“Mom, I have to get going or I’m going to be late for my meeting.” I lean on the frame of the door watching my mom in the kitchen with my kids on this fine Saturday morning. I’m one lucky SOB. I really don’t know what I would do if I didn’t have her living with me to help with the kids. Who knew being a single dad could be so challenging. Between work, homework, and sports there’s no time for anything else.
“We’re fine, go.” Grace waves goodbye and Mom shoos me off, but then follows me to the living room. “This is a chance for you to get out and enjoy yourself a little. Take advantage of that.”
A small grin plays at my lips. “What are you suggesting, Mom?”
She gives me her sassy little smile. “Karen’s going to be there, right?”
I chuckle. “Yes.”
“Well, maybe you should ask her to coffee or something after the meeting.”
“Or something.” I’m messing with my mom for amusement.
“Boy, it has been a little over a year. You need to move on.” The sass in her voice tells me she’s getting annoyed.
“That may be so, but I also have kids to care for and they are my top priority.”
She gives me her signature mom look. “No one says they aren’t. You deserve to be happy. You put up with far too much with Della. You need to move on. Learn to trust again.”
“I gotta go, Mom. I’ll see you later.” I kiss her on the cheek and walk out the door. She’s right, though. Part of me wants to move on, but it’s not that easy. However, if there’s anyone who understands what I’m going through, it’s Karen. Shit, I still can’t believe Brian left her. She was always so good to him, and I can’t picture that ever changing.
I pull up to the old, beat-up building that this town has been using for football meetings since I was a kid. I met Brian outside this very building the exact same way Gabe met Jason. He was a kid coming from Stonehill to play some ball because his town was too small to have their own team. We continued to play together and then ended up in the same high school.
“Looks like we’re both running late.” A beautiful voice pulls me from my thoughts. I close my eyes and smile.
“Hi. It’s kind of funny that you’re running late too,” I reply, still staring at the building.
“Why’s that?”
“I was just thinking about how I met Brian the exact same way our boys just met.” I glance down to see her smile vanish. “We clicked and I swore we would be friends for life, but I was wrong and now…” My words fade. “Have coffee with me after the meeting?”
“It depends on what time we get out of here. I need to pick Jason up from Stella’s house.”
I laugh. “From what I saw the other night, I bet your friend is just fine watching Jason.” She blushes slightly and nods. “Great. Now, let’s go because we’re late and I’m probably going to get my balls busted for it.”
She laughs. “I think you can handle it.”
We walk in together just as the meeting is starting. There aren’t many chairs left since they set up just enough for the coaches and team moms. There’s no way I’m not sitting right beside Karen, so I rearrange the chairs accordingly and we both settle in.
“You good, Jesse?” Mike asks with a grin.
“I am now, thanks.” He shakes his head and starts the meeting.
“Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to another season of Pop Warner Football. We have a lot of new faces in the room, and I want to start by thanking you for volunteering. This meeting is made up of all the coaches and team moms for each division. Your support is crucial to the success of our program, and without it we would fall apart. Team moms, your role isn’t as major as the coaches, but it’s still important that we have you here today. You’ll be the go-to person for information. It’ll be up to you to let parents know if practice has to be cancelled for any reason, and you’ll be reminding everyone of game times and locations. You should all have a two-inch binder. This will be your best friend because all your team info is in this binder.” He continues going over team mom information, then he instructs the ladies to all move to the left side of the room so Jodi can go over all the rest of the info with them. My eyes follow Karen on instinct as she follows the other moms.
“Coaches, please move over this way so I don’t have to yell and they can hear Jodi.” I sigh but get up and move. I need to stay focused. I’m the head coach and as much as I want to stare at Karen the way I used to in high school, I can’t right now. Mike continues rambling on about the rules, pointing out the videos we need to watch, and the online tests we have to take to be a Pop Warner coach. Growing up in this league, I’m aware of most of the rules, but I’m sure things have changed and I need to take the time to make sure I’m up to speed.
There are certain things that Pop Warner Football is very strict on, like no tackling for the first two weeks. All we are allowed to do during those two weeks is conditioning and throwing a ball around. It gives us a chance to see who’s in shape and who can catch. We’ll also work on speed and trying to figure out who’s best for each position. “Please remember that you’ll have kids who may play better than others, but each kid has to play a minimum of ten plays. That is a Pop Warner rule and an important one. These kids will work hard for you, but if they don’t get play time they get frustrated; not to mention what it does to the ego.” I remember exactly how that feels. I wasn’t a very big kid and had to work hard to get my play time. I have quite a few boys that we call older lighters. They are old enough to play Pee Wee, but they’re not quite big enough so they play Junior Pee Wee. The league started to enforce that rule because some of the smaller kids were getting hurt. They were practicing and then only getting one or two plays. That’s not enough play time for kids to learn how to tackle and take hits. Plus, in all honesty, it’s not fair. I busted my tail and was lucky if I got four plays in a game, but I didn’t give up because I wanted to play so bad. Coach used to tell me all the time to keep it up, that I had the heart for it.
