Forever mason, p.27
Forever Mason, page 27
“But—”
“No, buts. She’s an adult. Let her act like one,” she scolds me. “If she wants to go out on a date with him, it’s her choice. Not yours.”
My wife leaves me standing in the kitchen, with my mind racing. I only want what’s best for Josie, and if she thinks Nick might be it, who am I to stand in the way?
Thirty-Nine
Nick walks onto the football field with Noah one step behind him. Noah carries his football under his arm and a helmet in his other hand. Ever since I took over the football program at Beaumont High, Noah hasn’t missed a practice. And after Noah came down with an ear infection and had to be treated by Nick, did Josie finally give in and accept a date with him. I thought that once Nick moved back to Beaumont, they would be a couple, but Josie took things extremely slowly—according to Nick. I lost count of how many times he mentioned the idea of asking her out. It’s only after he and Josie had a talk, did he stop asking. I never asked Josie, or Katelyn for that matter, what she said to him to make him change his mind, because I didn’t want to get involved. After Nick moved back, we started hanging out more, and being in the middle of a new relationship is not where I wanted to find myself.
“Hey, bud.” Noah and I high-five. “How was school?”
Noah shrugs. He’s not a big fan of school but doesn’t hassle us in the morning when it’s time to go. “I got these today.” He holds up a pair of cleats. “Nick bought them for me.” I give Nick a ton of credit when it comes to Noah. He’s stepped up, even though he didn’t have to, and has made Noah a part of his life. Honestly, the first time Noah chose Nick over me, it hurt. I felt like I had been replaced by someone who didn’t deserve Noah’s attention. Of course, I was wrong to ever think that because Noah should give Nick his attention if he wants to do so, just like we all give Noah the attention he deserves.
“Why don’t you go sit down on the bench and put them on. We’ll see how they feel,” Nick says to Noah. He runs over to the sideline and sits down, eager to try out his new shoes.
Nick stands next to me, and we look out over the field at the players. “Are we ready for tomorrow?” he asks. After I took over the team, Nick came on staff as a volunteer. He could’ve gotten a paid position, but he’s coaching Noah’s peewee team. From the moment Noah was born, I planned to coach his peewee team, but being the varsity coach at the high school means my nights are tied up, and Nick offered to do it. I couldn’t exactly say no. Still, I gave him the title of assistant head coach because I value his opinion. He may not have played much in high school, but Nick understands the game in a way I can’t. Together, we make a damn good team.
I nod. “Yep. I’m confident going into this season.” Last year, we almost suffered our first loss, but I expected to take some lumps as a first-year coach. No one was more surprised than me when we went undefeated. I know it’s unrealistic to think I’m going to coach the kids to a win every game, but that is what I go out to do every Friday night. It’s what I did when I played here, and I feel like the kids should also expect to win. Although losing humbles people, so it’s good to lose a game every once in a while.
“Me too,” he says. “I really like the way Nan Barrington slips those tackles. He’s sneaky.” Nan is a junior and spent his summer in the weight room, toning his physique. He met me in the parking lot every morning at six while the others would roll in about seven or eight. When I locked up at a ten, Nan was still there, helping restack weights and asking me what else he could work on to become faster on the field. He’s by far my favorite player right now, and I’m running everything through him.
“He’s fun to watch.”
“But not anywhere near breaking your record.”
I laugh. “I wish someone would break it so the local press would stop talking about it. It’s not fair to the kids.”
“I heard a rumor,” Nick says.
“What’s that?”
“Someone with too much money is planning to build a high school sports museum for the surrounding counties over in Allenville.”
I’m not sure how I feel about it. “Oh. Who’d you hear this from?”
“A couple of the nurses were talking in the lunchroom at the office about it.”
“Huh.” It’s all I can really say. We both know who will be front and center, and I can easily bet neither of us is interested in seeing anything that has to do with . . . well, I’d rather not think or say his name.
“Uncle Mason, can I play?” Noah comes to stand between Nick and me. He’s so eager to play and doesn’t care that most of these boys are thirteen years older than him. The thing is, he can throw the ball almost as well as our starting quarterback, as long as no one is rushing him. He’s tiny compared to the grown-ass men out there.
