Chapter 19
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“This is Scott Ray and you’re listening to Scott Talks Sports. I’m here with Chris Bach. We’re going to be talking preseason trades and of course the arrest of Jerod Price, Kansas City’s star quarterback. But first there is only one more week until the Nunez-Maguire fight.”
When Eli heard that they were discussing Gabe, he raised the volume on the sports talk radio show he was listening to in his truck.
The host’s voice filled the cab. “This fight is a long time coming. Five years ago these men were set to face off when Maguire had to pull out of the bout due to health concerns. Now he’s back after battling and beating cancer. And in a full circle moment, the first time he gets back in the octagon it’s to face off with Nunez.
“It’s a bold move on Maguire’s part. Nunez is the undefeated light heavyweight champion. Maguire hasn’t had a professional fight in five years. Obviously, these two have unfinished business, but has Maguire bitten off more than he can chew? Predictions?”
“Well, I’ve gotta tell you,” Chris Bach jumped right in. “It’s a promoter’s dream, that’s what it is. I’ve never seen a matchup like this. When this thing was first announced, I thought for sure Nunez had it. Hands down. No question. And if they had fought when they were originally scheduled to, I think I would’ve been right.
“But these delays that have all come from the Nunez camp, I might add, have turned the tides in Maguire’s favor. From what I hear he’s in better shape now than he was when he was twenty-two and he’s got Lucky Dorsey in his corner. Oh and not to mention he’s a hero. Like, a real life hero.”
“That’s right!” Scott Ray exclaimed. “In his time away from the cage, not only is he a cancer survivor, he is also a firefighter. A couple of weeks back he goes out on a call, he delivers a baby with a gun pointed at his head. So, he saves the baby’s life, save’s the mom’s life, and if that wasn’t enough, he tackles the crazy, gun-wielding meth-head dad! I mean can you believe that?”
No.
“I know!” Bach enthused. “You can’t make this stuff up.”
Apparently, you can, Eli thought. Because that’s not exactly what happened.
Although Eli had to give this host credit, he did have the basic facts right. Some of the stories that had come out hadn’t even been versions of the truth, so this guy was all good in his book.
It had always amazed Eli how people could take a grain of truth, embellish it, print it, and call it news. Years ago, when Eli’s uncle had played for the Waves, he’d been bashed by the papers for being an angry, alcoholic, asshole. And that was part of who he was, but that wasn’t the whole story. He did have a temper, enjoyed beer, and wasn’t all rainbows and sunshine, but they exaggerated him into a caricature of himself.
When Eli was around eight, the Waves played the Oakland A’s so his dad had taken him and his brothers to the game. After it was over, they’d all waited for him outside the locker room. When he came out, two reporters bum-rushed him and asked him about rumors and other players. He didn’t say a word to them, but he did lift his hand and flip them the bird. One of the reporters was walking backward and tripped over his own feet and fell right in front of his uncle who stumbled to avoid walking over him. The guy popped right back up and it was no big deal.
At the time, Eli had thought it was funny that the guy had fallen. But the next day the headlines read, “Doug Bishop on the Attack.” And “Doug Bishop Out of Control.” From the angle on the photos, it sure looked like it was the result of a scuffle, but in reality, his uncle never touched him.
In the ten days since the hotel incident hit the news, things had gone off the rails. The Gabe-Maguire-is-a-hero story had gone viral overnight. When he and Kenzie woke up the next morning, she had over twenty missed calls and he had a dozen. The story was everywhere.
He wasn’t a big fan of all the attention, but it had worked for Kenzie. She and Theo had flown back and forth to LA twice to meet with possible distributors for the documentary. And Gabe had new sponsors coming out of the woodwork.
“My money’s on Maguire, man,” the commentator concluded. “All the way. I mean how can you not root for the guy? He’s a fighter in every sense of the word.”
Eli cut the engine after he parked in front of his mom’s house for his monthly visit. Every third Thursday of the month, he visited Kenny at Happy Trails and stopped by his mom’s house on the way back. He’d spoken to her almost daily since the incident and knew that she was worried about him. He braced himself for tears when she saw him. Connie Bishop wasn’t a crier, except for when it came to her family. She’d tear up at the drop of a hat if it had anything to do with her sons, good or bad. It didn’t matter if it was happiness, anger, fear, or pride; her emotions were expressed through tears.
As he got out of the car, his gaze was pulled across the tracks to Kenzie’s childhood home. It was a massive, brick colonial with a large porch and tall, white columns. When Eli was a kid he’d been so intimidated by that house, by all the houses across the tracks. There were always sports cars and luxury vehicles parked in the driveways, and the kids always had better bikes, sneakers, and video games than he had. He’d assumed that the people that lived there were better than him in some way.
It wasn’t until Kenzie and Kenny moved in that he’d seen behind the curtain. He realized where you lived didn’t mean anything. He’d found out that it was about the people that you loved and loved you. That was all that mattered.
His hand brushed along the tree that Kenzie used to climb up to his room as he walked around to the back entrance of his parents’ house. The home he’d grown up in was a charming, craftsman but compared to the houses across the tracks it looked like a shack. It was small, with only three true bedrooms. But since his mom felt it was important that he and his brothers have their own room, his dad had converted half the garage and the attic into bedrooms. They had love, and as an adult, he knew he wouldn’t trade his childhood for anything. Not even Ricky Schroeder’s indoor train in Silver Spoons.
“Hey, Mom!” he called out as he pushed the screen door open.
His mom’s voice came from the dining room. “In here!”
“Mmm.” He grabbed an oatmeal raisin cookie that was on a cooling rack on his way through the kitchen.
He popped it into his mouth and found his mom sitting at the dining room table. It was littered with photos.
