Johnny Deeper: A Sports Romance

by Tabatha Kiss

  Eliza

  Junior takes my hand and gives it a light, reassuring squeeze.

  I glance at him beside me on the couch through my peripheral vision and he rolls his eyes at me.

  “Don’t think I didn’t see that, young man,” Bonnie says, pointing a finger at him from the loveseat across the room.

  “Mom, we already said no… about thirteen times now,” he says.

  “Not that we don’t appreciate the offer…” I add.

  “Right,” he nods. “But… no.”

  She sighs. “Well, why not?”

  I chuckle at her desperation and everyone else sitting around does, too.

  Ty and Grant hold it back the best so they don’t appear rude in her home but I can see the humor dancing in their eyes.

  Maggie lets it all out, cackling hard at her little brother’s expense while Nate keeps his head down beside her.

  Roy just shakes his head quietly from his chair.

  “Because…” Junior says. “I don’t want to move back in with my parents.”

  “Well, this isn’t only about you, Junior.” She gestures at me. “This is about Eliza and what she needs.”

  “Really, Bonnie. Thank you, but…” I hesitate, trying to think of the best way to say it without offending her. “I have all the support I need near campus. We’ve been getting along great…”

  “But it’s far quieter out here,” she argues, her voice sounding more eager and scripted than usual. “You can’t raise a baby by a college campus. It’s too noisy! Especially now that the stadium will surely sell out for every game.”

  “It’s fine, Mom,” Junior says. “The condo Ty’s cousin found us is far enough away that noise hasn’t been an issue.”

  Bonnie flinches at the word condo. “But what about daycare?” she fires back. “It’s far too expensive nowadays. If the three of you move in here, then I can take care of the baby while you’re in class or at football practice.”

  “You live an hour away from campus, Mom,” he points out. “The daily commute would probably cost the same as daycare.”

  “I’m taking the fall semester off,” I say. “We don’t have to worry about the daycare situation until spring.”

  Grant points at me. “And you absolutely have to be back by then,” he says. “Shakespeare showcase!”

  I smile at him. “I won’t miss it.”

  “What about you, little brother?” Maggie asks, her cheeks pink with wine. “Will you be gracing us with your amazing stage presence again next semester?”

  Junior glares at her. “You’re not going to let me live that down, are you?”

  “Never,” she grins.

  “No,” he answers. “I’ll be sticking with football.”

  Nate leans forward. “Have they chosen a new coach?”

  The air shifts and Junior squeezes my hand a little tighter.

  “Yes,” Ty answers. “Well, kind of. Bob is taking over and he’s nailing it so far, in you ask me.”

  Junior nods. “He’s doing great, yeah. Not surprising, though, he’s been around forever and he knows what he’s doing.”

  Bonnie sighs to pull attention back on her. “Okay — fast forward to spring and we’re right back to square one,” she says, gesturing with zeal. “What are you going to do with the baby then?”

  Roy finally chimes in. “Bonnie, the kids have made their decision.”

  “But they have better options.”

  “I’m sure they’ve considered every single option available to them and they’ve decided, together, to do what they feel is best for them and their family.”

  “But they don’t—”

  “Remember when Maggie was born and how you used to complain about my mother not leaving us alone?”

  Her jaw drops and the room cringes. “This is completely different…”

  “No, it’s not.”

  The doorbell rings and Junior shoots up off the couch. “I’ll get it!”

  “Don’t leave me…” I whine.

  He grins and drops my hand, abandoning me to fend for myself.

  “Eliza…” Roy says, looking at me. “We’re just a phone call away if you two need anything. You know that.”

  “Yes, I do.”

  “Anything at all,” Bonnie says.

  I smile. “Thank you. Really, though, we’re fine. We’ve figured out our routine and I don’t expect any big surprises to come knocking anytime soon.”

  “Ellie…”

  I look up at Junior and pause, catching sight of the familiar face lingering behind him in the open doorway.

  My father.

