Page 686 of Cold Case, Warm Hearts

Sydney nodded.

“Good.” He smiled. It was a picture of boyish innocence, and she felt herself soften.

“Good luck tomorrow night. I’ll keep my fingers crossed,” she said as he closed the door. She shook her head. So much for rest and relaxation. Another perplexing evening with Kendall Fletcher. And they say women are moody.

Walter looked at his watch.He’d have to hurry to meet Maurene on time. She had gone shopping and planned to meet him at the game. He looked up at the sky. He hoped the rain would hold off until after the game, but no such luck. The first sprinkle fell on his arm as he locked the front door and walked down the path toward his car. A crunching sound stopped him in his tracks. He strained his ears and heard it again. It sounded like footsteps. “Who’s there?”

No answer.

He turned in the direction of the noise and peered into the darkness. “Show yourself! What do you want?”

He got in his car just as the rain broke through the clouds. He tried to put his key in the ignition but it wouldn’t go. He looked down and realized he was using the wrong key. He looked toward the woods. All he could see were sheets of rain.

35

“THE FINING POT IS FOR SILVER, AND THE FURNACE FOR GOLD: BUT THE LORD TRIETH THE HEARTS.” —PROVERBS 17:3

Kendall paced back and forth on the sideline, clapping his hands. Stoney Creek won the toss and chose to defer to the second half. The cold rain continued to fall. He looked up at the crowd in the direction of where his mom, Emma, Jarilyn, and Sydney usually sat. He hoped to get a glimpse of them, but the crowd was now a collage of colorful hats and raincoats, making it impossible to pick them out.

Threats had been floating back and forth between the field houses of Dover and Stoney Creek all week long. The last thing Dover sent was a hand-drawn picture of a football jersey being burned. The jersey had Reggie’s number on it. The animosity between the two teams was more than simple rivalry. Dover’s head coach, Ben Howard, hated him, and in a way, he didn’t blame him.

Ben had been the head football coach at Stoney Creek when Kendall graduated from college. He had taken Kendall under his wing and mentored him. Before long, Kendall became his assistant coach and closest friend. That’s when the losing streak began. One thing Stoney Creek would never tolerate was a losing football team. Ben knew that. He knew the stakes. The pressure was rough. Kendall felt it too—the overall pressure to win at allcosts. Coach Howard had been asked to resign, and after a few carefully placed words in the right places from Walter, Kendall was made head coach. Lucky for Howard, he was snatched up almost immediately by Dover as their head coach.

Kendall turned his attention to the game and urged his kickoff team onto the field as they slapped and butted each other, pumping up their adrenalin. Travis Riddle, the big offensive tackle and co-captain of the team, pointed a finger and shook his fist while yelling expletives at Dover’s co-captain, the same player he had just shaken hands with a few minutes earlier.

The scoreboard was hard to see through the sheets of rain. Only forty-eight minutes of football, and that scoreboard would show that Stoney Creek had the right to the division playoff and a shot at the state championship. He could almost taste it!

During the past week, Kendall and his players had studied Dover’s scouting report. Their quarterback was pretty good and had a decent arm, but their offensive line was weak and didn’t appear to have the strength to stop Jerry Walker, Stoney Creek’s big fast lineman. Dover had only one good pass receiver, and Kendall had worked out a defense that would double-team him in passing situations.

The clock ticked on. The defensive team raced onto the field after a poor Dover return, and sure enough, it was three downs and out to give Stoney Creek the ball on Dover’s forty-five yard line after the punt. The crowd went wild. It only took six plays for their first touchdown.

Sydney watchedthe game with her hand on top of her head to keep her hat from dashing off with every gust of wind. When the rain began, Jarilyn had joined Jessica, Emma, and Mrs.Fletcher under the roof of the concession stand. They were the smart ones. She shivered and snuggled down deeper into her oversized poncho. At any rate, she’d rather sit in the rain than put up with Jessica for the whole game.

“Do you have room in there for me?”

Sydney looked up to see Sean smiling down at her. The tiny droplets of water on his dark hair only intensified his attractiveness and shot an arrow of warmth right to her heart. “Of course not, but you can have a seat.” She moved the wet program from the bleacher. “What’s the matter? You couldn’t find Jessica?”

“Skip the sarcasm, Syd. I decided I’d rather sit up here with you in the rain watching this lopsided game. It’s the beginning of the third quarter, and we’re up twenty-four to six. We could leave and go get something to eat.”

“No, I want to see all of the game,” she said, not acknowledging how much she appreciated his remark about sitting with her in the rain, even though she doubted that he really meant it. She was also grateful for his warmth and protection from the wind.

“Why am I not surprised?” he said, leafing through the wet program. After a few minutes, he chuckled.

“What’s so funny?”

“Only in Stoney Creek.”

“What?” The condescension in his voice pricked at her. It didn’t matter that she sometimes balked at the peculiarity of the town. She could do that because she was from here. She wasn’t about to sit quietly while an outsider took pot shots at her town.

“Look at this advertisement.” He held the program up so she could see as he read aloud. “Dempsey Funeral Home—We’re the last ones to let you down.”

Sydney laughed despite herself. “That’s almost as bad as a sign I saw on a church the other day. It said: ‘Walmart is not the only saving place.’”

Sean chuckled and shook his head. “I must admit that small towns do have their share of charms.”

“Such as?”

“Moon Pies, Krystals, fried catfish.” He looked at her. “The company of a beautiful woman.”