We’re at the state semifinal game, watching from the stands. It’s been a crazy, back-and-forth game, and it’s coming down to the wire. The other team is up by three.
“We’re too far away to kick it,” I observe. “Nothing left but a Hail Mary.”
“Or the old hook and ladder,” Phillip offers.
“Oh, wow! Look, Danny!” Jadyn says, coming to her feet. “Damon just came in as a wideout. Do you think they’re going to let Chase throw to him for the win?”
“I don’t know, but wouldn’t that be incredible? Hell, it’d be history-making.” I stand up and nervously rub my hands together.
The visitors side of the stadium is packed, on their feet and cheering wildly as our team lines up. Chase goes under center, takes the snap, and falls back into the pocket. The offensive line holds their own while the wide receivers race down the field. Chase steps to his right, avoiding a defensive player who breached the backfield and launches the ball downfield.
“He’s going to score!” Jennifer says happily, bouncing up and down next to me as the ball flies toward the end zone.
It’s the perfect throw.
Damon is wide open.
All he has to do is catch the ball.
Come on, bud. You can do it.
“You’ve got to be kidding me!” Phillip yells out. “What was that?”
“Why?” I say as our fans cry out over the dropped ball and our team’s loss.
The ride home is quiet. No one says much. We are all still in disbelief.
When we get to the Mackenzie house, we’re greeted by yipping puppies, who are excited to see us.
“The puppies went outside about fifteen minutes ago, and the boys have been asleep since eight thirty. They played with the dogs and wore themselves out. All fell asleep on the couch together. I took the boys upstairs about a half hour ago. They didn’t even stir.” The babysitter gives Jadyn a recap as I shush the puppies by giving them each a treat.
“I’m off to pick up the kids at school,” Phillip says. “The bus should be there soon.” He goes out to the garage and then peeks his head back in the door. “Maddie’s mom just called. The girls want to do a sleepover. I told Haley she could spend the night but not to stay up too late.”
Jadyn turns to me and Jennifer. “I’m going to run upstairs and kiss my babies good night. Get yourselves a bottle of something.”
“Beer or wine?” Jennifer asks me.
“Beer,” I reply, grabbing Phillip’s laptop out of his briefcase and setting it on the kitchen table.
Jennifer comes back with two beers and sets one in front of me.
“Whatcha doing?” she asks, taking a seat next to me.
“I want to see what reporters have to say about the game.”
The screen comes to life, prompting me for a password.
“Will you be able to sign in?” she asks.
“Sure. His password has been the same for years. JJR—for Jadyn James Reynolds; PDM—for Phillip David Mackenzie; and then zero-nine-zero-one—for the day they finally had sex.”
“That’s really cute.” Jennifer clinks my bottle against hers. “We need to toast.”
“I just need a drink. It was rough to see them lose like that. Just such a stupid play. I don’t know what he was thinking.”
“Regardless of that,” she says, “the team played good. They almost won.”
“There are no medals for second place.”
“Sure there are. My mom still has my high school track medals. I think we got them—”
“You know what I mean.”
“Here’s to you,” Jennifer says, causing me to look her in the eye. “For not going out there and punching that idiot in the face after he lost the game.”
“That I will drink to.”
Jennifer
We’re just finishing the beer when Jadyn comes back downstairs. We hear the garage door open, and pretty soon, Dani, Chase, Damon, and Phillip are inside and hovering around the kitchen island.
“What was he thinking?” is the first thing he says to his son.
“I don’t know, Dad. I know he’s a senior, but he’s lucky I didn’t punch him in the face.”
I want to laugh since that’s exactly what I thought Danny was going to do, but the boys look grim.
“Regardless of how it ended, it was a great game,” Jadyn says while she ladles warm beef stew from a Crock-Pot into bowls for them.
Damon puts his hands up in the air. “All right. Because I know you’re all dying to know how it all went down, I’ll go first. Right before the last play of the game, I said to Coach, ‘He’s been throwing to me his whole life. You need me on the field. Chase always knows exactly where I’m going to be. You want to win this game, then put me in. Let us do what we do.’”
