Hustle and Heart

by Alison Mello

  “In the kitchen, Mom,” he calls out.

  I kiss my son on the head. “How was your day?”

  He shrugs. “It was good, same as always.”

  “Do you have a lot of homework?” If I know my son, he probably doesn’t have a ton because he uses every free minute he has at school to get it done. He’s been a straight A student for the past few years, and I’m proud because it hasn’t always come easy for him.

  He continues to write for a moment. “I did, but I’m done.”

  “Good boy. Go change into gym shorts and a t-shirt so you boys can play. I’m going to change as well, and we’ll be leaving in a few.” He is such a good kid. He grabs his bag and his binder and brings them to his room.

  When we get into the car he says, “Mom, can I play my playlist?”

  “Sure.” I hit the media button and connect his phone to the car. He presses play, and we both start singing to the music.

  “Can I ask you a question, Mom?”

  “Sure, what’s up, bud?” I turn the music down slightly.

  “How do you know my coach?”

  “Jesse? I know him from high school. He played football with your dad. They were really good friends.”

  “Were? They aren’t friends anymore?”

  I sigh. “No, they aren’t.” I stop to think about how much I should tell him, but then I realize this is a good chance to teach him how to treat a woman. “You know, Jason, I started dating your dad in high school and he didn’t always treat me very well, but I was just too young and in love to see it. Jesse tried to warn me. He told me your dad was dating another girl at the same time as me, but I didn’t believe him. I thought he was just saying that because he liked me too. Now I know it was probably true—your dad probably was cheating on me.” I sigh. “I always say I will never talk bad about your dad, but I want you to know it’s not appropriate to do that to a girl.”

  “Why did he cheat?”

  I glance in the rearview mirror, confusion is written all over his face. “I can’t answer that, bud. That’s a question for your dad. He says he wasn’t happy with me, but there were better ways to handle it than how he did. If you are with someone and you decide you’re not happy, you tell them and break up with them properly. Don’t ever lead a girl to believe you like her and then cheat on her.”

  “I won’t, Mom.”

  We go back to singing for the remainder of our ride to Jesse’s house. When we finally get there, I pull into his driveway and park next to his truck. His son, Gabe, is playing in the yard with who I assume is his sister, Grace. They stop playing and come over to greet us.

  Jason jumps from the car and Gabe fist bumps him. “Sup. This is my little sister, Grace.”

  Jason nods at her. “Hey,” he says to her and they run off to throw a ball around.

  I’m climbing the steps of Jesse’s beautiful farmer’s porch when he greets me from the front door. “Hey, beautiful.” I look down to hide the blush that’s creeping up my cheeks. “Don’t hide, it’s not like this is news to you. I’ve always thought you were beautiful.” I giggle and bite my lip. “Come on in. Mom’s excited to see you.”

  He opens the door and escorts me inside. The house has a gorgeous modern country feel. We enter an open living room that has stairs in the middle that leads to the second floor. The living room continues on the left, and there’s a small playroom on the right. When you walk past the stairs there’s a huge kitchen with an attached dining area. They have a beautiful large country-style table set up.

  “Mom, look who’s here.”

  A woman I recognize from football all those years ago turns and smiles at me. “Karen, how are you, dear?”

  “I’m well. How are you?”

  She pulls me in for a hug. “I’m good, and I’m even better now.” I look at her, confused. She points to Jesse. “He’s not so grouchy these days.” She winks, and I burst into laughter.

  “Thanks, Mom.” He’s pretending to be mad, but you can call it an epic fail. I can see from the way he looks at his mom that he adores her. It’s really sweet.

  “Grammy, we’re hungry. Is dinner almost ready?” Grace comes into the kitchen whining.

  “Grace, have you met Daddy’s friend?”

  She shakes her head. “I saw her outside, but Gabe only introduced me to his friend.”

  He rolls his eyes and picks her up. “What am I going to do with that boy?”

  Grace’s eyes light up. “Ground him?” she suggests.

  “How about we start with discussing it with him first?”

