Page 79 of Play for Keeps

“Yeah, it does. But that doesn’t mean the timing doesn’t suck.”

With that one bit of unadorned acceptance of his plight, Ty’s self-control snapped. “It’s mine.” His voice cracked. “The baby. They did the test, and it came back a match.”

“Ah, shit.”

Danny’s soft exhalation echoed everything Ty refused to let himself voice since the call had come an hour before. Slumping forward, he closed his eyes in a weak attempt to ward off reality and caught his face in his hands.

“Crap. Should I have said congratulations?” Danny asked. “I don’t know which is right in this situation.”

“Yes. No. Neither do I.” He gave his face a rough scrub. “God, now she’s considering an abortion, and I…” He let his hands fall limp between his knees and stared bleakly at the field below. “I know it’s her decision, but I feel like my life is being held hostage, you know?”

“Yeah,” Danny replied quietly.

“I didn’t plan this, and I certainly didn’t want it to happen like this. I mean, you’re right about the timing…but as Millie pointed out, this might be the only chance I get to have a kid. She can’t have any, says she never wanted any, and I…” He trailed off, using only a helpless shrug as punctuation. “I do.”

“But you don’t want to be with anyone else.”

“Right.”

“Does she know? About the test, I mean.”

Ty shook his head, incapable of voicing any more denial.

“When are you going to tell her?”

Again, Ty had no words.

“You can’t wait, man. The longer you wait, the worse it’ll be. She’s been on pins and needles too,” Danny reminded him.

“I know.” Ty wrung his hands, then chanced a look at the man beside him. “But how? How do I do this? How can I have a relationship with Millie and be a good father to my kid? Will she still even want a relationship with me? She didn’t sign on for dealing with a kid…and Mari. Hell, she’s hardly signed on for anything.”

“It’s a lot to think about, but you’ll figure it out,” Danny assured him.

“Do you really think so?” he asked bluntly.

Danny clapped him hard on the shoulder, then rose, grunting a bit as his knee popped audibly. “I think you’re a good guy who tries to live a good life.” He surveyed the band members scurrying around in what looked to be complete disarray. “You know, it’s always like this.” He waved a hand in the direction of the field. “On Wednesday, they look like a pack of blind ants scrambling around for the last crumb. By Saturday evening, that mess will be a tribute to David Bowie complete with rocket ship and guitar formations.”

Ty raised his eyebrows, surprised the football coach paid any attention at all to the band director’s plans. “Will it?”

Danny nodded. “I started having a couple of film and television students video band practice and the halftime shows. I make the team watch them every Monday before we review game film.”

“You do?”

Stepping down a row, Danny chuckled. “They hate being compared to the band kids, but I think they’re starting to see the point.”

Ty blinked up at him. “Which is?”

Danny gestured to the field, where chaos seemed to reign. “If they can play ‘Heroes,’ then the sad, sorry bunch of misfit jocks I inherited can try to be heroes.”

“Just for one day?” Ty challenged.

Danny laughed and shook his head as he proceeded to step from bleacher to bleacher. “Hell no. I need five more Saturdays out of them.”

“Don’t forget the bowl game,” Ty called out to him.

Raising both hands over his head, Danny held up six fingers. At the bottom, he squinted up at Ty, shielding his eyes from the lowering sun with one hand. “Hey, Ty?”

“Yeah?”

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