The moms come back over to join us and when they do, Karen takes a seat next to me again. When Mike asks if anyone has questions, Karen looks completely overwhelmed. I lean in to whisper, “Don’t worry, I’ll help you through this. My mom was team mom for years, so I know all the stuff she did.”
“Thank you,” she whispers back. I wink at her, and we both continue to listen as Mike wraps up the meeting.
When the meeting finally adjourns, we walk out together and I follow her to her car. “Where would you like to go?”
She shrugs. “Wherever, I’m not fussy.”
“There’s a small spot not too far from here. It’s a new place, but it’s good. Wanna follow me?”
“Sure.” I pull her car door open for her. “Thanks,” she says and climbs inside.
Once she’s settled, I jog off to my truck. I climb in, pull up next to her car, and roll down my window. “Ready?” She nods and I pull away, waiting for her to pull out behind me. There’s a little coffee shop a few blocks away. It only takes us a few minutes to get there, but when we pull up, it’s a bit busier than I thought it would be. I find a spot and climb down from my truck to wait for her by the door, pulling it open for her when she comes over.
“This is a cute little place.” She scans the room looking for a place to sit.
“Over there.” I point to a corner booth that just emptied out. “Yeah, they serve food all day, but it’s typically busier for breakfast.” We slide into the booth, and I hand her one of the menus. “Did you talk to Stella about keeping Jason?” I’m hoping we don’t have to rush out of here because I’m really looking forward to catching up with her, but I have to respect that she’s a single mom and needs to be there for him.
She chuckles. “Yeah. I called her on my way over here, and she told me to take my time. She was making the boys lunch.”
My smile can’t get any bigger. “That’s good to hear.”
“What about you?” she asks.
“Nope. My mom has the kids, and she told me to take some time to myself.”
Her brows shoot up. “Kids? You have more than one?”
“I do. I have a son and a daughter. They’re my world.” I pull my phone from the clip and bring up some pictures. “This is Grace.” I scan through a few pictures of my angel.
“She’s adorable.”
“Thanks. You met Gabe the other night. He’s obviously my oldest.”
“I didn’t realize you had kids. I thought you enlisted and went away after school.”
I’m about to answer her when the waitress comes over. We both order coffee and a muffin, and as soon as she’s out of earshot I tell her my story. “Remember Della?”
“She was the girl on the cheer squad that you were dating, right?”
“Yup. We were dating and things were going great. She was incredibly supportive of my choice to join the Army. I promised her when I got through boot camp we’d get married. Then decide if she was going to stay here or travel with me.”
The waitress delivers our coffee and tells us she’ll be back with our muffins in a minute. “Thank you,” Karen says.
“Anyway, she traveled with me for a very short time, but when she got pregnant with Gabe she said she wanted to raise our children in our hometown. She wanted them to have one home and not move all over. Mom had offered to help her with the kids, obviously wanting to be part of their lives.” I let out a steady breath. “I’m lucky Mom was here. I hadn’t realized it, but Della got involved with drugs shortly after he was born. Della said she was depressed. Mom got her help, and she cleaned herself up. We thought we were in the clear, but she started up again after having Grace and this time it was much worse. It was so bad that she was using all our money to support her habit, and I had no idea.”
Her eyes go wide. “I’m so sorry, Jesse.”
I sigh. “I tried to help her, but she was too far gone. She bolted and left the kids with my mother.”
“Where’s Della now?”
“About three years later Mom called me and told me I needed to come home. She had gone to check on Della and found her on the floor of her room with lines of cocaine on the floor next to her.” I glance out the window. “She’s buried in the cemetery on Bolton Street.” When I look back her eyes are closed, taking in my words. “She overdosed while she was with her dealer. There was a rumor going around that he killed her, but there was no proof.”
“Your poor kids.”
“They’re okay. Mom would bring her food and show her pictures hoping she would turn herself around but she never did. Gabe was old enough for us to explain, but Grace not so much. We told Grace that her mom was sick and wouldn’t be able to come home. When she passed away, we told her she was in Heaven and we helped them through it. They hadn’t seen her in awhile which made it a little easier on them.” I look down into my coffee. “Giving up on her was one of the hardest things I ever did, but I couldn’t trust her, and I had to do what was best for the kids.”
“I hear you there.” She stops when the waitress comes back with our muffins.
“What happened between you and Brian?” I ask as if I don’t know.
She chuckles. “You were right. He was a cheater. He couldn’t even tell me he wasn’t happy. He started banging his secretary. He gave me the satisfaction of throwing him out, but he was already planning to leave.” She breaks off a piece of her blueberry muffin and plops it into her mouth.
“I’m sorry, Karen.”
“Are you? You were right.”
I can see the hurt in her eyes. It makes me want to hunt Brian down and fuck his shit up. “It was never about being right. It was about believing you deserved better than that.” I shake my head. “You do deserve better than that.”
She sighs. “Yeah, I’m finally starting to believe that. Unfortunately, I’m still fighting him in court.”
My eyes go wide. “Are you serious? He left you and he’s fighting you in court?”
“He’s saying he doesn’t get to see Jason enough so he shouldn’t have to pay as much child support, but he’s the one making excuses as to why he can’t see him. Poor Jason would love to see his father.” She rolls her eyes. “He’s making stupid demands. Like if I remarry I agree to stop child support. The mediator told him he can’t do that.”
