Page 12 of All For You
While I’d been busy eyeing his friend, the man who’d been chatting my ear off asked a question that I missed. Thankfully, he let it slide when I apologized, and he repeated himself.
“Want to join us for a game of pool?”
The hope in his eyes almost had me caving, but I held strong. Sipping my drink again, I shook my head slowly.
“Sorry. I’m… uh… waiting for a friend,” I lied. For a split second, I thought about calling my old high-school buddy Chris, but I hadn’t spoken a word to him since graduation.
Truthfully, I hadn’t spoken a word to anyone since that day. I hadn’t been close enough to anyone in school to want to keep in contact. The one time I’d been home as my mom’s plus-one for a wedding I’d kept a low profile. It was easier. Safer.
“But maybe next time?” I added as the man’s eyebrows tilted downward in disappointment. His demeanor instantly changed, and the three of them made their way to the side room where some pool tables were set up.
With my admirer’s retreat, I spun to face the bar, turning my back to the crowd. I watched as the droplets of condensation raced down the side of the chilled beer glass. Two of them sped up, and I internally chose a winner, grinning when it reached the epoxy-coated bar top first.
From the corner of my eye, I watched as someone planted themselves on the barstool next to me. I really hoped it wasn’t another fan. As much as I appreciated them, I just wanted to sit in peace and have a drink or five. I’d figure out later how I was getting home.
A home that no longer existed.
The thought of sleeping in my car left me gulping the rest of my beer in one fell swoop.
“Never thought I’d see the day,” a rough but familiar voice said beside me, with a chuckle that wrapped around me like a tight embrace. I closed my eyes forcefully, relishing the sound.
Opening them in a flash, I spun on my stool, facing my guest with a grin that I usually reserved for myself. One of true happiness. “Coach Rudicell.”
That man had been my savior when I was growing up. Because of our small town, he was the coach for the recreational T-ball and baseball teams I was on, as well as the high school baseball coach. But not only had he been my mentor, he’d been the closest thing I had to a real father. The kind who cared about you and made sure you were doing all the right things.
I feared he knew what my home life was like and did so out of pity, but I wouldn’t have changed a second of the time I got to spend with him. Some days, I even lied to my mom about what time practice was ending, just so I could spend more time with him. Our one-on-one sessions were my lifeline.
“How you doing, kid?” The lines around his eyes deepened as he grinned. His face was leatherier than I remembered. Years of being out in the sun and having a hard life. His wife of thirty years had passed away when I was a junior in high school. That was the first time I’d ever witnessed an adult male crying.
“I’m… okay.”
“Surprised to see you home. Heard about the wedding. Sorry about that.”
“Yeah. It happens.” I wasn’t even heartbroken over it. Just hated I didn’t find out until the day of our I-dos. “Coming home was the only way I could escape my ex and the paps.”
He chuckled again before taking a sip of his own beer. I mimicked his movements and enjoyed the cool liquid sliding down my throat. “I can’t imagine what that’s like, but you know you can’t avoid them forever. They’ll find you if they look hard enough.”
I recalled him saying something similar when I was packing up to leave town without a backward glance for the first time. That was an instance no one knew about. No one but Coach Rudicell. It was after my dad left a boot-sized bruise on the side of my ribs and I could barely catch my breath. I tried to fight back that day, but my father was a massive beast and took me down without much of a hassle. Rudicell caught me in the locker room after practice with my backpack filled with clothes. He was smart enough to put the pieces together and let me stay with him that night.
“I know. Come here often?”
“Nah. I heard you were in town, and your mom called and asked me to check up on you. I scoped the school and baseball fields first. This was my last stop.”
Grumbling, I uttered, “I’m not a child.”
Coach must have heard, because he replied, “We know that. She just cares. Your mom has missed you all these years, but she never complains. Anytime she gets the chance, she goes on and on about how proud she is of you.”
Well, if hearing that didn’t sting like a thousand porcupine quills. I knew her heart was in the right place, but I’d sent her all that money to help her move on from the lies and the heartbreak my dad caused. Not for her to stuff it away in an account that only I was able to access. The condemned house had been bad enough, but to hear she was working off the double mortgage and personal loans my father had taken out under her name and squandered had been overwhelming. If the man hadn’t died, I would have killed him myself.
“I know she is. I’m not mad at her. Just upset that she kept me in the dark all these years.”
“Hard to bring you to the light when you chain yourself to the shadows.”
Tipping the glass back, I swallowed the rest of the liquid as I turned to face the mirror over the bar across from me.
“You’re welcome to stay with me if you need to, but I think you need to have a sit-down with your mom. Let her explain.”
“Since when have you and Beverly been so close?” I asked cynically.
