Page 23 of Out of Bounds
That feistiness I feel starts stoking the backs of my eyes like they’re fire. “When?”
“I’m on a season schedule, so I thought you could bring him to St Louis. You could stay with me?—”
“Wait while I consult my book of reasons to make life easier for you.” I roll my shoulders back on the porch, hearing literal and proverbial crickets. “No, Auston. We don’t owe you anything. This is on you. I won’t stand in the way of you meeting Nelson. But if you can’t make the effort to come see him yourself, that tells me everything I need to know about whether you deserve to.”
“I only have one day off a week, Annie.”
“Then use it. It’s late, Auston, and while I’d like to help you work through your emotional turmoil, I’ll be woken up by a baby in a matter of hours, so I’m going to bed. Let me know what you figure out.”
“Annie, wait?—”
I hang up and put the phone down on the porch rail, bracing myself as I drag the night’s air into my lungs.
Of course I’m too wired to sleep as I lie in the dark silence of my bedroom. Though I never want to waste another moment on him, Auston is spinning through my head. I ask myself repeatedly, am I doing the right thing by my son? Should Imake the effort for his sake? Am I putting Auston to the test for Nelson’s sake alone? God, I hope so.
11
PACE – LATE SEPTEMBER
Nothing Untoward
I’m in agony from last night’s game. My joints are swollen and I wince through an injection in my knee from the team doc, but as soon as Annie answers her phone, it seems like those NSAIDs kick in.
“Tanner Pace,” she says with that southern drawl of hers that makes her elongate the vowels of my name and make Pace sound like it has two syllables.
“How’re you doin’, Annie Quinn?”
The doc’s eyes shoot up to mine when he hears me say her name and I’ll remember to explain to him after the call thatyes, I’m speaking with Quinn’s sister butno, there isn’t anything untoward going on.
“Why, I’m just peachy. Good game last night. I particularly enjoyed that show-pony move you pulled through your legs.”
I chuckle. “Football’s nothing if not a showman’s sport. I’m in the training facility getting patched up from the game but I could be out at the ranch by four, if that works for you and Nelson?”
“You don’t have to give me a lesson today. You only landed back in the state this morning.”
“The hell I don’t. You’re my project.” If last night’s defense couldn’t break me, I’m sure I can survive another session with Annie.
I hear the smile in her voice as she tells me, “Well now, that might be the most romantic thing anyone has ever said to me.”
Laughter rocks my body so hard, I receive a tut from the doc. “I’ll see you at four?”
“Four it is. D’you want to stay for dinner?”
“Dinner?” Now I’m staring right back at the doc’s beady eyes. “With you?”
“And Daddy and Nelson, Colton and Sas, too, if they’re around.”
Oh.“If it’s carbs, I’m in.”
“I’ll make certain it is.”
I don’t realize I’m smiling at my phone until the doc tells me, “If you’re looking starry-eyed over Quinn’s sister, you’re skating on some real thin ice, Pace.”
Am I? Or do I just enjoy her company?
Sure, I’ve been looking forward to today and thinking about how to make driving fun for her. Been thinking about her, it, lessons, making her smile, hearing that laugh, watching those half-moons draw on her mouth and contemplating how those pearl snaps close over her tits. How she’d look in a bikini on a beach in Florida.Fuck.
I’m still moving stiffly but better after the physios have had their hands on me. The game debrief was as expected – we were lucky to win. In an ideal world, Lamar would have had years of sitting under Tommy’s wing and learning the enormous role of leading the offense as a quarterback at pro-level. But the game often doesn’t go as planned. Everyone is behind Lamar but hoping and praying for a miraculous recovery from Tommy, who currently can hardly walk.