  She pouts. “Fine.”

  “Grace, this is my friend, Karen. We were friends all the way back when we were in high school.”

  “Hey, easy there. You’re making us sound old.” He laughs and I hold out my hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, cutie.” She gently shakes but plays shy.

  “Grace, go tell the boys that dinner is ready and the three of you go wash your hands,” Josephine says.

  “Yes, Grammy.” Jesse puts her down, and she runs off to do as she’s told.

  “She is adorable.”

  He looks over his shoulder at her as she runs to the door. “She’s her mother.”

  “She may look like her, but that doesn’t mean she is her. They’re two different people, and you can steer her from that path,” his mom warns, pointing a spoon at him.

  “Damn straight. There’s not a chance in hell I’m letting either of my kids go down that path. I’ll do whatever I have to, to ensure that never happens.”

  “You know I just had a conversation with Jason on the way here about what his father did and why it was wrong. I don’t want him to put any woman through that.”

  He nods. “Good for you.” He takes a stack of plates and brings them to the table.

  The kids all come running into the kitchen. Gabe takes a seat and tells Jason he can sit next to him. Jesse pulls out the seat next to Jason for me to sit. “Can I help with something?”

  “No, tonight you’re our guest.”

  I smile. “Thank you, but I don’t mind helping.”

  His mom laughs. “I’m not sure if you remember this or not, but my Jesse”—she looks at him—“is a stubborn man, and when he has his mind made up there’s no changing it. That said, I’d relax if I were you.” She winks at me and puts a platter of chicken on the table.

  I laugh. “Fair enough. I’ll take a seat.” He starts to walk away when I add, “This time.” He laughs and shakes his head as he works with his mom in the kitchen.

  When they come back to the table with the remainder of dinner, Jesse takes the seat next to me and his mom sits next to Grace. She tells everyone to dig in, and we do. “Jason, are you excited for the football season to start?”

  “Yes, ma’am.” He takes a bite of chicken.

  “It’s going to be a very busy few weeks. I’m a tad nervous, I’m not gonna lie.”

  Jesse gives my knee a gentle squeeze, and the feeling goes straight to my core. “You got this. I’ll back you.”

  “Well I’m sure you saw I got the Facebook page squared away, and I sent out an email to all the parents with our info. I guess that’s all I need to do until our first practice tomorrow.” I have a post scheduled for tomorrow to remind our team parents that we need to be at the field by six.

  “I think I’m more nervous about getting stuck at work.”

  Jesse shrugs. “If you do, call me. I’ll pick Jason up.”

  “Thank you.”

  We suddenly go into a comfortable silence eating our dinner. The kids are done before us and ask to go play in the yard. Jesse excuses them, and they hurry off.

  “So what are you up to these days?” Jesse asks, leaning back in his chair and crossing his leg at his ankle. His mom leaves the table without saying a word.

  “I pretty much just work and care for Jason.”

  “How did Jason handle him leaving?”

  I shrug. “At first he was upset and then he became angry. He couldn�
��t believe he up and left like he did.” Jesse looks so angry. “I don’t think he would’ve taken it as bad if he had stuck around like he said he was going to, but he moved right away. Now he hardly ever sees him because it’s over an hour drive, and he’s constantly complaining about how busy he is with work and her kids. She has two from her first marriage. I feel bad for Jason. He calls him but he hardly ever answers, and when he does he promises to make plans with him soon. Once in a while he actually shows up.” He leans forward staring down at the table. “What, Jesse? Why are you so angry?”

  “First and foremost, I’m angry because no woman or child deserves to be treated the way he treated you both. But what makes it worse”—he exhales a deep breath—“I spoke to Brian our senior year. Told him that I liked you. He laughed.” Jesse makes a fist. “I told him I knew he was cheating on you and that he should leave you before he hurt you. I knew you would’ve been upset, but I would’ve been there for you. When you didn’t believe me, I didn’t know what else to do. I decided you had to see it for yourself because I didn’t want you to think I caused your break up.” He stands from the table and walks over to a sliding glass door that leads to the backyard. “Now I wish I had pushed harder.”

