Chapter 29
Twenty-Nine
If you’re going to be weird, be confident about it.
—Weaver’s secret thoughts
Weaver
Two months later
“Swear to Christ,” I grumbled. “If you do not stop sharing that video, I’m going to paddle your damn ass!”
Eddy blew me a kiss before she got into her car and drove to the fieldhouse where she was meeting her team to drive to the state championship.
I’d be following later.
Way later.
“You ready to go?” I asked my girl.
“Yeah,” Bossy said. “We’re just meeting them for lunch, right? Then we’re going to the game.”
“We’re going to the game.” I chuckled. “We’re just meeting them at the diner to eat, then they’re going to follow us to the game.”
“Okay, good.” Bossy sighed. “It’ll be good to see them.”
“Agreed,” I said as we headed out.
“When are you going to let me drive?”
I looked at my girl. “You drive all the time with Eddy.”
“Yeah, but not with you.”
“There’s only so much control I have, and it’s bad enough driving through all these mountain passes on my own. I think I might suffer a stroke if I had to sit in the passenger seat and trust you with my life.”
She snorted. “You’re so extra, Dad.”
“Extra, but alive,” I joked. “And you only have like a week left. Give me the week, Bossy. You’re only my little girl for so long.”
She rolled her eyes, but didn’t complain again until we were about an hour into our breakfast.
“Sentenced to thirteen years?” My dad was aghast. “That doesn’t seem long enough at all.”
“Agreed,” I said. “Her dad got thirteen. Audrey got four. The mom got the most at fifteen with her little stunt at the beginning of the season. And Audrey’s father got two and a half with a chance of parole at one.”
“What a shame,” Mom said. “All those children exploited. And for what? Their sick viewing pleasure? And why would Audrey even go along with that? I mean, she got nothing out of it except a prison sentence.”
“Amen,” Dad agreed.
“Her reasoning was that she liked getting paid to do nothing. All she did was look the other way and run the Mother’s Day Out program. She wasn’t hurting anyone.”
“Uh-huh.” Mom rolled her eyes. “Just because she didn’t take part in the actual exploitation doesn’t mean that she didn’t open the door for the two pillars of society to play their sick games.”
“You and me agree,” I said. “The weirdest thing was that the so-called deacon of the church turned a blind eye. I mean, he saw that shit on their computer and helped them hide it. That’s even crazier to me.
He didn’t agree at all with what they were doing.
You could tell he was horrified. Yet he hid it. ”
“One can’t know why they do crazy things. Crazy is hard to understand,” Dad said.
“It’s time to go,” Bossy ordered when there was a lull in the conversation. “I don’t want to miss a single second of this game.”
I didn’t bother to point out that if we left now, we’d still be there a half hour early.
“She really likes it here, doesn’t she?” my mom asked, bumping me with her shoulder.
“She does,” I said as I handed Bossy my card. “Go pay, girl. Then use the restroom. We’re not stopping.”
It was two hours away in Bozeman, and though we had plenty of time to spare, I hated stopping.
“Yeah, yeah.” Bossy hopped up and all but ran to the counter to pay.
My dad watched her go with a smile. “I haven’t seen her smile like that in a long time.”
“Agreed,” my mother murmured. “Just wish I could see Pippa get her life together.”
“It’s getting together,” I said. “She’s on her way up here, isn’t she?”
“Yeah.” Mom nodded. “Name’s changed. Everything’s fixed. But I still have a really bad feeling.”
“Me, too,” Dad said.
“Give it time.” I stood up. “Y’all head to the bathroom, too. I’m seriously not stopping.”
Dad snorted. “Whatever.”
It took us exactly two hours to get to the game, and when we arrived, I was stunned to see so many people there.
“There’re my friends!” she cried out. “Bye!”
I let her go, heading to the green side where our fans were setting up.
“This is a lot of people.”
“It’s a state game,” I pointed out. “Apparently, it’s a huge deal.”
“It is,” a parent that I’d noticed over the soccer season announced. “This is a very huge deal. No team has ever won three state championships in a row. Yet we’re close to doing it.”
The game was freakin’ awesome.
Both teams were highly skilled and determined, but sadly, we fell short.
When I got down to my woman, she looked sad but proud.
“They played well,” I praised. “Shoot outs aren’t where I expected the game to end…that was impressive.”
“They played well. I’m proud of them.” She walked into my arms. “The goalie’s going to feel horrible, though.”
“Yeah.” I glanced at her over Eddy’s head. “But she’ll get over it. There’s next year.”
“There’s next year.” She nodded, her face pressed against my chest. “What’s in your pocket that’s poking me?”
My heart rate picked up. “Ummm…”
She pulled back.
“What is it?” she pushed.
I reached into my pocket for the ring box that was sitting there since this morning.
Her breath hitched.
“Is that…”
I flipped the box open and showed her the simple, small diamond band.
“I know that you don’t wear jewelry,” I said. “So I tried to find something for you that you could wear all the time, and it not get in your way while you’re coaching or playing. Or that you’ll have to take off all that much.”
She sniffled.
“Will you marry me, Edith?”
“I’ll marry the heck out of you, Weaver.” She bounced on her toes. “And twice on Sunday.”