  I stand up, driven by shock but I can’t bring myself to step any closer.

  He looks at me over Junior’s shoulder with soft eyes and a long expression, neither of which I’ve ever seen on him before. It’s strange, almost foreign, like an alien wearing his face as a mask. I don’t feel an ounce of hatred or fear of him. I thought I would if I ever saw him again.

  “I would like to talk to my daughter in private, please,” he says.

  Junior doesn’t budge. “That’s up to her.”

  “Junior…” He turns to me and I nod. “It’s okay.” I push forward through the silent room and Junior steps aside, his eyes asking me for reassurance and I nod again. “We can go out back.”

  My father walks in and scans the room, vastly outnumbered. “Hello,” he says, nodding awkwardly at their wide, unblinking eyes.

  I always forget how much of a celebrity my father is. Even after everything he’s done, it’s difficult for them not to look at him like that; Junior being the obvious exception in the room. There’s a subtle anger hidden behind his calm, brown eyes.

  “Come on.” I lead my father through the house to the backyard, feeling Junior’s watchful stare on me the entire time — even after closing the door behind us but I can’t spot him at all in the windows.

  Silence falls between us despite months of planning what I’d say to him. All the anger and frustration I imagined melts away and it’s mostly pity that takes their place.

  He seems older, more wrinkled, and he hasn’t shaved in days from the look of his scruff.

  “Where have you been?” I finally ask.

  “I went back to New York for a while,” he says, his voice low. “Thought about staying there, but…”

  “But what?”

  He clears his throat. “I wanted to see my daughter again.”

  My tongue twitches, tempted by instinct to issue a snarky reply but I force it down.

  He glances at the house. “Seems like you’ve been taking care of yourself…”

  “The Morgans took me in after you… disappeared.”

  “Good,” he nods. “And Junior? I hear he’s still got that arm—”

  “Dad, what do you want?”

  He goes quiet but looks right at me for several moments. “Eliza, I was never meant to be a dad. Then all of a sudden, I had a little girl and I didn’t know what to do with you. Where I come from, family was just something that held a man back. Love, marriage, kids — it was all a distraction from what really mattered.”

  I cringe away from him. It’s one thing to know it but to hear it so blatantly from the devil himself is something else entirely. “Okay…”

  “I never gave that a second thought…” he continues. “Not until Junior walked away from that game last year. When he did that… I don’t know. For the first time, I changed my mind a little.”

  “Is that why you ran off?”

  “Yeah,” he says. “I couldn’t bring myself to face you again after…” He shakes his head. “Eliza, I don’t know a whole lot about what family means or what it’s supposed to be but I do know that you’re my daughter and you’re the only family I got left. I’m willing to try… if you’ll let me. I’d like to start here with the home you’ve built for yourself and hopefully… you can find a place for me in it.”

  And just like that, I’m a little kid again, staring up at the television screen,
screaming, “that’s my dad!” at the top of my lungs. It took years for the truth about who he really was to decay the rosy tint in my vision but I’ve always longed to feel that again. With all of his mistakes, he’s still my dad and always will be.

  Turning my back on him now might feel good for a while. It’s downright tempting, to be honest. It’s what he’s done to me, after all, but it’s not who I am. It’s not how I’d raise my own child.

  “Well, to start…” I shift on my toes. “Would you like to meet your granddaughter?”

  He smiles. “Yeah, I would.”

  I take him back inside and up the stairs. The house is far too silent for the number of people in it but I imagine the voices ceased the second we stepped inside.

  “She’s been napping for a while,” I say just outside of Junior’s room. “Being around people tends to wear her out but I don’t think she’d mind one more.”

  I push the door open and we step softly towards the crib in the corner. Even before I see her, I can feel her turning to look at me — like a magic link constantly pulling us together.

  “Hey, baby…” I whisper, reaching down to pick her up. “Someone here wants to meet you.”

  She twists her head, instantly drawn to the massive man behind my back but she doesn’t make a peep.

