11. Eden
11
EDEN
E den smiled when Jack finally came running up the hillside to her, with Axel following behind.
Cora and Rocky had headed out a few minutes ago, but Jack wanted to keep playing, and Axel seemed perfectly content to continue their work.
“ Mom, Mom, Mom, ” Jack panted as he approached. “Can we go eat something? And can Coach come too?”
“That sounds good,” Eden told him, smiling at his pink cheeks and sparkling eyes. “And of course Mr. Williams is more than welcome to join us.”
“I don’t want to interrupt your family time,” Axel said right away, raising his hands.
“You have to come with us,” Jack said, wiggling in place and pointing at Axel. “There are cookies as big as your hand . Not my hand. Your hand. Rocky said so . ”
“We’d love to have you,” Eden told him, meeting his eyes so he would know she meant it.
He only nodded to her, but she could tell he was happy. It was kind of gratifying to see how pleased he was.
He’s newly back in town, she reminded herself. Maybe it’s just that he hasn’t reconnected with old friends yet, and he thinks I’ll do a good job protecting him from all the women throwing themselves at him.
“Now, I don’t mean to tell you what to eat,” Axel said. “But if you like chicken and dumpling soup with a nice thick slice of homemade bread and butter, I’ve got just the spot.”
“Oh, I love chicken and dumplings,” Eden said.
“Not as much as you love chicken and noodles,” Jack pointed out.
“Of course, pad thai,” she said. “It’s my favorite. But there’s no Thai food in Trinity Falls. So we’ll have some nice chicken and dumplings with bread and butter.”
“Mmm, bread and butter,” Jack said happily.
“Lead the way,” Eden said.
“I saw you with hot chocolate earlier,” Axel said as the three made their way back under the big roof of the market. “You got that from Betty Ann Eustace and Ginny Davies. That’s Rocky’s grandmother, if Cora didn’t tell you.”
“Oh, wow,” Eden said. “I didn’t realize that, but, yes, I got to meet them. I told Ginny she looked familiar, and she mentioned that they volunteer a lot around town.”
“That’s the understatement of the year,” Axel said, chuckling.
“What does that mean?” she asked.
“Betty Ann, Ginny, and Shirley, who you’re about to meet, are responsible for just about every good thing that happens in this town,” Axel said, his voice tinged with respect. “People like my Aunt Annabelle head up a project or two each year, and they manage an army of volunteers, but the three of those women basically run the behind-the-scenes on all the community events.”
“Wow,” Eden said, impressed. The two ladies she had met today definitely seemed cheerful and capable. But she wouldn’t have dreamed they’d had a hand in organizing so much.
“Shirley is famous for her chicken and dumpling soup,” Axel said. “She makes it for every event and fundraiser, and she always sells out. It’s an institution. And as soon as you’ve had a bowl, you’ll be an official resident of town.”
“Is that so?” Eden asked, laughing.
“ Whoa, ” Jack said, stopping suddenly in front of a table where sure enough, there were cookies as big as one of Axel’s enormous hands.
“ After a sensible lunch,” she told him, patting him on top of the head and smiling at the lady behind the table. “They really look amazing.”
The lady smiled back and gave Jack a wink.
By the time they made their way to the booth with the soup and got over to a table by the big heat lamps at the end of the market, Eden’s belly was rumbling, and she was sure Jack must be ravenous. Something about the cold weather and the good smells built up a great appetite.
“You got two soups,” Jack said to Axel when they sat, looking around like someone might be joining them .
“And two slices of bread and butter,” Axel said happily. “Exactly what I wanted for lunch.”
Eden nodded, trying to hide her smile. She had been pretty sure he was planning to bring something over to a friend, or take some home. But he was a pretty big guy, so he probably did have a pretty big appetite.
Jack grabbed her hand, and she was proud that he remembered to close his eyes for a moment of gratitude with her before digging in.
“It’s hot,” he said with his mouth full, a moment later.
“Oh dear,” Eden said. “Drink some water.”
“Not too hot,” he said after gulping down half his water bottle. “Don’t worry. I didn’t burn my tongue like I did with the pizza.”
“That’s good,” Axel said. “You want to be able to really taste the cookies after this.”
Eden highly doubted any of them would have room for cookies after such a meal, but maybe she would buy one and bring it home to share with Jack later. She took a careful bite of her soup and moaned around the spoon when the flavors hit her mouth.
