Chapter Nine
“Are we looking for a pick-up game?” Doug grinned beside Ray.
“I’m in.” Matt came forward. “I can play golf anytime.”
Emily linked arms with her husband. “If you’re short players, I’m in too.”
Ray tried not to be a chauvinist. Emily was such a delicate thing. He could probably snap her in two with one hand, but who was Ray to presume, just because she was smart and pretty, that she couldn’t play. He turned to Amy.
“Don’t look at me. I’ll be your cheering section. They don’t teach football at ballet school.”
He turned to Lisa.
“Sorry. Maid of honor duties call. I’ll see you guys later.” Lisa pushed to her tippy toes and kissed her husband on the cheek.
“How many kids want to play?” Ray asked, and four hands shot up without translation. He nodded. “Make sure it’s okay with your mothers, and we’ll play in the park across the street.”
This time the boys were the ones chatting animatedly at their elders. Ray wished he had some idea what they were saying, when Doug came up beside him. “Looks like the boys are successfully convincing their mothers that this is a good way to reward you.”
They stood patiently waiting, as mothers and sons gave and received last-minute instructions.
Then the elevator doors opened, and Josh came waltzing out. “Lisa said there was a football game?”
Matt laughed. “That’s what I thought too. Getting married is great, but the wedding prep is best left to the women.” Josh’s palm met Matt’s in a high five.
All they needed now were the boys to join them and make their way across the street.
Emily moved next to Amy. “There are enough boys for two teams, which lets me off the hook. Besides,” she said a little louder, “it will give us a chance to visit without all that testosterone around.”
Ray stifled a chuckle at the look Doug shot her, but Amy laughed outright. She had a beautiful laugh.
“We are ready,” the spokesman for the four boys announced.
“Then let’s go.” Ray grinned at his new teammates and nodded politely to the few family members still standing in the lobby.
At the foot of Diamond Head, the street in front of the hotel was no longer the busy thoroughfare found in the heart of Waikiki.
Crossing the road, Ray considered how to explain the principles of the sport to the boys.
A simple game of touch football seemed the easiest way to proceed.
By the time they were all gathered around him on the park lawn, he discovered he was stoked to teach the boys how to play.
“You two will be on my team.” Ray gestured to the original brothers, then turned to Doug. “You with me?”
Arms crossed, Doug dipped his chin in the affirmative.
“And you two boys will be a team with them,” Ray pointed. “But, for now, we’ll start with the basics. How to hold the ball.” Ray demonstrated, grabbing the ball with his fingertips just above the laces. “When you snap, throw the ball, your hand will curve under, making the ball spin.”
The four faces looked at him blankly.
“Any of you watch TV?”
The boys all nodded.
“Have you seen CSI?”
They all smiled.
“You know, when they show a bullet firing, how it spins in the air?”
Again the four faces nodded.
“That’s what a football will do if you throw it correctly.
” Ray called to Doug. “Go deep.” And then he demonstrated how to snap the ball.
Even though he wasn’t a quarterback, he still had a pretty good arm.
Doug ran back and caught it easily. Ray gave him a thumbs-up, and the boys all oohed and aahed.
Next he gave each of the boys a chance to throw the ball, making sure all four had an opportunity to catch at least a few times.
When he felt they were as comfortable with the ball as they could get today, he lined them up.
“We’re not going to play tackle ball, and we didn’t come prepared to play flag ball, so we’re going to play double touch. ”
Four faces frowned at him. Whether they were upset they weren’t getting to tackle or didn’t understand, he wasn’t sure.
Most of the teens he knew were way more vocal than these kids.
They listened carefully to his explanation, processed it, and tried to repeat it.
They were great students, even if they weren’t the most coordinated.
But instruction only went so far. The best way to learn football was to play football.
And even if it was with three guys he’d never met before and a handful of eager kids, he was here to play.
“Go. Go. Go.” Amy jumped up and down, clapping and screaming.
Doug had thrown the ball directly to the young boy who had almost drowned, and the kid ran as if his feet had wings.
Though she suspected Matt and Josh weren’t running quite as fast as they could have, they weren’t exactly hanging back either.
Another one of the boys caught up and tapped the kid’s arm twice, stopping the play.
“Yes.” Emily pumped her fist in the air. “First down.”
“And you figured that out how?” Amy had no clue what all the players were doing, but, she thought, if someone ran with the ball, then she should yell something encouraging. Go was about the only thing she could come up with that made any sense.
“In touch, a second completion is a first down.”
“And that was a second completion.” Though she had intentionally made a statement, it might as well have been a question because Amy didn’t even know what a first down was, never mind a completion.
“I’ve always thought, because of his past,” Emily said, “that Doug is exceptional in helping teens sort through challenges in their lives. But your Ray looks like he’s got the knack for working with kids too.”
My Ray?
“What does he do for a living?” Emily asked.
“Oh.” In all the conversations they’d had over the last three days, Amy couldn’t remember him mentioning what he did. “I don’t think I know.”
“You don’t think?”
“He played football in college and blew out his knee before the NFL draft pick, and majored in history.”
“History?”
“Yeah. I remember because he said he’d wished he’d studied something more practical, but we never got around to what he does now.”
“Can’t think of what else besides teaching that a history degree would be good for.” Emily narrowed her gaze and bobbed her head. “I bet he’s a teacher. And probably a good one. That would certainly explain his rapport with the kids.”
“Maybe.” But teaching seemed very practical to Amy. As close as she felt to Ray, her chest actually hurt at the realization of just how little she knew about him. And just how impossible whatever they had was.
“Looks like they changed the rules.” Emily cupped her mouth and yelled, “Run.”
Amy looked up but wasn’t sure what she was looking at.
At the end of the makeshift field, Matt and Josh stood to one side laughing, and all four boys were huddled in a pile.
Squinting, Amy watched as each of the boys peeled away and stood by one of the men.
Then Doug pushed to his feet, which left only Ray at the bottom of the stack.
Air seized in her chest. His words repeated in her head. I went left, and my knee went right. Silently she counted the seconds, not breathing until, still flat on his back, Ray’s arm shot straight up in the air, his hand gripping the ball.
“What’s going on?” Amy’s gaze remained on Ray.
“Looks like it’s the guys against the boys, and somebody decided tackling is okay.”
She couldn’t stand it anymore. “Why is Ray still on the ground?”
Fingers at her lips, Emily let out an ear-piercing whistle and then hollered, “Yea!” really loud before turning to face Amy. “He probably just got the wind knocked out of him. Anyone would with all those kids on him.”
“And Doug. Don’t forget Doug was in that tangle of arms and legs too.”
“You’re worried.” Emily’s smile slipped; her hand settled on Amy’s elbow. “He’s all right.”
“He has a bad knee.” When Ray sat up, Amy let out a relieved breath. When she saw him laughing, like the rest of the guys, she relaxed, chastising herself for overreacting.
“Look at me.” Emily tapped Amy’s arm again and studied her face. “You really do care.”
Amy glanced at the group of men and boys, laughing and backslapping and tripping each other as they resumed playing positions. “Yeah. I really do.”