  “Wow…” my father says, staring at her. “She looks just like you did.”

  “Yeah?”

  He nods, gently smoothing his palm over the brown tuft on her head. “What’s her name?”

  “Courtney,” I answer, shifting her closer to him.

  There’s a quick panic in his eyes but it passes as soon as he takes her from me. I chuckle at how much smaller she appears in his huge hands.

  “Hello, Courtney…” he says, chuckling. “I’m your grandfather.”

  Still, she doesn’t make a noise. She just stares at him with wide eyes, confused yet comfortable.

  I take a deep breath to swallow the rush of tears down. “Dad, if you want, you can stay for a while. I don’t think Bonnie or Roy would mind setting another place at the table.”

  He furrows his brow. “What about Junior?”

  I raise my voice a little, sensing the near-silent movement in the hallway. “Junior won’t be a problem.”

  Dad finally tears his eyes away from her face to look at me. “Is he taking care of you two?”

  “Yeah,” I say, my heart throbbing. “He’s a good man.”

  He nods, regret filling his eyes. “Yes, he is.”

  Chapter 32

  Junior

  I stay behind on the porch, watching closely as Eliza walks her dad to his car.

  She holds our daughter in her arms, swaying confidently with her as if she always knew how. I can’t say it came that easy for me. Holding something so fragile has quite the learning curve but luckily, I had just the tutor to guide me through it.

  She lets out a laugh and says goodbye to him and I breathe a thankful sigh. Cary Pierce showing up like this could easily have gone the other way but I’d say it went as well as it could. I’m sure Eliza will spend the next several hours replaying the encounter over and over again in her head but I don’t want that.

  I’m not about to let Cary Pierce ruin tonight.

  Eliza walks up the driveway, speaking softly into the baby’s ear to keep her calm but Courtney is far more interested in looking up at the dimming sky.

  She climbs the porch and inhales deeply. “Well, that was strange and slightly traumatizing...”

  “Which part?” I smirk. “Your dad showing up out of the blue or watching my dad trying to have a conversation with him?”

  “Both,” she laughs.

  “Think he’ll really be sticking around?”

  “I’m…” she tilts her head, “cautiously optimistic.”

  I gesture for the baby and Eliza slowly slides her into my arms. “Hey, baby…” I kiss above her ear and she looks up at me with those tiny, brown eyes. I breathe in that perfect, clean scent of her head and Eliza smiles. “Okay… time to go.”

  “Yes, please,” Eliza says. “I’m so tired.”

  “Oh, I’m not talking to you.”

  She stares at me. “What?”

  I turn towards the door. “Grandma, she’s all yours.”

  My mother grins wide and lunges out onto the porch. “I have been waiting all day for this…”

  I hand Courtney over to her and turn back to Eliza’s horrified face. “I have a surprise for you.”

  “No, Junior…” Her eyes constantly watch the baby over my shoulder. “I really can’t handle another surprise today.”

  I smile. “Just one more.”

  “No.”

  “Ellie, get in the van.”

  She furrows her brow. “The van?”

  I look at my parents. “Mom, Dad… We’ll come pick the baby up in the morning.”

  Her face turns a pale white. “Wait… In the morning—?”

  “Ty…” I hold out my hand as Ty and Grant step out onto the porch. “Keys, please.” Ty takes his keys out of his pocket and tosses them at me. I hand mine off to Grant. “Try not to scratch it, okay?”

  “Try not to get the van dirty,” Grant smiles. “I just replaced the sheets.”

  Eliza’s eyes shift wildly in her skull as Grant and Ty walk straight towards our car. “Okay, hold on—”

  “Maggie…” I shake my head at her in the house. “You don’t get a job. You’re too drunk.”

  She scoffs. “I am not!”

  “Nate, get my sister home.”

  “Already on it,” he says, handing Maggie a large glass of water.

  “And you…” I point at Eliza’s confused face. “Get in the van.”

