Page 28 of Seasoned
“Oh,” a few of them said.
“Uh-oh,” someone muttered.
By their responses, they all knew she and Clive had had problems in the past. They’d probably heard theMiss Grumpymoniker a time or two.
“Don’t worry, I’m not here to break up the party. Clive and I are friends now. I even like the dog,” she said.
Her words broke the ice, and they all started laughing.
One of the men, a tall man with mahogany skin who looked more like a basketball player than a football player, stood. “Hi, Renee. I’m Jayson.”
“Hi, Jayson. Nice to meet you.”
He motioned to the chair he’d vacated and she sat down.
“Thank you.”
Everyone introduced themselves, and Renee learned the parents of the kids playing with Chelsea were Jayson and a blonde woman named Sasha who had a tight body and appeared significantly younger than most of them at the party. She looked about twenty-eight.
Renee hadn’t eaten much at Adelaide’s but brought home a plate so she’d have food for tomorrow, which meant she was now hungry and gladly filled her plate with some of the offerings on display. There were hamburgers and hotdogs, but she selected what turned out to be a delicious grilled chicken breast, grilled veggies, and grilled fruit for dessert. The meal was a lot healthier than she’d expected, but maybe not so surprising, considering all the men had been athletes.
Clive went back to his position at the railing, and Renee sat near him with the plate on her lap, listening to the interesting stories the men told about their playing days in college. Clive had been a tight end and one of the best until his knee got busted up in a freak tackle that twisted it in at an odd angle and ended his college playing days in his sophomore year.
They joked about stories that—interestingly enough—they all remembered differently. One guy, a light-skinned man with dark eyes, talked about his amazing tackle that saved the game, but no one else remembered the play. Another man, dark-skinned with a lisp, had been the quarterback and reminded everyone of some of his great throws and how he’d broken the school record. There were some arguments about that as well. Renee couldn’t help but laugh, but maybe the different versions were to be expected since those events took place over twenty-five years ago.
They weren’t always in disagreement about past events. A few memories that came up had them very animated, yelling and laughing so loud they scared the dog and made the kids holler that they should keep down the noise.
During a lull in the conversation, Sasha—currently seated on Jayson’s lap—asked Renee, “What kind of work do you do?”
“I teach high school A.P. English and literature, but I’ll be retiring in a few years.”
“How did you manage to land her?” Sasha asked Clive.
“Don’t start with me, Sasha, I already know how lucky I am,” he said, eyes crinkling in amusement as he took a sip of his beer.
Clive didn’t correct the assumption that they were a couple. Renee’s eyes lingered on him, and his eyes lingered on her. The message within let her know quite clearly that they were, in fact, a couple, and he was happy with her.
A wave of heat swept over her skin. What an odd experience. For the past year, she’d wanted to throttle him. Now she wanted to jump his bones and wished for this get-together to wrap up quickly so she could do just that.
“I’m going to get some water. Anyone want anything?” Renee stood.
They all shook their heads, so she went inside and found the cooler with iced water on the floor near the door. As she picked a bottle, Chelsea entered the kitchen.
“You’re having fun, I hope?” she asked.
“I am. That’s an interesting bunch. I’m not sure what to make of them.” Renee sipped her water.
Placing her hands on her hips, Chelsea laughed. “They’re good guys, I promise.”
“I’m kidding, they seem to be. I’m so impressed with the friendship they’ve maintained all these years—for decades! That’s impressive.”
“Yep. They stayed friends after my dad dropped out of college a couple of years in, when his knee got messed up.”
“He dropped out?” Renee asked in shock.
Chelsea nodded. “He started working construction full-time, and that’s the field he stayed in until my mom died. He loves working with his hands.”
Leaning her hip against the counter, Renee was enthralled by the new information from Clive’s daughter. She didn’t speak because she didn’t want to interrupt the flow of information.
