Page 53 of Everything's Better With You
“Yeah. Me too.” Joe set his bag down and faced off with them.
“Likea lot.”
“I get it. Look, if there’s something you want to say—”
“No, no,” they said, backing away with their hands up. “We just wanted to be sure, you know. That you knew.”
“Coach?” Terrell said, approaching them with a questioning look. “You good? My ride is here.”
Joe raised his eyebrows. “Oh, I was going to take you—”
“It's cool. I’ve got a thing.”
“Ohhh…go on then,” Joe said, giving Terrell a hug. He loved being a mentor to this awesome kid. It took balls for him to address the group they’d had tonight. Joe was damned proud of him. “Don’t, uh… Well, have fun.” He wasn’t about to get all parental on him. He liked being the cool adult.
Terrell said goodbye and walked away, but the twins continued their posturing.Wasit posturing, though? They weren’t giving off asshole vibes. Just…weird.
“So we’re going to the Goalpost to watch the game.”
Joe raised his eyebrows. “The game?”
“Monday Night Football? Brother Leslie’s broadcast?”
“Oh, right. Cool. That’s…cool.”
“We thought you should join us.”
Because that wouldn’t be weird at all. “Uh, sure? Maybe for a little bit? I need a shower—”
“You do know the farmers go there after a day’s work and rarely clean up first,” Randy said.
“Yeah, and they also come over after the livestock auction. I think you’re fine for a game at the Goalpost,” Sandy added.
Joe looked at his watch.Shit.Clinics. “I need to go back to school for the end of clinics. What time will you be there?”
“Game starts at seven.”
“Great. I’ll, uh, I’ll try to stop by?”
“Do that.”
What a weird conversation. It was weirder because they were trying so hard tonotbe weird, but Joe only knew of them what he’d heard from Leslie. He hadn’t had cause to hang out with them before and wondered what he might possibly have in common with them.
Joe grabbed his things, assured them he’d be by, and then he drove alone back to campus.
What a bizarre day! He couldn’t wait to tell Leslie what they’d accomplished. That thought gave him pause. He was thinking of the two of them like a team. What was next? His morning smoothie at Agnes’s counter going over game schedules, ideas for training, meal prepping together? And he was going to have drinks and football with Randy and Sandy?
What is this life?
Sixteen
Leslie
It had been a whirlwind day, the kind Leslie was going to have to get used to. The network needed him to fly out to Dallas for this interview and he agreed to do commentary for one last game before diving into his season with the Jackets, which started next week. By the time the game had wrapped, he was ready to crash, but he had been dying to find out how practice had gone that day.
He texted Joe as soon as he got into his hotel room and then set his phone down while he struggled with his tie and buttons. He had just pulled off his dress shirt when his phone started rattling and jumping on the glass-topped table. He dove for it to find Joe calling. On FaceTime? He clicked accept and nearly dropped it when he found Randy’s face on the screen.
“What the hell are you doing with Joe’s phone? Am I going to hate the answer?”
