Page 24 of Write Me For You
I watched Gavin, the junior QB who’d been forced to take my place. When my mom had mentioned him, I’d been riddled with jealousy, but watching him step up and fill in for me made me feel nothing but guilt. This kid was nowhere near ready forvarsity, but he was there when my team needed him—whenIneeded him while I healed.
I groaned as, only minutes into the game, our offensive line fell away and Gavin got sacked.
“Ouch!” I heard behind me. When I turned my head, Mr. Scott, June’s dad, was standing there watching the screen too.
“Sorry, sir,” I said, and quickly paused the game. “I didn’t mean to disturb anyone.”
Mr. Scott shook his head. “You didn’t, son. I was getting Claire a drink and saw that godawful sack. It stopped me in my tracks.”
I laughed and said, “That’s Gavin. My stand-in.”
Mr. Scott moved around the room and took a seat on the recliner beside me. I watched him, my eyebrows pulled down in confusion. He shrugged at me. “June is asleep, and Claire looked halfway there too when I left. I’m sure they won’t mind if I’m gone for a little while longer.”
The mention of June had my stomach tensing. “How is Junebug?”
Mr. Scott fought a smirk, and I kind of wanted the ground to swallow me up.
I wasn’t really experienced with dads. I cleared my throat. “I meanJune.”
Mr. Scott shook his head, clearly amused. “Junebugis doing better. Had a rough few days there though.” He regarded me knowingly. “All of you seem to have had a rough few days.”
I fiddled with my cap. “Yeah, but I just couldn’t stay in my room alone anymore.” The words were out of my mouth before I could stop them. I saw that same flash of sympathy in Mr. Scott’s eyes that I hated receiving. But I knew he wasn’t pitying me—more just understanding that being sick alone was zero fun.
“I thought you might have been in to see June,” he said.
“I didn’t want to disturb her,” I said.
“Son,” Mr. Scott said turning toward me. The wordsonfelt strange to hear, especially coming from a father figure. It was like a stab in my heart. Mr. Scott, just talking to me, caring about me, a relative stranger, made me realize what a deadbeat mine really was. “I’m pretty sure I’m right when I say this, but my daughter would not think a visit from you would disturb her in the slightest.”
I stopped breathing at that, wondering what June had said to her folks about me. “Erm.” I shifted in my seat. “Well, that’s good to know, sir.”
Mr. Scott smothered his amusement with his hand and pointed to the screen, sitting back in the recliner. “Now, let’s get this game restarted.” He looked over to me. “I have a wife and a daughter that just don’t get football, Jesse.” Mr. Scott patted the arm of his chair. “While we’re here at Harmony, you might have to be my football-watching buddy. That sound good to you?” he asked, and I could barely speak.
This is what a good dad looks like, I thought. The realization that I was missing out on that was heavy on my heart.
“Yes, sir,” I said, my voice gravelly as I tried not to show how his offer had affected me. “It sure as heck does.” I pressed Play on the video and lost myself to the game.
And just for a couple of hours, I didn’t feel quite so alone.
CHAPTER 8
June
“Ididn’t even think,” Chris said as he and Emma followedme down the hallway. I’d requested sick buckets and water to be brought down to the movie room too.
My stomach turned when I recalled the conversation I’d had with my daddy when I woke this morning. I had thought of Jesse often the past few days—of course I had. In fact, I hadn’t stopped thinking about him since treatment began. He was alone in his room, and I hated that but didn’t want to impose myself on him.
According to my daddy, in his own words, “I sat with Jesse for a few hours yesterday. Killed me to see him all by himself. Y’all are meant to be there for each other. No one going through this should be alone. Jesse is a good kid, kind and friendly. If his family can’t be here for him, then we will be.”
My heart had beat in double time when my daddy had said that, conviction on his face. My daddy liked Jesse, I could tell, and that made my heart sing. So this morning, despite the aches and pains and feeling nauseous, I’d gone to find Chris and Emma to see if they wanted to come with me. Neenee had told us that leaning on others in the same position was beneficial, sothat’s what I was doing. We were on a rest period and needed to rally.
Daddy told me he had already seen Jesse in the movie room again a half hour ago, so that’s where I knew I had to be too. As we rounded the corner to the movie room,Gladiatorwas playing on the big screen. Jesse was laid back on a recliner, his glass of water and nutritional drink beside him. I sat next to him, and Jesse did a double take.
“Junebug?” he said in shock. Then looked up to see Chris and Emma taking their seats too.
“Mind if we join you?” I asked.
Chris held out his fist for Jesse to bump.
