Page 75 of Catch
Epilogue—Lose the Game, Win the Girl
I’m throwing the ball to you so I need you to catch it and lateral pass it to our amazing running back, Vee,” I said to Hayley who nodded solemnly at the players in our huddle.
“I’ve got this. You can count on me. Vee’s going to run it in for a touchdown and we’re going to win this game. You ready, honey?” Hayley asked.
Vee growled like a cat, fittingly so. The Pumas were me, Parker, Hayley, Matt, Mason, and Vee. We were up against the self-proclaimed undefeated Cheetahs. Grayson was the quarterback with Max, Dad, Rose, and Kaleb rounding out the rest of the roster. Cameron was cheering on both teams and digging in the sand, or maybe he was eating it, I couldn’t tell. The game was tied and this was the last play before Mike and Judy called us up for dinner.
“Don’t run until I get the ball in my hands.” Mason was my center. I looked at him. “Hand me the ball when I yell Independence.” We lined up against the Cheetahs. I stood behind Mason. “Red fourteen. Red fourteen. Independence!” Mason turned and handed me the ball. I scrambled out of the way of my dad who quickly broke through the line and was hot on my trail. I tossed the ball to Hayley who caught it and gently flicked it to Vee.
“Run, baby, run!” Hayley yelled.
She almost made it. Grayson picked her up right before she crossed the end zone and ran her back the other way over his shoulder for a touchdown in their favor.
“If only she’d dropped the ball,” Parker said. She stood between me and Hayley with her hands on her hips shaking her head. “Daddy’s little girl right there.”
“Cheaters! Not the Cheetahs!” Hayley yelled.
We watched as they celebrated twenty feet away. “Boo! Hiss! Boo!” I grabbed Cameron and put him on my shoulders. I high-fived Mason on a job well done.
“Dinner’s ready. Come on up!” Judy waved us over before we had a chance at redemption.
“At least we’ll get to the table first,” I said.
“Let’s drop their food in the sand,” Hayley said.
“Harsh, my friend. Harsh.”
“Hot dog, hot dog. And chips.” Cameron clapped his tiny hands together sending sand down my hair and shirt.
“You’re getting Auntie Sutton dirty.”
I grabbed his tiny hands and extended his arms as far as they could go and jogged up to the table. He giggled the whole way. “Okay, big boy, go see your daddy. He’ll fix you a plate.”
“Nope. Let’s go wash up first,” Hayley directed him into the house.
Parker and I washed our hands in the kitchen sink. “I feel bad that we’re dragging sand all over this house,” I said. I had one more week of vacation left before my second season with the Cheetahs so Parker and I decided to take the kids to visit my dad and Judy. Hayley and Mike decided it sounded like fun. When all was said and done, we rented an Airbnb with five bedrooms for the week that was about a half a mile down the beach from my dad’s house. We’d begged Max to stay with us, but he had business in Boston and could only give us an afternoon.
“It’s a beach house and probably ten percent sand. And look at how happy your dad is. I don’t think they care.”
I put my arm around her shoulder. “He loves having the kids around.”
Since the divorce, Parker’s parents stopped talking to her. I only cared because I knew she was hurt. Not-so-secretly, I was glad they weren’t in the picture. Maybe if they got comfortable with ourrelationship, they’d be welcomed back, but right now, they were poisonous.
“He’s so good with them. Rose called him Papa after Cameron did and I swear he teared up,” she said.
The kids called Judy Gigi and she adored it. Before Dad, she was married for twenty years, but she never had children.
Parker squeezed my waist. “We’d better get out there. I don’t think those heathens are going to wash up. I don’t want to get the burger that fell on the ground.”
“You saw that, too?”
She put her fingers to my lips to shush me. “Don’t say anything. The poor guy wants to be good at something other than work.”
Parker thought I was lying about Mike’s inability to play sports until she met him. She was always kind but didn’t hesitate to take his place in any game if it involved something athletic like hand-eye coordination or simply running.
“Winners get to eat first,” Grayson yelled and beat on his chest.
“Stop being a guy.” Matt playfully pushed him out of the line.
