Chapter 19
NINETEEN
RIGGS
As I’m driving home from the gym on Saturday morning, my phone rings. I see it’s my mom, so I pick up instantly. Dread fills me as I answer.
“Hey, Momma. Everything okay?” I ask, knots forming in my stomach.
“Yes, sweet boy. All good here. Just wanted to check and make sure you were coming over for dinner tomorrow.” I instantly relax. He’s fine…for now.
“Yeah, of course. How is Dad feeling today?”
“Today is a good day. You focus on school and basketball. We got this under control over here.” Hearing her say that eases my guilt for not being there.
“Love you, Mom. Call me if you need me.”
“Love you, baby,” Mom says, and I end the call.
The following night, I’m sitting at the kitchen table with my parents as they roast me.
“Remember that awful middle school haircut you had?” We all start laughing until Dad’s turns into a coughing fit that he can’t stop. A rude reminder that his body is slowly failing him.
He shrugs it off. “I’m fine.” He’s not. I know that he is exhausted and in chronic pain from the disease and the medications he takes to try to prolong his life.
When the food is gone, I help clear the plates from the table. Mom grabs the rest, telling Dad to relax.
We sit in the living room not much later, and the inquisition I expected begins.
“How are you doing, baby boy?” My mom gives me a knowing gaze when she asks this. I need to be honest with her, so I am…mostly.
“I’m good, Mom. Just focusing on school and basketball. The usual.” She rolls her eyes at this, just a little bit.
“I’m glad, but you know there is more to life than basketball.” The words have been spoken many times, but instead of ignoring her or arguing, I pause for a moment to contemplate what she said.
“Son, what’s on your mind? I can hear you thinking from way over here.” My dad reminds me once again why he’s my best friend.
“Nothing. Just…” I don’t even finish the sentence before he speaks again.
“Who is she?” He has a smile on his face. My expression is frozen in shock, and my mom is squealing like it’s her greatest moment.
“H-How did you know it was about a girl?” I ask, genuinely stumped.
“Oh, Riggs. When you didn’t argue with your mom about basketball is life when she said it earlier, I knew it had to be woman problems.” Then he looks at me, ready and waiting to hear what I have to say.
“Her name is Reagan. Reagan Mills.” Dad’s eyes widen at that, and Mom just smiles.
“Everett’s daughter? Jordan’s sister? You sure you want to go down that road?” Dad is smart, and what he just said has been a question I’ve been asking myself for a while now.
“I have been trying to fight it. I pushed my feelings down. There’s too much going on to have a girlfriend. That’s always been my motto, you know?” I wait for a response.
“I know, Son. But if you’ve learned anything in the past year, it’s that time is never a guarantee.” Both he and Mom tear up at that, Mom placing her hand on his and squeezing.
“I think I may have lost my chance anyway,” I say the words out loud for the first time, realizing they scare me as much as my feelings for her do.
“What happened?” Mom pipes in. I’m sure she is eating this up.
“Drew Cole happened.” I say his name like it’s poison on my lips, and it feels like it is.
“Oh, he’s the handsome boy from Durham, right?” Mom says, and then closes her mouth, realizing she just said it out loud.
“Thanks, Mom. He is from Durham, yes. They went to high school together and have a complicated past. Whatever it was, he seems to have found a way to get a second chance with her, and I have no idea what to do or where I stand.”
“Have you told her how you feel?” Leave it to Dad to ask the obvious question. He’s the most direct person I know.
Mom swats at his arm. “Obviously not, Joel! If he had, she’d be with him.” I smile at that and the confidence my mom has in me.
“No, Dad, I haven’t. We sort of defined ourselves as friends a while back, and I thought that was what I wanted. But now…”
“It’s not.” He grins.
“I’m not sure. What do I do?” I ask the man who always has the answers. I don’t know how much longer he will be here to answer all my questions, and that is a sucker punch to the gut.
He sits there, thinking for a moment. Then he must find the words because he looks right into my eyes before he drops the biggest truth bomb right in my lap.
“You just need to decide one thing. Is she worth fighting for? If you hesitate at all, then be done. But if you know deep down in your soul, she’s it, then fight with all you have to get her and keep her.”
Silence fills the room as we all take in his words. Then I hear a sniffle and look to see my mom with tears in her eyes.
“I can’t wait to have a daughter!”
And just like that, the mood has lightened, and we’re laughing again.
Hugging my parents goodbye, I linger when I hold Dad. His body is so frail. He’s the opposite of the strong, healthy man I grew up with. This disease has taken so much from him, and I hate watching it happen.
He looks me in the eyes. “Riggs, I’m so proud of you.
I can’t wait to see you in a CTU jersey this year.
” I tear up because I don’t know how many games he’ll be able to attend.
But I’m holding on to hope. If nothing else, my dad is as stubborn as a mule and will fight to the very end.
I give him a nod and one more hug before I climb into my Challenger.
The entire drive home, I try to convince myself that all I want to fight for is basketball and not the beautiful brunette who has turned my world upside down.
It doesn’t work.