“Maybe decorating can be my next career,” he said. “I’m going to add a little salt to this. Just a little.”
It needed it. “You’re going to give up football for interior design?” I asked. I expected him to smile, but he didn’t.
“I saw a preliminary list of the guys who are getting invited to the Woodsmen training camp. Besides the returning players, there are nine other defensive ends. Nine. I would be number ten.”
“Ok,” I said. I got another spoon and offered him a second taste.
“The salt helped. I’m saying, the odds just got a lot worse,” he told me.
“Why do you care about that? Other guys aren’t important,” I said.
“No?”
I shook my head in answer but decided he had been right to put in that salt. I added a tiny bit more. “I wouldn’t even look at anyone else. Who cares what they do? It wouldn’t matter if there were a hundred other defensive ends trying out.”
He stopped looking so worried and even smiled slightly. “Yeah, it would. If there are that many people, I might not get a good parking spot.”
“I think you’ll get it,” I said. I didn’t mean a place to leave the car/SUV, either. I had become convinced that he would soon wear the ugly orange jersey of the Woodsmen team.
“Maybe I should think about interior design. Or going on the miniature golf circuit or opening my own auto shop. I could try that instead.”
“Try football first. Then we’ll do the next thing,” I told him. “Can you grab two bowls?”
“Sure.” But Ronan didn’t move, and when I looked over at him, he was smiling for real.
Chatard 6
Oh. I knew her.
“Hi, Kiya,” I said, and my Woodsmen colleague spun around. She wore a shorter-length dress than she would have for work and I thought that her shoes were going to make it tough on her tonight, but she looked great.
“Cate?” Her eyes widened and she smiled happily. “Oh my God! I didn’t know you were coming!” She hugged me and I hugged her back. “I was so excited to meet one of Channing’s friends. But I didn’t know he was your boyfriend,” she told me. She also smiled at Ronan.
“I’m not,” he said.
“No, he’s not,” I quickly agreed. “We’re friends and he wanted me to come because I’m really good at miniature golf.”
“Cate’s a ringer and I’m here to win,” he told Kiya, who seemed a little confused.
“He’s kidding,” I explained. Kind of.
“Oh, ok,” she said. Then her boyfriend Channing walked up and I got introduced to him before we hit the course. With the addition of the overhead lights, everything looked different here. I could clearly see that the dragons I’d noticed before were actually snakes. My confusion made sense because they were the same size as the various palm trees, which were also the same size as the sarcophagi and a pyramid. Someone hadn’t considered scale.
It seemed like the lights also affected my game, because I just wasn’t hitting like I had the first time I was here. “I don’t want to pressure you, but you have to make this shot or we’ll lose, and I’ll never be able to show my face around town again,” Ronan told me on the final hole. “I’ll also owe Channing for dinner.”
“You guys are betting on this game?”
“I only did because I was sure we’d win,” he explained. “But even in those pointy shoes, his girlfriend is an ace.”
Kiya was very good, totally carrying their team. “I’ll do my best,” I said, but we ended one stroke over. There would be no prize of a one-eyed crocodile tonight.
“You’re awesome,” Channing told his girlfriend. He swept her into his arms and kissed her, and it turned into something long, deep, and a whole lot for a mini golf place where a bunch of kids were running around.
Ronan glanced at me and I stared at an asp. “Chan, we’ll meet you in the parking lot,” he said loudly.
They broke apart and she put her hand over her mouth. “Sorry,” he told us, but neither of them looked sorry. They looked like they were in love.
“So, my friend’s new girlfriend is one of the lunchroom pals you told me about,” Ronan said as he opened his truck/car for me. We were planning to work on that door problem, but other things were more pressing, like him becoming a Woodsmen.