“Really?” both Phillip and Danny ask, surprise written all over their faces.
Chase grins. “It’s true. He did say that. And he was right. Throwing to Damon is natural. Easy. And we knew he would be wide open while they double-teamed our big receiver.”
“I was open because I’m lightning fast and highly skilled,” Damon interjects.
“Yes, you were,” Danny tells him, patting his son on the back. “I’m proud of you. You got in there. You ran the perfect route.”
“Thanks, Dad,” Damon says.
“You should be proud of Chase, too,” Devaney says, causing Chase to blush. “He stood out both on and off the field.”
“We are proud,” Jadyn stresses. “Always.”
“Well, you’re about to cry then. Show them the video,” Devaney says to her brother.
Damon sets his spoon down, takes a drink of water, then gets his phone out of his pocket, and sets it on the counter.
The scene in the team’s locker room is that of despair. Players have their heads down, upset about how the game ended. As they should be. It was a heartbreaker.
Chase stands up on a bench and starts speaking, “We all heard the chatter on the field when the game was over. There was a lot of emotion. Some of you blamed me. Some of you blamed Damon. Some of you blamed Joshua. Actually, most of you blamed him. But, basically, it was someone else’s fault. Should Joshua have gone after the pass when his teammate was wide open? Probably not. He tried to intercept the ball from his own wide-open teammate, Damon. He failed, making them both miss. But what if things had happened the other way? What if Damon had missed it? And even though it came down to one play that didn’t go our way, no single person is to blame for our loss. As a team, we never should have been in that position to begin with. How many guys missed passes in the game? What about missed blocks? Missed tackles? Fumbles? Our team lost tonight. That means, we all are at fault for the game’s outcome. I’d also like to take a moment to thank the seniors for their leadership and for all of you giving me a chance to prove myself. I hope I’ll be good enough to lead this team onto the field next fall.”
One by one, the guys who were sitting with towels over their heads stand up. And eventually, they start clapping, ending the video with a standing ovation.
I look over to Jadyn, who does have proud tears shimmering in her eyes.
She gives her son a hug, then gives one to Damon. “I’m so proud of you boys.”
“You sure got a lot of press coverage after the game,” Phillip says. “Possibly more media attention than the winning team.”
“How did you handle that, Chase?” I ask. “They can be relentless.”
“I would have been freaking out if all those microphones were shoved in my face,” Devaney interjects, “probably muttered something unintelligible.” She shoves her shoulder into Chase’s and grins. “You have a calmness that I clearly lack.”
Chase, who isn’t really into all this talk about him, has been shoveling stew and pieces of crusty French bread into his mouth. “I thought it was fine. They asked me questions, and I tried to answer them to the best of my ability.”
“Well, you did good,” Devaney says.
Everyone is still in the kitchen, chatting and eating. The local news is playing on the TV above the fireplace in the family room as they are waiting for the sports to come on to see if their team will be featured.
I’m sitting on the couch, both puppies sleeping next to me.
Devaney plops down next to me with a sigh. “I’m so glad that we don’t have school tomorrow. And that I don’t have to endure another Thanksgiving Day party at our house.”
“What? You don’t like turkey?”
“No. I love turkey, but when Dad plays on Thanksgiving, it’s usually an away game, and my mother has always invited all the football wives and their kids to our house, supposedly to watch the game. Not that she ever did. She liked to show off her diamonds, drink wine, and gossip. Which meant Damon and I got stuck, keeping an eye on all the little kids and not watching Dad play. This year, it’s going to be awesome because we get to just chill.” She looks over to see where Chase is and then confides, “I’m also glad I don’t have to go to school tomorrow. I had some junior dance-team girl ask me for Chase’s number. Wanted to know if I’d introduce her after the game.”
“What’d you say?”
“I said she’d have to introduce herself.”
“I saw you talking to him at halftime.”
“Yeah, somehow, no matter where we are, he always manages to catch my eye. He’s always been my best friend. I’ve been a little hard to handle lately, and he’s just really been there for me. Always really.”
