Travis
The day after the disastrous barbecue, the city had an unusual heatwave. I started to regret my decision to wear a nice button-down as I sat sweating in my plastic chair. It was barely nine in the morning and already the air conditioning unit in the basement of the student center was struggling to keep up.
"This is a surprise," John Kasey commented as he stepped into the room. "Are you the only one today?"
"Looks like it."
John grabbed the chair next to mine and spun it so that he could sit facing me. I hadn't seen the man in weeks. In fact, the only time we'd talked recently was for him to ask me about my summer plans.
"Everything okay?"
"Sort of." I hesitated, not sure how much I should divulge.
"Does this have something to do with Coach Briggs?" John asked blatantly.
Immediately, I felt defensive. "What did he say?"
John raised his palms, his way of telling me to calm down. "He just mentioned that he'd coached you before. It wasn't hard to put two-and-two together."
I shifted uncomfortably in my chair. John had a tendency to pick up on the little details that other people missed. It made him a great athletic director, but a slightly obnoxious AA sponsor. There was no getting by with half-assing anything with him.
Which was exactly what I needed.
"I'm a dad," I blurted out, figuring it was the easiest thing to start with.
John fell speechless.
"And Vinnie Briggs' little sister is the mom." When John still didn't respond, I kept rambling. "I didn't know. Vinnie's little sister is Ronnie." John's eyebrows rose. We'd talked at length about Ronnie when we'd first started meeting. "She moved here with Briggs. I found out about our daughter sort of by accident. She's two. Her name is Stella."
"This is… well, it's a lot to process. How are you feeling?"
"It's all been pretty unsettling. Ronnie and I still haven't talked about what happened back home. I'm pretty sure Vinnie would like to pitch me into the Hudson River. I have absolutely no idea what my role should be with Stella." I took a deep breath. "But I have zero desire to drink, if that's what you're really asking."
"You showed up here, though," John pointed out.
"Honestly? I just thought coming here would be a good reminder of how much has changed. Vinnie doesn't seem to think I have. I'm not so sure Ronnie is convinced, either."
"Travis." John shook his head. "We've talked about this before. Other people aren't obligated to forgive you for the things you did while you were drinking. Have you apologized?"
"No," I admitted. "I've tried with Ronnie but she keeps saying she's not ready to talk about it. With Vinnie, I don't even know how to approach him. The first time I ran into him, he seemed like he just wanted to move past things, but that was before I was hanging around with Ronnie and Stella."
"Sounds complicated."
"Yeah."
"Does Ronnie know about Kylie?"
Hearing John say that name made me anxious. "I don't think so."
"I have to admit, my biggest concern is—"
"My sobriety?" I guessed instead of letting him finish.
He shook his head. "Your daughter. Have you thought about how having a child is going to affect your plans?"
"I've tried not to. Ronnie doesn't seem all that interested about discussing what comes next. This summer has been a nice kind of bubble for me to get to spend time with them, but I have no idea how she'll feel when football is back in season and classes start back up. My schedule won't be as flexible. I don't know what that's gonna mean for me getting to spend time with Stella." I hesitated before adding, "And Ronnie."
John crossed his arms and seemed to consider all that I'd said. Finally he asked, "Do you intend to stay with the football program? Because we've already lost one quarterback in the last year…"
"Yes," I answered firmly.
The last thing I wanted to do was give up the sport I'd fought so hard for. Especially considering it was my golden ticket to getting my degree. If I quit the team, I'd be giving up my scholarship at Kelley. I wasn't Carter. He'd gotten lucky to have President Wallace take his side. I couldn't count on that sort of bartering chip for myself.
"I think right now the best thing you can do is be patient. Wait for your chance to talk and apologize. In the meantime, keep doing your best to prove that you're better than they remember you. All those distractions at home—you learned to stop letting those exist for you here. You've made a home at Kelley, including a strong support system."
"I have you to thank for a lot of that."
The man had helped me keep my head clear when I'd gotten to Kelley. I'd been sober leading up to college, but the anxiety of being in a new place where I didn't know anyone had been a lot to handle. When I'd wandered into the campus AA meeting, I'd never expected to end up with the university athletic director as my sponsor, but life was funny like that sometimes.
John Kasey had become my biggest ally.
John stood, probably sensing that I'd gotten what I'd come for. "You made mistakes, Travis, but you did something about it."