Page 85 of Catching the Coach
I shake my head. “No, not yet, I’m-” I blow out a breath. “I’m telling him tonight, after his game. I wanted to tell you first.” Incase Kessler leaves me, us. I think to myself.
Hudson nods. “So you think that’s why Mr. Cox, uh my dad?” He stops trying to figure out what to call him.
“You can just call him Jared,” I tell him
“Ok, so do you think that’s why Jared acted weird when he met me?”
I raise a brow, my heart beat that was slowing back to normal, speeding up again. “What do you mean?”
“Well, when we met Jared after Judd’s game, Kessler introduced us to Jared. When he saw me, he got a weird look on his face and left.” He shrugs his shoulders. “He told Judd he didn’t feel good, but do you think it was because he knew who I was?”
I release my bottom lip I was biting and shake my head. “I’m not sure,” I tell him.
I’m pretty fucking sure thats exactly what happened. He probably took one look at Hudson and saw his own eyes staring back at him. But I don’t say that.
All I care about right now is two things; One: How Hudson is feeling after telling him all of this & Two: How Kessler is going to react when I tell him tonight.
There’s nothing I can do about the second thing right now, so I focus on the first.
I lay my hand on Hudson’s arm, getting his attention. “How are you feeling about all of this? I know it’s a lot to take in, and I want you to know you can talk to me. Even if you’re mad or want to yell.”
Hudson sits quietly, the wheels turning in his head. I sit there letting him mull everything over. It’s killing me not knowing what’s going through that brain of his. When he finally looks up at me, I know we’re going to be ok. “I think I'm ok? I mean, he’s never been in my life, so I guess it’s not going to be any different, right?”
I shake my head. “Not really no, unless you want it to be? I-” I close my eyes not believing I’m going to say the words that are coming out of my mouth. “I can always reach out to him to see if he wants to formally meet you…if that’s something you want?” I suck in a breath.
Please don’t let it be something you want.
I know it’s absolutely awful to wish something like that, but I don’t want Hudson near Jared and his destructive behavior.
He shakes his head slowly. “I don’t think I want that, Mom.”
I blow out my breath I’d been holding. “Ok, if that ever changes, just let me know. Ok?”
Hudson nods. “Can we go in now? I’m hungry, and I want to catch the rest of Kessler’s game.”
“Yeah Hud, we can go in.”
He reaches for the door handle, then pauses, looking back at me. “Is it going to be weird?”
I scrunch my eyebrows. “Is what going to be weird?”
“Watching the game and seeing my… dad? On the TV?” He scrunches his nose at the word ‘dad’.
I think about it for a minute then shrug my shoulders. “I don’t know, but if it is, we can just turn it off. Ok?”
He nods and gets out of the car. I feel a small weight lift off my shoulders.
We head into the house and Hudson makes a beeline for the TV to turn on the game.
I kick off my shoes and go to the kitchen, pulling stuff out for tacos. I still don’t have much of an appetite, but Hudson needs to eat. I hear the sound of the announcers in the background as I dump the hamburger into the pan. I’m chopping up the cilantro when I hear the announcer’s voice rise in shock, I look up in time to see Kessler’s fist land straight into Jared’s nose. My stomach drops and the knife clatters to the counter. Hudson looks at me with wide eyes before turning back to the TV as we watch all hell break loose on the field.
CHAPTERTWENTY-ONE
kessler
“You’re suspended,”Coach Dixon says to me from across his desk. “And there will be a fine, but that figure hasn’t come down from the home office yet.”
I knew that was coming. You don’t get into a fight during a game and not expect the organization to dish out punishment.
