Page 98 of All Signs Point to Malibu

Feels like a lifetime ago...

“Hey, Mitchell, you playing or what?” Jeremy asks, tossing a poker chip at me to get my attention.

“Yeah.” I scan the flush in my hand. I fold then hesitate before asking, “Hey, those tryouts a couple years ago for the Rangers... What happened to the quarterback? The front-runner?” The guy was drafted first pick, then seemingly vanished. His media rep confirmed he’d walked away from the deal and the sport.

“The one who replaced you when you bailed?” Jeremy asks.

“Yeah.”

Uncomfortable looks are exchanged around the table. No one wants to talk and my gut twists.

“Come on, guys...”

My pulse starts to race at the way they all squirm in their seats.

Finally, Jeremy sighs and sits back in his chair. “Freak accident on the field with the linebacker.”

Damien shakes his head. “Last we heard, he was learning to walk again.”

Jesus. I instantly feel ill...and a chill spreads throughout my entire body.

Saw you get hurt. Really hurt.

There’s no way Hailey could have known. “I don’t remember hearing anything about it. They must have released some sort of statement.”

“They did, but it was around the same time Cliff...” His voice trails.

I had other things going on, and with my brother’s death I hadn’t been paying attention.

“It was a tragic, unexpected accident. In this line of work, we all know it can happen to any of us at any time,” Jeremy says.

It could have happened tohim.But it didn’t. Realization dawns. Maybe Hailey isn’t lying.

Marcus needs this opportunity...

Her words echo eerily in my mind. If she was right about me, maybe she’s also right about Marcus.

I climb the stairs to the Kent house first thing the next morning with breakfast and coffee from the deli down the street. I knock and scan the neighborhood as I wait. All night I tossed and turned and flip-flopped about this decision, but I know in my gut I have to try one last time. Marcus is a fantastic player and he just needs someone to support him and believe in him. I’m willing to do that, but I need to know he can commit. If he walks away from this today, I’ll let it go. I’ll have no other choice.

Maureen answers, surprised to see me. “Hey, Coach.”

“Hi, Maureen. Marcus home?”

She nods but frowns. “He said he was off the team.”

“That’s what I came to talk to him about.”

She hesitates, closes the door a little more. “I don’t know, Coach. He’s got a lot going on right now.”

“I know. And believe me, I’m going against my own rules by offering him this opportunity to play next week for the scouts, but the thing is, I believe in Marcus. So very much. More than he does. I know he’s great. I know he can do this and it absolutely kills me thathedoesn’t. I can’t make his decisions for him, I can’t make him play his best out there. He needs to want it...”

“I do.” Marcus’s voice, coming from the hallway behind her, catches our attention and I look past her at the kid.

For the first time, the chip on his shoulder is gone and he looks like a nervous, scared teenage boy trying to figure out his life when the odds seem stacked against him. The false bravado is gone and there’s the faint bruising of a black eye healing. Not the last if he continues on his current path.

His mother turns toward him and her tone is cautious. “Marcus, I thought we decided playing football wasn’t the best thing right now.”

She’s scared and practical. It’s hard for her to dream big for Marcus when life has proven to be difficult and unpredictable and not always handing out dreams.

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