Page 20 of Silent Deception
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CODY STOOD ON THE SIDELINESwith his fists clenched, watching the other fourth-grade boys gather around the football coach. He’d been given a time-out for the last half of the practice just because stupid Ricky Garner was a big fat baby.It wasn’t fair. It wasn’t, wasn’t fair.
And now, because he couldn’t walk home like most of the other kids, he had to wait here for Mom...and she was at work, so she might be late. Fighting back tears, he blinked hard and watched the coach—one of the fourth-grade teachers—clap Hayden Gallagher on the back.
At the edge of the schoolyard, a bunch of dads leaned against the hoods of their pickups. They’d been there the whole time, cheering and shouting, as if they were watching the Dallas Cowboys instead of some stupid grade school practice, where hardly anyone caught the ball and some of the kids cried if they got tackled just a little too hard.
“Come on over here, Cody,” the coach called out. “You need to hear this, too.”
A surge of rebellion made him want to stand still, but somehow his feet started moving. A couple of the kids snickered and elbowed each other when he reached the group, and he felt his face heat.
“...so tomorrow, be here right after school. We have enough boys so we can divide into two teams for practice. Got that? Three-thirty sharp, in uniform. And remind your parents because we don’t always meet on Thursdays.”
The town boys raced for their bicycles. Others headed for their dads in the parking lot. Cody kicked at a clump of dry grass as he watched them go. Hayden’s dad came out onto the grass to meet his son halfway and so did the neighbor guy who’d given Cody a ride on his horse last Friday night. Ryan somebody.
Jealousy burned through Cody. How fair was that? He had a dad, too, but he lived in Dallas and never found much time to visit. And when he did...
A single tear burned down Cody’s cheek, so he turned his back and angrily rubbed it away with the back of his hand, glad everyone was too far away to see.
“Hey, son, do you have a ride home?” The voice was deep and familiar, and Cody turned to find Ryan standing by the open door of a silver pickup. “Do you need to use a cell phone?”
The guy wassooocool. Hayden had taken over Show and Tell for three days running, blabbing on and on about his uncle who went on secret missions for the army and had been badly hurt.
Just having Ryan offer made Cody feel warm inside, but out of the corner of his eye he could see Mom’s pickup coming down the street. “Nah, my mom’s here.”
Ryan looked up the street. “Is that her truck?”
Cody nodded, wishing she hadn’t shown up so soon.
“You did a great job at practice today. Keep it up.” He got in his truck and shut the door, but didn’t drive off until Mom’s truck pulled to a stop and Cody climbed in.
“Howdy, Tiger.” Mom reached over to give him a one-armed hug, then put the truck in gear and drove out of the parking lot. “Did you have a good time?”
Embarrassed by the hug, even though no other guys were around, Cody peered out the window and watched the silver pickup disappear.
Football wasn’t about having a good time. It was about being one of the guys, trying super hard, and doing something better than you ever thought you could, so people would cheer and say you were great. It was about dads giving bear hugs andway-to-go!punches on a guy’s arm. It was about a lot of things Cody would never have, because he already knew he was awkward and his dad thought sports were boring.
“Why doesn’t Dad visit us?”
Mom glanced at him before she turned out onto the highway. “You saw him not too long ago—just a couple weeks before we moved.”
Cody picked at a ketchup stain on his jeans.
“Remember?” she coaxed. “You were there for the whole weekend, and he took you out for pizza.”
Where Dad had complained about the waiting line, the slow service, and the pizza itself...and had grumbled the entire time about wanting to just walk out of the place. Back at his condo, his new wife, Darla, had kept frowning at Cody as if he might get things dirty if he even breathed. “Yeah, I remember.”
“You know how busy he is—he has a very important job at that bank, and helps a lot of people. He’ll still come to see you, though, and I know you’ll get to visit him, too.” Mom gave Cody a teasing smile. “Why so glum? You’ve got someone named Scout waiting for you at home.”
A flash of excitement rushed through him and he gave a shout of joy. “Scout came today? What’s he like? Is he friendly?”
“Nora brought him over this afternoon and put him in a box stall to wait for us. I hear he’s a really sweet dog.”
“Wow,” Cody breathed. “A new dog and horses, too. “Can we ride tonight?”
“You bet. If you do your homework while I make supper, we’ll have plenty of daylight left. And I know just the place I’d like to go.”
She’d had so many doubts and worries about this move, and had prayed long and hard for guidance. Was it the right move for her son? For her career? Cody hadn’t been happy about it at all, but now his expression was filled with pure joy.Thank you, Lord, for bringing us here. For Nora and Raejean, and everyone who made it possible to move back here.