“What’s all this?” he asked as he chewed.
She stood and threw her arms around him, squeezing him extra tight.
He hugged her back and kissed the top of her short brown hair. She barely came up to his chest and weighed a buck o’ five, at the most. It had always cracked him up how she’d not only made such giant sons but how she managed to keep them all in line.
“I’m so glad you’re okay.” She sniffed against his chest. “Don’t scare me like that again.” When she finally let go, she swatted his arm before she tugged on the cuff of her oversized cardigan and wiped beneath her eyes. “And don’t talk with your mouth full.”
A grin spread across his face. If he had a dollar for every time she’d said that to him or one of his brothers he’d be a millionaire. Connie Bishop’s mission in life was to raise men with manners, and she’d achieved that goal. Mostly.
“What’s all this?” he asked as he sat down and started sorting through the photos.
There were shots of holidays, sporting events, vacations, and candid shots of everyday life. His entire childhood was cataloged. He picked up a shot of him pitching in little league when he was ten. Going off his size compared to his teammates you’d think he was years younger. He had been a runt.
She sniffed and used the cuff of her cardigan to dry her cheeks before setting her hands flat on the table and announcing, “I’ve started a project.”
“I see that.”
“Have you seen this?” his mother asked as she pushed a newspaper toward him.
He looked down at the Sacramento Bee front page and saw himself standing beside Gabe with his arms wrapped around Kenzie, comforting her. He’d seen this same shot online. But he hadn’t seen that it had made it to his hometown paper.
“Have you talked to her?” she asked pointedly.
He looked up into blue eyes that mirrored his. His brothers and dad all had brown eyes and his whole life he’d felt a special connection with his mom since he was her only blue-eyed son. It was just one more reason he knew that he was his mom’s favorite.
It was a running joke in their family: Who was mom’s favorite? All four claimed that they were. In his heart of hearts, Eli truly believed that he was and he was sure his brothers all believed the same thing about themselves. That was a testament to just how amazing his mom was. But all that amazing came with a whole lotta nosy.
“About what?” he feigned ignorance.
She called him on it. “You know what.”
“No,” he exhaled. “Not yet.”
Her lips pursed in disapproval.
“I’m going to,” he assured her.
“I understand you think you’re doing the right thing protecting her but Kenzie’s stronger than you think. Have a little faith in her.”
Eli stood and walked over to the window that faced Kenzie’s childhood home. “How’s he doing?”
“I’m not sure.” She sighed. “I asked Charlene, his nurse, when I saw her the other day and she said he has good days and bad days.”
He heard the chair scrape the wooden floor and his mom joined him at the window. “You aren’t responsible for his health, his choices, or his actions. He is. I know you want to take care of her, but, she deserves to know the truth.”
Eli wished it were that simple. He wished that it were as cut and dry as that. Since it wasn’t, he returned to the table and changed the subject.
“So what’s this project?”
“Oh, I’m scanning all these.” She pointed to a small scanner that was sitting on the buffet table. “And I’m glad you’re here. You can help me organize. It’s taking forever.”
He sat down and began to sort the photos according to her system. He toyed with the idea that had been nagging at him. He knew that it was too soon and that he and Kenzie had a lot that they needed to work out, but he also knew that when the right time presented itself, he wanted to be ready.
“Do you still have Grandma Debbie’s ring?”
A whisper of a grin appeared on her lips and she reached into the pocket of her sweater jacket. When she pulled her hand out, she was holding the ring.
“You carry Grandma Debbie’s ring around?”
As she handed it to him, her smile grew a mile wide and tears filled her eyes. “I had a feeling you’d be asking me for it.”
“That’s a very different reaction than the first time I asked for it,” he remarked as he examined the princess-cut solitaire.
The first time there had been tears, but no smile.
“Well, the first time you asked for it, you were seventeen and in a secret relationship with the daughter of a powerful, cutthroat man. Call me crazy, but I was worried about you.”
“I still don’t know how you knew it was her.”
He’d never told his parents that he and Kenzie were in a relationship. He couldn’t. The only person that knew was his oldest brother, Evan. Eli had always looked up to Evan so he’d confided in him. But as soon as he’d asked his mom for the ring, she’d known he meant to give it to Kenzie.
“You want to know how I knew?” She started fishing through the pictures.
“Here.” She picked one up and turned it toward him. It was from his twelfth birthday party at the roller rink. Eli and Kenzie were skating in a group of kids. She was laughing and he was staring at her with an expression famously known as puppy love. “That’s when I knew you had a crush on her.”
“And here.” She picked up another one. It was taken on the first day of high school in front of his house. It was Eli and Kenzie again with Kenny between them. Kenzie and Kenny were smiling at the camera and Eli was looking at Kenzie. His expression this time was more serious but not any less enamored. “That’s when I knew it was love.”
“Did Dad know then?” Eli asked.
“No.” She chuckled. “He thought you were just friends. But it also took him six months to figure out that I was interested and I followed that man around like a lovesick shadow.”
Eli grinned as he put the ring in his pocket.
He’d heard the stories of how his mom had set her sights on his dad after sophomore year of high school. She’d “accidentally” run into him in the halls between classes. She’d just “happen” to be at the athletic field as his practices were ending. She’d even got a job at the same ice cream parlor he’d worked at a week after he started.
She used to joke that there were times she thought about giving up. One, in particular, was when Wilson Ransom asked her to Spring Fling junior year. His dad didn’t like it when she said that, to this day he’d get a possessive look in his eye and pull her in for a kiss. But she’d always finish by saying that the reason she never threw in the towel was that when she looked into her future, she saw his dad. Even at that young age, when they were just friends.
The only future he’d ever seen was with Kenzie. And he’d given up on it once, he wasn’t about to make that mistake again.