3. Wyatt
WYATT
“Boogertown?” Penny’s infectious giggles filled the back seat of the car.
My eyes rolled at the asinine name my grandparents had bestowed upon their own street.
Lee shifted so he could look at Pickle in the back seat. “You didn’t know? Aunt Tootie and Uncle Tater live down Boogertown Road.”
Penny laughed again. “Who would name it that?”
Lee’s smile widened. “They did. When they built their house at the end of this lonely road, Tater needed a name for it. He was going to name it Pic—”
“That’s enough.” I cut Lee off and shot him a hard stare. He didn’t need to tell my seven-year-old that our uncle almost named his road Pickledick Holler just to get a rise out of the mailman he hated so much.
Lee had the sense to look sheepish before crossing his eyes and making a funny face at Penny.
“Remind me again why you couldn’t have driven your truck here?” I asked my little brother.
After I put my car in park, he climbed out and opened Penny’s door. “And miss a second with this rat?” Penny leaped into his arms and pretended to gnaw at him like an actual rodent. “Not a chance.”
My chest pinched again.
Lee was cocky. Arrogant. He was a Sullivan, after all, but he was also good-natured.
I often wondered if his happiness was a cover for the shit he’d seen when he was overseas, but he would never admit that.
It was probably why he’d come back and immediately applied for a job with the fire department.
That kid was always chasing the next adrenaline rush.
I huffed out a breath and felt old—really fucking grouchy and old—as I watched Lee bound up the steps of our aunt’s expansive farmhouse-style home.
The afternoon sun was fading on the horizon, but there was a stream of cars making their way down the long, tree-lined driveway. Tootie would host whoever came to pay their respects. Though I figured people mostly wanted to eat her food and gossip.
The once-white paint on the home’s exterior had faded to a dingy gray.
The black shutters were faded and peeling too.
As I climbed the steps, the wood groaned under my weight.
I bounced once and was surprised when my foot didn’t fall through the rotting wood.
I knew the old home was in need of a few repairs, but the more I looked, the more it seemed like the years of neglect and emptiness were taking its toll.
I’d have to talk with Kate and my brothers about what we were going to do.
Tootie couldn’t live in a house if it was unsafe.
“You coming in or just going to stand around looking lost?” Laughter was laced in Aunt Tootie’s voice.
That woman had a zest for life, and no matter how many blows she took, she’d dust herself off and keep plugging away.
To be honest, there were plenty of times I wanted to give up, but knowing she’d twist my ear, I trudged forward.
“Get up here.” Her arms spread wide, and I climbed the rest of the stairs to pull her into a hug. She was soft and warm. For a fraction of a second, I closed my eyes and tried to remember the last time I’d gotten a hug from anyone but Penny.
“Your father’s inside. He can’t wait to visit.”
My jaw clenched. “Good day?”
When I released her, Tootie’s eyes looked out over her yard and she smiled. “As good as any are these days, I suppose.”
Without another word, she left me to greet and hug the stream of people walking toward the house.
Inside, the house was bustling with activity.
Many people who hadn’t bothered to attend the wake or funeral were filling Tootie’s home, gossiping and catching up on Outtatowner news.
Many conversations revolved around the Kings and how they continued to buy up businesses in town.
Another fight between a King and a Sullivan.
Rumors about how Outtatowner was changing and the many ways it was somehow the Kings’ fault.
I cut through the crowd, purposely ignoring the eager smiles and wide-eyed recognition. Toward the back of the house, in the large living room, my father sat alone on the sofa. My stomach twisted. His arms were braced on his knees, and his unfocused gaze stretched out onto the carpet.
“Hi, Dad.” I cleared the gravel from my throat.
His head moved up, locking eyes with me, but behind them, there was no spark. No recognition.
So much for a good day.
“Hi.” Dad raked a hand down his face, his classic move when he was trying to hide the fact that he didn’t remember someone. “Good to see you.”
“Wyatt,” I provided.
“Wyatt. Yeah, I know. Good to see you, Wyatt. Damn shame about Bowlegs.”
I nodded and looked around for Penny or my brothers. I stood awkwardly in front of my father.
When I caught the eye of Duke, my oldest brother, from across the room, he excused himself from the conversation and strode toward me. His beard was longer than I remembered, and he looked pissed. More than usual, even.
Duke was the only person I knew capable of being a bigger dick than I was.
When he closed the distance between us, I held out my hand, and we shook.
“Glad you could find the time.”
“Been busy.”
“Sure.” Duke knew damn well I had obligations and a contract to fulfill. When I didn’t take the bait to argue with him, he turned his attention to Dad and handed him the glass of dark liquid in his hand. “Got this for you, Pop.”
Dad accepted the glass and took a sip. “I asked for Captain and Coke.”
My eyes met Duke’s. We all knew Dad couldn’t have alcohol with his medication. Duke made a barely imperceptible twitch of his head in reassurance. “Tootie said no booze.”
Dad grumbled and sipped his drink again. “Worse than a warden.”
“How long are you staying?” Duke asked me, crossing his arms.
“We leave tonight.”
“In and out, huh?”
I pressed my lips together. “That’s the plan.” I looked around the house again. People were milling about, eating finger sandwiches and laughing. If I didn’t know better, it would seem more like a happy get-together than post-funeral mourning.
“Did you know with only twenty-eight seconds left in the fourth quarter, it was fourth and five on the ten-yard line. Couldn’t find an opening, so he tucked that ball and ran his heart out to the end zone. We won the national title because of my boy. It was a thing of beauty.”
Duke and I looked back at our dad, whose eyes were slightly unfocused, but a proud smile stretched across his face. He was talking about the game that helped launch my career.
