Page 15 of Under the Lights
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On Sunday morning, Chase volunteered to offer up a shift at the tollbooth. He’d never taken part in one, since it wasn’t something they’d done back when he was in high school, but it didn’t sound too hard. They were basically panhandling on the side of the road.
The theory seemed to be that traffic would be heavy midmorning through later afternoon as tourists headed home from their visits up north. The main road cut out most of the downtown businesses, since it was the truck route, but there was a short segment that required traffic going in both directions to stop. They hoped the signs announcing the impending tollbooth and its purpose, which Kelly had placed a half mile out in each direction, would give travelers time to pull cash out of their wallets or at least scoop the loose change out of their center consoles.
The boys would be doing the work, holding their helmets out to accept the donations from passing motorists, but there had to be adults on the scene, as well. Not only did they want to make sure the team didn’t get too obnoxious in their pleas or harass drivers who didn’t offer up money, but there was also always a chance an impatient driver would cause a scene.
They’d been right about the heavy traffic. He barely had time to make small talk with the teenagers since the constantly stopping cars kept them hopping. Time flew by as he accepted half-full helmets to empty into buckets Jen had given him and handed the empty helmets back to the boys.
Some of the kids had a real flair for charm, and Chase thought, by the time they handed the football helmets and safety vests off to the next shift, that they’d taken in at least several hundred dollars, if not more. Once they’d turned the cash—mostly in dollar bills and loose change—over to Jen, who was managing the money that day, he grabbed a hot dog and found a spot at a picnic table to wait for the yard sale to wrap up. He’d volunteered to help haul leftover donations back to the Walker farm when they felt as if they’d run out of buyers for the weekend. He guessed it wouldn’t be long, since the people of Stewart Mills had already picked it over like vultures, and there wasn’t enough left on display to lure the vehicles passing through town into stopping.
When he saw the three women—Kelly, Jen and Gretchen—standing in the center of the square and looking around, he knew the end was near, so he walked back to his truck so he could park it illegally on the edge of the town square’s grass. He was hot and tired and, if Officer McDonnell had a problem with his parking, she could move her own yard sale leftovers.
Other than giving him an arched eyebrow look, Kelly said nothing. Under the direction of the women, the players got everything they deemed not trash into the back of his truck, and it looked like he’d only have to make one trip, which he was grateful for. Besides being tired, he was starting to think his biggest donation to the Eagles Fest cause would be the money he was pumping into his gas tank.
“I’ll ride with you and help you unload this crap,” Kelly said. “Gretchen has to do some errands before she heads home. Assuming you don’t mind bringing me back into town after?”
“Of course I don’t mind. I have to go by here to get back to Eagles Lane, anyway.”
“Okay. I just need to help fold up these tables and make sure they’re all tagged with their owners’ names, and then I’ll be ready to go.”
“I’m going to get off the town’s lawn before the local law enforcement notices, and get some gas. You want a soda or something while I’m at the store?”
“I helped finish off the last of the lemonade stand, so I don’t need a drink.” She laughed. “The sugar had settled to the bottom, too, so I won’t need sleep for a while, either.”
Once he’d managed to get off the town square’s grass and to the gas station without anything blowing or bouncing out of the back of his truck, Chase swiped his card at the pump and watched the dollar amount climb. Then he pulled the truck into a parking spot and went inside for a soda.
“Well, if it isn’t Chase Sanders.”
People had been saying his name in thathey, I know youvoice all day, but there was something different about the way the woman behind the counter said it. She hadn’t been working the last time he’d been in, so it was the first time he’d seen her, and it took him a few seconds to place her.
“Janie Vestal.” They’d dated most of high school, not out of any great affection, but because football players dated cheerleaders, and they’d liked each other well enough. He suspected she was as relieved as he was when they parted ways before going to college, even if neither of them had admitted it at the time.
The years had been kind to her. With her blond hair in a soft ponytail instead of teased and sprayed to its breaking point and her face free of heavy makeup, he thought she was prettier than she’d been as a teenager. He knew women well enough not to say it aloud, because she wouldn’t believe him anyway, and might even think he was saying she hadn’t been pretty enough in high school.
“How have you been?” he asked her, leaning against the counter since there was nobody in line. Even if they hadn’t been true high school sweethearts, she’d meant a lot to him in his younger years and he was curious.
“I’ve been really good, all things considered. I’ve been married ten years to a guy I met at college. We moved back when my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer and, thank God, she beat it. And I have a seven-year-old daughter and a five-year-old son.” Her face softened when she talked about her family, and he was genuinely happy for her. “How about you?”
Well, he had a pretty decent truck in the parking lot and a storage locker in New Jersey. “I’m good. I still live in Jersey and I’m a builder.”
“The whole town appreciates you guys coming back for the Eagles Fest,” she said. “Without football, I don’t think Stewart Mills would have anything to cheer about at all.”
“You know what Coach means to me.” He knew she did because she’d been the one he’d confided in. Not everything, because their relationship wasn’t exactly deep, but enough.
“Everybody loves Coach.”
A customer stepped up behind him, so Chase took the opportunity to exit the conversation and hit the soda case. He grabbed a couple of bottles, figuring he’d drain the first one pretty quickly, and then stepped back into line.
“It was good to see you,” Janie said as she handed him his change.
“You, too. I’m glad you’re happy.”
She smiled and nodded. “I am. I hope you are, too.”
He smiled back, but it faded as soon as he was through the swinging glass door to the parking lot. Was he happy? He didn’t consider himselfunhappy, exactly, but happy seemed like a little bit of a stretch.
When he pulled up to the town square, Kelly jogged over to the curb, and he had to admit watching her run made him a little happier. He even managed to tear his gaze from her legs long enough to appreciate the entire package. Officer McDonnell was in really nice shape.