“Why are you hard to handle?”
“It’s been a rough year. The divorce. Cheerleader drama. Boy drama. Friend drama. Mom drama. Homecoming drama.”
“Sounds like a lot of drama.” I laugh.
“Yeah. But tonight was sort of an eye-opener for me. I realized I’ve been bringing some of it upon myself. I need to stop letting my mother get in my head and do what I think is right. I’m going to invite my old friends along with a couple of nice girls from the cheer squad to our tree-decorating party. I hope, if I do that, they will realize I don’t think I’m too cool for them. I also realized that Chase will forever be cooler than me.”
“I know, in high school, there can be a lot of pressure to fit in. But I also know that life isn’t always about fitting in. I’m a good example of that. I’ve made my career out of it.”
“Chase did that tonight. He stood out.”
“Because he played so well?”
“No, because of what he said to the team in the locker room.”
I nod my head.
“Hey,” she says suddenly. “Are you going to be staying in town for the holidays?”
“Yeah, I am. Your dad asked me to stay here until he’s done for the season.”
“And then what?”
“We’ll figure it all out. Oh my gosh. I forgot to tell you with everything that happened, losing Angel and then getting the new puppies, but I bought a house in California.”
“Auntie Jay told me. I’ll be honest. I’m not sure how I feel about that.”
“Because you’re afraid you might have to move or something?”
“Kind of. My mom has been doing crazy things in the name of love. I want my dad to be happy, but I just don’t know how it will all work, you know?”
“I really don’t either, but I can tell you that I got a house so that I would have somewhere to call home when I have to be there. Since I moved to LA after high school, I’ve always rented or lived with someone else. I’ve never owned my own home. And after everything I went through with Troy, I felt like it was something I needed to do for me. I hope things work out with your dad, but I have a place to call home either way.” I lower my voice. “But I will admit that I was sort of thinking ahead. It’s a big family home with lots of bedrooms and a gorgeous view. Would you like to see pictures of it? I’m hoping maybe during your Christmas break, we could all stay there.”
I hand her my phone and let her flip through the photos.
She smiles and points. “I think this needs to be my room.”
“Deal,” I tell her.
“Holy guacamole!” Damon shouts. “We made ESPN!”
He runs over to the couch and grabs the remote, clicking to the right channel as they show highlights of their game. On the bottom of the screen is the headline: Eighth grade phenom quarterback throws for over 550 yards for high school team in Missouri state playoffs.
“Great,” Devaney moans. “All the girls have already decided he’s hot, and now, ESPN? I just hope it doesn’t go to his head.”
“Do you think it will?” I whisper.
“Probably not,” she says with a smile.
“Isn’t he only a few months younger than you?”
“Yeah.”
“So, why have you been letting that bother you? What people say about your being friends with him.”
“Like I said earlier, it’s been a rough year, and I probably have let little things bother me more than usual. But one of the things I have decided—and this was before he became big man on a campus that he’s too young to attend—is that I don’t care anymore what anyone thinks of me but myself.”
“That’s a good attitude for life—”
“We’re famous!” Damon shouts. “No, wait! I’m famous!! They just said my name on national television! I bet we even make their reel of the weekly plays that were dumb!”
He jumps up and down, dancing around over to Chase, who just finally finished eating.
“Aren’t you excited?” Damon asks him.
“Right now, I’m just tired,” he replies, but I notice him catch Devaney’s eye when he says it. “I’m going to hit the hay.”
“Night, sweetheart,” Jadyn says, giving her son another hug.
“We should probably all get some sleep,” I add, knowing that Chase isn’t really that tired.
“Yeah, I’m exhausted,” Jadyn says, yawning.
I know she hasn’t said anything to the kids yet about being pregnant, so I keep my mouth shut, pick up Angel, and follow the Diamonds out the front door.
“Do you want to come in for a bit?” Danny asks me, but he’s yawning, too.
I hand Angel to Damon and suggest that Danny walk me to my room.
Which is not very far, but it does allow him to give me a steamy good-night kiss in private.
