Page 58 of Most Likely to Score
Waking up with her.
23
JILLIAN
Twin shrieks of ten-year-old glee echo in the cavernous indoor pool area. Fourth-grader Charlie splashes vigorously as his classmate Emma raises her arms up high. “Me, me, me!” the girl squeals.
The man of the hour lifts a beach ball high above his head from several feet away in the deeper water. Taking aim, Jones tosses it toward the kids. Emma catches it and shouts once more in excitement as she splashes onto her back. When she pops up, she turns to the deck and waves at her mom, who stands next to me.
The trim, tired woman in a haggard ponytail smiles at her young daughter, snapping a picture of her playing in the pool at the end of the day.
“Okay to post online?” the mom asks me.
“Absolutely.”
Emma dolphins her way to the side of the pool. “Mom! This is the best day ever.” The girl dunks her head underwater, pushes off, and swims to find another ball, presumably to launch at Jones.
“She wants to be a kicker,” her mom says, gazing admiringly at the young girl. “Wild dream, I’m sure.”
“You never know. Perhaps she can be the first female kicker in the NFL someday.”
The mom nods, a dreamy look in her eyes but a disbelieving note in her voice. “Maybe someday.”
It’s unlikely, but you never know what might happen.
“Thank you again for all this.” She waves at the pool and behind her to the rest of the rec center.
“It was all Jones,” I say, giving credit where credit is due.
This was his brilliant idea. After I called Andre last night, he put things in motion to make this day happen, but Jones is the one behind it with his generosity. He rented out an entire rec center and invited the kids at the shuttered elementary school summer program to spend the day here playing board games, shooting hoops, and cavorting in the indoor pool. We arrived as soon as the morning’s calendar shoot ended, since he had free time during the day. Jones has joined in on most of the activities, including a rousing game of Candyland, in which a group of fourth-grade girls banded together to utterly destroy him as they reached Candy Castle well before he did.
“This was a godsend, I tell you,” the woman says, adjusting the strands of hair that have fallen from her elastic band. “I answer phones at an auto-repair shop, and I had no more time off. When I heard about the problem with the school being closed, I was completelybacked into a corner. I needed this”—she pauses, as if hunting for the right word—“gift.”
“I’m glad it feels that way.”
That was Jones’s hope, but he did more than simply let the quandary tug on his heartstrings. Hesolvedthe problem. I’ve spent the day here with him, hanging out with the kids, joining in as well—my hoops game is strong, and I led the girls to a victory over the boys, thank you very much—and making sure the kids had food and snacks, courtesy of Jones’s pizza party order.
The day is winding down, and most of the parents have picked up their kids, snapping photos of them with the athlete. Though I could have invited local press today, I chose not to. Press wasn’t the point of this effort, nor did I want to turn this into a photo frenzy. But kids and parents were welcome to take photos. Already, I saw an Instagram pic of Jones, filtered so he was wearing a pair of panda ears as he languished by Gumdrop Mountain. Next to him in the shot were Malcolm and Connor, who fought valiantly to buy Park Place from a pair of industrious boys in a heated game of Monopoly, since Jones convinced his Mavericks buddies to stop by for a few hours. But mostly, it’s been the former party-boy Renegade entertaining the kids on an unexpected day off.
When I see him like this, it’s hard to imagine he ever had a questionable rep.
As I watch Jones swim to the steps of the pool with Charlie, the last kid to be picked up, I’m reminded again of what’s at stake if we were to be found out.So very much.As I look at him now, hanging out with thekids, I knowthisis what he needs, because this is who he is.
A guy who cares.
A guy who tries.
A guy who has a massive heart for families.
That’s what I want everyone to know about him, and if I keep dallying with him beyond tonight, then I’ll be risking more than my own job. I’ll risk his reputation, and his reputation matters.
He’s more than I thought he was a few weeks ago. Whether it’s animals left homeless, families who need a little extra, or even a woman’s dad trying to put together a piece of furniture, he has such a giving spirit. Seeing him toss a towel to skinny Charlie as the kid steps out of the pool is one more instance in a day brimming with moments that melt my heart and make me fall a little deeper.
A little later, as Emma and Charlie head for the exit doors, Jones gives me a big hug. “Thank you so much for doing this with me. I’m sure you had a ton of other work today, but I appreciate you being here.”
“There’s no place I’d rather have been.”
“Smile!”
