An unfamiliar guy jogs towards us from the right entrance to the field, from the fence. Is this CJ Bradley, part two? I wonder what estranged Oklahoman son has returned to cause us misery this time.
But as he draws near, I realize he is very much not one of ours. However, he’s not unfamiliar, either, and I share a look of recognition with my team. Distracted from our trouble in paradise, heads turn towards the newcomer with wide eyes. He’s not in a Woodchucks jersey, but for anyone who keeps up with the MLL, it’s evident this is none other than Bradley’s right-hand man, Rodney Wilson.
Rod Wilson grins, definitely not reading the room, as his deep brown eyes crinkle in the corners and he runs a hand through his unruly black waves of hair. He looks older than Colt, although I know from stats that they’re only about a year apart in age. People like to say it’s probably the shadow of a beard, something the clean-shaven Colt’s never dared to attempt, or the fact that Rod became a (now single) dad at eighteen, at which point Colt probably still needed someone to strap up his shoulder pads for him. ‘Won’t you say hey, Coltie?’
The tension in Colt’s body immediately leaves it as he cracks a smile. ‘Hey.’
Our entire team watches in shock as the guys embrace so enthusiastically you could hear the back thumps from a field over. Jordan’s jaw is literally on the floor.Oh, my idol, her eyes scream.
Once they’ve got over their reunion, Colt introduces Rod. ‘This is Rodney Wilson, my pillar on and off the field. You’veprobably seen him in games, but I’m excited and pretty surprised you get to meet him in person … Bro, when did you even fly in?’
Rod smiles slyly. ‘I planned it all out. Came in yesterday. That awful street lacrosse game just got done in Chicago, so I figured why not drop by and check out the scene. Connor and JJ came, too. Either way, figured it’d be a good time to watch you all play at home. Tali’s here, with your mom. She’s probably being a nuisance in office hours right now.’
No way. Nowaydoes Colt just get to hide behind his star teammate right now, ever so conveniently. I want to know why I just had to humiliate myself on the field so he could go on some ego trip. ‘Great. It’s nice to meet you, Rod.’ I smile tightly. ‘But back to the problem at hand. I’d love some explanation about why you just had me demonstrate a shot everyone here knew I wouldn’t make?’
Rod’s eyebrows fly upwards almost comically, and he takes a step back, hands raised in surrender. Colt shoots his friend a murderous look. Good. He deserves to muscle through a struggle alone, for a change.
‘We will talk about it.’ Colt’s voice is low yet stern, and it’s a far cry from the happy-go-lucky I’ve got tired of over the past few weeks. It’s strained.
Then, in a tone so quiet that only I hear it, ‘You’re not playing by the plan, May, and it’s gonna get us shot in the foot.’
‘Maybe I’m not,’ I mutter, ‘but neither are you. Like you said. Wewilltalk about it. For now, though. Why don’t we …’ I return my tone to a fairly normal volume. ‘Why don’t we make sure your friend enjoys his time in Oklahoma?’
Chapter Nineteen
In the Doghouse
Colt
She’s so onto me. And it doesn’t occur to me what kind of implications my personal life might have on our public one, until that practice.
Rod, for his part, isn’t experiencing any sort of stress. In fact, the second his ass hits the chair at the dining table in my parents’ house, he starts yapping with them, and they, of course, have been immediately hooked in by his ever-so-social personality since the day they met, two years back. He’s the kind of guy who, as far as I know, has never needed media training, and has the propensity to chat up a pile of dirt. It doesn’t hurt that his daughter, Talise, is the sweetest angel of a pre-schooler that ever walked the earth, and is currently happily asleep in the guest room, something my mom mentions with delight more than once in between talk about what an ‘easy’ child Tali is.
‘… and I was always so sure there was something brewing between the two of them,’ my dad is going on and on; all of this shit about May and me in high school. ‘And then Colt here chose Boston. That’s what you call missing one train to catch another, if you ask me, because, you know, Boston was good. Boston brought us a lacrosse legend. But if we’re talking about May, he got lucky, and here we are.’
‘Mmm-hmm.’ Rod nods. ‘Though at least today, they weren’t behaving much like a couple. I don’t know if it’s how the two of them get over lacrosse, but you could’ve cut the tension with a steak knife. Horrific.’
‘Really?’ Connor Dean, momma’s boy of the Woodchucks, leans forward inquisitively, his big blue eyes the size of our dinner plates. ‘That true, Colt? Trouble in paradise?’
I roll my eyes at Rod, the snitch. ‘It wasn’tthatbad.’
‘Oh?’ Ma is unconvinced. ‘Is that why May isn’t here tonight? You know we invited May along with the guys, don’t you?’
‘I was pretty excited to meet your girlfriend,’ JJ Kovacic – our team’s child in a college grad’s body – adds unhelpfully, all crestfallen. ‘Not to mention future MLL player, I hope.’
‘I know,’ I grumble.
‘No sass at the dinner table,’ my sister cuts in. Sav crosses her eyes my way to punctuate her point.
‘Savannah.’
‘Colton James.’
‘Dude, stop!’
‘Sav, Colt, come on. We haveguests.’
‘How does it feel when your girlfriend bails?’ smart-mouths Sav.
