Page 39 of The Progressions

It took a while for the players to start coming out. I knew that they talked to reporters, because I’d watched all those post-game interviews. They might get treatments from the trainers and they all took showers, which I also knew because when I’d seen them after away games, they always looked spick-and-span. And tired. When they emerged into the lounge now, it was a lot the same. They were back in street clothes and looking clean, but several were walking a little more stiffly than how they’d probably come into the stadium today, and the guys who’d gotten a lot of playing time looked beat. They also looked happy, and there were a lot of little voices saying, “Daddy!” and a lot of hugging and kissing along with all the congratulations for the win.

Tyler came out too, finally. I watched him walk to us and didn’t detect any new injury. He seemed just as tired and happy as the other guys. We clapped and said that he’d played so well.

“That’s my sweet boy,” his mother said when he bent to kiss her cheek. “You were the best football player on that whole field!”

“You’ve said that to me after every game since I started playing,” he told her, but he was smiling. “Did you have fun, Kasia?”

“Yes! Yes, I had so much fun. I can’t believe this has been happening right down the road from me and I never went before.You were so good, Tyler. I agree that this was one of your best games ever.” Statistically, that wasn’t true, since he had rested for much of the fourth quarter because the score was so lopsided. But when he’d been on the field, he’d seemed relaxed and focused. And during the time that he sat out, I’d watched him talking to some of the other guys, so not everyone thought he was a booty hole anymore. I was even more glad about that than I was about how many rushing yards he’d gotten.

“Thank you,” he answered.

“Thank you, too, for the pass, the jersey, and everything,” I said. “It was nice to meet you, Miss Gail, and I’ll probably see you around the condos.” His mom didn’t need me anymore and I didn’t think that she really ever had, not even for companionship. She’d made friends with people in the stands who had been very excited to learn that she was Tyler’s mother. I thought a few of them had recognized me, too, from that unfortunate picture, but no one had said anything.

“Where are you going now?” Miss Gail asked.

“I want to visit Iva and the baby, because she might get discharged, and then I’ll need to get home to make dinner for my dad,” I explained.

“He should come over to eat with us,” she said. “Tyler, I thought you had a plan to cook for Kasia tonight. Didn’t you invite her?” She looked at him with an eyebrow raised.

“Yes, ma’am, I thought I would do that now,” he answered. “Do you want to come, Kasia?”

I was happy that they’d thought of me, but the answer would have to be no. “I can’t,” I said regretfully. “I wish I could.” I really wanted to see them more, both of them—but mostly Tyler, because there was so much to discuss about the game. Also, I had gotten to like talking to him, and he’d have to be dressed with his mom here. He really didn’t have a problem with nudity and it was physically impossible to have a conversation with him when he wasn’t fully clothed, shirt included. You couldn’t make your brain work when he was uncovered.

“Your father is invited, too. Could he take a car and meet you?” he suggested.

“No, but I could get him. If he’ll come,” I added, and I got excited again.

“I don’t want you to have to drive all over the state,” Miss Gail told me, but I answered that if my dad would agree to it, then I didn’t mind driving anywhere. He needed to get out.

“We’ll see you soon,” Tyler said, and I nodded. I was going to make it happen, if I could.

Iva was ok, as ok as she could have been in a hospital with a preterm baby (who still didn’t have a name) and a boyfriend who remained MIA. But she was going to be able to come home tomorrow, so I would pick her up and at least let her shower and see that everything was clean before she went back to the hospital as a visitor. Her house really was in good shape, since I’d gone over there and cleaned until my phone showed me that the night was gone and it was actually morning. But she would be relieved that it was done and there was one less thing for herto worry about. If Miss Gail could help with stupid Dominic, then that would be a gigantic load off, too.

My next step was to convince my dad to go along with the plan and I sped to my house, calling as I went. At first, he didn’t answer and I had a bit of a freak-out until he finally called back. “Kasia, hello, it’s your father,” he told me.

“I know! Daddy, get dressed. We have to go out to dinner.”

“What?”

“We’re invited to Tyler’s, and he and his mom are cooking. There’s a ramp and the doors are nice and wide and it will be a much better meal than what I could make. You didn’t want to come to the game, but I really want you to come to this, ok?” I was talking fast and if I sounded bossy, it was because I was feeling like this was urgent. He needed to say yes, because we needed to be there. My dad had to leave the house and I had to be at that condo.

“Kasia—”

“Please get dressed and I’ll be home soon,” I said. “Bye.” I was prepared for a fight—well, we didn’t ever yell and scream, but we definitely had disagreements, and I lined up arguments in my head. But to my surprise, he was sitting in a chair at the kitchen table when I arrived, with a clean shirt on and his hair combed down, which was hard for him to reach on the one side of his head.

“I’m ready,” he said, and I tried not to act shocked. He never wanted to go out, and the last time (which had been only to the hardware store) had involved hours of wrangling.

“Great,” I said. “I’ll just clean up, too.” I rushed to do that because I didn’t want him to take it back, but I also wanted to look nice tonight. In the bathroom, I did more of the freshening that Miss Gail had recommended earlier, and I also brushed my hair out of the snaggles that seemed to have formed as I’d cheered and jumped around at the game. I left the jersey on, though. I looked at the orange letters spelling “Woodsmen” across my own chest, like I was part of the team.

“Very pretty,” my dad assured me and we went out together to the car, carefully avoiding any vantage points that might have shown vehicle damage.

He was quiet as we drove and I thought that maybe he was tired, which would have made this a short evening out. But then, after we’d bumped to the end of our road and made the turn toward town, he said something different.

“I missed you today. We always watch together and talk.”

“We can talk about it now,” I suggested. “What did you think about those two interceptions by Devin Diggs in the first half? The defense was on fire.”

He nodded and was quiet for another moment before he spoke. “I should have gone. I thought about it after you left and I was sorry.”

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