Cleats in Clay (13 page)

Kyle patted him on the shoulder. “Then go look up our website— there’s lots more info there—and give it some consideration. And not just for the money, either. We can also use counselors and supervisors, especially ones with sports backgrounds.
Your
story could be very inspiring for the kids.”

Kyle patted Bobby’s shoulder again as he stood. “Just something to think about.” He started toward the door. “Let me check if they need you anymore. Back in a sec.”

Bobby grabbed the paper off the table again and stared at what seemed like an incredibly, gigantically huge number.
Kyle returned. “You’re done. Come by about ten o’clock tomorrow and we’ll finish it up.”
“Thanks.” Bobby shook Kyle’s hand as he approached the door. “And I’ll look over that website too.”
Kyle smiled. “Oh, and happy birthday,” he yelled as Bobby headed down the hall.

B
OBBY
passed through the flimsy boarding tunnel and entered the Amarillo airport in the early evening on Friday. Gaining an extra hour as they flew across the country made the flight seem pleasantly shorter. Clutching his duffel bag close, he glanced around the open hallway past the boarding area at the overhead signs, looking for the arrows pointing to baggage claim. This time he’d decided to pack—maybe too much, he’d thought while dragging the stuffed suitcase into the Boston airport hours before, but he didn’t want to be caught short again.

Following the signs, Bobby made his way downstairs to the carousel. The long-sleeved western shirt seemed a bit warm now that he was in Texas, and he hoped he wasn’t sweating too much as he and the other passengers formed a tired arc of bodies around the empty curve, waiting for the luggage to arrive. The belt started with a lurch, and the bags soon appeared one after the other.

Bobby spotted his garment bag right away and claimed it. He was focusing on the revolving belt, watching for his blue Samsonite, when someone tapped him on the shoulder. “Mr. Lane?”

Putting on his public smile, Bobby turned slightly, still trying to keep his eyes on the luggage parade. It wasn’t unusual for him to be recognized in public. Many people who weren’t baseball fans remembered him from the series of silly and humorous commercials he did for his watch company sponsor over the years. “Yes. That’s me.”

“Sorry.” The low baritone voice of his audience nearly cooed with his Texas drawl. “Don’t mean to be distractin’ ya. I’ll wait ’til ya fetch yer bags.”

“Thanks.” Bobby nodded, turning his attention away from the uniformed man and back to the belt. It was a brief wait before he spotted his blue suitcase. He walked over and grabbed it off the carousel.

“Let me,” the baritone man said from behind, taking the Samsonite from Bobby’s grasp and lifting the suitcase away as easily as though it weighed a mere pound. “Any more?”

Bobby bristled and puffed out his chest as he looked up at the big man who had just stolen his bag. He relaxed a bit when he saw the
Bruien County Sheriff Department
patch on the arm of the brown uniform. He glanced up at the face of the tall officer and for a brief second thought he recognized him. But of course he couldn’t have—he’d never met this graying-blond man before. “No, that’s the only suitcase,” Bobby said, maybe a little harshly. “Can I have it back now?”

“Hell, I’m sorry,” the officer said as he set the case on the floor next to Bobby. “I’m bein’ a rude-ass.” He put out his hand. “I’m Tucker Krickson. A friend of Odie’s.”

Bobby took his hand and shook it. “Tuck, right? Odis and Gertie did mention you.” Bobby tried to ignore that warm little zing he felt as he held Tuck’s hand. He smiled slightly as he released the handshake. The demeanor of this handsome and mature man pushed the needle of his gaydar alarm high into the suspicious zone. “What brings you to the airport?”

Bobby picked up his suitcase and started looking for signs leading to the rental car area. “You didn’t need to do that,” he said over his shoulder as he moved west toward where the signs pointed. “I already have a car reserved.”

“No point in wastin’ your money.” Tuck hurried around and got in front of him. “I ain’t takin’ no for an answer,” he said, bearing down on Bobby with his commanding cop stare. “I’ll drive you. I didn’t get to meet you last time you’s in town.”

“Fine.” Bobby wilted. He was just too tired to argue with this formidable man.
Tuck snatched the suitcase handle from Bobby’s hand. Bobby again noticed that warm tingle in his fingers when Tuck’s hand brushed up against his. “This way.”
Bobby followed Tuck into the parking lot. He recognized the doodad-adorned tan SUV as they approached it. Bobby let out a chuckle. “We
did
meet last time I was here. Well, you glared at me, anyway.”
Tuck opened the SUV’s back door and stowed the luggage. “When was this?”
“When I was driving out to Odis’s the first day. I was in the Chevy you passed on the gravel road.” Bobby walked around to the passenger door. Tuck had already unlocked it with his electronic key ring, so Bobby climbed in. The tantalizing smells of musky man, leather, and coffee wafting in the warm air teased his nose as he buckled in. He inhaled the pleasant scents as he set the duffel on the floor in front of his feet.