  I step up behind him and gently place my hand on his back, grabbing his attention. When he looks down into my eyes I see the hurt. “I’m sorry I didn’t believe you.”

  “You were young and in love. You have nothing to apologize for. I want you to know that I seriously want a chance to see where this can go. When I saw you the other night my heart stopped, and I was instantly taken back in time.” I look down for a second trying to gain my composure because I’m not even sure what to say right now. “I know you feel it too. Please don’t lie to yourself. There’s something between us.”

  “I know and trust me, I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about it over the last few days.”

  “About what?”

  “What ifs. What if I had listened to you? I’m not saying I want to change my past because I love my son but…” My words trail.

  “But what?”

  “I ignored the connection we had. I didn’t realize how strong it was until the other night when you looked into my eyes and really saw me. Brian never looked at me the way you do. I almost think he was only with me because I was too stupid to see what he was doing to me.”

  “Babe, you weren’t stupid. You were in love. I know because I was blind too. There were so many signs, but I wanted to believe I was wrong even though I wasn’t.” He shrugs. “There’s nothing we can do about it, so let’s just move on from it.” I nod. “I’ll never treat you the way Brian did. Please give me the chance to earn your trust.”

  I bite my lip as I throw caution to the wind and take a leap of faith. “Okay, but be gentle.”

  He chuckles. “I got you.”

  He stares into my eyes and then diverts them to my lips. I know what’s coming and it has my heart beating a million miles an hour. With a small smile playing at his lips, he slowly lowers his head until his lips press to mine. I think my heart stops beating for a fraction of a second. When he presses them to mine again our tongues connect, and it’s the jolt I need to get my heart going again. That is until our moment is interrupted.

  “Ewwwww, Daddy, why are you kissing Karen?”

  He presses his forehead to mine and laughs. “Busted.”

  “It was bound to happen.” He presses his lips to mine one more time. “Come on, I’ll help you clean up.”

  Grace runs from the room. “Gabe, Jason…” She rushes through the door to tell the boys her news. I’m going to have to have a conversation with Jason on the way home.

  I’m running late from work. This is not what I need on the first day of practice as team mom. I really wanted to be at the fields by five-thirty even though practice isn’t until six, and now I’ll be lucky if I get there by six. I called Jesse to let him know I was on my way but was running late, and he offered to pick Jason up, but I really wanted time to talk with him. We left Jesse’s kind of late last night, and he was exhausted from running around with Gabe. It took him maybe five minutes to pass out in the car.

  I hurry through the door to find Jason standing there with his new football bag ready to go. “I need two seconds to change, buddy.” I run past him to my room to throw on a pair of jeans, a t-shirt, and I grab a sweatshirt. I hurry into the living room with my sneakers, plopping myself down on the couch. “Did you get a snack?”

  “Yeah, I made a man sandwich.” He chuckles. He calls it a man sandwich because he packs on a bunch of lunch meat and cheese. It’s usually a mix of ham, turkey, and salami.

  “Good. I’m just going to grab a granola bar and I’ll be ready.”

  “You mean one like this?” He holds one up. “I already got you one.”

  I laugh. “You are the best.”

  “I got you, Mom.” He tosses the bar at me, and we hurry out the door.

  As soon as we’re in the car and on the way, I decide to start the conversation. “Jason, I want to talk to you a second.”

  “Does it have to do with Grace catching you and Jesse kissing?”

  “It does. Would you be upset if we started dating?”

  “Nah. I actually think it’s pretty cool. Dad is being a dick, so whatever.”

  “Jason! I know you’re upset with him, but please don’t talk like that. I raised you better than that.”

  I see him roll his eyes in the rearview mirror when I pull up to the light. “Okay, I’m sorry. He just makes me mad.”

  “I get it and you have a right to be mad, but don’t let it define you or change who you are. You’re better than that.”

