“You have a key. Just come on in. You know where your room is.” He pauses. “Do you need me to come and get you?” Another pause. “Are you sure?”
My curiosity is piqued for sure. It sounds like Josephine, or Joey as Caleb calls her, might be coming for a visit.
“All right. I’ll see you in a few days.”
“Everything all right?” I ask.
“Yeah, I think so. That was my sister. She’s coming to visit.”
“Unplanned?”
He nods. “That’s not like her, but she said she just needs a break. We both know that our dad and her mom aren’t good options.”
“Definitely not,” I agree. Their family history is messy and all kinds of complicated. Caleb and Josephine have the same father but different mothers. The two of them have forged their own little tight-knit family that excludes their parents.
“What’s she doing these days?” I ask him.
“She works at some big-wig advertising firm in Springfield. She’s wicked smart with all that marketing shit.” He finishes off his water before placing the lid back on the bottle. “I hate that she’s two and a half hours away, but she loves what she does, and she’s damn good at it. She’s moved up the ladder pretty quickly in the short amount of time that she’s been there. She started right out of college, and now she’s a junior something or other. Don’t tell her I can’t remember her job title,” he jokes.
“Good for her.”
“I think I’m going to call it a night.”
“You getting old on me, Henderson?” I call him out, using his last name.
“Fuck off.” He laughs. “I’ll see your ugly mug in the morning.” With that, he stands and heads toward the back door.
“Night, my man,” I say with a wave. I should probably head inside as well, but it’s nice out, and the fire is still blazing. The last several weeks have been hectic from getting traded and starting training camp with a new team two days later. It took some time to get into the groove with my new teammates on the field, well, everyone except for Caleb. He and I just work together like a well-oiled machine. Now, here I am, a few days away from the first preseason game of the year.
It’s going to be weird for me not to wear a Thunder jersey, but so far, the trade has been good. I do need to find my own place to live, but Caleb insists that my staying with him is fine. I agreed to stay through the season. I’ll have more time once the season is over to look at houses and decide where I want to live. I also still need to sell my place in Chicago. It’s on the market, but as of right now, no takers. It’s in a private gated community, so maybe one of the new recruits to the Thunder will be interested. Hell, half of my neighbors were my Thunder teammates.
I don’t know how long I’m out here staring at the stars when my phone rings. Fishing the phone out of my pocket, I see my mom’s name. “Hello.”
“Brock, is everything okay?”
Her mom-dar is always on full alert. “Yeah. I’m just sitting out here around the fire. The guys left, and Caleb went to bed. I’m just relaxing.”
“Good. How was the training camp? I only got to talk to you for a little bit the other day.”
My mother’s “little bit” was actually almost an hour. “It was good. The team is tight. Took some time to mesh with everyone, but we finally found our groove.”
“Oh, good. I was worried about how that was going to play out.”
“What are you doing up this late?” I ask, pulling the phone away from my ear so I can check the time.
“I worked a late shift. I just got home. I was hoping I would get lucky and you’d still be up.”
“Mom.” I sigh. “I’ve told you that you can quit that job. Let me take care of you.”
“I will do no such thing, Brock Andrew Williams,” she scolds.
I know she means business when she does the full name drop. “Stubborn.” My tone is teasing, even though we both know I’m serious. I had to fight tooth and nail to buy her the house she lives in. She threw a fit, and I hated to threaten to have her old house torn down so she wouldn’t have a choice to get her to cave.
“That’s your money, son.”
“Mom. You busted your ass to keep me in gear and to get me to games and practices from the time I was five years old. I have more money than I can spend in my lifetime. I’ve invested well. Let me do this for you.”
“Nope. Not going to happen. Have you met any nice girls? You could give me a grandchild, you know,” she says, only half teasing.
“I promise you, if I ever happen to come across someone I think is worthy of your time, you will be the first to know.” I don’t tell her what she already knows, which is that there is a very slim chance of that happening. Not in the next few years. “How was your shift?” I ask to change the subject. Mom is an ER nurse at the local county hospital in Indiana, where I grew up.
“It was slow for once. You know, not a lot of action in this small town of ours.”
“How’s Howard?” I inquire. Howard is my mom’s boyfriend for all intents and purposes. She calls him her “man friend,” but they’ve been “friends” exclusively for about six years now. He’s a great guy who treats her right. That’s all that I can ask for.
“He’s doing well. He’s still coming with me this weekend. Is that okay?”
“You know it is. I have two tickets waiting at the booth for the both of you.”
“You nervous? First game with your new team?”
“A little, if I’m being honest. We have the preseason to work out the kinks. I think it’s more excitement to be on the field with Caleb again and to see where we can take the Ramblers this season than anything.”
“I sure did love to watch the two of you play together in college.”
“The A team.” I laugh.
“Most definitely,” she agrees. “All right, well, I won’t keep you. I just wanted to check in on you.”
“Now the truth comes out,” I tease.
“I’m your mother, Brock. I will never not want to check in on you. I don’t care if you’re twenty-nine or fifty-nine. If there is still breath left in my lungs, and I’m able, I’ll be checking on you. When you have kids, you’ll understand.”
“Love you, Mom.” I ignore the kids comment this time. I know she wants to be a grandma, but I’m not sure that will ever happen. I work all the damn time, and in my line of work, it’s hard to know who is with you for you, and who just wants your fame and money.
“Love you too, son. I can’t wait to see you next weekend.”
“Dinner after the game?”
“Yes. Howard and I are driving there on Saturday and not coming home until Monday. I can’t wait to hug you.”
I chuckle at her reply. She’s told me that since the day I left for college, whenever any time passed without seeing her. “Have a safe trip. Are you sure I can’t buy you a plane ticket? Howard too?”
“Don’t be silly. It’s not that far. We’re both excited about the road trip.
“I won’t get to see you after the game since there will be meetings, but I’m happy that you can be there. The team’s public relations rep has me booked.”