Page 20 of Catch
I made sure he was secured in his harness before driving home. I called Hayley even though she was probably elbow deep in baths and getting the boys ready for Friday movie night.
“Is everything okay?” She sounded panicked.
“Yeah, why?”
“Because it’s early and your first game is Sunday and you never call me at this time.”
“We decided to knock off early because tomorrow is going to be a bitch of a day. I swear I know more about the Browns than they do.”
“I’ll be watching.”
“Guess who showed up today to visit me?”
There was a pause before she answered. “Shut up. No, she did not.” Hayley emphasized every word.
“Yep. I was on my lunch hour going over the playbook and she plopped down a cup of coffee, saying she knew that I would never call her, so she decided to stop by.”
Hayley huffed into the phone. “That’s so rude.”
It had been a week since I told her about the charity event and how Parker had given me her number. “It wasn’t too awkward. It was a nice conversation given our past.”
“Just be careful. You never got closure with her and I don’t want you to get hurt.”
I instantly frowned. I couldn’t decide if I was upset because she didn’t think I was emotionally ready to have a friendship with Parker, or because there was some truth to her words. I took a deep breath. “I’ll be careful.” Crowbar interrupted our serious conversation by sneezing twice.
“How’s the doggo doing?” Hayley asked.
“If we weren’t the Cheetahs, we’d be called the Crowbars because this dog has won over every single heart in the place, including the owner.”
“I can’t believe you picked that name.” She chuckled.
“Hey, the dog chose the name. You know that.”
“Well, you tried to call him Melvin. Nobody likes that name. Not even a dog,” she said.
I looked at him in the rearview mirror. “He looks like a Melvin.” When we found him and put him in Hayley’s car, he refused to get out. We tried pushing him, pulling him, and giving him treats, but he wouldn’t leave the car. I said that I would have to get the crowbar to lift him off the seat. His ears perked up and he stared at me. “Crowbar?” He wagged his tail and jumped out. “You should hearme try to explain his name to the team. The owner looked at me like I abused him.”
“Back to Parker,” Hayley said. She muffled the phone and gave somebody instructions on what bag of chips to grab and how many they each could have. “What did you talk about?”
“She talked about her kids and showed me photos.”
“Heartless!” Hayley hissed.
I tried to pretend it didn’t sting. “She asked about you. We talked about my dad. It was kind of a catch-up conversation. She seems happy.”
“Yeah, well, I’ll forever hate her for what she did.”
I smiled. “I know. It was a shitty time in my life. But you know what? We went down the paths we were supposed to. She was supposed to get married and have kids and do churchy things with her parents and I was supposed to coach football and live an authentic life. Even if I need to break up with my girlfriend soon because we’re totally unhappy. I know I’m only delaying the inevitable.”
“You’ll figure it out. You always do. And I’m super proud of you for all your accomplishments. Speaking of football, the boys are excited to play catch with Auntie Sutton.”
Hayley’s husband, Mike, was a very successful engineer but he was athletically-challenged. He couldn’t throw, catch, or kick a ball. The responsibility fell to me. “Bring them by the practice field anytime. I’ll have them run plays with the guys.”
“Let’s wait until Cameron is a little older. He has zero life skills. What four-year-old runs directly into traffic? Mine, that’s who,” Hayley said. I heard a commotion in the background and something heavy shattered on the ground. “Sis, I have to go. Major cleanup ahead. Just kill it on Sunday and know that I’ll be watching like always.”
“I love you. Kiss the boys from Auntie Sutton.”
“I love you, too.”
