Under the Lights

by Shannon Stacey

  “I’ve been really good, all things considered. I’ve been married ten years to a guy I met at college. We moved back when my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer and, thank God, she beat it. And I have a seven-year-old daughter and a five-year-old son.” Her face softened when she talked about her family, and he was genuinely happy for her. “How about you?”

  Well, he had a pretty decent truck in the parking lot and a storage locker in New Jersey. “I’m good. I still live in Jersey and I’m a builder.”

  “The whole town appreciates you guys coming back for the Eagles Fest,” she said. “Without football, I don’t think Stewart Mills would have anything to cheer about at all.”

  “You know what Coach means to me.” He knew she did because she’d been the one he’d confided in. Not everything, because their relationship wasn’t exactly deep, but enough.

  “Everybody loves Coach.”

  A customer stepped up behind him, so Chase took the opportunity to exit the conversation and hit the soda case. He grabbed a couple of bottles, figuring he’d drain the first one pretty quickly, and then stepped back into line.

  “It was good to see you,” Janie said as she handed him his change.

  “You, too. I’m glad you’re happy.”

  She smiled and nodded. “I am. I hope you are, too.”

  He smiled back, but it faded as soon as he was through the swinging glass door to the parking lot. Was he happy? He didn’t consider himself unhappy, exactly, but happy seemed like a little bit of a stretch.

  When he pulled up to the town square, Kelly jogged over to the curb, and he had to admit watching her run made him a little happier. He even managed to tear his gaze from her legs long enough to appreciate the entire package. Officer McDonnell was in really nice shape.

  Chase took a swig of soda, hoping to cool himself off a bit as she went around to the passenger door. He needed to stop thinking of her as Officer McDonnell, which brought to mind that fruity cop smell of hers, and think of her as Coach’s daughter. That was better than a cold shower or a cool drink any day of the week.

  05

  Kelly took a deep breath before opening the passenger door of the truck. She’d already proven she could handle a little close proximity to Chase without making a fool of herself, but she needed to stop tempting herself like this. She should have begged off and let somebody else help him lug stuff back to the Walker farm.

  She opened the door and then laughed. “Did somebody dump their garbage in your truck as a prank?”

  He looked around, not seeming to grasp what she was talking about. “Where?”

  “Seriously? Chase, it looks like a Dumpster exploded in here.”

  He frowned and then brushed a straw wrapper from the passenger seat onto the floor. “Sorry. I should probably clean it out.”

  “Or you could just set it on fire and start over.”

  He rolled his eyes and gestured for her to get in. “It’s a few papers. I suppose you’re one of those people who alphabetizes their spices.”

  “Of course not. They’re shelved near my stove in order of how frequently I use them.”

  “But they have an order.”

  She climbed up into the seat and rested her feet on a pile of bank slips, torn notebook pages and who knew what else. “You’re a very messy person.”

  “You have no idea,” he muttered.

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “Nothing.”

  She kicked at the pile of crap under her feet. “Did you lose your dog under here?”

  “What dog?” He glanced over his shoulder and then pulled the truck away from the curb. “I don’t have a dog.”

  “The first time I called you, you said you were talking to your dog.”

  “Oh.” He gave her a look of chagrin before turning back to the road. “I was having a bad day and was mostly talking to myself, but I didn’t want you to think I was crazy, so I lied. Rina wouldn’t let me have a dog.”

  “Rina?”

  “My ex. She really hated dog hair, for some reason.”

  His ex, but ex what? Fiancée? Wife? “Your ex . . . ?”

  “Girlfriend. Ex-girlfriend. When you called me, I’d already been on the phone with her new boyfriend and also with some people who were really unhappy with my business partner, so I wasn’t at my best.”

  “Yeah, that sounds like a bad day.”

  As he drove, he told her about how things had gone to crap for him, from business being slow to his girlfriend cheating to his business partner absconding with their money. While his tone didn’t really change, offering up his story in a nonchalant, no-big-deal kind of way, she didn’t miss the way his fingers tightened on the steering wheel.