Tuck jumped into the driver’s seat and put on his seat belt. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to glare, if I did. I was rankled with myself.” Tuck started the SUV and pulled out of the lot.

“I’d been too busy fiddlin’ with the radio to notice ya on the road and only happened to glance up at the last second. Almost ran ya over.”
“No harm done.”
“I almost stopped to jump out and apologize to ya. If I’d known who was drivin’, I woulda.”

Tuck navigated the streets and soon had them cruising down the interstate highway. Because he hadn’t said anything else, Bobby glanced over at Tuck. “Where’s your hat?”

“Only wear it when I’m on duty. If I have it on too long, it gives me bad hat hair,” Tuck replied with a smirky scowl.
Ding, ding, ding
went the gaydar. Bobby smiled as he gazed out the windshield.
As they drove in silence again, the tension seemed to grow more pronounced. Bobby couldn’t interpret the expression he saw on Tuck’s face the few times he chanced another long glance at the man.
The silence seemed to almost solidify around them the farther they drove. Bobby finally had to say something to try to break the tension. “So, you’ve been friends with Odis a long time?”
Laughing maybe a little nervously, Tuck smiled warmly. “Yeah, ya could say that.”
Bobby waited, but Tuck never elaborated. He finally asked, “How long?”
“I’m only three months older than Odie, so since we’s in diapers, most likely. We grew up in the same grades, same Boy Scouts, same Sunday school… just forever.”
“Almost like a brother?” Bobby asked.
Tuck’s face tightened. “Don’t go sayin’ a thing like that. We ain’t never been brothers.”
“Oh,” Bobby replied, taken aback at Tuck’s strong reaction. He couldn’t understand why Tuck bristled so negatively at the analogy.
They continued another five miles, the strained silence settling between them again. Bobby noticed Tuck glancing over at him more frequently, but he still couldn’t read his expression. As the tension level ratcheted higher and grew more uncomfortable, Bobby began to regret agreeing to this ride.
Maybe Tucker is just intimidated by my celebrity status?
Bobby finally blurted out, “You wanted to meet me, Tuck, so talk. I don’t wanna keep going like this for the next hour.”
“I don’t either,” Tuck agreed. “It’s….” He hesitated, never finishing the sentence.
After waiting, Bobby got more irritated. “It’s
what
?”
Tuck looked over at him with a lingering glance and then whispered, “Fuck it all.” He punched in the accelerator when they approached the road sign indicating a rest stop farther ahead. Tuck sped to the next exit. He pulled off into the rest area, barely slowing as they took the curve. He drove past the little restroom building and continued toward the far end, jumped the SUV up over the curb, and drove into a tangle of budding pecan trees.
Bobby was quite sure this was illegal, but who would argue with a sheriff’s car? “What the hell? Have you lost your mind?”
“Maybe,” Tuck grunted as he reached across the seat gap, placed a large hand behind Bobby’s head, and pulled him forward.
Bobby raised his hands to Tuck’s chest with the intention of pushing him away, but when Tucker’s lips touched his, an electric sensation shortcircuited his resistance. Bobby leaned into the crackling fizz of the kiss. He wilted into Tucker as he opened his mouth, and imaginary sparks warmed his face and sent a tingle through his whole body.
Tuck pulled away much too soon. He stared with a gaping expression. “Gawds of Valhalla,” he whined.
Paralyzed and overwhelmed, Bobby stared at him, watching as he opened the car door just enough to slink out. The door closed softly when Tuck slumped back against it. Bobby stared at his hunched back through the window. He tried to ignore the kiss but fought against the impossible. That was, by far, the most passionately charged kiss he had ever felt in his life. If he hadn’t been there to see Odis, there was no doubt he would kiss Tucker again.
What a fucking mess.
Bobby tried to compose himself as he watched Tuck. He was still leaning back against the SUV and hadn’t moved a muscle since crawling out. Bobby unbuckled his seat belt and exited before walking around the car to face him.
Tuck slouched against the vehicle in a deflated daze. He glanced up when Bobby approached, then dropped his gaze to the ground. “This is just all kinds of fucked up.”
Bobby nodded. “You know I’m on my way to see Odis, so you wanna explain to me why you did that?”
“I did it so you wouldn’t be mad at Odie.”
“
What
? In what universe does that even make any sense?”
Tuck exhaled heavily. “I know Odie’s an honorable guy. He’d feel the need to tell ya I kissed him the other day. I thought… if I kissed you too, you couldn’t get mad at him for it. Which ya shouldn’t, ’cause it was my fault anyway.” Tuck shook his head. “But Gawds almighty, I
never
expected a kiss like that.”
“Like what?” Bobby asked, wanting to hear his side of it.
“Like. Some kinda live wire. Just about bust open my britches.”
