Page 19

CHAPTER

EIGHT

DEAN

I drop the packet onto her desk, jarring her from where she’s intensely focused on her computer screen.

“You’re way too close. Your eyes are gonna like, explode or something,” I tell Leah as I plop down in the seat in front of her desk. Denae, her assistant, appears in the doorway. She points a red fingernail my way.

“Same order?”

I nod. “Yep. And I got a text from West saying he wants the same thing, too.”

Denae scribbles on her legal pad. “What about Riley?”

I shrug. “Dunno.”

She drops her arms to her sides in a standing slouch, exacerbated by me. “You eat lunch with her like, almost every day.”

Leah clicks around on her screen before sliding her glasses off her nose, tossing them across a desk full of papers. “Sorry, Dean,” she says with a sigh. She focuses on Denae. “Did you get my usual?”

Denae nods. “Just need Riley’s order.”

Leah looks at me now, too.

I roll my eyes, get out my phone, and call Jake. He answers on the first ring. “What’s up bud? Everything okay?”

“Yeah,” I say, adjusting in the tiny chair. “We’re gettin’ lunch picked up, on Leah, and I need to know Riley’s order from Goode’s.”

He wastes no time in answering. “Chicken salad on wheat with fruit on the side and Diet Coke, light ice.”

“Thanks, man.”

“Sure.”

“Later.”

“Later.” I shove my phone away and repeat the order. Leah glares as Denae writes, then slips out to place the call.

“I wish parent calls could be as simple as two men who are friends.” She uses her male voice, which isn’t all that bad, considering. “Thanks. Sure . Later. Later .” She shakes her head. “Incredible.”

I lean forward, tapping the envelope on her desk. “I talked to all of Tanner’s teachers and got his work together, thought if you signed off on it, I could run it by his place tonight. You know, to be helpful.”

In her crossing-guard orange colored suit, she leans back into her chair, running her pen underneath the length of her black beaded necklace. “To be helpful,” she repeats, eyes narrowing, like she’s sniffing out my ulterior motive.

“Yeah,” I reply, scooping a handful of M&Ms from her dish, tipping my head back to empty them in my mouth like a crane dropping its load. Chewing, I say, “his dad isn’t around. He’s got two brothers. All of this is a lot for a single mom.”

Her narrow eyes go wide, and a smirk slowly curves her lips. “You like Clara June.”

“What?” I sit up in my seat, scooping more candy out, trying my best to ignore the bead of sweat slipping down my temple from beneath the band of my hat. “I’m just helping out. Harmless.”

She pulls open the manilla folder and digs out the stack of paper. Before sifting through, she reads the doctor's note after sliding her glasses back on. She slides them down to the tip of her nose, and stares at me over them.

“You were there that night Tanner got hurt, at the hospital I mean, right?” she asks.

I nod. “Of course. He’s my quarterback, Leah.”

She falls into her seat, stacking her heels onto the edge of her desk as she gets comfortable. I like Leah. She’s serious with students and parents, but she doesn’t try to act like because of her title, she’s miraculously smarter and functioning at a higher level. She’s real, always has been.

“So you met Dr. Denton?” her lips curve with the question.

“I met him, yeah. And he tried to lecture Clara June on the dangers of high school football before she even got to see Tanner post triage. The man could use some manners if you ask me.”

She digs around in her drawer, the only one that locks, and produces an old newspaper article from a few months back. She points to an article titled, “ HIGH SCHOOL SPORTS: THE SILENT KILLER? BY BARTHOLOMEW DENTON .”

I snort. “Really? I thought fentanyl was the silent killer.”

Leah laughs. “Football, Baseball, then fentanyl, according to the great Dr. Denton.” She shoves the article away but it’s okay, I don’t want to read it anyway.

“Why’d you save it?” I ask about the article.

“Oh I didn’t save it because of that. That’s Riley’s article paper. Remember? When she wrote the article about why safe sex is an important discussion in freshman health?”

I nod. “I remember.”

“I saved it. And on one of my rereads, I noticed Denton’s article.”

“Football can be dangerous, I can’t deny that. And I’m not against the boys knowing the repercussions of long-term play. But telling a mom about those things the night her son was hurt?” I shake my head. “If I were a punching man.”

Leah points at me. “Don’t change. If you were a punching man, I’d have to fire you.”

Around the bench behind the staff lounge, Leah, West, Denae, Riley and I have lunch.

Weekend plans are discussed, and after learning that Riley and Jo Jo are taking a paint’n’sip class in Oakcreek, Denae has a blind date in Willowdale, West is rebuilding a portion of his fence and Leah has four episodes of The Bachelor recorded on her DVR and a new bottle of wine waiting, they face me.

I shrug one shoulder. “Nothing much. Grabbing a beer with Jake. Hudson, too, if he’s not busy.” I look at West. “You wanna join?” He doesn’t ask what day, because Friday nights are football nights this time of year.

He nods. “Sure. Just text me.”

Leah crumples her napkin and gets to her feet, outstretching her balled up fist. She loves a group fist bump.

“I feel like a Power Ranger doing a group fist bump,” West complains.

“It’s morphin’ time!” Riley says, shoving her fist into mine.

The first bell rings, warning the students they have seven minutes to get their shit together and get to class, and I take that opportunity to say goodbye, grabbing Tanner’s packet of homework off Leah’s desk before heading back.

Moving through the rally court, I spot Tanner’s older brother, Rawley. It’s not so much Rawley that catches my attention but what he’s wearing.

And holding.

Dressed in a pink hoodie, the word HOPE written across, the O a cancer ribbon, swim trunks with sun’s wearing sunglasses, and cowboy boots, he’s carrying a partially empty plastic gallon tupperware of potato salad, a vending machine Pepsi tucked into his swim trunk pocket.

I step in front of him as he crosses the court, heading toward his shop class.

I may or may not have looked up Rawley’s classes—out of curiosity—when looking up Tanner’s.

Turns out, these Colt boys aren’t just smart, but they’re really smart.

In all the AP and advanced classes in every course possible.

“Hey, Rawley, how’s your brother feeling?” I ask him, wondering if he knows I stopped by last week. I didn’t see him, and I was only there a few minutes when I gave Clara June the jersey, but still, I wonder. “I’m gonna come by in a day or two and see him, but how’s he doing?”

Rawley tips his head in the universal teenage language, saying hello. “He’s alright.”

“Alright, huh? I guess that’s good.” I try my hardest not to survey his outfit again, and instead ask, “how’s everything at home?”

He shrugs. “Mom’s been picking up extra shifts all week.”

When I saw her on the porch last week, she’d picked up an extra shift that night, too. She’s gotta be exhausted, and stressed. I know she worries about Tanner’s recovery, and money, and now with all these late hours, I wonder how she’s managing it all.

Guess she managed it all before I took an interest, but still, I can’t help but wonder.

I wonder so much that I make a plan to have dinner at Goode’s that night, and talk to Clara June.

Just making sure she’s alright and doesn’t need anything, and after that, I’ll check on Tanner. Typical coach duties , I lie to myself.