“That’s the day after Texas,” I said, the words just slipping out. My tone of voice saying, So we all know that ain’t happening.
Caroline ran her hand over her grandfather’s whiskered face and said, “Ow. Your face hurts!”
“Yes, Care Bear. I need to shave today,” Coach said, then gently put her down and looked back at Lucy. “Where’s Neil, anyway?”
“He’s meeting us there,” she said.
Coach nodded, then glanced at me and said he’d be right back with my pocketbook. Once he had made his escape, Lucy stared at me intently, her eyes narrowed. “So was last night … work-related? For your story?”
I shook my head and admitted that I’d already turned my story in.
“So you really just stopped by to check on him?”
“And bring him Taco Bell,” I added, hoping I didn’t look as guilty as I felt.
Lucy studied me for a few seconds and finally nodded. “Y’all are friends. I get that.”
I said nothing.
“It’s sort of weird, though,” Lucy said, doing her toe-pointing thing left over from years of ballet.
“Weird?” I said, still watching her feet.
“That you’re friends. Apart from me. I mean, can you imagine me hanging out with your dad?”
“I don’t hang out with my dad,” I said. “But you’re friends with my mom.”
“Not like that. Not like … eating Taco Bell together late Saturday night … without you,” Lucy said. “But whatever, I really gotta go.”
“Me, too,” I said.
“Where are you going?” Lucy said.
“Home,” I said.
“Why?” she asked, a little on the shrill side. “Don’t let me chase you off. He’s not going to church. And what do you have to do today?”
“Well, watch the Cowboys,” I said, just as Coach returned with my bag. I took it from him and murmured my thanks.
“What time do they play?” Lucy asked. “The Cowboys?”
“Kickoff’s at three,” I said.
“Well, then? What’s the rush?”
“I was only coming to get my purse,” I said.
“Yes. But you’re here now. You should stay. Go on in. Have breakfast together.”
Lucy was definitely agitated, now boxing us into a corner. To protest any more than we already had would almost look worse than acquiescing, so he finally just looked at me and said, pleasantly, casually, “Shea. You’re welcome to stay. But I really don’t have much to eat in the way of breakfast. Other than raisin bran …”
“Okay,” I said stiffly. “I’ll come in and have a bowl of raisin bran. Thanks, Coach.”
Lucy nodded with a broad, forced smile, her lips reminding me of how they used to look in braces, stretched across her face. She stooped for a second to retie Caroline’s sash, now dragging on the ground, and neaten her French braids. Then she picked her daughter up and headed for her car. “All right, then,” she said over her shoulder. “You two enjoy your breakfast together.”
“I want to stay with Poppy and Shea,” Caroline protested.
Lucy shook her head and said, loud enough for us to hear, “No. They have things to discuss. Football things. You wouldn’t be interested.”
She belted Caroline in the backseat as I realized that I had to back up to let her go. So I did, waiting in my car, the engine running, as she drove away a little too quickly.
My stomach and heart hurt as I got out of the car.
Coach shook his head. “Shit,” he said under his breath. Then he looked right at me and stated the obvious. “Well. She’s not happy.”
“You don’t say …”
“You think it’s because … you were here last night? Or that I’m not ready for church?”
“I don’t know,” I said. Even though I did. “Maybe both?”
“There’s no peace in church. Especially during the season,” he said, although I could tell he, too, knew that wasn’t the main problem.
“I can imagine. And you really can’t go next week. C’mon,” I said, referring to Texas again.
He nodded. Then, as I followed him toward the house, he addressed the elephant on the driveway. “I think maybe our friendship … bothers her a little.”
“I know,” I said. “But she understands—”
“That you and I have more in common,” he said, finishing my sentence.
I wasn’t sure if he meant that we had more in common than she and I did or than the two of them did, but, either way, the statement was true.
I returned to safer ground and said, “I think Sundays are just hard …”
Coach nodded and said, “Yes. You’re probably right. And I