  She guessed this all had something to do with the you have no idea when she’d said he was a messy person. His entire life was a mess.

  “How about you?” he asked. “I’ve heard there’s an ex in your life, too.”

  “Ex-husband,” she said, wishing she could pull off his casual tone. “We got married, discovered we had irreconcilable differences and then went our separate ways.”

  “That’s it?”

  No, that was far from it, but she didn’t care to dissect her failed marriage for Chase. “He was too charming for his own good, or for my own good. Kind of like you, actually.”

  He nudged her with his elbow so she’d look at him. “You think I’m charming?”

  “It wasn’t really a compliment.”

  “I take what I can get.”

  Somehow she doubted Chase was lacking in self-confidence and needed an ego boost from her. “Now that she’s your ex, you could get a dog.”

  “I should probably get a place to live first since I’ve got nothing at all to offer a dog at the moment. But I’ve been meaning to ask you, when are the other guys coming in?”

  Not the smoothest subject change she’d ever heard. “Alex Murphy and Sam Leavitt are coming on Friday, the day before the street fair. They’re both flying into Boston, so Alex is going to rent a car and then wait for Sam’s plane and they’ll drive up together. The others can’t come for as long, but they’ll all be here for the alumni game and parade. We’re still working out some of the details.”

  “Is Sam staying with his mom?”

  “No.” They wouldn’t even have considered asking Sheila Leavitt about the possibility, even if Sam hadn’t told them he preferred to board with a team family, like the others. There was too much history there, and none of it was pretty. “He’s staying with Cody. You know, the kid who plays tight end?”

  “Yes, I know Cody. I hope Sam doesn’t mind being called dude.”

  “I wish Cody was the only offender, there. I hate that. But anyway, Mimi Dodge is his grandmother and he’s been living with her for several years, so Sam will be at the Dodge house.”

  “What happened to the kid’s parents? Bill Dodge was older than me, but I kind of remember him.”

  Kelly hesitated. “I can’t discuss Cody’s parents. Alex is staying with JJ Barton’s family. John Briscoe’s bringing his wife and kids, so they’ll stay with his parents. Killing two birds with one stone, he said, since they haven’t been back to visit for a while. Deck and Phil Parson still live in town, obviously. Phil’s out of town, but he’ll be back soon.”

  “So nobody’s staying with the running back? Hunter, I think his name is.”

  “Hunter Cass. And no, nobody’s staying with him.” There were several families connected to the team who couldn’t take the strain of a guest, either financially or emotionally. “We didn’t have to ask too many families, since those are the only commitments we could get from the guys we could find. Just the six of you.”

  “I think you did pretty good, actually.”

  She smiled at the praise in his tone. “Thanks. I just hope it’s enough.”


  “Even if it’s not, I know how much it means to a guy that age to have somebody believe in you and fight for you.” He gave a little shrug, and then chuckled. “Which you know, since you didn’t hesitate to use it against me.”

  She felt a pang of guilt. “That was harsh, actually, and I’m sorry I had to do it. But he’s my dad. And he knows he’s more to the team than just their coach.”

  “That he is.”

  Chase turned onto the bumpy dirt road that led back to the big, white farmhouse that had seen better days. Gretchen was doing her best, but without being able to pay for labor, she and her grandmother were on their own. He drove past the house and hooked a left onto an even worse track of dirt that led to the barn. It took them only a few minutes to unload the bed of his truck, and then he drove her back into town, stopping at the curb in front of her apartment.

  “I guess I’ll run into you soon,” he said.

  “Very soon. I’m going to run home and take a shower, and then I have to get to my parents’ house for dinner.” When he gave her a blank look, she cocked her head. “It’s Father’s Day, remember?”

  “Oh. Sure.” He clearly hadn’t remembered. “I’ll probably go to O’Rourke’s or something. Maybe grab a pizza. But I’ll get out of the way.”

