Page 13 of Catching Our Moment

I turned away from them in disbelief. How could she just leave him in the hospital?

Grace gently added, “Hey, guys, I heard traffic getting to BWI may be an issue. Riley, you’d better get going.”

She bounced on her toes. “Uh. Okay.” Pulling on her hair, she turned back to Shaw, kissed him again, and began walking toward the door. “Are you sure?”

“Go,” he whispered, as if he would ask her to stay at this point.

She slung her purse over her shoulder and stepped backward to the door. “You get better, and by the time I get back, you’ll be back on the field. I will email you my emergency contact information and try to call when my contract allows.”

“Sounds good.” He gave her a small wave, as if he were sending off a colleague, not a woman he’d been in a relationship with. “Be safe.”

And with a flourish—but without a backward glance to the rest of us—she exited, stage left.

Dylan offered a respectful twenty seconds of silence before clapping his hands then turning to the rest of us. “Okay. So, here’s what we are going to do…”

“No.” Shaw spoke to all of us but was looking at me. “You all don’t have to do this. I don’t need a babysitter.” He shifted, grabbing the bed controller and raising it some more. “I’ll just go back to Charlotte. I’ll be fine.”

“You can’t drive,” Dylan pointed out.

“I’ll hire a car service,” he countered, smoothing out his bed sheets.

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Grace said. “You can’t take care of yourself with your shoulder that way?—”

“I’ll be fine.” Shaw was digging in his heels.

Grace, Dylan, and I glanced at each other. “I’m going to take Aaron for a walk,” Grace said.

“Sounds like a good idea,” I said.

Aaron walked over to Shaw’s bed. “When I don’t feel good, I watch television and eat my favorite foods. Mom makes me oatmeal chocolate chip cookies that are so good.”

“Is that so?”

“Come to our house, and Mom can make you cookies. We can eat ice cream and order pizza, and we can play video games and watch football, and it will be fun.”

“Ah. Well, I can’t eat all that stuff right now.”

“Why? You can eat whatever you want when you aren’t feeling well.”

“Because when you play football, you’re on a strict diet.”

“But you’re not playing football anymore.”

Silence. The doctor’s words about his days of playing football coming to an end haunted the room.

“Hey, how about we go find Shaw a healthy snack for now?” Grace said.

“I’m going to make a few calls,” Dylan said, eyeing me as he walked by. “You’re up. Work some of that mojo on him.”

That left me and Shaw in a hospital room. Alone.

If I knew where my mojo was hiding, I would’ve pulled it out months ago for myself.

“So, um, before I forget, I wanted to thank you for the tickets to the game. You were right…it was a memorable experience, to be sure.”

He let out a chuckle as I pulled up a chair next to his bed, taking the controller in my hand and lowering the head of the bed. “You have a concussion. You need to rest,” I said matter-of-factly.

“Can you show me how to turn on the television? I want to check the scores.”

“No. No television.”

“What? Why not?”

“Come on. You’re a football player. You know concussion protocol. No electronics. Just rest.”

He harrumphed, and I swore his arms moved to cross over his chest, but he stopped, given the pain in his shoulder.

“Come home with us,” I said.

“Don’t be ridiculous. I’m a grown man. I will be fine.”

“I know you would be fine. But you don’t need to be alone,” I said.

His bottom lip jutted out, and it was almost adorable. I tried not to laugh.

“Shaw. You are a hypocritical pain in the ass,” I shot back.

That got his attention.

“That’s not nice. You’re supposed to be nice to an injured man.”

“I thought you were fine?”

He glared at me.

“When you heard about James, all you kept saying was that I needed to let people help me. ‘Move home,’ ‘Let Dylan help you find a place to live,’ ‘Let Grace help with job search,’ ‘Let Maeve help with Aaron,’ and ‘Let us help.’” I scooted closer to the bed.

“You wanted to be there to support me. Now, tell me what makes you so great that you can’t accept the same support and help.

” I stood and put my hands on my hips. “I could've done it without any help. But I tell you what…it was a lot easier and less lonely with all of you hovering around.”

“So, I was right?” He smirked. “You needed us to help you?”

“If you weren’t already in a hospital bed, I’d put you in one, you pain in my ass.

” I threw up a hand. “Of course, you ‘being right’ was what you got out of the conversation.” I shook my head.

“No. It was that I could’ve done it alone, but you convinced me to accept help from the people who cared about me. ”

With eyes hidden under thick lashes, he peered up at me. “I hate when you turn my words around on me to make a point.”

I held his hand of the non-injured arm. “So, how about we do each other a favor? How about you become my lean-to person again, and I’ll become yours—at least until Riley comes back home.”

He squeezed my hand gently.

“Maybe by spending time with each other again, we can find a way to make up for those years we’ve lost.”

“Man. You are really giving me the hard sell,” he said, his speech getting slurred and his movements slow. He was exhausted.

“Is it working?” I squeezed his hand.

“Will you bake those cookies for me?”

“Um, sure…but I thought you just said you had to watch what you ate during the season. I’m not going to be your dietitian?—”

He shook his head. “I guess I’m not playing for a while, so to hell with it. Throw in the cookies, and you’ve got yourself a deal.” He leaned back on his pillow with a satisfied, cat-who-at-the-canary expression and closed his eyes. “You can take care of me.”

“Well, we know there isn’t anything wrong with your ego. I guess that’s a good sign.” I let go of his hand, sarcasm lacing my words. “Alright, I’m going to go”—I stood and slung my tote over my shoulder—“and let you rest. I’ll call tomorrow to see if they are going to let you leave.”

He rolled his head my way, wincing slightly. “Hey, Kelce?—”

“Yeah.”

“Thank you. I’m…I’m glad you were here.”

“Me too, big guy.” I closed my eyes before he could see how close those words were to dragging tears of relief from me.

Unsure how to hug him without hurting his shoulder, I leaned forward, giving him a quick kiss on his forehead, like the affectionate ones he used to give me when I was upset.

“We’ll have you juking linebackers before you know it. ”

As I walked to the door, I added, “I’ll see you tomorrow.” The hope of salvaging our friendship had me turning, and without even thinking about it, I added the familiar words, “And don’t worry, we got this.”