“He’s going to be fine,” Sutton reassures me.
“I hate that it happened.”
“It will probably happen again.”
“Is that supposed to make me feel better?” I run a hand through my hair.
“He’s a kid. My daughter loves pushing boundaries.”
“So does Troy. He’s a good kid but sometimes I wonder if I’m giving him everything he needs.” I don’t know why I voice my biggest concern to this stranger I met not more than twenty minutes ago.
“Believe me, I know.”
“You do?”
Sutton nods. “I’m a single parent. I’m always worrying if I’m working too much and if I’m giving my daughter everything she needs.”
“Shit. It sucks, right?”
She smiles. A big, toothy smile that hits me right in the gut. “That’s how you know you’re doing it right. If you didn’t care, it’d be a lot easier.”
“It’d be easier if I had someone to do this with.”
My eyes drift back to the doctor and nurse who are wrapping up Troy’s arm. He looks up at me with those big brown eyes.
“I think you’re doing okay, Derek. He looks at you like you’re his world.”
It has my heart stopping and starting in my chest. It’s why when Troy was born, I retired. I knew his mother wasn’t going to stick around. One poopy diaper and she was out the door. I couldn’t travel and have a son. There’s no way I was going to split my attention like that.
Troy deserved my everything, so I gave it to him.
And I haven’t regretted that decision for a moment.
“All done.” The doctor snaps off his glove. He gives me an assessing look. “Why do you look familiar?”
Great. The last thing I want is to deal with this man recognizing me. With Troy bandaged up, all I want to do is take him home so he can rest.
“My daddy played football!” Troy chirps.
“That’s right!” the doctor snaps at me. “You play for the Vegas Storm.”
“Played,” I correct.
“You were a monster on the field, man. You leveled the best of them.” He shakes his head. “Man, I loved watching you play. Why’d you quit?”
“I had more important things.”
Like the little boy sitting on the stretcher behind him.
“That rivalry you had going with the Mountain Lions? I miss it. I loved watching you destroy them.”
I wince. Those were some of my worst games. Vegas wanted anger. They wanted us to be bulldozers on the field. They didn’t care who we took out, as long as it was someone.
Now?
Now, I hate it. I think about Troy and what kind of example that would set for him. I hate that I fed into it. I said and did some terrible things. Things I don’t think I’ll ever be able to take back.
But hopefully I’ll be able to teach my son better. Maybe correct it with the next generation of football players where I coach.