I blow my whistle, and the guys line up. “For the next few minutes, we’re going to take a break and let Noah play for a minute. You can get water or stay on the field, your choice. Split up.” I say this knowing no one will leave the field. Everyone loves Noah.
Noah runs out and huddles with the first set of boys that call him over. When I let him in the huddles last year, Josie about lost her mind. She thought the boys were corrupting her son. I assured her they were doing no such thing, but I also made sure no one cussed in front of him or talked about the dirty tricks they would perform once they tackled someone. He’ll learn the tricks when he’s old enough to play. I think I started pinching thighs when I was about nine or ten.
Nick takes one side of the field, and I take the other, where Noah is. I get to the huddle and hear Nan call out one of the plays Noah knows. They clap and go to the line of scrimmage. “Remember what I taught you,” I say into Noah’s ear.
Noah gets behind our center and says his cadence. The center hikes the ball, and Noah drops back. He looks left and then right, before sending the ball ten yards into Nan’s chest.
I blow the whistle, much to Nan’s chagrin (I think he wanted to score) and tell everyone to set up again. We run the same play, and before I say anything, Nick blows his whistle. He saw the same defensive break down I had on the previous play.
“Did I do something wrong?” Noah asks.
“Absolutely not. You’re hitting Nan right in his chest. Do you think you hit targets?”
Noah nods. “I hit the one in the tire swing.” He’s right, although it’s not a tire swing. The little girl next to us thinks it is and asks him regularly if he wants to swing with her. He goes outside, but to him, the tire is there so he can throw the ball through the hole. As of late, I’ve moved the tire around to try and better his aim and release.
“Nan,” I call him over and explain that I want him to move his target. He accepts the challenge and gives Noah a high-five.
The boys set up again, and when Noah has the ball, Nan moves his hands toward his waist. Noah hits Nan in stride.
“Damn.”
“Was that right?” he asks.
I nod, set my hand on his shoulder, and crouch down. “Noah, I can’t wait to coach you in high school.”
He smiles and blushes. I gotta teach this boy to take a compliment.
The past couple of days have been very hectic. Katelyn hasn’t felt well and has stayed home from work, and with Josie working in Allenville, this puts me on Noah duty. I don’t mind, but things get a bit complicated, and timing becomes tight when my co-worker, the other P.E. teacher, calls out sick. I get that they might be ill, but it’s happened every other Friday for the past two months, and I’m tired of it. It might not be so bad if the school brought in a substitute, but they just expect me to cover the class or merge it with mine. Having twenty teens in a class is one thing. Add twenty to thirty more, and that gives me gray hair. Of course, the right thing to do is to say something, but then they’ll know it was me who complained, so it’s like, why bother. It would be nice if the administration took a stance or something.
The phone on my desk rings. I don’t bother to look down to see who’s calling before I pick it up. “Mr. Powell.”
“Hey, Mr. Powell.”
Even after all these years, her voice still sends my heart into a tailspin and can bring a smile to my face. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”
“I have a doctor’s appointment at four, and I’m wondering if you want to come with me.”
Normally, I’d have to say no because it’s Friday and we usually have games, but it’s a bye week, and I’m free. “Of course. Do you want me to pick you up or want me to meet you there?”
“If you could pick me up, that would be great.”
“I’ll be there as soon as school is out today.”
“Okay.” There’s a long pause until she clears her throat. “Mase, I’m sort of scared.”
“Don’t worry, babe. I got you.” The truth is, I’m scared too. For as long as I’ve known Katelyn, she’s rarely been sick. She’s had a cold here and there, and maybe a twenty-four hour bug, but nothing that has kept her in bed for days on end. We thought she might be pregnant. In fact, I sort of hoped she was, but she’s like clockwork. I suppose that’s for the best though, because we live with Josie, and I don’t know what we’d do if we had to get our own place.
