Page 3 of Love Story
“Andi Ellison.”
“Right.” Baylor hesitated. “Weren’t you engaged?”
“Twice.” A familiar ache came over Cody. “It was my fault. I couldn’t get it right.” He forced a smile. “She deserved better.”
Baylor stood and for a long time he looked at Cody. Then he shrugged, his heart clearly lighter than it had been. “I don’t know, Coach. There’s only one Cody Coleman.”
Cody chuckled. “Touché.” He pointed to the field house. “Go get your homework done. Practice in ninety minutes.”
Baylor jogged off, but ten yards out he turned around. “Hey, Coach.”
“Yeah?”
“Thanks.” His smile lit up his eyes. “I’m gonna ask her. And hey... maybe it’s not too late with Andi.” He lifted his hands. “Just saying.”
“Go on, Baylor.”
•••
CODY’S TOWNHOUSE SATon a quiet tree-lined street a few blocks off Hillcrest Drive, not far from the Oaks mall. If he had to live alone in Southern California, this was the place to do it. He had come to love his home—him and his dog, Riley. The townhouse was lodged between a park and a botanical garden and as many open miles of trails in the Santa Monica Mountains as he could’ve ever wanted.
Quiet places he could go to think and pray on days like today.
Practice had gone great, better than he had hoped. Most of his starting lineup had enough experience and talent to go the distance in the fall. Maybe all the way to state. And his coaching staff was the same great group of guys he’d had last year. They knew each other’s styles and play-calling, and the way they had clicked today was proof of the winning days ahead.
But none of that could rein in his wayward heart.
Ever since the conversation with Baylor, Cody had barely gone through the motions. There had been times in his life when football had taken off the edge, made the sad and lonely less of a burden.
Back when he and Bailey first went their separate ways, or when he lost his next girlfriend, Cheyenne, to cancer. Yes, he hurt and yes he lay awake at night asking God why things had gone so wrong. But at least on the football field he could see straight. His passion for the game was a respite from the pain that surrounded him.
Not so today.
It wasn’t the loss of Bailey Flanigan or Cheyenne that wouldn’t let up today. God had different plans for each of those girls. Cody couldn’t argue with that. He was at peace with how things had turned out. No, the face he couldn’t push from his mind today was the one Baylor had asked about.
The sweet face of Andi Ellison.
Cody parked on the street in front of his condo, went inside and greeted Riley. The black mixed Lab was three years old, and he lived for the time he spent with Cody. “Hey, boy... how was your day?” Cody bent down and patted the dog’s head, scratched the soft fur behind his ears. “You ready for a run?”
Riley knew what that meant. He barked and ran to get his leash. When Riley wagged his tail, he did so with all his body. Like he might break in half he was so excited. “Give me a minute.” Cody laughed. His dog was his best friend these days. The best thing about coming home.
Cody changed into his running clothes. Then he attached a specially designed running shoe over his prosthetic lower left leg. The missing limb was the result of an explosive device in Afghanistan. The phantom pain from his injury only hit him every once in a while now—and never while he was running. Out on a run it was easy to forget the injury had ever happened.
And today, Cody couldn’t wait to get out there. Five miles on the mountain trails would help him sort through his feelings. He and Riley set out and from the first few steps the memories joined him. Memories he couldn’t shake.
He didn’t want to even if he could.
The past he shared with Andi Ellison was complicated. Again and again. They’d met in college, of course. Back when Andi had been Bailey’s roommate. Back when Cody was too in love with Bailey to even notice anyone else. Andi was wild and rebellious back then. Her parents had been missionaries turned Christian filmmakers.
Andi wanted none of it.
She ran against everything she knew to be right and true and she spent her days at Indiana University on her own terms. Cody remembered the first time he understood how bad off Andi had gotten. He had found her on campus late one night, laying on the ground so drunk she was nearly unconscious. He helped her back to the dorm room she shared with Bailey, and he stayed long enough to make sure she was okay. For an hour Andi had mumbled things to Cody she’d never said before.
When the night was over, Cody knew two things. First, Andi’s drinking was as dangerous as Cody’s had once been. And second, Andi was in love with him. Back then it was easy to dismiss, easy to think she didn’t really have deep feelings for him. Her confession had only been the alcohol talking. That’s what Cody told himself.
Especially since back then his heart belonged to Bailey... and only Bailey.
Andi’s behavior got worse after that. She took up with a foreign exchange student, a dark-spirited guy with wrong intentions. They dated for a few months and the guy found a way to get Andi to do things she never meant to do. Cross lines she had never imagined she would cross. Andi wound up pregnant. She told Cody later that only then did she realize what she’d done, how far she’d run from the faith she’d been raised with.
