Despite being younger than a lot of moms with teenage boys, I thought I had a pretty good handle on the mom thing. I never felt like the kid and that Luke was the parent, until today.
“Mom, you lied to me,” Luke stammered, shoving his cell phone in my face. “This is you and Coach at a private concert for Dalton McCoy.”
I sank into the chair at the table as my thumb hovered over the screen. My eyes focused and there it was clear as day a picture of Wyatt and me on the country singer’s Instagram profile. It was posted hours after the show ended. Wyatt had his arm around my shoulders with his forehead pressed to mine looking me straight in the eyes. My hand cupped his cheek and we were smiling like two idiots. If the picture had been taken a few seconds later, it would have shown Wyatt and I sharing a kiss.
My entire body shook as I read the caption: That country lovin’ feeling. The comments mentioned Wyatt by name and I was the mystery woman.
“Are you going to tell me that this isn’t you sitting next to Coach?” His nostrils flared out as he stared at me.
I shook my head, my tongue was frozen solid. My fingers splayed against my forehead. No point in denying it. “It’s me.” My eyes met his.
He threw his hands in the air. “I can’t believe you lied to me. How long has this been going on?”
My heart plummeted to the pit of my stomach seeing the hurt and disappointment on his face. “I don’t really know, I guess it started sometime after your birthday party.”
“My party, are you serious?” he shouted, shoving a hand through his hair. “It’s almost Halloween . . . football season is going to be over soon.”
The shock on his face kicked me in the gut.
“Addie was the one who recognized the two of you. She showed me the picture at lunch. Do you know what that was like for me?” His jaw clenched.
“I’m sorry that you had to find out this way.”
“Had to find out this way,” he repeated. “I asked you on Sunday when I came home if it was true and you said that it was a rumor. You could have told me days ago.”
“You’re right,” I said, taking a deep breath. My hands scrubbed over my face and I set the phone back onto the counter. “I have zero excuses.”
“Are you two in love?” He narrowed his eyes at me.
Love him? The words slammed into my chest and I felt like I couldn’t breathe. Over the last few weeks, I’d come to care about Wyatt. It might have started out as just sex, but I’d realized it had become something deeper. I didn’t know if I loved him.
“I don’t know. We didn’t get that far,” I admitted. My fingers knotted together tightly at the pulse of silence that came with my thoughts.
Luke’s phone started buzzing and dinging. He swiped the screen and his shoulders slumped. “Great,” he ground out. “News travels fast. The whole school knows about you and Coach. Just great,” he mumbled.
“I thought you liked Wy . . . Coach Hamilton.”
“I do like him, but I wasn’t expecting him to be hooking up with my mom. It’s fun being the butt of the locker room jokes.” He let out a frustrated groan. “It’s all over social media. And someone said the school board could fire him if he broke a morality clause.”
“Morality clause?” I shrugged.
“Yeah, I guess that the school board can fire him if he was caught acting inappropriately. Fuck, then everyone at school will surely hate me.” He stomped towards the front door.
“Wait,” I called after him, popping up out of the chair. “Where are you going?”
“I haven’t decided yet.”
“Please don’t drive angry,” I pleaded.
“I can’t be around you right now.”
“Luke, I am still your mother,” I pointed out. “Please come back here until you’ve calmed down.”
Ignoring me, he climbed into the truck and all I could do was watch as my son backed out of our driveway speeding away from me.
Two hours later, Luke still hadn’t checked in with me and I was climbing the walls. And when he didn’t show up for dinner, I knew that he was thoroughly pissed at me. I understood that Luke needed some space, but I expected him to at least reply to my text message. I grabbed my keys and purse and then hopped in my Nissan.
There was no manual for dealing with this kind of situation. There was one place where I thought I might find Luke. However, when I arrived thirty minutes later, there was no sign of him.
I exited the vehicle and walked over to their graves. “Hey, guys,” I announced, brushing leaves off the top of Carter’s headstone. “I miss you both.”
