Page 24 of Trophy

At five thirty on Saturday evening, Rob had to tell himself to get a grip.

He’d showered, shaved, and dressed in jeans and a Fielding high school football T-shirt. He wasn’t sure Allison would be impressed by his outfit, but he had to make sure to act casual and natural.

He’d told her this wasn’t a date. He might be so excited he wanted to jump out of his skin, but if he started to act like this was a date, she’d get spooked and withdraw from him.

He couldn’t believe she was going somewhere in public with him. This was more progress than he’d expected. He wasn’t going to blow it all by acting like an eager teenage boy on his first date.

He was just really glad he wasn’t pinning his hopes on a lost cause like his previous relationships.

They were only eight blocks away from the high school, so they’d agreed to walk.

Nearly everyone in town came to these events, so the parking lots and streets were always packed in the surrounding blocks anyway.

At exactly 5:35, when they’d agreed to meet, Rob stepped outside and looked over at Allison’s house.

In another minute she came out and waved at him.

She must have understood the dress code for this evening, because she wore jeans and a fitted white T-shirt. Her hair was loose, and she looked pretty and more like part of Fielding than he’d ever seen her.

They met in the middle of the street. “You look nice,” he told her.

“You have no idea how hard I had to search before I found this top.” She was smiling as she spoke. “All my other clothes looked wrong for this kind of thing.”

“You look perfect.”

She slanted him a playful look but didn’t say anything as they turned in the direction of the school and started to walk.

“So who else are we meeting there?” she asked after a minute.

“Keith—my buddy, you know, who comes into Dora’s sometimes.”

“Oh yeah. I know him.”

“And his wife and their younger kids. Plus Mitch. He’s a sheriff’s deputy.”

“I think I met him at your cookout.”

“Yeah, he was there. It’ll be casual. We all just sit in the bleachers anyway. There’s no pressure.”

“I’m sure it will be fine.” She was still smiling and didn’t look nervous, so Rob assured himself that he wasn’t pushing her to do more than she was comfortable doing.

He wanted to be with her in any way she would allow. But he’d be lying if he said he wanted things to stay like they were forever.

He wanted them to really be together. He wanted everyone to know it. He wanted her to stop holding back parts of herself. But it wouldn’t be fair of him to dump all that on her, since they’d agreed to a certain arrangement.

Things were moving in the right direction. He could be happy about that.

As always, the sidewalks and streets got more and more crowded as they approached the high school.

Rob put a hand on Allison’s back to keep her beside him as they made their way through the crowds, and she didn’t pull away.

In fact, she moved closer to him, occasionally taking his arm when they were crossing a street or entering the football field.

“I had no idea there were this many people in town,” she said when he’d steered them over to where Keith and Martha were holding their seats.

“It does look like a lot, when they’re all gathered together.” He checked her face. “You okay?”

“Of course.” She smiled at him. “It feels like everyone is staring at us, but I’m sure that’s just my imagination.”

“Definitely just your imagination.” Despite his words, he recognized that a lot of people were watching them as they walked partway down the field and then up the steps to where Keith and Martha were waving at them.

He could see interest and curiosity on a lot of faces, and he knew there would be talk about the two of them.

He hadn’t dated anyone in a while—definitely not in the three months since Allison had moved in across the street. The news would travel fast.

He really hoped she would be okay with it. Maybe he should have suggested something else for their first outing.

Everything seemed to go smoothly as they took their seats, greeted Keith and Martha, and introduced Allison to the kids. Mitch came a few minutes later and immediately started telling Allison about his suggestions for improving the menu at Dora’s, which took her attention for several minutes.

While she was distracted, Keith leaned over to say to Rob, “This doesn’t count as a date. It’s a group thing. Don’t even think about claiming our bet.”

Rob had actually forgotten about that stupid bet he’d made ages ago, and he aimed his friend a cool glare. “Shut up about that.”