  He sighs. “I won’t, I promise. I don’t want to be like him. I can’t believe he didn’t call me back again.”

  The remainder of the ride is silent. Lucky for me I don’t hit much traffic, so I actually make it to the field with ten minutes to spare. Jesse is already here, but there doesn’t appear to be too many parents around. We both grab our stuff and make the short walk down to the field below. When I get down there, Jesse gets up from the blanket they appear to have been eating on and approaches us. “Hey, Jason.”

  “Hey, Coach.”

  “Gabe is throwing a ball around if you want to join him.”

  “Cool. Later, Mom.” He runs off.

  “How is he?” I know he’s asking if Jason is good with he and I dating. I told Jesse last night that I was going to talk to him about it.

  “He’s good. Actually, he was happy. He said he is glad I am dating.” I can’t help but chuckle at his comment. “He called his father a dick.” I lower my voice, but Jesse bursts into laughter. “It’s not funny.” I slap him on the chest with laughter in my voice. It’s one of those moments that it’s hard not to laugh at.

  “I’m sorry. You’re right it’s not, but it kind of is.” He puts his arm around me, and we make our way over to the field where the boys are tossing the ball around.

  “Bring it in, boys.” The few players huddle around, giving Jessie their full attention. “When you get here helmets go on the line, but first we need to label them. There are too many of you for us to remember all your names right away. This will help us learn who you all are.” He puts a piece of tape on Jason’s helmet and labels it.

  “Jason,” I hear someone call out. When I look, I see DJ running down the hill with Trystan and Stella following behind him.

  “Hi, DJ.” Jesse holds his fist out, and they bump. “Let me label your helmet, and then I want you to put it on the white line with the others.”

  “Okay, Coach.” He runs over to put it on the line, and then he takes off with the other boys.

  Stella gives me a quick hug as does Trystan. “Stella, you remember Jesse from the other night.”

  She nods. “How are you?”

  “Good, thanks.”

  “Trystan, this is Jesse, the head coach.”

  He holds his hand out. “How’s it going, man?”

&nbs
p; “Good, thanks.”

  “Listen, I never played football, but I did coach baseball this year. If you need any help, let me know.”

  “Actually, we could use some help. I have two other coaches, but they are both new as well and it’s always great to have an extra hand.”

  “Great. Let me know what you need me to do.”

  The guys continue talking, but Stella pulls me aside. “How’s it going?” She gives me a look telling me she wants the scoop.

  I laugh. “We had dinner at his house last night.”

  “Really?” she questions, and before I can answer, Misty, Stacey, and Lori all come walking down the hill together. “Look at this…” Stella points to the three women. “Did we miss something?”

  Misty laughs. “Nah, we just decided to follow each other.”

  We all hug, and Stella brings us back to our conversation. “So I take it dinner went well?”

  “Yeah. Of course, we talked about taking it slow and all was going good.” I giggle. “I was just his friend to the kids until Grace caught us kissing.” The look on her face when she saw us was priceless.

  “Wait, what did we miss?” Misty asks, excited.

  “Karen had dinner with Jesse last night.” Stella fills her in.

  Misty claps her hands. “That is so awesome. Now you can tell Brian to fuck off.” We all look at Misty, shocked. “What? He’s an asshole for treating her that way.”

  “According to Jason, he’s a dick.” I’m filling them in on my conversation with Jason on the way to the field when I hear Jesse blow his whistle. It must be six. Sam, one of the teammates, runs down the hill to join the team. He looks panicked that he’s running late, but Trystan encourages him with a fist bump.

  The four coaches, Jesse, Trystan, Derek and Blake all gather around to hear what he has to say. We can’t hear him, but the boys are full of excitement and are listening closely. “Karen, can you join us a second?” he calls me over. Arien gives me a quick hug in passing and joins the girls.

  “I’ll be back.” I run over to the circle of kids.

  “Boys, this is Karen. She’s our team mom. You will see her at the end of every practice in a single line. You’ll point out your parents to her and when she sees them you will be released.”