  “That’s not our van anymore,” she argues.

  “It is tonight.”

  “No, ours has fully-functional safety features and a car seat for our kid who was supposed to be in bed a half hour ago.”

  I grab her shoulders and spin her around. “Get in the van.”

  She digs her heels in. “What about Courtney?”

  “Courtney will be fine. Get in the van.”

  “Junior—”

  “Van.”

  She grunts with frustration but stomps away towards the van in the driveway.

  I turn back around and place one more kiss on my daughter’s head. “Be good, baby.”

  “Have fun, you two,” my mother says, unable to look away from the tiny life in her arms. “Drive safe.”

  I follow Eliza down the driveway and climb into the van, an experience that actually feels a little more nostalgic than I thought it would. I haven’t driven this thing in months — not since I sold it to Ty in order to upgrade to something a little more baby-friendly.

  We drive off down the street and I glance over into Eliza’s withering stare.

  “She’ll be fine,” I laugh.

  She taps her foot against the floor and I can’t help but trail a line up her bare legs to the hem of her skirt. “Where are we going?”

  “Patience, woman.”

  “Junior, come on—”

  “You don’t remember what today is, do you?”

  She pauses with a creased brow. “No…”

  “I’ll give you a hint…” I say. “One year ago today, you touched my dick.”

  Her eyes go wide. “Oh, my god. You’re right…”

  I nod. “So… in honor of that wonderful occasion, you and I are going out.”

  “Holy shit…” Her jaw sags. “Has it really been a year?”

  “Yes.”

  “It feels longer than that.”

  “The year or my dick?” She slaps my arm. “Also, I forgot to ask... Do you like pizza?”

  She smiles. “I’m quite fond of pizza.”

  “How about skeeball?”

  “I might have a decent memory or two of skeeball.”

  “Good.” I turn onto the highway to take us out of town. “Let’s go have some fun.”

  ***

 
Eliza throws her head back to laugh and my heart beats a little faster.

  “I think that’s two wins for me,” she says, “and zero for you.”

  “Who knew you had such a hidden talent for busting balls, Ellie?” I joke, shaking my head at the scoreboard as more tickets spit out the bottom of the machine.

  “It’s my specialty.”

  I laugh and gather the tickets. “One more game?” I ask, glancing around the nearly abandoned arcade. My nerves skip around, torn between delaying the inevitable a bit longer or ripping that bandage off.

  She holds back a yawn. “Sure, if you want.”

  I smile. “Or would you like to go home and get some rest?”

  “Do you mind?” she asks, her face scrunching up.

  “Not at all.” I feel a rush of panic but it quickly goes away while I look into her eyes. “Come on.”

  I take the tickets to the counter and Frank grins at us both.

  “Nice haul tonight, Junior…” He pulls the tickets towards his counting machine. The numbers tick up and I stare at Eliza’s gorgeous face as my pulse skips faster towards the next moment.

  “Looks like…” Frank turns to the prize wall and points towards a line of teddy bears. He fires a wink at me. “One of those.”

  “She’ll take it.”

  Eliza laughs. “The last one is mostly covered in drool now, so I can definitely use a new one…”

  Frank pulls the bear off the wall and hands it to Eliza. “For the lucky girl.”

  I instantly flash back to that night. She’s absolutely right — it’s hard to believe it’s been a whole year since I first brought her here. Back then, it was just a fun night out with a pretty girl that hopefully ended in copious amounts of casual sex. Back then, that’s as far forward into the future as I was capable of thinking. But now…

  Eliza squeezes the bear in her hands, grinning just like she did before. It’s the exact same bear with light brown fur and extra soft padding, but it doesn’t take her long to notice the one difference between this one and the one tucked inside our daughter’s crib.

  Her finger slides along the red ribbon around its neck until it touches the diamond ring hanging there waiting for her.

  She pauses, her face blank as fresh snow until it finally sets in. “Junior…”

  I lower down to one knee and her jaw drops.