Chapter 32
Johnson
MID-OCTOBER (THREE-ISH WEEKS LATER)
As we march into the locker room after today’s win, we’re six and one. Six and fucking one, after grabbing two wins and losing one in the last three games.
And now it’s the bye week—a whole week off.
I look around at the guys in the room, and there’s no denying that our team chemistry is incredible. Both sides of the ball, not only playing well, but clicking inside the locker room. Everyone getting along, sharing jokes, exhilarated about where we’re headed.
Which looks to be the playoffs. We even have a chance to finish at the top of our conference and get a free pass into the second round. Signing Paul Graves has helped for sure, as defenses don’t know yet how to cover him in our schemes.
Everything with Grace is going so well too. The Tuesday dates have continued, and I’ve pushed myself to think of different things to do that we can also keep quiet, so we’re not always stuck at home.
Two weeks ago, I bought out three hours at her favorite indie romance bookstore, letting her tell me all about her ride-or-die authors as we strolled down the aisles.
Last week, we had a couples massage at a local resort, where I rented a lakeside villa for the evening.
We’ve also been dutifully checking things off her wish list (what a duty). Shower fun, fooling around in a car (a throwback to high school that’s overrated in my opinion, but she wanted to try it), using a blindfold—check, check and check.
This past Sunday, she’d let slip during a cuddling session that she was starting to feel ready to do…everything.
“I want it to be you, Johnson,” she said softly from our cuddle cocoon. “To lose my virginity with you.”
“I’m yours when you’re ready. You decide when and where, Grace. No rush.”
She wiggled against me, snuggling closer against my body. “Soon.”
Beyond all the fun with her list, we’re in so deep with each other.
Last Tuesday, after the massage, we crashed on the couch in the villa to watch some TV.
All of a sudden, we started staring at each other, a mix of awe, affection, and thrill in our expressions.
Like we couldn’t believe we’d found each other.
Not to mention, she spends the night pretty much every time we make plans now, and we usually find one or two days to be together beyond Tuesdays. I even gave her a drawer in my bathroom.
Maybe it’s fast. But we’d already had a strong connection before things turned physical, and being intimate with each other on every level now—it’s no surprise our relationship is intensifying.
The Waves bye week has been a potential milestone in my mind for telling Landon, and I can see Grace and I moving to a crossroads quickly.
Are we going to share with Landon now, with how well things are going between us?
Or wait longer, maybe even until the end of the season, so we don’t stir the pot with the team?
Anxiety hovers over me today that we might make the wrong choice. I know one thing—I’m not giving up Grace—but what’s the right thing to do with that as a given?
I really need someone to talk to, but my options are limited. I start with Carter, pulling him into the otherwise empty quarterback room after today’s win.
“What’s going on?” he asks. “I only have like ten minutes tops before I need to meet Jess.”
“This is about Grace and me,” I admit, trying to keep my cool.
He makes a grimace. “Yeah, that fun subject.” He crosses his arms. “What’s the latest? I know from Jess’s chats with Grace that you’re still seeing each other.”
“Yeah, so it’s going really well. Like, really well.”
His expression shifts, looking a little more empathetic. “Okay, that’s good, J.”
I sit at the end of the meeting table in the room. “To cut to the chase, we’re getting to a place though that it feels wrong not to tell Landon. Hell, to tell the world.”
He lets out a breath. “Shit, yeah, I get that. I can’t imagine having to hide my relationship with Jessica after—what’s it been?”
“Seven weeks. She’s staying over, multiple times a week—”
“I don’t need the details, J.” He half-heartedly chuckles. “I’m already enough of an accessory to the crime.”
“What would you do if you were me?”
He looks contemplative. “Yeah, it’s messy because of the season we’re having so far, isn’t it? If we were the same mediocre team as last year, I’d say fuck it, tell him and we’ll work through any blow back. You guys are so tight too, I’m sure he’d get to an okay place about it eventually.”