  “Coach specifically mentioned looking forward to both of us being there for his Father’s Day dinner.”

  He shrugged, but she could see the tension around his eyes. “Okay. I’d rather eat your mom’s cooking, anyway.”

  Kelly didn’t bother asking him if he’d called his dad or not. She suspected Father’s Day wasn’t a big deal for the Sanders family, not only because Chase had clearly forgotten the holiday, but because she knew Chase and his dad had always had a rocky relationship.

  None of her business, she told herself as she got out of his truck and gave him a wave. Nothing about Chase’s personal life was her business, and what she did know wasn’t good. His life was a mess and, if there was one thing Kelly didn’t want in her life, it was another mess.

  —

  Chase put what must have been the tenth card he’d read back on the greeting card rack in the drugstore. Coach wasn’t his dad, grandfather or uncle, so card shopping wasn’t going too well. There didn’t seem to be a Dear Coach, thank you for making me the man I am today sentiment in the bunch.

  Of course, Chase would rather be the man he was six months ago, with a successful business and a wonderful girlfriend he thought loved him. Coach would have been damn proud of that man. Now? Chase wasn’t sure what was next for him but, whatever it was, he’d be going into it with his debts paid and his head held high. He guessed Coach would be pretty proud of that guy, too.

  He finally settled on a blank card with a funny picture of a pug in a bow tie on the front. He’d write his own message, which would probably be something along the lines of Happy Father’s Day, Coach. From Chase.

  Since he was there, he grabbed a few magazines to keep him occupied in the guest room after Coach and Mrs. McDonnell retired for the evening, along with some candy to stash away. Then he grabbed a tube of toothpaste and a box of condoms. Not that he thought he’d need them in the near future, but a man should be prepared in case opportunity knocked.

  When he pulled into Coach’s driveway, he pulled the card out of the bag and shoved the rest under the seat to bring in later. After digging around his center console for a few minutes, he found a pen and—ignoring the pang caused by seeing S & P Builders on the side of it—wrote a quick note inside the card and sealed it.

  In the side mirror, he caught sight of Kelly walking up the driveway and got out of his truck, thankful she hadn’t caught him holding the almost transparent bag with the brightly colored condom box inside.

  “Did your car break down?” he asked, realizing she hadn’t driven into the driveway and there were no vehicles parked along Eagles Lane.

  “I walk whenever I can,” she said, falling into step beside him as they made their way toward the door. “Stewart Mills doesn’t have a gym, and I don’t have the space or self-discipline for home workout equipment, so walking is my way of staying in shape.”

  “It’s definitely working for you,” he said without thinking.

  She tilted her head to look sideways at him, her expression unreadable. “Thank you.”

  He couldn’t think of anything else to say, but it didn’t matter because Coach opened his front door at that moment and stepped outside. “Thank God you two are here. Helen made a roast in the slow cooker and, after smelling it for hours, I’m absolutely starving.”

  He wasn’t kidding. As soon as he stepped into the foyer, Chase was hit by the aroma of seasoned beef, and his stomach growled in response. When he winced and put his hand over his abdomen, Kelly laughed.

  “Mom’s cooking has that effect on people, remember?”

  He definitely remembered. Most of the time he spent at the McDonnell table, he’d been struggling through homework, but sometimes Mrs. McDonnell would invite him to stay for supper, and those had been the best meals. Not that his mom couldn’t cook—baked goods being a notable exception—but there was something about the meals Coach’s wife put on the table that made him think of family and home and television shows like The Waltons and The Cosby Show.

  As they dug into the roast, buttery corn and some creamy mashed potatoes with gravy that didn’t come from a jar, Chase tried to keep his eyes on his food for the most part. It wasn’t easy, since he was sitting across from Kelly. The V-neck shirt she was wearing accented the fact that her breasts weren’t large but were probably the perfect size to cup in his hands, and he’d really like to test that theory.

