Page 103 of Running
“Do I want to know?” I laugh, ready to break the tension in the room.
He smiles back. “Nah, but let’s just say, I’m fully incentivized to keep my mouth shut.”
Damn, well, this conversation hasn’t really helped me work through my concerns, but it’s good to know he has my back.
As I drive home from the game, I’m still unsettled, maybe even more so. One other name stands out that I know won’t tell a soul anything and only has my best interests at heart.Mom.
Once I’m plopped on a couch in my TV room, I decide to call her.
“Hi, Johnny,” she says as she answers the phone, sounding a little preoccupied.
“Hey, is this an okay time to talk? I just got home from our last game before our break.”
“Yes.” It sounds like she’s switched to speaker. “I’m just cleaning up the living room of Emma’s toys. You must be thrilled for the week off.”
“Definitely.”
It’s quiet for a moment. I don’t really know where to start.
“Is something wrong?”
“So I have something I want to run by you.” I pinch the bridge of my nose. “Something that’s bugging me.”
We used to chat all the time when I was a teenager needingadvice, but these days it’s rare that I bring an issue to my mom. She must recognize that something significant is going on, because she picks the phone back up and takes me off speaker.
“Let me sit down so I can listen better. What do you want to talk about?”
I briefly feel the awkwardness of being a twenty-three-year-old guy speaking to his mom about a girl. But then I shake it off—my mom truly won’t think twice about helping me talk this through.
“There’s this woman…someone important that’s come into my life.”
Mom’s voice goes up an octave. “Oh, Johnny.”
“I’ve been interested in her for a while, but it’s only recently all come together.”
“That’s wonderful.”
“The thing is, Mom….” Time to rip off the bandaid. “It’s Landon’s sister, Grace. We’ve been dating in secret.”
“Oh…oh…”
“And we haven’t told Landon. Barely anyone knows, really. In the beginning, we kept it secret to see how things evolved between us. But now, our relationship isn’t really in question. We really like each other.”
“Okay, so are you going to tell Landon? Before it gets any deeper?”
I stay quiet for a couple of beats. “I don’t know.”
“Johnny.”
I sigh, and then paint the picture for her of my concerns and why Landon would be angry.
“Are you certain he would respond that way?”
“Fairly certain, yeah. He has a lot of trust issues.” I don’t add the fact that he’d literally ask me to protect Grace from guys like me.
“Okay, I understand what you’re struggling with. How can I help?”
“I’ve just—I’ve worked so hard to be everything that mycoaches, my team need. Years of figuring out how to be the leader, a role model that everyone expects. And that I legitwantto be. The opposite of the crap dad threw at me when I was younger.”