“But not this year, right?” I say, agreeing with him. “Even a couple of weeks with weird energy in the locker room could keep us from winning the division if it turns into losses. I just can’t swallow being the cause of fucking up the team, Carter.”
“Is it only the team dynamic then? You don’t sound like you feel too guilty about your friendship, if I can be blunt.”
“It held me back initially from my interest in her, but now…What should I feel guilty about? Falling for his sister? It’s hard to feel too bad when all I want is to protect my chance with her.
” I pause. “I do think our friendship would ultimately emerge okay, after he has time to see my true intentions. The team though, we can’t afford the time it’ll take for him not to be pissed at me. ”
He’s silent for a few seconds. “I see your dilemma. I don’t really have answers, but I promise to stay quiet for you.”
“Thanks, man.”
“Jess has made some interesting threats if I don’t anyway.”
“Do I want to know?” I laugh, ready to break the tension in the room.
He smiles back. “Nah, but let’s just say, I’m fully incentivized to keep my mouth shut.”
Damn, well, this conversation hasn’t really helped me work through my concerns, but it’s good to know he has my back.
As I drive home from the game, I’m still unsettled, maybe even more so. One other name stands out that I know won’t tell a soul anything and only has my best interests at heart. Mom.
Once I’m plopped on a couch in my TV room, I decide to call her.
“Hi, Johnny,” she says as she answers the phone, sounding a little preoccupied.
“Hey, is this an okay time to talk? I just got home from our last game before our break.”
“Yes.” It sounds like she’s switched to speaker. “I’m just cleaning up the living room of Emma’s toys. You must be thrilled for the week off.”
“Definitely.”
It’s quiet for a moment. I don’t really know where to start.
“Is something wrong?”
“So I have something I want to run by you.” I pinch the bridge of my nose. “Something that’s bugging me.”
We used to chat all the time when I was a teenager needing advice, but these days it’s rare that I bring an issue to my mom. She must recognize that something significant is going on, because she picks the phone back up and takes me off speaker.
“Let me sit down so I can listen better. What do you want to talk about?”
I briefly feel the awkwardness of being a twenty-three-year-old guy speaking to his mom about a girl. But then I shake it off—my mom truly won’t think twice about helping me talk this through.
“There’s this woman…someone important that’s come into my life.”
Mom’s voice goes up an octave. “Oh, Johnny.”
“I’ve been interested in her for a while, but it’s only recently all come together.”
“That’s wonderful.”
“The thing is, Mom….” Time to rip off the bandaid. “It’s Landon’s sister, Grace. We’ve been dating in secret.”
“Oh…oh…”
“And we haven’t told Landon. Barely anyone knows, really. In the beginning, we kept it secret to see how things evolved between us. But now, our relationship isn’t really in question. We really like each other.”
“Okay, so are you going to tell Landon? Before it gets any deeper?”
I stay quiet for a couple of beats. “I don’t know.”
“Johnny.”
I sigh, and then paint the picture for her of my concerns and why Landon would be angry.
“Are you certain he would respond that way?”
“Fairly certain, yeah. He has a lot of trust issues.” I don’t add the fact that he’d literally ask me to protect Grace from guys like me.
“Okay, I understand what you’re struggling with. How can I help?”
“I’ve just—I’ve worked so hard to be everything that my coaches, my team need. Years of figuring out how to be the leader, a role model that everyone expects. And that I legit want to be. The opposite of the crap dad threw at me when I was younger.”
“Oh Johnny, you are that person.”
“Yeah, but in the meantime, there’s no way I can give up on Grace and me now,” I explain. “And part of me feels like that’s a selfish choice when it could have consequences for the team. Exactly what a leader shouldn’t do.”
“No, no, you deserve to be happy. You fell for someone, and it’s a complicated set of circumstances. You’re human. And that’s okay.” Her voice is confident and soft at the same time. “You’re doing the best that you can to do the right thing, and that makes you a wonderful person. Not selfish.”
