Fourth Down (13 page)

Scoffing at myself, I thought how
little interest I had been able to drum up in women over the last
few years. When I was still playing ball, the girls were plentiful
and easy. After I came home, I rarely had the urge to put in the
effort it took to get laid. There had been a few girls, but nothing
like what I was feeling for Poppy. If I was being honest with
myself I would say I probably was depressed after my injury and
even now. But I just didn’t care enough to do anything about it.
Until now.

Poppy had woken up something inside
me, and I didn’t want to lose it even if it meant limiting myself
to being just friends with her. But would she accept my friendship
after I turned down her invitation last night? She seemed pretty
pissed when I left her.

Rolling over to check the clock, I saw
I had just enough time to get down to the community center before
her Saturday morning yoga class started. She may have told me to be
mean to her again, but that just wasn’t going to happen. I was
going to be the best damn friend she’d ever had, because the truth
was I couldn’t stand the thought of her not being in my life
somehow.

After throwing on a pair of gym shorts
and a sweatshirt, I covered my messy hair with a baseball cap and
ran down the stairs.

“Hey, Ma. I’m going out for a while.
Do you need anything?”

“No, I’m fine. Where are you going so
early on a Saturday?”

I hesitated a moment before telling
the truth. “I’m going to do yoga.”

My mom just smiled at me and didn’t
seem surprised at all by my new exercise routine. “Have fun. Tell
Poppy I said hello.”

“Sure thing. I’ll bring back something
for lunch. Call me if you need me.”

I didn’t have one of those yoga mat
things, so hopefully Poppy had an extra again that I could borrow.
Stopping at the front desk on the way in, I paid for the class and
slipped into the room just as everyone was starting to stretch.
Poppy’s eyes went wide at the sight of me, then narrowed as I
approached her.

“Sorry I’m late, Miss Mitchell,” I
said in the nicest voice I could muster. “I didn’t have time to get
my own mat. Can I borrow one of yours?”

She grabbed my arm and pulled us to
the side of the room, not that there was any privacy with every
pair of eyes watching us intently.

“What are you doing?” She hissed at
me.

“I’m here for the yoga class. I paid
and everything.”

She rolled her eyes and put her hands
on her hips. “Really, Ford? I told you not to be nice to me. That
should be really easy for you.”

I shrugged my shoulders and looked at
her innocently. “I’m really just here for the yoga.”

“Whatever,” she grumbled, grabbing an
extra mat and hurtling it at my chest.

Poppy took the class through the same
series of stretches I remembered from the last class. Most of the
poses were still excruciatingly hard for me, but I could see how
this would be a good addition to my workout.

“Okay, everyone. The last pose for
today will be a new one. Do I have a volunteer to show the class?”
A couple of the women raised their hands, but Poppy’s eyes swept
past them and landed squarely on me, even though I hadn’t raised my
hand.

“Ford! Thanks for volunteering. Come
on up here,” she said in a sweet voice laced with
arsenic.

Fine, if this was her way of getting
back at me, I could take it. I strolled up the front of the class
and waited for Poppy to show me what to do. She started out in the
Runners’ pose, which was easy enough, but then she twisted her body
in an unimaginable way. One arm was wound around her leg and the
other was straight up in the air. How the hell was she doing
that?

“Your turn.”

I frowned at her but got into
position. Well, sort of.

“So, you see how my chest was opened
up and I was looking up to the ceiling?”

Yeah, I saw it. That doesn’t mean I
can do it.

“Now do you see how Ford’s shoulder is
still pointing to the side? It needs to be up towards the ceiling.”
She put both hands on my left shoulder and pushed it
back.

“Aaaah! Fuck!” I shouted as a painful
stretching sensation ripped through my entire upper
body.

“Breathe through the stretch, Ford,”
she said sweetly before walking around the class to help everyone
else get into position. From the corner of my eye I didn’t see her
dislocating anyone else’s shoulder. Lucky me.