I thought for sure I’d be able to save a lot of money by living with Josie, but that hasn’t been the case. My truck needed a bunch of work, which exhausted our savings. Katelyn and I thought about buying another car, but we’re in the middle of an inflation, and everything is overpriced. Not to mention, we are still paying off her student loans, and Katelyn’s job at the bank went from full-time to part-time, which we hadn’t planned on. She has applications all over town as a bookkeeper, but jobs around Beaumont are few and far between.
After I pick Noah up from school, I drop him off at his grandparents' and then swing by and grab Katelyn. The Preston’s will watch Noah until either Josie is back in town or Katelyn’s appointment is over. While he’s well behaved, no one wants to go sit in a doctor’s office.
I sit in the hard chair while Katelyn sits on the bed. She answers every question the nurse asks and then repeats herself when the doctor comes in. I swear, no one communicates with each other. It’s not like my wife is going to change her mind when she says, “something is wrong.” At least she listens to her body.
The doctor finally has her lie back and starts poking around her abdomen. When Katelyn flinches, I hop up and go to her side. “I’m okay,” she tells me as she looks into my eyes, but I see tears. I lean down, kiss her forehead, and stay there.
“I got you.”
“I know.” She tilts her head into mine for comfort.
“Katelyn, when was your last period?”
“Three weeks ago,” she answers. “I’m very regular.”
The doctor looks over Katelyn’s chart and frowns. “Did we get a urine sample when you came in?”
Katelyn nods, and the doctor flips a page. “Okay, I’ll be right back. I don’t see the results here.”
As soon as the door closes, I help Katelyn sit up. “I knew something was wrong.”
“She just went to get your pee in the cup results,” I say to try and lighten the mood.
The door opens, and the doctor smiles. “Well, as I suspected, congratulations are in order.”
“For what?” I ask.
“You’re pregnant.”
Complete silence fills the room. It’s so quiet I can hear the people in the other room chatting away about her diaphragm not fitting, and I start to wonder if Katelyn has one of those and, if not, does she need one.
I clear my throat. “Come again?”
“I think that’s the problem,” Katelyn mutters. “I’m not late, though, and haven’t missed any periods. Are you sure?”
The doctor nods, and before she can say anything, the door opens, and another doctor walks in. At least, I’m assuming the woman in the white coat is a doctor. She smiles at us and shakes our hands. “I’m Dr. Maye, the OB on staff here.”
“I’m Katelyn, and this is my husband, Mason. And we’re both a bit confused because I haven’t missed a period.”
“I can easily understand your confusion. Your urine showed the hormone HCG is present, which only occurs when there’s a placenta. So, we’re going to take you down and do an ultrasound. We want to take a look at your uterus and see what’s going on.”
“Okay,” Katelyn says, but she doesn’t seem convinced.
A nurse brings in a wheelchair, which Katelyn vehemently protests, saying she can walk, but no one listens to her. The nurse doesn’t even let me push her and instead hands me Katelyn’s clothes to carry. There’s a lump sitting heavily in my stomach. It’s a combination of fear and excitement, but mostly fear that something may be very wrong with my wife.
The room they take us to is dark, with soft music playing. The nurse helps Katelyn onto a table, and Dr. Maye brings the rolling stool toward the side of the bed. The nurse drapes a thin medical blanket over Katelyn’s legs and lifts her gown, exposing her belly. I try to get a good look to see if there’s a growing bump like Josie had, but Katelyn looks the same to me.
“You can sit here.” The nurse points to a stool beside my wife. I set her clothes down on a chair by the door and take the seat next to Katelyn. She’s scared. I can see the panic in her eyes.
“Whatever it is, we’ll be fine. I got you.”
“I know.”
“Okay, Katelyn, let’s get started. The gel might be a little cold,” Dr. Maye says as she squirts blue stuff onto Katelyn’s belly. She then adds some wand looking thing to her stomach and presses several buttons on her keyboard. The monitor comes alive with a black glob of who knows what, along with some white shadows. Dr. Maye moves her tool around, presses more buttons, and then holds her hand steady.
“If you look here,” she points to the screen. I lean forward to get a better look. “This is your baby.”
“What?” Katelyn asks. “Are you sure?”
“I am.” Dr. Maye moves the monitor closer to Katelyn. “Right here, you’re measuring about ten weeks.”