“What did Brian say?”
“He said that he can if I sign something saying I don’t want child support, but I refuse to do that. He is Jason’s father and therefore Jason is his responsibility too. I already gave up any alimony trying to get this over with, but he still won’t agree.”
“What an asshole,” I growl, pissed. I can’t believe I was once friends with this dick.
“My lawyer says that we’re going to have to go before a judge. He’s going to explain that we’ve been going through mediation for well over a year now and we can’t come to an agreement, but it’s a long shot. The judge is probably going to say we need to go back and try again.”
“Maybe I can talk some sense into him,” I offer.
“It’ll do no good. I imagine it will only piss him off more. I’ll figure it all out. It’s not like I’m in a new relationship and I need to resolve this now.”
A smile spreads across my lips.
“What?” she asks, sounding totally confused.
“I can’t believe no one has scooped you up yet.”
She laughs, a cute blush taking over her cheeks. “Nope, very single. I really haven’t been interested.” She bites her lips.
Thank fuck she’s single. I’m not sure I could handle an entire football season watching her sit with another man. I spent three years in high school watching her with Brian, and it drove me insane. “Are you still not interested?”
“I guess that would depend on who’s asking.” The glow in her eyes is coming back.
I slip out of my side of the booth and slide in next to her. I look into her big chocolate brown eyes and whisper, “Me.”
She’s trembles slightly. “Well, in that case I may be interested.”
Thank fuck! “That makes me a very happy man.”
The waitress breaks our moment. “Can I get y’all anything else?” She pours more coffee into our cups.
“I’m all set, thank you.” Karen thanks her with a smile, and I do the same.
“I’ll leave this here. Y’all take your time now.”
Karen pours more cream into her coffee. “Where you working these days?”
I grab my coffee but stay close by. I like being next to her. I can smell her soft coconut scent. “I work as an engineer for Century Homes. They have a brand new community going up two towns over, and I manage the build.”
“Good for you. That sounds like a good job.”
“It is, but I work hard. I have other engineers below me that I have to deal with on top of my own builds, but they’re a good crew for the most part.” I sip my coffee.
“How about you?”
“I’m working part-time as a legal secretary.” She sighs. “The hours are right, and the two attorneys I work for are nice and very understanding if I have a situation with Jason.”
“Where’s Brian that he can’t help with Jason?”
She looks at me with humor. “He and his new girlfriend were supposed to stick around, but they didn’t. They moved to Essex County. He acts like it’s a three-hour drive. He said it was closer to his office.”
“Is it?”
“Yeah, technically it is, but he moved twenty minutes from work on the other side of his office, so he’s like an hour and a half from us with traffic.”
“I can’t believe him. It killed me to be away from my kids, and now that I’m back there’s no way I’m moving away from them again.”
“I hear ya. He knows damn well there’s no way I would give up custody of Jason and, to be honest, I don’t think he even wants it. It’s like he regrets us and wants nothing to do with us.”
I’m seeing red at this point. Brian was my boy, but the more I hear about what’s been going on the angrier I get. I thought we would always be friends, but he’s changed so much and there’s not much to like about him anymore.
I pull my wallet from my back pocket, slip my card out, and lay it on top of the check. She takes that opportunity to look away, but I’m not letting her off that easily. I take her chin, forcing her to look at me. “We should probably get going, but I want to take you out.” I know it’s more of a demand, but I can’t help myself. I let her slip through my fingers once and now that we’ve both been through hell, it’s time we see where this goes.
She sighs. “Didn’t you do that this morning?” she says with humor.
I chuckle. “Okay, I’d like to take you out again.”
“I’d like that, but shouldn’t we see how the kids feel about it?”
I stop to think about it for a second. “Why don’t you come to my house for dinner? We can explain to the kids that we’re friends from high school and just see where it goes.”
She smiles. “That sounds like a good plan.”
“Good. How’s Monday? Practice starts on Tuesday, and things are going to get a bit crazy after that.”
“I’ll have to check my calendar. You know I’m a very busy woman.”
I laugh. “Is that so?”
She pulls her phone from her purse, pretending to flip through her calendar. “What do you know, my schedule is wide open.”
“Thank God.” I chuckle, and now she’s laughing.
The waitress comes back with my card, but again tells us to take our time.
“I really should get going. I need to get back home so I can set up our team Facebook page and email all the parents. I’m supposed to introduce myself and inform them of the page so they have multiple ways of contacting me.”
I slip from the booth and take her hand, leading her back to her car. “Is the number I have for you your cell?”
“It is.”
“Good. I’ll text you.”
“Sounds good. Thanks for the coffee and muffin.”
“It was my pleasure.” I look into her eyes. “I’ll see you Monday?” She nods, but never breaks eye contact. She’s beautiful and her full, luscious lips are begging to be kissed, but I can’t do it—not yet. I don’t want to chance screwing this up. I step back and open her door for her. “You have my number, text or call me anytime.”
Looking slightly disappointed, she gets into her car and drives away. Little does she know I’m equally as disappointed and so is my hard cock.