Bobby hated the way the man looked so defeated. “Can we talk in the car? We still got a ways to drive.”
“Prob’ly right.” Tucker nodded and got back into the SUV.
Bobby crawled into the other side. Tuck started up and slowly reversed out to the asphalt before Bobby even had his door closed.
They returned to the interstate in a hushed silence. Bobby finally spoke again. “Okay, Tucker, so why did you kiss Odis?”
“Please don’t call me that. Everybody calls me Tuck except my Pa.”
“Okay, Tuck. Why’d you kiss Odis?”
Tuck wobbled his head. “Maybe we shouldn’t talk about that.”
“Really?” Bobby stared at him. “This mess is already plopped between us like a smelly dead horse. I think we should.”
“Fine.” Tuck glanced over at him. “I’ve been in love with him forever, and when I found out he might be into guys, I took a chance. But he pushed me off, sayin’ he was waitin’ for you.”
“Okay.” Bobby sat a moment to take it in. “And why’d you find it so important to come pick me up at the airport?”
“You just wanna beat this to death, don’cha.”
“It’s already dead. I’m trying to beat out the smell of it.”
“Fine.” Tuck inhaled slowly. “I was hopin’, when I picked ya up, that maybe you’d be a bad guy. Then I could tell Odie how terrible ya were. But a’course, that’s all shot to hell, since ya ain’t a bad guy.”
“I’m not such a good guy now.” Bobby turned and stared out the window.
“Why ya say that?”
“Because the only thing keeping me from telling you to drive us straight to your place is Odis. And after that kiss, it’s a bit of a fight, let me tell you.”
Tuck glanced over at him. “So you felt a little somethin’ too?”
“More than just a little.” Bobby watched the little green mile marker pass by and then turned back to Tuck. “So what do we do now?”
“
We
?” Tuck barked. “Fuck you.”
“What?” Bobby defended. “Why you cussing at me?”
“There ain’t no
we
to this. You already got Odie. I’m just left out in the cold.”
Bobby stared back out at the road as another mile marker passed. He didn’t speak again until he saw the next mile marker. “It’s all
your
fault, you know. It was your brilliant idea to kiss me.”
“Shut the fuck up,” Tuck whimpered.
Bobby waited quietly until another marker whizzed by. He glanced over and Tuck still looked all deflated. “How’d you know I was gonna be at the airport? Did Odis tell you?”
“Nah, found out from Gertie. Odie hasn’t talked to me since….”
“Right,” Bobby said. After another mile or so, he decided to steer the conversation to a totally different track. “How did you get into law enforcement?”
“Always wanted to be a Texas Ranger, you know, all good and honorable and do the right thing. After the academy, though, they didn’t have any openings, and I ended up in the sheriff’s department in Hutchinson. When they had an openin’ in Brungess the next year, I grabbed it. Been there ever since.”
“Are you out? With the sheriffs?”
“No. Been thinkin’ about it a lot, though. Attitudes are a bit different than they were when I first started twenty years ago, and I’ve earned my stars over the years. I think maybe I could come out and not cause any coronaries.”
Bobby nodded. “It’s kinda incredible, you know, to think how much things have changed in twenty years. When Nate and I first got together, the idea of getting married was so far beyond even being a dream that it never even crossed our minds. We went from that to actually having a legal ceremony on our seventeenth anniversary.”
Tuck squared his shoulders and sat up a little straighter. “Tell me about Nate. Was he in baseball too?”
“No, landscaping. Had a real artistic eye with lawns and plants.”
“And you were together twenty years?”
“Yes, a long-assed time that went by in a blink.”
They sat in silence. Bobby counted three mile markers before Tuck spoke again. “I’m sorry, Bobby.”
“What’re you apologizing for?”
“I’m bein’ such a rude-ass, buttin’ in where I don’t belong.”
“I don’t mind talking about Nate.”
“That’s not what I’m talkin’ about. Gettin’ between you and Odie. I may be a little jealous about it all.”
“
May
be?” Bobby chuckled. “I think you’re
way
past maybe.”
“Fine,” Tuck snarled at him. “I’m tryin’ to be nice and you’re just gonna pick on me some more.”
“I wasn’t picking. I was teasing you, Tuck.”
Another mile marker passed by.
“So,” Bobby said as he fidgeted with opening and closing the top snap of his shirt. “Did you tell Odis? That you loved him?”
“Yeah, right before….” Tuck’s shoulders slumped. “Dammit all ta hell. Why’d ya even come to town, anyway?”
“Now you’re saying this is
my
fault?”
“Kinda is, ain’t it?”
Bobby looked over and watched Tuck. “But if I hadn’t come to town, you and Odis would have stayed in whatever kind of stasis loop you’ve been in for, for however long. So yeah, I guess you could say it’s my fault the gravity got changed.”
Tuck sort of nodded contemplatively. “So yer sayin’ your comin’ here was a good thing?”
“Would you rather have just had more of the same? For another twenty, thirty years? Then maybe some deathbed confession about your feelings at the end?”