“Ten weeks? But I haven’t missed a period.”
“Our bodies are different. They react differently to certain situations.” The doctor responds while still moving the wand around.
“Is the baby okay?” I ask.
“Uh . . .” there’s a massively long pause while the doctor presses buttons and moves her tool. All I can think is that our baby is not okay. “If you look here.” She points to the screen, and we lean closer. “This is baby A, and this is baby B.”
“What does that mean?” I ask.
“We’re having twins?” Katelyn says in a straight panic.
“Wait, what?”
The doctor laughs. “Congratulations, you’re having twins.”
Silence fills the ride home. Katelyn stares out the window while I hold her hand. Deep down, I know she’s happy. This news is just unexpected. It’s one thing to find out you’re pregnant, but to find out you’re having twins, it’s a whole other ball game. I’m in shock, but I am happy that my swimmers know how to get the job done and done well. I want kids: five, six, or seven of them. Hell, I’ll take a whole damn team if I can. I also respect that I’m not the one who has to carry and birth them, so I’ll leave the number of children up to my wife.
“Do you want to go to the park where Josie and Noah are?” Katelyn asks me.
“Noah’s at his grandparents,” I tell her.
“No, Josie said he had something at the park later. I’m sure she said it was today.”
The last thing I want to do is tell my wife she’s wrong. “Sure.” I turn at the stoplight and head toward the park. I suspect she wants to tell Josie what’s going on. I can’t say I blame her. I wish I had my best friend to talk to, but yeah . . .
I pull into the parking lot and see Nick’s truck and Josie’s car. Damn, I must’ve spaced that Noah had a game today. I could’ve messed everything up for him. I park and help Katelyn out of the truck. I hold her in my arms, inhaling the scent of her shampoo. “I love you. I know this is scary, and we’re probably not ready, but we got this. We can do it.”
“I know,” she says as she leans into me. “I was okay with one, but two.” She shakes her head. “I don’t know how I’m going to handle three Masons in my life.”
I laugh and kiss the tip of her nose. “You think they’re boys?”
“Of course, they are. How else can you explain the havoc they’re already doing on my body.”
“They’ll worship the ground you walk on. I’ll raise them right.”
“I know you will.”
We part ways when we get to where Josie is. Noah has a game or a scrimmage, and I must’ve forgotten about it. I stand on the sideline with Nick while Katelyn goes to sit with Josie.
“Sorry, I must’ve forgotten.”
“You didn’t,” Nick says. “Their coach called and asked if we could put something together because they’re losing a game this weekend due to a forfeiture.” He points to the opposing team’s coach.
“Oh, gotcha.”
I stand there with Nick, coaching right along the side of him until halftime. That’s when I look over and see Josie sitting by herself. I go to her and sit down. “Where’s my wife?”
“She went to the bathroom.”
“Ah.” I look over my shoulder and then back at Josie. “I knocked her up good.”
Josie rolls her eyes. “If you leave her, I’ll kill you.”
“I’m not going anywhere, Josie. I love her more than anything in this world, and now that she’s carrying my babies—Katelyn is on the highest pedestal I can put her on. She’s my life. I’d rather die than not be with her.”
“Just remember that when she needs you the most.”
I bump my shoulder into hers. “I was there for you.” I remind her. “Still am.”
Josie nods and bumps me back. “I can’t believe you’re going to have twins.”
“Like I said, I knocked her up good!”
Forty
I sit on the floor and rummage through a memory box. It’s an old shoebox that I used to put important things in and marked it “Mason’s Keep Out!” Each time I pick up a picture or an article, it’s Liam and me doing something stupid or celebrating in the end zone. Every item brings back a flood of memories and sends me back to when things were different, and our plans were different. I’m supposed to be cleaning out my childhood bedroom, so Katelyn and I can turn this into our bedroom later this week. And as I look around at the posters, the trophies, and photos, I have to wonder if I’m to blame for everything that has happened in the past five years. Did Liam leave because of me? Deep down, I know he didn’t. He left because he needed something different out of life, and he’s stayed away because he’s selfish.