He didn’t want anyone to hear about that bet. He definitely didn’t want Allison to hear.

Keith gave him a light punch on the arm. “Good going, though, West. Didn’t think you’d get this far.”

Rob knew Keith was joking the way they always had, but he felt strangely uncomfortable about it. He wasn’t even sure why. He’d always joked about women with his buddies. There was no reason Allison should be different.

He turned his head to look at her and saw her smiling rather bemusedly at Mitch, who was still rambling on about what needed to be added to the menu.

Even in the crowded stands she stood out.

No one was as beautiful and elegant and poised as she was.

And more than that—she was so brave and gentle and sweet.

He couldn’t believe she was really here with him.

Pretty soon the activities began. There were a couple of routines by the cheerleaders. Then a few short speeches and explanations. Then a short scrimmage by the football team. Then a couple of numbers by the school band. Then more cheers and a couple of concluding speeches.

Rob enjoyed it all well enough, but he was preoccupied with making sure Allison was having a good time.

She’d probably never been to something like this before, and she obviously didn’t know football, because she kept asking him questions during the game.

But her face was relaxed, and her posture seemed natural, and he didn’t see anything on her face that worried him.

He was feeling better as the event wrapped up. Things had gone fine. He’d been worrying about nothing. Allison wasn’t about to retreat from him. A step forward wasn’t necessarily followed by two steps back.

When everyone was dismissed and people started pouring down the steps to get out, Rob said, “Let’s wait a few minutes until some of the crowd clears out.”

“Sounds good to me.” She smiled up at him and then, to his pleasure, leaned over so her arm was rubbing against his slightly. “Should we try to say hi to Cali? Would we even be able to find her?”

“We can give it a shot. That would be nice.” He was relaxing now, feeling a lot better, more pleased than ever because she genuinely wanted to make an effort with the girl, even though she had absolutely no reason to.

Martha was busy trying to corral her kids, but Keith was still sitting lazily and finishing a soda. He would have been drinking a beer and smoking a cigarette, but he wasn’t allowed to on school property.

“Was football a big thing at your high school?” Keith asked Allison.

“No,” she replied, pushing her hair back behind her ears. “It wasn’t. Soccer was the big sport for us.”

Keith nodded slowly and put down his empty can. “Where did you go to school?”

“A private school in Charlotte. It was very… snooty.”

“You’d think they would have done football, then,” Keith said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

Allison smiled. “Who knows what they were thinking?”

“You should have seen old Rob on the field in his day.”

Turning to him in surprise, Allison asked, “You played football?”

Before Rob could reply, Keith snorted, “You mean he hasn’t trucked out all his old trophies to impress you? He played football and baseball and ran track. He thought he was a real superstar.”

Rob shook his head and murmured to Allison, “It was a small school in a very small town. A lot of kids did multiple sports.”

“You didn’t want to continue in sports, then?” she asked.

He gave a half shrug. “I wasn’t good enough. I played some in college, but it wasn’t a very good team.”

“Don’t listen to him. He was pretty good. Tell him to show you his trophies,” Keith said lazily.

“Would you shut up?” Rob told him. He turned back to Allison. “I wasn’t good enough to really do something with it. I’m better off doing what I do.”

The crowds were clearing out now, and Rob spotted a little blonde coming up the steps toward them in a cheerleading outfit.

“There’s Cali,” Allison said, waving at the girl with a welcoming smile.

Cali waved back, but her face was sober as she approached them.

“You were great out there,” Rob said. “You’re the best on the squad, aren’t you?”

She shrugged. “Maybe. I don’t know.” She looked from one of them to the other. “Thanks for coming, but y’all might want to get scootin’ now. Mom’s been drinking and she saw you here together. She’s not a happy camper.”

Rob felt his stomach drop. Just when things were going so well, Dee would have to show up to ruin it. He could just imagine the scene she would create and how embarrassed and awkward Allison would feel about it.