When class was over and I stood
rubbing my sore shoulder, Poppy gave me a smug smile. Oh, you can’t
get rid of me that easily, sweetheart.

“Thanks for the workout. I’ll see you
tomorrow,” I said with a wink as I walked out the door.

Poppy seemed less surprised but
equally as annoyed when I showed up for her yoga class again on
Sunday morning. This time I got away without any injuries as she
basically ignored me the entire time. Monday I had to go the whole
day without seeing her, but I made sure to be home when she arrived
for her shift on Tuesday. I even suggested to my mom that she have
Poppy bring her to the pub for dinner.

I was mixing a drink when Poppy and my
mom walked in and took a seat at the bar. Perfect. Tuesday nights
weren’t too busy, so I could spend some time hanging out with them.
I dropped a couple of menus and two glasses of ice water in front
of them.

My mom pushed the menu back to me and
said, “It doesn’t matter what I eat anymore, so give me the
greasiest thing you’ve got with the highest calorie count.” Poppy
laughed, but turned her eyes to me. The annoyance I had been
getting used to was gone and replaced with sadness. My mom’s joke
was funny in a morbid sort of way, but it just reminded us of the
countdown to her death.

“Oh, come on you two. Loosen up,” my
mom said.

Poppy managed a small smile, and I
just shook my head. Okay, mom. I’ll just loosen up about you
dying.

“What do you want to eat, Poppy?” I
asked.

Her eyes scanned the menu, and she
said, “I’ll have whatever Maggie’s having.” That was a surprise.
From the dinners she cooked for my mom, I knew Poppy was a healthy
eater.

She shrugged. “Sometimes a girl needs
to loosen up.”

I put their orders in and waited on a
few customers at the other end of the bar. By the time their food
was up, I was due for my break. Shelly came over to man the bar and
I took my mom and Poppy over to a table to eat.

“So, Ford. I got a call from Coach
Hawkins this morning. He hadn’t heard back from you about the job
offer,” my mom said with a raised eyebrow. Jesus, leave it to my
mom not to beat around the bush.

I rubbed my hand over the back of my
neck. “Yeah, well. I don’t have anything to say about
it.”

Poppy was listening to our
conversation with interest but didn’t say anything. My mom turned
to her and filled her in. Thanks, mom.

“Coach Hawkins was Ford’s coach at
LSU. Apparently he has offered Ford a spot on his coaching
team.”

“Oh, wow! That’s great, Ford!” Poppy
said enthusiastically, but her smile didn’t seem to reach her
eyes.

“It might be great, but I’m not taking
it…I can’t leave here now.”

My mom reached across the table to
cover my hand with hers. “Coach Hawkins said the job won’t start
until April. That’s four months from now.”

I knew where she was going with this,
and I just wanted to clamp my hand over her mouth to keep her from
talking about the elephant in the room.

“I’ll be gone by then, Ford. It’s time
for you to make plans for your future.”

And there it was. How could I make
plans for after my mom died? It seemed like I would be looking
forward to her being gone.

“I told him that you would be down for
an official interview and tour at the end of January. He’s already
booked your flight and hotel, Ford.”

My mouth dropped open in shock.
“Seriously, Ma? You’re just planning out my life for
me?”

“Well, someone has to,” she
retorted.

The truth was that I was really
interested in the job, but it seemed like a betrayal to my mom to
make plans for when she was gone. What if her health turned around
and she didn’t die? I knew this was highly unlikely, or even
impossible, but I couldn’t help hoping.

Poppy took my hand in hers under the
table and said softly, “I think you should do this, Ford. Maggie’s
right. You need to take steps forward.”

“Fine. I’ll go down in January. But
that doesn’t mean I’m taking the job.”

My mom just smiled at me like she had
won this argument, and Poppy squeezed my hand before letting it go.
I wanted to grab her hand back, because it seemed like she was the
only anchor in my crazy life right now.

