67. THIRTY-SEVEN
THIRTY-SEVEN
EDEN (two weeks later)
Macon has a career in hostage negotiation ready for him when he’s older, because against all odds, Alex retained his place on the team. Not only that, but he kept his captaincy.
I’m not sure if Jacqueline conceded because she was moved by my son’s valiance or if she crumbled under the pressure of the entire nation, who really rallied behind us after the display at the press conference.
Within an hour, Macon was on every news site, his speech clipped up on social media, with thousands of comments tagging Purview, pleading (and threatening) for them to keep Alex on the team.
Ironically, they found themselves in the eye of the sort of media storm they were so keen on avoiding.
Sucks to be them, I guess.
But it feels great to be us, especially as I watch my son being hauled over the barrier at the end of another Seattle Strikers victory. If they keep playing the way they are, the championship will be theirs long before the season ends.
In the center of the pitch, Alex sits on a plastic foldaway chair.
His long hair is loose around his shoulders, catching in the wind that blows in from the open roof of the stadium.
He runs a hand through it mourningly, but there’s a soft smile on his face as Macon approaches that tells me he feels no regret for what he’s about to do.
Coach Carter stands behind him, clippers in his hand and an expression of utter jubilation on his face. He might be a hardass, but the man has the current excitement level of a three-month-old labradoodle.
As do Roman and Leo, who have made their way across the pitch to stand by the barrier in front of Brynn, Aspen, and me.
“I can’t believe he’s actually going through with this.” Leo shakes his head.
“I can.” Brynn grins. “There isn’t a lot my brother wouldn’t do for the people he loves. And he loves the shit out of that kid.”
He does.
He really does.
After we got home from the conference with the news that a final decision on Alex’s place on the team would come the next day, he’d spent hours playing video games with Macon before making all his favorite foods.
Then he’d insisted on a campout in the living room, because neither one of us wanted to let Macon out of our sights that night.
“He loves Eden the most,” Roman jumps in.
“Nah.” I smile as I watch Alex tickle Macon on the big screen. “He’s got enough room in his heart to love us all the same.”
And that’s just the way I want it. I don’t want to compete with my son, or his sister and best friends.
It serves no purpose, and it’d be in vain anyway.
Because Alex, whether he realizes it or not, has the capacity for more love than anyone I’ve ever known.
He’s just spent his entire life trying to convince himself otherwise.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” Coach Carter’s voice booms through the sound system.
“Thank you all for waiting before you leave. I know the away fans have left by now, hanging their heads in shame, I’m sure, but it means a lot to have the rest of you here to witness what is surely going to be Alex’s greatest loss in history. ” He pauses. “His hair.”
The stadium rumbles with laughter, and Coach waits until it tapers off.
“Sad for me as it is, I’m going to pass the honor of shaving Alex’s head over to this kid here.
” He ruffles Macon’s hair. “Because if it weren’t for this brave young man, Alex wouldn’t be sitting here right now, and he certainly wouldn’t have been able to score the winning goal in the eighty-fifth minute tonight, so I think we’ve all got some real appreciation to show. ”
Applause like I’ve never heard it shakes the grandstands. Thousands of people, all at once, cheering and hollering for my son, who has been hailed a hero by the Seattle Strikers fans.
I’d wanted so desperately to keep him out of the media.
But I think that’s a lost dream for me now, especially as Macon and I will be moving in with Alex to the house in the suburbs when the keys are exchanged next week.
I will still do my best to protect him from the paparazzi, but I won’t steal away moments like these.
Besides, my incredible, courageous, endlessly kind son deserves to feel the gratitude of seventy thousand fans. He saved their star player. He saved Alex’s dream.
Macon blushes fifty shades of red on the big screen, but he bows like the professional performer he is and laughs like a hyena when Alex pulls him in for a hug. They exchange words I’ll never know, and that’s okay. This moment is theirs. And I hope they have many more like it.
“Before we get started, I think Alex has a few things to say.”
There’s some shuffling as the microphone is passed between hands, and Alex stands, spinning in a slow circle to address as many people as he can.
“Thanks, Coach.” He clears his throat. “When I originally agreed to do this with Macon, I wasn’t planning on saying any words.
But a couple of weeks ago, this kid did something so brave that it made me realize…
if a ten-year-old boy can have the courage to stand in front of a room of journalists and the big bosses of an MLS team and speak his truth, then maybe I can learn a little something from him. ”
He looks down at the ground and toes a piece of turf. “For those who don’t know, we’re shaving my head to raise money for the Poppy Fields Children’s Home tonight.”
“Oh my God,” Brynn gasps beside me. “Is he gonna…?”
“But the thing none of you know is that I once spent time there myself.”
Holy shit.
Tears well in my eyes as I watch him, the man who once couldn’t talk about this to anyone, now tell an entire stadium and the nation watching at home.
“My parents died when I was ten. The same age as Macon here. I won’t go into the gritty details, but it was sudden, and my sister and I weren’t prepared for it.
With no family in the state to take us in, we found ourselves on the steps of a children’s home, where we lived for two years until we were adopted by our now parents, Jack and Libby.
They can’t be here with us tonight because their knees aren’t what they used to be, but I think we should all give them a hand for giving Brynn and me a second chance at a childhood. ”
Applause thunders through the stadium once more.
“That isn’t to say that our time at the Poppy Fields Children’s Home was dark.
There’s a lot of greatness that happens there.
So much love given to children who need it the most, and I’m so grateful that that’s where we ended up, because I know kids who find themselves in other homes don’t always get the same experience. ”
Brynn’s hand finds mine and squeezes. I glance at her and find her cheeks as tear-stained as my own.
“All of this to say that they really deserve the money we’re hoping to raise tonight.
So, scan the QR code displayed on the big screens right now, and give what you can.
I’ve got a boy here who really wants to be principal for the day, and I know you guys can make it happen.
” He lowers the microphone, considers something, then raises it again.
“And as a bonus, I’ll match whatever you raise.
” The mic goes down then up again. “Within reason. I know Macon has collected himself a few fans up and down the country in the last couple of weeks, but I’m not a billionaire, y’know? ”
There’s more laughter as he hands the mic back to Coach Carter and retakes his seat.
Macon steps up behind him, clippers in hand, his cheeks pink and a broad smile on his face. He makes the first pass, and a chunk of dark-blond hair falls to the turf. It’s over within fifteen minutes.
A barely recognizable Alex stands, takes Macon’s hand in his, and together, they take a bow.
Donations will be open until tomorrow night, so we won’t know until then how much has been raised, but given the cataclysmic level of applause, I have a good feeling Macon will have the school contest in the bag.
“What are you waiting for?” Brynn nudges me.
“What?”
“Yeah, E. What’s the hold up?” My sister mirrors Brynn’s action but with considerably more force that has me almost toppling over the barrier. “Go get your man.”
“Oh.” I shake my head. “This is their moment. I don’t want to intrude.”
“Don’t be an idiot,” Aspen says.
Brynn, who has more tact than my sister, nods her head in Alex and Macon’s direction. “They’re waiting for you.”
I look across the grass, and sure enough, my first love and my newest love are both watching me intently. Alex holds out his hand, beckoning me to him, and I guess that’s all the motivation I need.
“Leo, help her over,” Brynn instructs, and two hands find my waist and hoist me over the barrier. “Now go.”
I don’t look back.
I run toward the two great loves of my life. I run toward the boy who made me who I am and the man who loves me for it. I run toward my future. My home. My happiness.
I run toward July.