The other two echoed him before they all climbed into Bax’s truck, having ridden together to practice.
I headed downtown to a tire shop I’d contacted after I arrived in town. It was an affiliate of the one I’d worked in during the second semester of senior year, so I thought I had a better than even chance of landing something part-time.
When I rolled in behind the wheel of my ’Stang, the manager stepped out of his office, all but rubbing his hands together at the sight of my car.
“Nice wheels,” he said. “I bet we could find some fat slicks for you.”
“Are you Tim?” I asked.
He stopped mid-pitch. “Danny?”
Extending my hand, I said, “Danny Chambers. I’m here for the part-time job you advertised.”
After a wistful glance at my car, he nodded toward the office. “Let’s talk.”
Half an hour later, I was geared up with a second uniform alongside the one Coach Ellis had assigned me for the team. This one consisted of a pair of charcoal-gray coveralls with a big red decal reading “Touchstone Tires” across the back. The smaller decal with my name on it would arrive at the office sometime in the next week. For the remainder of the summer, I’d be working every afternoon between practices and on Saturday mornings. Once school started, I’d be picking up hours between classes.
As I twisted wrenches and rolled tires around the shop, I worked hard to keep a positive attitude. But as I wrestled with a particularly reluctant set of lug nuts, which some rancher had allowed to rust shut on his old truck, I cursed the captain for not letting me live with Mom, grow up in one place, and have a shot at scholarships that would allow me to play ball without the added pressure of a job.
The captain’s goal for my life was to have me follow him into a military career. My goals and dreams were irrelevant. I’d spent the three weeks following my honorable discharge in his tiny apartment by myself. He’d decided to take a fishing trip while I was home, deliberately avoiding his disappointment of a son. When I headed to Mountain State, I took everything I owned with me. As a testament to the vagabond life I’d lived, it all fit in the trunk of my car.
As I hefted a new set of tires onto the old truck, I shook myself out of the past. I’d made the team. As of now, I lived in ahouse. I ownedfurniture. The next time I moved, I’d have logistics to work out now that my car wouldn’t hold all my stuff.
Most importantly, after five long fucking years, I had a clear shot at dating Taryn Hamilton. My life was falling into place.
?Chapter Thirteen
?Taryn
Danny’s decision toattend Mountain State had upended my carefully laid plans. I would have thought between two-a-day practices and a job, he wouldn’t have time to come around to bug me. Yet most evenings after his second practice, he dropped by the Coffee Kiosk for a grasshopper steamer while I cleaned up and closed the shop. More than once, he’d hinted at coming over to my place afterward, but fortunately, I had homework to hide behind.
He let me hide, but I sensed it was a temporary thing.
The trouble was seeing him every day again took me back to high school, when I’d lived for our study nights. He’d come over to the house, Mom would have snacks waiting, and we’d sit at the dining room table mostly working on homework, but also cracking jokes and gossiping about classmates and sharing bits about our lives. I, of course, had spent too much of that time stealing glances at him when he was immersed in his homework. Half the time when I was staring at my own work, my mind was in a fantasyland where Danny and I were more than study buddies. More than friends.
Other than the venue, nothing had changed. We still gossiped about friends and cracked jokes. And I was still stealing glances at him.
“What did Bax’s T-shirt say today?” I asked as I swept the front of the shop. Even though I hadn’t met any of his roommates, Danny’s descriptions and stories made me feel like I knew them.
He snorted a laugh. “Today’s was excellent.” Clearing his throat, he said, “‘Sometimes I meet people and feel sorry for their dog.’ Bax is a monster on the field, but off it he’s hilarious.” Leaning against the counter, he took a drink of his steamer. “Callahan never stops flipping him shit about having no game with the ladies, especially with his T-shirt collection, but the girls at Stromboli’s the other night sure seemed into him.”
I tried to cover the stutter in my rhythm by pulling out a chair so I could sweep beneath a table. “You went to Stromboli’s the other night? How was it?” Keeping my eyes on my task, I hoped my tone sounded casual.
Classes started in a week. If there were girls at Stromboli’s who were into football players, that meant the groupies had returned to campus. I needed to steel myself for when Danny started dating them.
“Finn has no game whatsoever. He’s so effective on the field—he can read offenses like he’s in the huddle when they call the play—but he doesn’t have a clue with girls.” He chuckled. “I spent pizza night in the corner of the booth highly entertained.”
“Guess you’ll have to give your roommates some pointers, huh?” I stepped around him to put away the broom and dust pan and blinked at the scowl that crossed his features before he lifted his cup to his lips again.
“They’re big boys. They can figure it out for themselves.”
As I clocked out and grabbed my keys and wallet, his grumpy tone tumbled around in my head. He’d said he’d sat in the corner of the booth. Did that mean the groupies didn’t notice him around guys significantly bigger than him? I mean, I hadn’t met any of Danny’s roommates, but I knew their positions—middle linebacker, defensive end, and tight end. Guys playing those positions came in extra-large, while as a receiver, Danny was only large.
He didn’t need to worry. Once classes started, women would be all over him, exactly like the girls in our high school had been. Even though his field of study didn’t have loads of women in it, if he spent any time at all in the Union or the library, women would find him. Guys who looked like Danny Chambers and had his added bonuses of intelligence, humor, and athleticism drew women like cats to catnip.
Peeking my head out of the office, I said, “In case you were wondering, you can’t spend the night in here.”
With athletic grace he pushed away from the counter and stepped behind it to the office to follow me out the back.
