However, she was content in the steady rhythm they’d created. She had Ryan’s friendship. His laughter. His opinion on the music played overhead at Good Start when they bumped into each other. And his affectionate annoyance when Ginny insistedhe name the puppy Dolly or Mariah, or to his absolute horror, Taylor. She prayed over the best course to take but had yet to commit to an option. And the longer she waited, the more the guilt laid heavy on her heart.
Ginny blinked, realizing she and Ryan had been having a super exclusive staring contest while the crowd around them had gone quiet.
“Y’all finished doin’ whatever it is you’re doin’ over there? ‘Cause some of us are heavily knocked up and ready to get off of our swollen feet,” Blaire said pointedly, shaking the camera between her perfectly manicured fingers.
“I say let ‘em keep at it!” Mrs. Woodhouse yelled through the megaphone on the sidelines. “Thangs were just startin’ to get interestin’. Virginia has fire in her eyes… at least I think she does. It’s hard to see from all the way out here.” The megaphone beeped as Mrs. Woodhouse released the button but then screeched when she brought it back to her mouth. “Can ya hear anythang they’re whisperin’ about, Clyde? Get the deets.”
Mr. Woodhouse merely shook his head, but the others erupted into laughter.
“Did Mrs. Woodhouse just ask for deets?” Chloe giggled, covering her mouth and glancing at Ryan and Ginny with interest. “Arethere deets?”
“Yeah, Gin,” Georgia said with far too much wisdom. “It’s always great to getallthe deets.”
Caroline echoed the sentiment, sounding an awful lot like the Colonel. “Sharing the true deets is never the wrong choice.”
“Why do y’all keep sayin’ deets so much?” Lake asked and booped his wife on the nose. “You’re weirder than usual, Peaches.”
“Nah,” she responded, wrapping her arms around Lake and snuggling in. “Virginia gets it. Right, Gin?”
Ginny did not give her sisters the satisfaction of a response but felt that same niggle of guilt trickle in. She smiled wide for Blaire when she finally had them set perfectly for the team photo but didn’t turn back to face Ryan again. Instead, she psyched herself for the game she was about to win.
They did not win.
Ginny thought they’d have a fighting chance given the fact that half their crew were her competitive siblings and friends, and the other half had just graduated from Sugartree and were still in their spry, prime years. The only others being the two elderly men who were more focused on the attention they were receiving from their wives off the field than on.
But from the moment the coin tossed in the air, mayhem ensued. Mr. Emmerson threw out his back when he hollered “heads” as the honorary team captain. The coin landed on tails, and Mrs. Emmerson, who wore her husband’s graduation photo printed on a purple blouse, marched on the field, pointing her fingers and nagging him all the way back to the sidelines where he promptly sat on the bench and did not get up again.
This incident led to a small, but notable smack-talk war of words between Mrs. Woodhouse and Mrs. Emmerson, where they compared the strength of their husbands based on the number of times they’d had cataract surgery, hip or knee replacements, corn removal or, Ginny’s personal favorite, a clinical diagnosis of halitosis.
When Chloe had leaned in close to Ginny to ask what exactly halitosis was, and the others had been consumed with laughing, they’d missed the snap and nearly gave the high schoolers a touchdown in the first play. Ginny made up for it in the firstplay on offense with a perfect spiral to Lakeland for a touchdown pass—and that extra point for having a female QB. But it didn’t matter much when the other team answered in kind with an immediate touchdown following the play and a touchdown following a fumble from Mr. Woodhouse, who’d briefly run in the wrong direction the single time his hands touched the ball.
And even losing, Ginny couldn’t remember the last time she’d had so much fun.
Ryan had presented the entire team with knee-high, printed, duck socks for the occasion, and it had been a sight to see their group wearing something so ridiculous—and definitively not the Sugartree mascot—for the game.
Win or lose. No one could take away the total bliss Ginny felt when Ryan presented her with duck socks and leaned in close to say, “Irresistible.”
“Ducks?” she’d asked.
“No. Not ducks,” he’d softly replied before handing out another pair to Georgia.
Georgia accepted her socks, hugged her friend, and then sent a glare Ginny’s way that said,Tell him the truth…louder than any spoken words from her sister could say.
Ginny decided that night, she would.
So they played. They laughed. And they lost, soundly. But Ginny was ready to confess to Ryan and, hopefully, have the chance to maintain their friendship.
“Hey team,” Ryan said, putting his arms around Chloe and Mr. Emmerson, who were on his direct left and right. “Y’all played hard tonight.”
He looked around the circle, offering a sympathetic smile to his sweaty, beaten comrades. “I couldn’t have asked for better players or for you to have done anything differently. Let’s give a round of applause for our Georgia who put this whole thing together.”
Lake dipped Georgia and kissed her soundly while the rest of them hollered and cheered.
Ryan continued, “And to our two oldest alumni, Mr. Woodhouse and Mr. Emmerson.”
The group cheered and hugged both elderly men who, quite sweetly, had tears in their eyes. Ginny made a mental note to deliver cookies to them later in the week.
“And, I want to give a special shout out to our QB who did a phenomenal job gettin’ the ball to her receivers and earnin’ those extra points we definitely needed.”
