Page 35 of Under the Lights
“It’s time to start the dunking booth,” Kelly said before her mother could comment.
It took her a few minutes to find Gretchen, who was definitely the loudest of them, so she could climb up on a picnic table and yell loud enough to be heard that it was dunk tank time. Word spread quickly through the crowd, who moved to gather around.
Coach climbed to the top step of the tank, and it seemed like everybody sucked in a breath, which made him laugh. “No, I’m not getting in. I just want to make sure everybody can hear me.”
Years of yelling over noisy football fans had served him well, and most people could hear him. Kelly wanted to kick herself for not having some kind of microphone system or at least a bullhorn. They probably had one at the station, but by the time she could get there, her dad’s speech would be over.
“Everybody having a good time?” he bellowed, and the crowd cheered. “Well, it’s about to get better. The highlight of the street fair’s about to start, as soon as we get a volunteer. And, because it’s so much fun and it takes time to reset the platform, we’re going to want five dollars for three balls.”
People were already digging in their pockets for the money, which Kelly took as a good sign. They’d almost decided against the tank because it was so much work, but it was probably going to rake in some cash.
“All we need is our first volunteer,” her dad announced.
Simon Ward’s voice rose over the rest. “I’ll write a check for a thousand dollars to the football fund right now if Kelly McDonnell does a half-hour shift in the dunk tank.”
Everybody quieted, staring at her, but she shook her head. Simon had had a hair across his ass where she was concerned since she’d had his precious Escalade towed during a blizzard. He had more money than most everybody else in town, so apparently he thought winter parking bans didn’t apply to him. And now he thought he would humiliate her in front of the town, but he was going to be disappointed. She couldn’t very well ask some random person in the crowd to hold her gun.
“I’m in uniform.” As far as she was concerned, that put an end to the subject.
“Come on, Officer McDonnell!” one of the kids yelled. “Do it for Coach!”
“I’m in uniform,” she said again, this time more slowly, and she patted her holstered weapon for good measure.
“I’ll hold your weapon,” the chief said, having come up behind her. “And your belt.”
The gathering crowd cheered, which masked the curses Kelly muttered under her breath. If she climbed into that tank, the line to dunk her would probably wrap around the park. And every person in that line would cough up money to see her get wet, which meant even more money into the Eagles’ fund.
She spotted Hunter Cass in the crowd and remembered the night he’d opened up to her on the bridge. If letting Simon Ward think he’d gotten the better of her put a thousand dollars of his money into the team’s pocket and kept Hunter and the rest of the boys dreaming of their futures instead of giving up, she’d take it.
When she unbuckled her belt, the cheering reached an earsplitting decibel and she knew she’d guessed right about people wanting to see her get dunked. After handing her weapon and belt to the chief, she unbuttoned her short-sleeve uniform shirt and yanked it free of her pants. Once she’d removed her vest so she was in the plain T-shirt she wore under it, she sat on the steps to the tank and took her boots off.
After sweeping everybody with a stern, warning glare that made them laugh, she made a show of slowly climbing the stairs, as if she were going to the gallows. Silence fell on the crowd and then, as she reached the top step and turned, she heard Simon Ward’s voice again.
“I’ll add fifty dollars for every dunking of Officer McDonnell by a player from the first championship team, up to five hundred dollars!”
Kelly’s eyes met Chase’s, and her stomach sank when she saw the slow grin that lit up his face. She was going down, multiple times, and he was going to enjoy every minute of it.
10
Chase wasn’t accustomed to being booed by anybody, never mind by the entire town of Stewart Mills.So much for being a hero,he thought as he missed the dunk tank’s smaller-than-it-looked target for the second time.
Kelly laughed at him.
“Hey, I played football, not baseball, and I was a running back,” he shouted over his shoulder to his audience. “Catching the ball was my job. Throwing it was Sam’s.”
“Then get out of the way and let Leavitt try,” somebody yelled back.
Like hell he would. Not after he’d shoved and even thrown a few elbows getting to the front of the line. “I was just getting warmed up.”
“Last ball, Sanders,” Kelly called to him from the tank’s platform, her voice taunting.
If he missed his next throw, he’d never live it down. Trying to block out the noise around him, he focused on Kelly’s face for a moment. Her lips were tilted up in amusement, and he couldn’t miss the challenge in her eyes.
She was going down.
Chase went through an exaggerated pitcher’s windup because it made the little kids laugh, and then released the ball.
It hit the center of the target, and he had just enough time to watch her eyes get big before the platform released and she was in the tank. She came up sputtering and everybody cheered.
