What an amazing weekend we had at Jesse’s house. We didn’t end up leaving there until after dinner on Sunday. Jason wanted to stay longer, but I needed to get home and get things ready for work, football, and school this week. Yesterday, Jason was a bit tired when he got out of school. He did his homework for the week, ate dinner, showered and then relaxed in bed. He was so tired he fell asleep around eight-fifteen, but woke up in a much better place this morning. Now he’s excited for football tonight.
“Jason, are you ready?” I call into the other room. We have plans to picnic with Jesse and his family at the field, and I don’t want to be late.
“Yes.” He comes running into the room with his black bag over his shoulder. We walk out the door. The drive to the field is a quiet one and I get lucky, there’s no traffic so we get there in plenty of time. I grab a blanket from the trunk, and Jason grabs his bag. We’re the first ones from our team to arrive. I set up my blanket and get settled on the ground. I love sitting in the grass, this is so relaxing.
Jason sets up his helmet and water bottle and starts throwing his ball in the air and catching it. “Throw the ball with me, Mom.”
“Okay.” I jump up and catch the ball he throws at me.
I toss it back, and he makes the catch. “Come a little closer so I can warm up.” We throw the ball back and forth, each time putting a little more distance between us. I enjoy doing this because I’m not only getting exercise in, but I’m spending time with my son. I love doing this with him. This is what I wish Brian was doing, but he’s an ass.
“Karen!” Grace’s little voice calls out. When I turn around she’s running down the hill, excited for cheer practice. Jesse, Josephine, and Gabe are following behind her. Jesse is carrying a cooler, Gabe is carrying a big black bag, and Josephine is carrying a blanket. I throw the ball one last time and then tell Jason to come eat. I hurry over to take the blanket from Josephine, setting it up next to mine so there’s enough room for all of us.
Jesse helps his mom to the ground and then distributes paper plates. She takes some sandwiches out of the cooler. Each sandwich has a name on it. I think it’s incredibly cute and generous that she took the time to ask Jason what he likes so she could make everyone’s sandwich the way they wanted it. The boys quickly eat and then relax for the few minutes they have left before more of the team arrives. It is so helpful doing a picnic before practice because we get to enjoy the nice weather while we still have it, and there’s more time for a meal before they have to hit the field. Not to mention, we get to enjoy eating together.
“How was your day?” Jesse asks me.
“It was good. I got a lot done. How was yours?”
“Busy. I did a walk through with one of my clients. We have some issues we need to rectify on their home, but I’ll get it taken care of.”
“What do you mean, issues?”
“Well, the painters got paint splatter on the floor. I already had it noted to have it cleaned, but they noticed it too, so I assured them it will be fixed,” he explains, laying back on his elbows.
His mom chuckles. “I’ve heard so many crazy stories about his work since he’s been back. Some people have very valid complaints and others are simply being a pain in the ass,” Josephine tells me with laughter.
Jesse rolls his eyes and is about to say more about his job when Trystan, Stella, and DJ come over. “Some of my clients are simply a challenge, but right now I have another challenge to face—coaching. I’ll see you after.” He kisses me on the head as Josephine gives a small smile. “Thanks, Mom.” He walks over to the practice area with Trystan and DJ.
“Well, I guess I better get Grace to cheer. I’ll see you before we leave.” Josephine calls Grace over.
“Thanks for dinner.”
“You’re most welcome, dear,” she says as Grace skips over.
Stella takes a seat on the blanket next to me. “I think it’s adorable that you all sit and have dinner here at the field.”
I shrug. “It’s the only way for us to spend any time together, plus the boys have to eat so they can keep up their energy.”
“Hey, ladies.” Misty joins us on the blanket. The boys are still horsing around but will be starting practice any minute now. It’s become the mom squad thing to gather on our blanket. Lori, Stacy, and Arien all join us for our nightly chat session. Emma, Blake’s wife, has started to join us as well. We’re in the middle of catching up on weekly chatter and I’m reminding them of the meeting tomorrow night when I hear my name. I look up to see Brian standing over us just as the whistle blows for Jesse to gather everyone.