I sat next to him. “Yeah, I remember. The defensive lineman was a monster.”
Dad shot me a look of disgust. “Not for him. My boy is fearless.”
“It was a great game,” Duke added. We’d learned a long time ago that Dad’s brain worked in mysterious ways, but he was calmer, more lucid, if you got him talking about topics he loved and, particularly, old memories.
It was those moments it felt like the dad we knew was actually still there.
The dad who never missed a game and, even when we lost, called to pick me up and give me a pep talk.
Red Sullivan was the strongest man I ever knew.
When Mom died, he raised four young kids on his own.
He made a point to speak her name every day.
He said it was so that we would always remember our mother and the love we all had for her.
Lately it was considered a good day if he remembered his own name.
“Wyatt.” Dad’s voice pulled me from my thoughts as he abruptly stood. “Damn good to see you! I didn’t know you were coming.”
He pulled me into a tight embrace, then held me at arm’s length to look me over.
“Hey, Dad.” I smiled at him.
His brows pinched together. “Don’t you have a game this week?”
“No. The team is going into summer break. We’ll prep for the upcoming fall season, but the players are busy with finals this week.”
His wide palm slapped my back. “My boy doesn’t need to stress about finals. The draft is coming up, and you’ll be a top pick. I just know it. Maybe the Vikings? Or the Bears? The Bears. Wouldn’t that be something?” He laughed and slapped my back again.
It was then I realized he thought I was still a college player, an NFL hopeful, and my stomach dropped.
Acid rose in my gut, and I took a step back. “I need to find Penny.”
“You shouldn’t be worrying about girls, Son.” Dad’s stern voice floated over my shoulder as I walked away.
Duke saved me and picked up the conversation with Dad as I left them behind and weaved through the gathering crowd, looking for my daughter.
“Couldn’t hack it. You know that.”
“Not a chance. He knocked up that girl, and now he’s stuck.”
“He got old, that’s what happened. Damn shame.”
As I wove through the crowd, my ears picked up the pieces of gossip that were undoubtedly about me .
So much for a little respect after a successful run in the NFL.
I’d learned a long time ago that in a small town everyone was fair game when it came to the local rumor mill. It didn’t matter if you were once a celebrated NFL quarterback or were part of one of Outtatowner’s founding families. If there was gossip to be spread, it was out there.
I rounded a corner and heard Lee’s deep laughter in the backyard. Penny was sitting on his shoulders as he ran down the length of the yard. Her arms were raised above her head, and her infectious laughter floated on the early summer wind. A hot poker burrowed under my ribs.
I wanted to get the hell out of there and head back to our quiet apartment in St. Fowler. I had shit to do and a team to check in on, but the happiness filling the backyard made me pause.
A soft laugh to my left had me turning.
“Cute kid.” Outtatowner’s local artist, and Lee’s childhood best friend, balanced a plate of finger foods in her hand.
I smiled and tipped my chin in greeting. “Annette. Good to see you.”
She smiled at my use of her real name. Everyone in town had called her Annie since she was a kid.
With her unruly red hair, she had acquired the unfortunate nickname Orphan Annie , which was more insensitive given that she was a literal orphan.
At some point, as it so often did in Outtatowner, it was the nickname that stuck.
“You too, Wyatt.”
Annie smiled one last time at me before turning toward the house.
Her gaze snagged a fraction of a second on Lee before she climbed the stairs into the house.
It was obvious she had grown into a very pretty woman.
Her coppery hair was pulled back, and she looked elegant in her simple black shirt and dress pants.
Gone was the squirrely little redhead with unruly curls who’d followed Lee around and had chronically dirty knees.
Nowadays Annie was a stunner, and Lee’s head was probably too far up his own ass to even see it.
Idiot.
“Hey, where’d Annette go?” Lee set Penny down, breathless.
My head swooped toward the door. “Inside, I think.”
Lee only shrugged. I guess he didn’t see or didn’t care that a good woman was right under his nose.
I looked around the back porch while Penny sat in a chair and sipped a drink at the patio table. “Jesus, this place is in rough shape.”
“Yeah, it’s getting pretty bad,” Lee agreed.
“Pretty bad? There’s a box holding up that table. It’s not okay.” I pointed to the table leg, which was, in fact, a rickety stack of wooden boxes. “We need to call Katie.”
A muscle ticced in Lee’s jaw, and his fists clenched.
He saw it too. Tootie was trying to make do, but the old house was rapidly crumbling around her.
That stubborn woman would never listen to reason.
But our sister, Kate, had a soothing way about her.
She could scheme her way into convincing Tootie that calling a repairman was her idea, and maybe the worst of it could be fixed in a few weeks.
Worst-case scenario, if she didn’t want to fix it up, I could just have it knocked down and build her something new. A fresh start.
“You heading out?” Lee didn’t miss how my eyes flicked toward the exit more than once. The sad resignation in his voice made my gut feel heavy.
When I saw the crowd inside through the patio door, I tried to think of a good excuse to get us out of there. Work. Bedtimes. Anything .
My eyes moved to Penny, who had overheard Lee’s question, and the sad resignation gnawed at me.
“I think one night might be okay, don’t you think, Pickle?”
Penny’s eyes shot to mine, and a huge smile spread over her sweet face. “Really, Daddy? Can we?”
She leaped from her chair and flung herself into my arms.
Lee laughed and clamped a hand down on my shoulder. “I’ll let Tootie know you’re staying.”
As he climbed the steps to the patio door, Penny continued to hug my middle. “Thanks, Dad. Thank you. Thank you.”
I rubbed a circle on her back. “One night.” I was telling both her and Lee.
Lee laughed and shot a salute over his shoulder before he disappeared into the house.