  Then he was afraid decidedly not looking at her would be as weird and noticeable as looking at her too much, so he stopped staring at his plate and tried to divide his attention among the three McDonnells as naturally as possible.

  “Chase, your mom called today,” Mrs. McDonnell said, which definitely got all of his attention. “She wanted to see how you were doing, but she said you weren’t answering your cell phone.”

  “The battery died and I couldn’t find my car charger in my truck. For all I know it was sold in the yard sale.”

  “Or the trash on your floor ate it,” Kelly muttered, and she smiled when he frowned at her.

  “She just wanted to see how you liked being back, and she asked how the fund-raising was going. I told her I’d have you give her a call when you came in.”

  His mom cared a lot more about reminding him it was Father’s Day than she did checking in on Eagles Fest, but he didn’t say so. Denial was definitely his mother’s state of mind when it came to the relationship between her husband and their son. “I’ll call her in a little while. Thanks.”

  When they were done eating, Chase helped clear the table, but he wasn’t surprised when Mrs. McDonnell shooed him and Coach out of the kitchen. “It’s Father’s Day. You two go relive the glory days for a little while we clean up and then we’ll have pie.”

  “Hey! He’s my father,” Kelly said, her hands on her hips. “How come I don’t get to go relive the glory days while Chase washes the dishes?”

  He would have teased her about being a girl, but she’d probably had some kind of hand-to-hand combat training in the police academy, and getting his ass kicked in Coach’s kitchen would be the highlight of the entire Eagles Fest. For everybody else, of course. Not so much for him.

  “Because you get every Father’s Day with him, and Chase has been gone a long time.” Mrs. McDonnell handed her daughter a sponge. “And he’s company.”

  “Did I tell you Chase volunteered to do a double shift in the dunking booth at the street fair?” Kelly’s voice was all sweetness and light as she lied to her mother, but the look she gave him when Mrs. McDonnell’s back was turned almost made him laugh out loud. And there was going to be a dunking booth? She hadn’t told him that part on t
he phone.

  “If you let me off with one dunking booth shift, I’ll wash the dessert dishes,” he offered, hoping for peach cobbler.

  “If you don’t wash the dessert dishes, I’m going to tell Edna Beecher I saw a 9-millimeter casing on the floor of your truck. You know how she feels about guns and, yes, she still has the FBI on speed dial.”

  “That’s low. And I don’t have a 9-millimeter casing in my truck.”

  She smirked. “Yeah, but it’ll take you three days to clean your truck out enough to prove it to her.”

  “Kelly Ann McDonnell,” her mother said, and he felt a rush of smug satisfaction at hearing her middle-named. “It’s not nice to threaten people with Edna. Especially guests in our home.”

  “Sanders, the longer you keep the women talking, the longer I have to wait for that blueberry pie,” Coach called from the living room. “If you’re going to stay in the kitchen, wash the damn dishes.”

  After a final glance at Kelly, who was trying not to laugh, Chase retrieved the card he’d set on the foyer table and went to relive some glory days with Coach. It was one of the better Father’s Days in his life, and he was sorry he and his dad had never been able to connect the way Chase did with Coach.

  He glanced at the clock and figured he had about ten minutes left before Mrs. McDonnell broke out the blueberry pie. That was a perfect amount of time for a phone call home. He could tell his mom how Stewart Mills was so far, wish his dad a happy Father’s Day and have a concrete reason for ending the call, rather than letting it die the slow, painful death of awkward pauses as it usually did.

  “I’m going to go make a call,” he told Coach, whose head kept tilting sideways in his recliner as he fought a post-dinner nap. “I’ll be right back.”

  “Tell your parents I said hello. Especially your old man. We had a lot of conversations about your games back in the day. He was proud of you.”

  A lump seemed to settle in Chase’s throat, so all he did was nod before going out onto the front porch to make the call. Maybe if, just once, his dad had told him he was proud, rather than telling Coach, he wouldn’t be planning his exit from a call he hadn’t even made yet.