the moment.
And Matty doesn't answer right away; as if he's really thinking it through. He then shrugs. "I don't know," he then says in a quiet voice. "I know every practice can't be fun but today, it really wasn't fun."