I sighed and shoved my hands into the pockets of my jacket. “Carter, I wish you were here because I screwed up with Luke—big time.” I stood there under the stars staring at the mountains bathed in the fall moonlight. “I’m sure you know that I met someone. I like him a lot. He’s a good man. He’s been good to me. Good for me.” My hand grasped the edge of the marble. “I need to make things right with our son, for him to be happy . . .” My voice trailed off.
I couldn’t say the words out loud. I wanted Wyatt, but I could never have him. The realization sank in my stomach like a brick.
The pounding on my door came just after eleven. Scrubbing the sleep from my eyes, I jumped out of bed and raced to the door. Hannah turned to face me, her eyes rimmed red and my heart crumbled under a hammer of pain.
Grasping her wrist, I pulled her inside. “What’s wrong, sweetheart?”
“Luke, he um, he left.” Her voice shook as she spoke. “He came home after practice and he was so upset with me.”
“What is he upset about?” I asked, before reaching inside the refrigerator for a bottle of water.
She sniffled and chewed at her bottom lip. “He found out about us.”
My brows pinched together in confusion. “Here sit here, and drink this,” I instructed.
Hannah drank half the bottle of water and took a few deep breaths. “Go to your friend Dalton’s Instagram. Look back to the concert and let me know if you see anything that stands out.”
My fingers flew across the screen of my phone. I scrolled and scrolled until I found the date of the concert. “Shit,” I mumbled.
“Yep, and from what he tells me, the entire student body knows. Luke is pissed at me for lying about my relationship with you.”
My eyes closed and I felt as if I’d been sacked. It was killing me to see Hannah in so much pain. Usually these kinds of rumblings hit the teachers’ lounge like a tidal wave. I was completely taken aback by this news.
“Apparently, there are rumors of a morality clause in your contract. He’s worried that if you get fired the entire school will hate him.”
“Okay, well, no one has said anything to me about this and I can assure you the morality clause doesn’t outline faculty/parent relationships. It’s got some shades of grey.” I rubbed her back, trying to make sense of all of this information.
“I just want to know if Luke is okay and no one will answer my texts or call me back.”
I brought up Brandt’s number. I have a rule—captains are to answer any questions I ask. If they fail to do so, they get benched. This rule is in place for the safety of my players,
Me: Have you heard from Luke Richman tonight?
Brandt Davis: Yeah Coach. He’s at my house. He’ll be at practice tomorrow morning.
Me: His mother is worried sick about him.
Brandt Davis: He’s not really happy with her.
Me: Yeah. I know. Can you please try and get him to message her tonight?
Brandt Davis: I will try, Coach.
Me: All right. Thanks.
“Luke is at Brandt’s and he is fine,” I told her.
Her shoulders sagged with relief. “Okay, good.”
Pain radiated in my chest seeing Hannah so broken up. Her blue eyes met mine and there was only sadness. No light. Vacant. This wasn’t the way she normally looked at me, it seemed distant.
“Wyatt, we have to end this,” she spoke quietly. “Luke is my whole world and I need him to be happy.”
My heart thumped out of sync and as much as I didn’t want to let her go, I knew that I needed to. “Yeah.”
She stared at me and a watery laugh left her mouth. “Yeah. I can’t bear the thought of him being miserable after all he’s been through. And I can’t risk you losing your job over a fling.”
My eyes flicked to hers and I steeled my spine. “A fling.” I huffed a laugh. “That’s what you think this is between us?”
She stood up, her expression turning from sadness to stone. “Come on, Wyatt, be serious. Happiness never strikes twice,” she said, her eyes never leaving mine. “I had my happily ever after.”
Lies.
There is something more between us.
But that wasn’t the point of this conversation. Not tonight anyway.
I swallowed thickly. “Well, I guess that there’s nothing more left to say.”
“Nope.” Without another word she turned and walked out. Crushing my heart with her boots in the process.
This is total bullshit.
What could I do? Hannah had her mind made up. I respected her. I understood her choice, but it didn’t hurt any less. All I could do was watch as Hannah Richman walked out of my door the same way she’d walked onto my field. Taking me by surprise and leaving me completely stunned.