“Nope, sure wouldn’t want that.” Tuck sat up straighter. “I guess that woulda been it, though, or pretty likely.”
“Right, but now everything’s shook up because of Nate. And there’s a chance for something different.”
“Nate? What’s he gotta do with it?”
Bobby laughed, and the chuckles tapped into his frustration and took him over, tumbling out maniacally. His uncontrollable barks of laughter came out almost like hiccups. His eyes watered as he forced himself to calm. “What is there that Nate
doesn’t
have anything to do with?” he finally coughed out, fighting against laughing more.
Tuck stared over at Bobby as he came unhinged, trying to remember where he put his Taser gun, just in case. He watched until Bobby seemed to recover his composure. “Okay, wanna try explainin’ that again?”
Bobby looked over at him and took a deep breath as he dabbed a stray tear from his cheek. “I just found out when I went back that Nathan kept a huge-assed secret from me the whole time. He was some kind of psychic. Nate was the one who left the plane ticket for me to come visit Odis in the first place. Among other things.”
Tuck sat expressionless as another mile marker passed.
Bobby watched him. “Didn’t mean to totally freak your shit over there.”
Shaking his head, Tuck stiffened his shoulders. “My granny had
the touch
. That’s what we called it, the psychic shit. She would have dreams sometimes.”
After a few minutes of silence, Tuck cleared his throat. “So what exactly did Nate do? With the ticket and all?”
“Well, he arranged to have postcards mailed out at certain times, kinda set up a scavenger hunt thing. It eventually led to a receipt from an order he made with Odis, and a plane ticket to pick it up.”
“He practically dropped you into Odie’s lap, then,” Tuck said with a frown.
Bobby nodded. “I guess he did.”
“You the only one that got postcards?”
“No, he had some for his mother too. I think they got her to talk me into selling the landscaping business. Guess he was afraid I’d fuck it up.”
Tuck shook his head. “I doubt that. Prob’ly wanted to free you up from it.” After a brief silence, the next marker zipped by. “You know he’s working again—Odie, I mean—since you showed up.”
“He told me over the phone. Said he was trying something new.”
“You didn’t know Odie before, so ya prob’ly can’t appreciate how important that is.”
“I’ve heard talk from Gertie. I get it.” Bobby looked over at Tuck’s green eyes. “If you love him so much, why didn’t you make a move before now?”
Tuck winced. “Fear, mostly, I guess. Even when I got the occasional signal from Odie, I was afraid to take the risk. I didn’t wanna destroy what we
did
have. And the timing was never quite right either. If he wasn’t in a relationship, then I was.”
“That sucks.”
“Well, it is what it is.”
Bobby almost shivered when he once again heard the words Lorainne had spoken. “I know it probably doesn’t mean shit, but I am sorry.”
“For what?”
“Stirring up all this and making a mess. It feels like that’s all I’ve managed to accomplish.”
“No, what you said before was right. Something had to change the gravity around here. It’s not just me and Odie. Seems like the whole town has kinda gone into a pause mode. About time we shake things up.”
“But like you said, it kinda leaves you out in the cold.”
“Then I’ll buy a fuckin’ coat, I guess. Quit worryin’ about me. You just make this thing with Odie work, or so help me, I
will
kick your ass for causing all this shit.”
Bobby laughed. “I bet you would too.”
“Damn straight.”
Another mile marker passed by before Bobby saw the road sign declaring “Brungess 15 miles.” He looked over at Tuck. “So, what does Brungess mean in Viking?”
“Nothin’. It was a mistake back when they created the town. Was supposed to have been Brun
gress
, which is Norwegian for ‘brown grass’. But some typo or somethin’ got screwed up and the last
r
got left off. By the time everybody noticed, the state wouldn’t change it, said we’d have to reincorporate again. They didn’t think it was worth the extra cost and hassle, so they left the name that way.”
“That sucks.” Bobby glanced over at Tuck again. He’d mentioned having past relationships, so Bobby wondered if they failed because he’d been pining after Odis the whole time. Or maybe it was his job that got in the way? “Was it hard dating while being an officer?”
“Well, yeah, I guess ya could say that. Not the dating part, actually. Finding guys
to
date is the hard part. Bruien County isn’t exactly a homo hotbed, ya know. And the sheriff thing means I had to be
extra
careful even looking.”
“But you did find dates, or was it more the one-night stand kinda thing?”
“Mostly just one guy. It was tough going. He was more in the closet than I was, but on a personal level, though. I never had any doubts about myself, just had to keep on the down-low for the job. He didn’t have that excuse, really.” Tuck paused a moment in thought. “Spent more time broke up than together over the years. I finally just gave up on it.”