Chapter 39
Jackson
We won the semifinal and now we’re heading to States. I knew we would. This team is outstanding and can overcome adversity. Even when their own coach causes it.
It’s been a rough week. After they walked out on me, I let them sit on it for twenty-four hours. When we came back to practice again, there was tension, but we just picked up where we left off with drills. It was like the last few days didn’t exist.
And I was fine with letting it slide. For now. We had a game to win.
And win we did.
Now I’m home, drinking alone, feeling sorry for myself instead of out celebrating with the rest of the town.
Or with Chess.
My phone rings with a text and I’m diving for it so fast praying it's Chess.
Britt: I hope you’re decent, I’ll be there in five minutes
Me: whether I’m decent or not, I’m sure it won’t stop you from crashing through my door.
Britt: true. But I’d rather not see my brother’s junk which is why I’m giving you a five minute warning.
Shaking my head, I throw my phone on the table. I’m not in the mood for whatever shit she’s going to throw at me but it’s better to allow it to happen then avoid her.
True to her word, five minutes later, her and Tommy are walking through my door. Great, another country heard from. I swing my legs off the couch to the floor, righting myself but still not getting off the couch.
“This is an intervention,” Britt says.
I’m not amused. “There’s only two of you? Shouldn’t there be more people?”
She shrugs. “Really I’m enough by myself to stage an intervention but Tommy saw me walking up the path, so I let him tag along.”
He eyes her, grabs three beers from the fridge and comes to sit across from me, handing them out to each of us.
“Listen, for what it’s worth I was always okay with you and Francesca being together.
I just don’t understand why you needed to lie about it, though.
She came home hurt and then she perked up when she was with you and acting out this ridiculous scenario.
She was happy with you, so why fake the whole thing? ” Tommy asks.
“It wasn’t a lie so much as an omission.”
“Explain it to me,” he snaps and Britt places her hand on his shoulder.
Wow, Tommy doesn’t ever raise his voice. I’ve done more damage than I realize by getting Chess to fake the relationship all along.
Britt sits alongside me on the couch. “Big brother, we’ve heard her side. Now we need yours.”
I sigh and dive into my feelings on the situation. They already know the logistics, but they don’t know it was real to me from day one. They all deserve to hear it. Chess deserves to hear it, and not as she’s walking out of the door of my locker room.
“I knew it! I knew it all along and now I know you’re heart sick.
So, you know what happens next? You fix it.
You don’t have to leave. You don’t have to accept the job.
I see how happy you are since Chess came back.
The playboy grump everyone thought you were, is not who you really were then, and it certainly isn’t who you are now.
You don’t have to prove anything to anyone.
Britt continues, “You say there was something missing, that you wanted more. You thought you lost football and needed to go somewhere bigger to get it back. But you never lost football. You never lost the game, no matter what level you’re at, playing, coaching, watching,” she pauses.
“I think you know what was missing. And I think you know you found it now. You’ve already won, Jackson. ”
I do know.
“Chess is it for me but I’m too late. I’ve signed some sort of contract, I’m stuck and I have to go. And it’s not fair to ask her to uproot her life again and come with me. I don’t know how to fix this.”
Britt gets a sly look. “That’s why you have me.”