I feel my chest decompress with her reassurance. “I really needed to hear that, Mom. Thank you.”
“Good. I’ll say it again if you need it. But if I can ask another question, Johnny, what does Grace say about telling Landon?”
“I need to talk to her about it. Grace and I have a bunch of days where we plan to hang together during my week off. She’ll have classes, but I’ll do my workouts then.”
“I’m so happy to be your sounding board, Johnny, but you and Grace need to decide this together. So that’s a good plan.”
I hum in response and, likely recognizing we’ve fully mined this topic for now, she begins asking me about the game earlier. After I share some of the highlights from behind the scenes, we start signing off.
“Oh wait, Johnny, do you know about the storm headed your way?” I rarely pay attention to any details like that during the season, as she knows. “Tropical Storm Erin? It’s supposed to be a hurricane by the time it hits Florida tomorrow night.”
“Actually, yeah, some of the guys moved up their flights for their family vacations this week to get out early tomorrow.”
“Okay, just keep an eye on it and be safe.” She doesn’t sound too worried. There’s not really cause to be. I’m inland enough that storm surge isn’t a big deal, and my house was built with top-of-the-line materials to handle Florida weather, including a powerful generator.
“Sure, Mom.”
When we hang up, I go outside and check on the generator to be safe.
As I swing back around to the part of the yard that oversees the mock field, I pause and stare across the crisply cut grass.
The circle on the fifty-yard line, hash marks, endzones—all reminding me of what it took to get here and what’s on the line for the Waves this season.
Fuck. Grace may have better insight about how Landon’s going to react, so I know talking to her is the next step.
That conversation won’t happen now, though, because Grace is spending tonight helping Landon reveal his surprise trip to Rori for her twenty-first birthday. They leave for the Caribbean tomorrow morning.
After tomorrow morning though, Grace is mine for the week. I break out in a smile at that thought. We’ll sort out what we want to do about Landon, and then I’ll get quality time with my girl for days.
Mother Nature has a way of shaking up your plans, however.
After a morning workout the next day, and lively exchanges in our Waves group chat where guys confirm their vacation flights took off (including Landon), I flip on the sports news in my TV room to chill for a bit.
Grace plans to hunker down with me tonight during the storm, and she’s driving here around five after her last class.
After watching about fifteen minutes of the sports news, I start zoning out. My body and brain welcoming the break, and I don’t resist fading off into a nap, with the news as background noise.
Blissful, peaceful sleep, with the soothing knowledge I’ll be with Grace in just a few hours.
.
.
.
THIS IS THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE: A HURRICANE WARNING IS IN EFFECT FOR THE GREAT ORANGE COUNTY/ORLANDO AREA. ALL RESIDENTS SHOULD…
Oh shit, what? I snap open my eyes and look at my phone, where the blaring alert is coming from.
Then I glance outside through my windows.
There’s been a complete shift in the weather.
Dark grey doom clouds are all I can see, and the wind is howling, blowing my palm trees and shrubs every which way.
I must have been out for a few hours. I look at my phone, and yep, it’s after four. Fuck.
And on my phone are messages from Mom, Grace, and others.
MOM: They just announced Hurricane Erin shifted, and it’s going to go right over you now. Stay inside. It’s reached Category 3.
She sends several other panicked messages after that, largely wondering why I’m not responding, so I send her a text with reassurance. “All good. I was napping. Will be careful.”
Except, I’m really worried about Grace now.
Is she stuck in class, having to drive all the way here in this weather? I switch to her texts, which are from over two hours ago. Shit.
GRACE: They canceled classes. I’m back at my place.
GRACE: What do you want to do about tonight?
I quickly calculate the options, like I’m making a play on the field with the clock ticking and large defenders rushing at me. Only one choice seems acceptable.
JOHNSON: Sorry, Goldie, I was asleep when everything shifted with the storm. Stay put.
JOHNSON: I’m coming to you.