Page 115 of Catching Our Moment
Kelcie was off to the side, her hand over her mouth, pretending to bite a nail in order to cover her smile.
“Your beautiful bride is here today, too?” TJ added, waving to Kelcie.
“Yes, that’s my mom,” Aaron said. “Shaw’s going to marry my mom, and I will be his stepson.”
Sitting back in his chair, TJ plastered on an over-the-top curious expression. “What is it like, having Shaw as a stepdad?”
Aaron shrugged. “Pretty much the same as before, except he sleeps in my mom’s room.”
This was going into dangerous territory, and TJ’s grin turned wicked.
“I heard you all went on vacation after the Super Bowl,” he said as he eyed me with the threat hanging of asking about me sleeping in his mom’s bedroom.
“Yeah, we did. That’s when my mom and Shaw got engaged.
“Congrats, my man,” TJ said to me.
“Thanks,” I said, still uncertain and rightfully nervous of where he was going with this.
“While we were gone, my Uncle Dylan worked on the house. He put in soundproof walls for me.”
“Really, why?”
“Because I have very sensitive hearing, and I guess Shaw makes a lot of noise.”
TJ’s eyes shone, and he bit down on his lip, and his jaw ticked in an effort to control himself. “Shaw makes a lot of noise? What kind of noise?”
I was sweating like a whore in church. “Didn’t you want to ask about the draft and the upcoming season, and…stuff,” I asked. Jeez, this was such a bad idea.
“Okay. Let’s break down the stats, then. Aaron, what do you have?” TJ handed it off to Aaron for one of the bits he always did—giving his analysis of the draft picks and who each team picked up in the off-season.
I sat back in my chair, watching my boy go. He was my boy. He was James’s son, but he was my boy. I loved and thought of him as my own.
And Kelcie? I didn’t think I’d ever seen her so happy. Knowing I was part of that made me want to beat my chest.
Aaron listed off his stats for the Super Bowl from memory like any ESPN announcer.
“So what do you think? Do you think he’s going to retire?” I whipped my head around to see TJ leaning forward on the table that separated us, as if in private conversation with Aaron and shooting me a side-eye.
Aaron tipped his head thoughtfully. “I’m not sure. He doesn’t talk about it. When are you going to retire, Shaw?”
Nothing like being thrust into the hot seat. I knew this was coming. It was TJ’s purpose of getting me in the chair. I’d been bombarded by calls and questions about my imminent retirement.
“Only time will tell, but you will be the first to know,” I said, which was my standard answer.
Aaron leaned over to TJ and whispered directly into the microphone. “He needs to ask my mom. He passes everything through her now because they are together, and she’s in charge.”
TJ let out an audible guffaw, practically choking, before clearing his throat, “She is?”
“Yeah, after I went to bed, I heard him tell her that he would do whatever she wanted,” Aaron said. “When I told them I heard him say she was in charge, we got new walls.”
I yanked back on Aaron’s chair, rolling him away from the microphone, and glared death rays at TJ, who practically fell out of his chair with suppressed laughter. Kelcie was suddenly nowhere to be seen, probably burying her head.
“Shaw, I can’t reach the microphone. Stop being so unprofessional,” Aaron scolded me.
“Are you happy with the idea of having a football player as a stepfather?” TJ asked.
“Yes. I’m happy, but I’d been meaning to talk to him about retiring.”