“I have to go be team mom. I’ll be back.” I hurry over to the huddle.
“Karen, do you have any news?” Jesse asks.
“Yes, we are getting uniforms tonight. When practice is done be sure you try on the jersey I will be handing out to your parents. We need to ensure they fit. They will also have pants and a belt. You can try the pants on at home. They are easier to swap if they don’t fit,” I notify them. When I’m done I turn to see Brian standing right behind me. I look back to see shock on Jason’s face. Jesse notices and turns his attention to me. “Guys, can you warm the boys up, please?”
“Sure thing,” Blake says and tells the boys to line up.
“Jesse, it’s good to see you, man.” Brian holds his hand out.
Instead of shaking the offered hand he crosses his arms at his chest and says, “I wish I could say the same. What do you want?”
“I want to help coach the team.” Brian drops his hand.
“Sorry, man, but the spots are filled. As you can see, I have plenty of help.” He points to the three guys helping him warm up the team.
“Yeah, but you know I know the game, and Jason is my son,” he sneers.
“And Gabe is mine.” He steps up to Brian. “Don’t come here all jealous, pretending to care. You tossed a good woman and kid aside like they were a dirty shoe, and now that I’m around you’re all butt hurt.”
Brian tenses and looks him in the eye, anger radiating from his body. “We were boys, and now you’re banging my leftovers.”
Jesse’s fists ball, but I step between them before he can do anything. “Jesse, go coach the team. Clearly he doesn’t really want to be here if we are his ‘leftovers’”
Jesse let’s out a slow, steady breath and says, “If you ever refer to your family as leftovers again…” he pauses. “Nothing will stop me from knocking you flat on your lousy no good for nothing ass. You had a good thing and now they’re mine, and I protect what’s mine.” He glances down at me. “I’ll see you after practice, beautiful.” He presses his lips to mine and jogs over to his team.
“How dare you come here simply to cause problems. You left me. You dipped your nasty little cock in another woman while we were still married, and now you refer to me as a leftover!” My voice is getting loud, and I know I need to turn it down a notch. I exhale a deep breath. “Get the fuck out of here,” I demand, planting my hands on my hips.
He looks me up and down like he wants to say something, but he bites his tongue and walks away. He looks back over his shoulder and says, “See you Friday,” With a cocky grin.
I glance over to see Jason hard at it in practice. I’m proud of him. He didn’t let his father get to him. I walk over to join the ladies. Misty says, “I take it that was the ex.”
“Yup.”
“Jesse looked like he wanted to kill him,” Lori adds.
“He does. He is livid that Brian treated us the way he did and now he shows up here demanding that he get to help coach, staking his claim to Jason.” We’re both furious. “Then he calls me his leftover. I thought Jesse was going to murder him.”
“What an ass,” Misty says.
“Pretty much, but you know what? Jason is doing fine in practice and as long as he doesn’t affect him, I won’t let him affect me.” I spent far too much time dwelling on how I felt about what he did to us. I’m done. I won’t allow him to get to me anymore, especially now that I have Jesse.
“Can I just switch gears here because I need to know if Sam’s the only one excited for the weigh-in and party this weekend?”
“Oh no, it’s all Mason and DJ have been talking about. The coaches are working on an intro song for their home games, and they won’t reveal it until Saturday,” Stella says.
“Yeah, Jesse has been listening to a lot of music trying to narrow it down, but I’m not sure they’ve fully decided yet.” I lean back on my hands to watch the boys practice.
“Oh before I forget, Briggs wants to work chains for all our home games,” Misty says, typing away on her phone. “I’m glad he sent me a text to remind me.”
“Cool. One of the other dads signed up too. Now I just need a Mandatory Play Requirement monitor, and volunteers for concessions and the gate.” I make a note on my clipboard.
“What does the monitor do?” Misty asks.