He met her eyes.

“Do you want to leave?” she murmured.

“It’s not a bad idea, unless you want to?—”

“No. We can go.” She stood up and gave Cali a one-armed hug. “It was great to see you out there, Cali.”

Rob clapped Keith on the back and called goodbyes to Martha and Mitch. Then he took Allison’s arm and guided her down the steps. He kept a sharp lookout for Dee and didn’t see her as they quickly exited the field and then hurried back to the sidewalk, headed for their houses.

“Sorry about that,” Rob muttered, stewing with anger and embarrassment.

“It’s fine. I totally understand why you don’t want to have a public showdown with her. It’s too bad she’s so… difficult.”

Allison didn’t sound upset, but she had to be thinking about what a mess his personal life was, how frustrating it would be if she started to date him and had to put up with an ex-wife like Dee.

Rob wanted to kick himself for hooking up with Dee in the first place. What the hell had he been thinking?

He’d been so sure that a woman who needed him as much as Dee did would never cheat on him and make a fool of him like Maria had.

Dee had never cheated on him, but she’d made a fool of him just the same. Now he was stuck with her, and he’d never be completely rid of her, since they lived in the same small town.

He wanted Allison to think it would be easy and natural to get together with him for real, for her to not see any complications. She had her own messy divorce to deal with. She didn’t need to have his too. There had to be some way to make it clear to Dee that the two of them were completely over.

He stewed about it all the way back to their street, until he remembered he should have been better company to Allison. “Sorry,” he said, rubbing his face and trying to get himself together so he could be what she needed. “Didn’t mean to space out on you.”

“It’s fine,” she replied softly. She placed a gentle hand on his chest. “Do you want to talk about it?”

He did want to talk. He wanted to pour out all his troubles and worries and take comfort in her.

But that was the last thing he should do.

She must already think he was a disaster just waiting to happen.

He wasn’t going to let himself feel like a fool again, particularly not with Allison.

“I’m fine. It’s really nothing. Just… annoyances. ”

She dropped her hand. “Okay.”

Damn it. She was pulling back. She was still standing close to him on her driveway, but he could feel her retreating internally.

It was like she was further away than she’d been just a moment before.

“I’m sorry about all that before,” he said quickly.

“She’s not normally such a pain. We shouldn’t have had to run away. I just thought it would be easier…”

“It’s no problem, Rob. I just want you to be able to talk about it with me, if you want.”

“There’s nothing to talk about.” He tried for a seductive smile. “I’m doing just fine. Now, if there’s something else you want to do besides talk…”

She usually responded to that particular look and tone, but she just gave him an almost bittersweet smile. “I’m actually a little tired tonight.”

Damn it. Damn it. Damn it! Things had been going so well, and now they weren’t. “We don’t have to have sex. If you just want to hang out, I’d be up for that.”

She hesitated but then shook her head. “I think I’m just going to take an early night. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.” She stretched up to kiss him on the corner of his mouth. “Good night, Rob. Thanks for taking me.”

He took her face in his hands and kissed her full on the mouth, making sure not to use any tongue or make it too deep, since she’d already said she wanted to part ways for the night. “Thanks for coming. I’m sorry it got messed up at the end.”

“It didn’t get messed up. It’s not about that at all.” Her big eyes as they gazed up at him were still slightly wistful, poignant.

He wanted to ask her what it was about, but she was already walking away. He watched her until she’d unlocked her door and then closed it behind her.

He wanted her desperately.

After his bleak reflections about Dee, he needed her desperately too.

Even more than sex, he wanted to hold her in his arms and take comfort in her tonight.

But he couldn’t burden her with the weight of all that mess.

He wasn’t going to feel like someone else was controlling his life, turning him into someone he didn’t want to be.

Not again.

Tomorrow he would have to start making up ground.

But tonight he was going to sit on his couch with a six-pack and stare at the TV, trying not to think about what he didn’t have.