“You’d better not be driving home,” I called after him. I only hoped he wouldn’t take his anger out on someone other than me later, namely his son. Even though Connor was a good foot taller than him, I don’t think that boy had a mean bone in his body.
I rushed to the locker room. “All right boys, this next half is ours.” I rubbed my hands together and met their eyes. “You guys are doing great.” I sat on the folding chair, completing the circle. “Now, what have you noticed about their players?” I enjoyed theboys’ opinions, and when they took an interest, they would be more invested in the outcome.
Jackson spoke up. “They recognize the gold play. They have started preemptively going where the ball will be passed.” He shrugged. “Maybe we can change the name for the next half.”
My brow furrowed and looked up. “I don’t want to confuse our own team in the process.”
Jacob raised his hands. “Please, we can handle a name change.”
I raised my right shoulder. “All right, what do you want to change it to?”
“Let’s change it to ‘Danny,’” Connor added.
The boys nodded collectively.
My chest warmed at the goodness of these kids. “Deal. What else?” I asked.
“They are getting tired. What if we full court press and see if we can keep the pressure on?” Jacob added.
I snapped my finger and pointed at Jacob. “My thoughts exactly.”
Last night’sgame was in a town forty-five minutes away, so between that and the icy roads, we didn’t get back to the school until past midnight, so I crashed on Mom’s couch. Danny needed his rest, so we decided he would come to home games. Today was his first day back at school since he sprained his wrist.
He didn’t love staying with Mom, but I also didn’t have a lot of options. Cassie’s parents had moved out of Hillsdale a few years ago. They sent him cards on his birthdays but never really wanted much to do with the day-to-day. I wasn’t sure they would even recognize him. It was Danny, Mom, and me against the world.
I showered and got ready for the day, letting Danny sleep alittle longer. Then, I grabbed some clean clothes for Danny from the suitcase and went to my old bedroom and knocked on the door.
“All right, Champ, it’s time to get ready for school.” I opened the door and stepped over to Danny. I rubbed his back over his Spiderman pj’s. He turned over and pulled the blankets up over his head. “Danny, bud, it’s time to get ready for school.” At least there was no practice after school today.
Danny began snoring again. I patted his back. “Danny.”
Nothing.
“Danny, you’ve gotta get up.” I pulled the blankets from over his head.
Danny stretched and rubbed his eyes with his non injured hand and yawned. “Hey, Dad, did you guys win?”
I ruffled his hair. “We did. By almost ten points.”
I helped him take off his shirt. “Nice! Can I come next time? I need to hand out the water bottles.”
I loved when he came with me. “It was an away game, bud, and I didn’t get home till really late, and Faith”—I flinched—“I mean Ms. Faith said you need your sleep.” I put on his blue shirt, the one he liked with no tags. “Next home game, okay?”Ugh! This was feeling way too complicated. I didn’t know how to think or talk about Faith.
He scrunched his eyebrows. “Dad, Grandma burnt the pizza, her milk tasted yucky, and her internet didn’t work.”
Ouch. It sounded like Mom had had a rough night.
I changed his pants and grabbed his pj’s to wash at home. “Sorry, Champ. We have to make it work sometimes. She loves you and is trying her best.”
He hopped out of bed. “I know! I could stay with Ms. Faith instead. I could help her make cookies.” He smiled up at me, eyes full of excitement.
Oh boy, I had better handle this. It looked like, once again, Faith was right with Danny. “I’m glad you like your teacher, butit’s probably best if we don’t mix up home and school things too much.” I bit the inside of my cheek.
I grabbed clean socks and slid them on his feet.
“What do you mean?”
How could I say this so he would understand? He pulled his sock off, and we had to try twice more to get it lined up right on his toes. I chewed on my cheek. “Ms. Faith is your school teacher. And that’s the role she needs to stay in. You understand that, right?”
