Page 14 of Well Played

It didn’t help that I could still picture her naked from the day she’d greeted me with a radio to the head. Or that I remembered she shook that ass better than a five-night-a-week stripper.

When she reached one arm between the headboard and the mattress, I cleared my throat. “Lose something?”

She whirled, startled, and I put my hands up. I guess I should’ve been grateful there was nothing sharp or heavy nearby.

“I didn’t hear you come in. And yes, I dropped some photos behind the bed, and I can’t reach them.”

I walked into the room. “Let me see. My arms are longer.”

Presley parked her ass on her heels on the bed. “That would be great. I never realized these headboards were nailed to the wall.”

I stuck my arm down behind the bed and reached around until I felt something. Pulling up some old photos, I held them out to Presley. “How many were there?”

“I think just those three. Thanks.”

I pointed to the headboard. “There’s a story behind why those are screwed into the wall.”

“Oh yeah?”

“When we were little, Grams and Pops used to have us stay over once a month to give my parents a night off. I was probably about six this one time we came for our visit, and I was staying in a room two doors down from here. A young couple was staying in the room next to me. All night long, the headboard banged away. There was also some grunting. When I asked Pops if he’d heard the noise the next morning, he told me the couple must’ve been jumping on the bed, and he was going to have a talk with them about it, because the beds weren’t for jumping.”

Presley smiled. “I take it they weren’t jumping on the bed?”

I shook my head. “Definitely not. But the next afternoon, the sound was back again. Pops had run out to the hardware store, and Grams was busy in the kitchen. So, being the man of the house, I decided to knock on the door and tell the guests the beds weren’t for jumping. They didn’t answer at first, but then I heard the woman yell, ‘Yes!’ so I opened the door.”

Presley’s big, green eyes widened. She covered her mouth. “You walked in on them?”

“Yup. I’ll never forget it. The woman was blond, and the only thing she had on was a black cowboy hat. She was sitting on top of the guy. It took me a few years to figure out she was riding him. At the time I just thought she was jumping up and down on the bed naked.”

Presley cracked up. “Oh my God.”

“I told them to stop jumping because they were going to break the bed. A few minutes later, the man stormed out half-dressed and spoke to Grams. When Pops came home from the hardware store, she turned him around and made him go back to get screws. All the headboards were bolted to the wall from that day on. No more banging to attract curious kids.”

“That’s hysterical. And I can totally see your grandmother pushing your grandfather right back out the door.”

I smiled and nodded, feeling warmth in my chest. This old place had a million memories.

“By the way, where have you been?” Presley asked. “I haven’t seen you the last few days. At first I thought maybe our peace treaty had been short-lived. But then I went down to pick up Alex’s equipment for football camp and spoke to Jeremy Brickson. I came to your room earlier to talk to you. You didn’t have to pay for Alex’s camp. My bounced check would’ve cleared this time. I have some savings. I just hadn’t transferred any money over to my checking when Tanner bounced that check.”

“I wanted to pay for it. It’s the least I could do for being such a cruncle.”

Presley smiled. “Well, thank you. That was really generous.”

“It was nothing.”

“Are you in a rush right now?”

“Not really. Why? You need something?”

“No, but I’ve been cleaning out this room all morning, and I found some old albums. They have some incredible photos. I didn’t realize how much Alex looks like you when you were a kid.”

“Me?”

“Yeah, come look.”

She showed me a photo from Little League. I almost did a double take. Everything from the expression on my face to the shape of my eyes matched my nephew’s.

“You’re right. I thought that was him for a split second.”

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