“Amazing, right?” Axel said.
“More than amazing,” she agreed. “I can see why this always sells out.”
As they were eating, Mrs. Hastings from school passed their table with her husband.
“Hi, Gloria,” Eden said, giving her colleague a little wave.
“Eden,” Gloria said, looking between Eden and Axel like she wanted to laugh, but was holding it in.
Oh, for heaven’s sake, Eden thought to herself. Just because we’re sitting together doesn’t mean we’re an item. And just what would be so funny about that anyway?
They had already gotten a few looks as they walked through the market, but Eden tried her best to ignore them, and it seemed that Axel was doing the same. Or at any rate, he didn’t seem to mind, if he even noticed at all. She had caught him nodding to Reggie Webb at one point, who Eden already knew was the town gossip. But he was probably just being polite.
Does he want to be seen with me? Is he trying to get the rumor mill going?
But that was so silly that it didn’t even make sense to continue the train of thought. Someone like Axel probably got looks like that all the time. He was just used to it. That was all.
Well, as long as he didn’t get the wrong idea, and as long as Jack didn’t hear a rumor and worry about it, she figured there was no harm in a few odd looks. After all, she and Axel knew nothing was going on.
“Wow,” Jack said suddenly. “How did you do that?”
She turned to see two empty plastic bowls and plates in front of Axel.
“I go running every morning,” Axel told Jack seriously. “That means I use a lot of energy.”
“Can I go running every morning?” Jack asked, looking up hopefully at Eden.
Eden laughed, and tried to figure out how to explain to him that if he wanted to run, then she would have to run, and she could never keep up with him.
“Do you have a bike?” Axel asked, before she could formulate an answer .
“Yes,” Jack said. “I have a bike.”
“If I run and you ride your bike, I’ll bet we could both get a good workout,” Axel said. “If it’s okay with your mom.”
“Wow,” Jack said. “Can I, Mom?”
“That’s a very nice offer,” Eden ventured.
“Give it some thought,” Axel said. “I’d pick him up earlier than he’s used to, so we could make a nice loop.”
“Jack and I are both early risers,” she said, nodding.
“How about if I text you tonight and check in?” Axel asked.
“Sure,” she said quickly. She knew he only meant he would check in on whether Jack was allowed to go for a bike ride with him, but her cheeks heated, and she looked down at her soup, hoping he wouldn’t notice.
After a light supper and a shared cookie that night, Eden washed the dishes while Jack dried them and put them away. After their fun day outside, they were both a little quiet—but it was a good quiet, a content one, in their warm cozy house together.
“Hey,” Jack said suddenly. “Did Coach text you about me riding to school on my bike?”
“Not yet,” she said.
“Can you text him?” Jack asked. “I want to go with him on Monday.”
“I still have to think about it,” she told him carefully, not wanting to tell him that she was worried it was something Axel had offered impulsively and might have regretted once he got to thinking about it. “I kind of like our walks to school and back together.”
“I can ride beside you on the way home,” Jack pointed out. “I’ll go really slow, so you don’t have to worry.”
“Thank you,” she told him. “We’ll see. Speaking of Coach, should we watch his big play after this?”
“His big play?” Jack asked. “You mean the Philly Special?”
“I found it on the internet,” Eden told him. “Someone made a video of the game where your ball was used.”
Which she was honestly pretty impressed to be able to locate, since it was from a time when people didn’t automatically grab their phones to make videos of everything they saw.
“Yes, ” Jack said immediately. “I want to see it, definitely. ”
“Okay, then,” Eden told him.
She was kind of looking forward to seeing it herself. There had been so much talk about that play ever since Axel showed up at the school. Surely it couldn’t have been as impressive as everyone was saying.
When they were finished cleaning up the kitchen, Jack dashed out to the living room and Eden grabbed her laptop to pull up the video.
“We might just have to watch it on here,” she warned him.
Eden had never been a big fan of television. Gary was always better at understanding which remote did what, and how to get a movie from her laptop up onto the screen.
“Okay,” Jack said politely .
She suddenly wondered if figuring out remotes was something men came by genetically, or if her son would never really understand how to work a television.
One more thing he doesn’t have without a dad around…
Suddenly feeling determined, she did a quick online search and examined the remotes and the TV. After a bit of trial and error, her laptop image popped up on the bigger screen.
