I side eyed him before getting out of the car. It was so cold and crisp out here that I stuffed my hands into my pockets with a quickness.
“You’re only cold because you ain’t used to this type of pressure,” he tossed over his shoulder as he led the way to the field. Once on the field, we approached a man standing there with a whistle to his lips. He focused on the several players running drills before he looked from my cousin to me.
“Hudson Mayers, as I live and breathe. Your father is always talking about you. Shit, I was starting to believe you weren’t hisson for real. My name is Daniel Jefferies and I’m the principal here at Millers Pointe High school, and as you can tell, the coach of the MP Broncos.”
He shook hands with Hani before extending his hand to shake mine. I shook his hand, then focused on the team out there working.
He and Duhani made some small talk before Duhani’s phone rang and he stepped away from us.
I looked out on the field, my eyes catching the players going back and forth, running drills.
“What do you know about coaching, son?” he asked, letting me know he was now at my side.
“Not much, spent my whole life playing.” I looked from the team to him.
He nodded. “From my experience, if you can play it, then you can teach it, and if you can teach it, you damn sure can coach it.”
I nodded.
“That being said. I wanna offer you a job. It won’t pay as much as you’re used to making in the league, but it’ll fill the parts of you that seem empty.”
I turned my head and looked at him when he said that, wondering how he knew of any emptiness.
“You don’t have to voice it for me to know it, Hudson. I spent three seasons in the league, and after I was done, I was the hollowest I had ever been in my life. You give so much of yourself to the game, the field, the coaches, the fans… this list goes on and on. But how much of yourself is reserved for you? I could be reading you wrong, but my guess is you’re looking for something else here, something grounding.”
I nodded, because he was right. I had never heard anyone put it the way he had. Everything he said was accurate.
In one swift motion, he extended a card. “I don’t need an answer now. Take the holidays, spend time with your loved ones. Let me know in the new year.”
I accepted the card just as Hani reapproached. “Hudson, I gotta go. Bridget is just about to have her mare.”
The momentwe made it back to the ranch, I peeped Greene’s truck. Then I heard the loud ass neighing coming from the barn. Duhani couldn’t even shut the truck off good before he was rushing in that direction. My cousin loved his animals, from the loud ass roosters that woke me up too early in the morning to the stubborn fat ass pig I learned just eats and shits. It was unbelievable because absolutely nobody intended to eat it.
When I got out of the truck, I began moving toward the barn at a much slower pace than my cousin. What caught my eye was the little boy standing next to Versai.
When he heard my footsteps, he turned and looked at me. He was the spitting image of his mother, down to the dark tinted eyes with honey specks in them. I had to do a double take before the loud sound coming from the horse stole all of our attention. It was then that my attention found her. Her face turned up as sweat slithered across her skin. Baby was going through the works, but she expected it, and to her, this was no job.
“Mommy, when you’re finished can we go eat?” he questioned, disregarding the entire scene before him like only a kid could.
“Yeah, as soon as I fin—shit.” She couldn’t give him much attention because her arms were in the womb of a horse anda whole bunch of shit just came sludging out on her. Shit was nasty to me, so I could only imagine how bad it was to him.
“Yo, what do you eat, lil man?” I asked, looking down at him.
“Cheeseburgers and fries or spaghetti. Mommy makes the best cheeseburgers and she gives me lots of pickles.” He looked so excited and rubbed his little hands together. A man after my own heart, a lil foodie.
“There is pasta sauce and beef in the house. There should be some at your house as well.” Versai looked from me to lil man. “I don’t cook much, fam,” she mouthed before looking from me to the kid.
I chuckled. “That’s cool. My name is Hudson, what’s yours?” I probably sounded juvenile as fuck asking this kid what his name was.
“Ethan. My mommy named me after my pop pop.”
I nodded. “Cool, that’s a good name. Let’s go make you something to eat and watch TV while your mama works.”
“Okay, but can we watch football? And we gotta make my mommy food too. After she works she’s always very hungry,” he said in the weariest tone.
That earned a laugh from me. “I got you, lil homie. You know you about to help me, right?”
“I am. I don’t know how to cook though, Mr. Hudson. While Mommy cooks I just play on my iPad.” His manners were cute as we walked toward the house. When inside, I went through the fridge to make sure I didn’t need to run over to Versai and Hani’s for anything. I was happy as hell when I didn’t have to.