My break was over, so I left them to
finish their food. Shortly after I returned to the bar, Grady and
Josh came in, probably straight from the shop. They saw my mom and
made a beeline to her table. Both guys hugged her and shook Poppy’s
hand as my mom introduced her. When they walked toward me, Grady
was grinning and Josh waggled his eyebrows at me. Shit.

Sliding onto a bar stool, Grady pushed
his long blonde hair behind his ears and said, “So, that’s your
girl you’ve been hiding from us?”

“
She’s not my girl, and I’m
not hiding her. She works for my mom.”

Josh glanced back over at Poppy.
“Riiight, dude. That’s why she spent Thanksgiving with you, and why
you can’t keep your eyes off her.”

“Fuck off,” I said, starting to walk
away.

“All right. All right. We’ll lay off
you, dude. Can we get a couple of beers?” Grady said, playing
peacemaker.

I grabbed two beers out of the cooler
and set them down on the bar.

“So, what are you doing in here on a
weeknight? Don’t you have women at home making dinner for
you?”

Josh scoffed, “Yeah right. I’m lucky
if Leah even acknowledges me when I get home. She’s so busy with
Maddy.” Leah’s and Josh’s daughter was about three months old and
seemed to take up all their time and energy.

Grady grinned. “Lindsay definitely
acknowledges me, but she doesn’t cook. I’ve got to stop and pick up
Chinese on the way home. Apparently that’s what she’s craving
tonight.”

Just a week ago Grady had been in here
freaking out that Lindsay was going to dump his ass - again. In
reality, she had just found out she was pregnant. They were both
insanely happy, especially since she didn’t think she would be able
to have children. Both of my best friends had found their place in
life, and I couldn’t help feeling jealous.

Maybe this coaching job was what I
needed to get me out of my funk. As much as I hated to think about
it, my mom would be gone in a matter of months. Leaving the town
would be easy; I’d done it before. I knew I wouldn’t lose touch
with Grady and Josh. My eyes drifted back across the room to Poppy,
who was laughing with my mom. For some reason that shocked the hell
out of me, I had the feeling she would be the hardest to leave
behind.

“Yo, dude,” Grady said, snapping his
fingers in front of my face. “Quit ogling her like a fucking
stalker and listen to me.”

“Sorry,” I muttered.

“Here’s the thing. With Lindsay being
knocked up, my marriage timeline has been moved up. I don’t want us
to not be married when this baby is born. I’ve got a plan, but I
need your help,” Grady said, looking from Josh to me.

“Sure thing, man.”

“Whatever you need.”

Chapter Nine

Poppy

The fall semester was done, Christmas
was thankfully over, and I actually had some free time on my hands.
I was still working for Maggie and teaching yoga, but I had a few
blessed weeks free of class and homework.

I had stayed at my mom’s house on
Christmas Eve, so I could see the madness that was three four year
old boys opening presents on Christmas morning. The rest of the day
was spent helping Rick assemble an endless amount of Transformers,
lego sets and even three bicycles complete with training wheels. By
the time I returned to my apartment well after dark on Christmas
night, I was exhausted.

I spent the last week recovering and
loading music onto my new iPod. Undoubtedly I was the last person
on Earth over the age of twelve to have an iPod. It was my gift
from my mom and Rick, and I was really having fun organizing my
music into playlists. Which is what I was doing on the morning of
New Year’s Eve when I heard a knock at my door.

It was kind of early, only 8:30, and I
was still in my pajamas. Who in the world could that be? My mind
immediately went to Ford, but I doubted it was him since I was
scheduled to be at his house in an hour and a half anyway. Ford was
helping out his friend, Grady, with a surprise he was working on
for his girlfriend, Lindsay.

Since Maggie had grown considerably
weaker over the last few weeks, Ford didn’t feel comfortable
leaving her alone at all anymore. So, I had volunteered to spend
the whole day and night with her until Ford came home. It’s not
like I had any hot New Year’s plans anyway. Brooke had tried to get
me to go out with her, but I really wasn’t in the party
mood.