“They have to stand on the opposing team's sidelines and ensure they are playing all their players fairly. Each player is required to make a minimum of ten plays. We’ll have one parent on their side and they’ll have one on ours. Each team signs the sheet at the end of the game showing the number of plays each player made. Then the sheets are submitted to the league. It prevents a team from cheating.”
“Let me know if no one signs up. I’ll march my sassy ass over to the other sideline and do it,” Misty says with laughter.
“That’s nice of you, but Briggs is already volunteering for chains so you, my friend, do not need to do anymore.” I wink at her.
“I’ll sign up to collect money at the gate,” Arien says.
“Okay, I’ll pick two games and let you know when they are.” I make another note. “I didn’t get a huge response from the email I sent out, so I’m hoping after the meeting tomorrow we’ll get a better response.”
“Karen!” I look over to see who’s calling me. Michelle, one of our team moms who also volunteers with the league, is waiving me over. I jump up and jog over. “Here is your bag of jerseys, pants, and belts. You have a list of who gets which sizes, right?”
“I do. Thanks.”
She winks at me. “You got it.”
I jog back over with the stuff and sit on the blanket. With my list in hand I separate the pants and jerseys by sizes. “Stella, DJ is down for a medium jersey. I have numbers, 73, 69, 54….”
She cuts me off. “Fifty-four.”
Misty laughs. “Girl, you will be here forever if you do that.”
I shrug. “I’m only doing it for you... shhh”
“Mason is a large, just give me a jersey.” Misty laughs. “He doesn’t care about his number.”
Stella looks at her shocked. “I bet he does.”
Misty shakes her head. “Oh well.” She shrugs. “Now he’s number 87,” she says, glancing down at the first shirt on the pile.
I hand her number 87 and continue handing them out from there. I finish just as Jesse blows the whistle to end practice.
The kids all come running over and tonight the parents are all gathered around me. “Give me your attention, boys,” I shout, but they aren’t listening, so I grab Jesse’s whistle and blow it hard causing them all to freeze. “Your parents are all gathered around me. I want you to go to each of your parents. Take off your practice jersey and put on your game jersey. They will be tight, but get them on and let us see them.”
“Here’s the trick.” Jesse scans the crowd of boys. “Gabe, come here.” I pick up his jersey and hand it to Jesse. “Pull the pads off and slip the jersey over the pads. Boys, you’ll put your hands in the air and your parents will feed your arms threw the sleeves and pull both your pads and jersey down over your head. Then you can tighten the string on your pads and tuck your shirt in.” Jesse shows them as he gives the instructions.
It takes a little bit of struggling, but everyone gets their jerseys on and they all fit nicely. “Don’t forget to try on your pants when you get home. I need to know if anyone has an issue at practice tomorrow so I can get you a different size.” Once all the parents agree, Jesse dismisses the team for the night. It’s getting late and we need to get the kids home and ready for school tomorrow.
“Gabe, get into the truck,” Jesse tells him, and he walks me to my car. Jason climbs in the back, but before he opens my door he leans on the car. “Listen, about earlier.” I’m about to speak when he holds up his hand to stop me. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have lost my temper, but he threw me off showing up here pretending like he cares all of a sudden.”
“I understand. He threw me off too.”
He shakes his head. “I need to have more control than that. I need to set an example not only for my son, but yours.”
“You did. You defended your woman and that, in my opinion, is way more than Brian has ever done.” I look away for just a second to compose myself. “You see, I realized that he thought because he bought me the world it was okay for him to cheat on me and do as he pleased, but he was wrong and the more I think about it, the more I realize I knew what he was doing. I was just scared to admit it.” I take a step closer. “That said, I won’t allow him to mess with my life or Jason’s anymore.”
He slips his hand into my hair at the nape of my neck. “I’m so glad to hear that.” He presses his lips to mine. “I will always defend the both of you when I feel you’re being threatened.”
“Thank you.” He kisses me one more time and opens my door. “Have a good night.”
“You too.”