“Hey,” Jack said. “You did it.”
“It wasn’t that hard,” she fibbed. “And now I’ll know how to do it next time.”
She navigated to the video of the game and clicked to play. The somewhat grainy footage appeared on the TV right away.
“Why can’t I hear what they’re saying?” Jack asked.
“Your grandpa likes to watch professional football,” Eden explained, pausing the action on screen for a moment. “That’s put on television by professionals too, with announcers whose microphones broadcast right to the watchers at home. But this video was taken by someone who was just there to watch the game. It has the highlights of everything that happened that night, not the whole thing, just the good parts. But no announcers to explain it all.”
“Okay,” Jack said. “Then it won’t be so long.”
Eden tried to hide her smile. Maybe Jack was interested in playing football now, but it didn’t sound like he was interested in watching it for hours with all the commercials, at least not yet.
“Here we go,” she said, leaning back .
Jack snuggled up and she wrapped an arm around him as they watched.
The person who had made the video had done a good job catching the most exciting moments of the game, and they had obviously learned a computer program that made what at the time would have been really neat transitions between the parts.
“That’s number seven,” Jack said suddenly, pointing. “He’s the cowboy quarterback.”
“How did you know that?” Eden asked.
“He’s Coach’s friend,” Jack said. “And he’s the coach for the really big kids.”
“Oh, right,” Eden said, nodding. “Ian Cassidy.”
Ian was in charge of the high school’s team these days, and she had heard good things about the work he did.
“There’s Coach,” Jack squeaked, hopping up from the sofa. “There, right there.”
The footage wasn’t exactly high-def, but sure enough, there was Axel Williams, gloriously tall and wide-shouldered, even as a teenager, threading his way between the other kids and turning to rise into the air at the last second and snatch the ball out of the air, almost like he was reading Ian Cassidy’s mind.
“He’s really good,” Eden heard herself say.
“They’re a good team ,” Jack said immediately. “You’re only as good as your team.”
She smiled, certain that Jack was repeating something Axel had said, and glad to know he was instilling such good ideas in the children’s heads. Focusing on good teamwork was advice that might stick with them in areas of life outside the gymnasium, too.
They watched intently for a while. The video was only about fifteen minutes long, but it was thrilling to see the kids working so hard in their championship game. The person who made the video cheered out loud many times, which made Eden jump once or twice. Jack giggled at her, delighted.
The Springton Valley team was ahead by a bit for most of the game. It seemed like every time Trinity Falls would score to close the gap, Springton Valley would score again. Which was keeping everyone on their toes, if the score on the board and the cheers and groans during each clip were to be believed.
“This was a close game,” Eden said as they watched the Springton Valley boys score again.
She already knew the outcome, but it still seemed impossible that Axel and his team had turned things around.
This must be why people still remember it so many years later, she thought to herself.
“ Fourth down ,” the person making the video said sadly.
“This must be it,” Eden heard herself say, leaning forward in spite of herself.
As she watched, Number Seven moved behind the line and the ball was sent to a different player.
“ What’s this, now? ” the person filming asked suddenly.
“Watch Coach,” Eden said, patting Jack’s knee.
Impossibly, the ball arced through the air to Axel, and he sprinted across the field .
“He’s got it,” Jack squeaked.
They watched as Axel pulled back and threw, and the ball sailed perfectly into Ian Cassidy’s hands like it was on a string, just as he landed in the end zone.
There was a split second of stunned silence, and then the crowd erupted in delighted cheers.
“ Wow, ” the person making the video said. “Did you see that? I mean, wow.”
Then there were screams of joy and the camera was jostled around in what Eden assumed was a moment of celebration.
“ Oh, shoot ,” a male voice near the camera said. “I spilled my Coke.”
The next shot began as the kick for the extra point went right between the posts while the players celebrated off the field, the crowd still going bananas, and the couple with the camera still trying to clean up the spilled drink.
Abruptly, the screen transitioned into a message of thanks for watching the video and a plea for subscribers.
“That was so cool ,” Jack said. “Can we watch it again?”
“Of course we can,” Eden told him, figuring there were much worse ways to spend a Saturday night than watching her son get excited about his new favorite activity.
And she suddenly found herself really wishing that Axel would send that text.