Baggage Check (33 page)
Authors: M.J. Pullen
“Actually, I must have hit my head on something, because I realized that I needed
you
.”
He laughed. “When it comes to women, head injuries always work in my favor. I should warn you, though, the old house I just bought in Birmingham might be haunted, too.”
“I think I can handle that,” she said. “Just promise me we can get someone else to clean it.”
“Promise.” He put his forehead against hers.
To one side, Rebecca saw Jake and Marci dancing nearby, and wondered if Marci would write about all this in her next blog. She would have to start reading more consistently to keep up with everyone, now that she was moving back to Alabama.
“So, this is
my
happy ending,” she said, almost to herself.
“Nope,” Alex said, pulling her closer. “This is the beginning.”
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GUEST POST BY JAKE STILLWELL (AKA SUBHUB HIMSELF)
BLOG: THE CARE AND FEEDING OF A SUBURBAN HUSBAND
{ Entry #199: (Untitled) }
Wednesday, November 2, 2016
This week in Oreville, Alabama, they are changing signs all over the town. If you drive in on any of the highways that run through this pretty little town, you'll see them adding a name and number to some of the signs, while others are being replaced entirely. That's because Friday night, a long-held state high school record for passing yards in a single season was broken, when Holden Murray threw a simple forty-seven-yard pass for a season total of 4,140 (and counting). I know this because I was there and saw it happen.
Wait, you're saying, this isn't a sports blog. Hang with me.
The reason this matters, to me at least, is that the record for passing yards by a high school football player in Alabama was previously held by Cory Williamson, also from Oreville High. He was the older brother, mentor, and hero of one of our best friends, Rebecca. I would never have known about Oreville, Alabama, if it weren't for her. If my family hadn't been visiting her this past weekend, we would have missed a tiny moment of sports history. When we saw Holden Murray throw that pass, we all sucked in a breath, and yes, I'll admit it, said a little prayer.
Shortly after he broke that passing record nineteen years ago, Cory Williamson was killed in a car accident. He was coming home from a party in a nearby town, at which he'd had a couple of beers, and lost control of his car, running off the road into a farm fence. He was alone, and no one else was injured. Cory left behind a younger sister who adored him, and two loving parents who would never be the same. He also left countless friends and admirers, all over the county, who washed this little part of the world in their grief when they lost him. Cory Williamson had a scholarship to Auburn University when he died, and some say he was NFL material. Had he lived, he might be enjoying life as a retired player today, working as a sports announcer or owning a successful car dealership, or he might have chosen a different path entirely. We will never know.
What we do know is that Cory threw for 4,126 yards in the fall of 1996, and that his football portrait from senior year shows a smile of carefree, youthful energy and warmth. Even today, his family and friends cannot grasp the depth of his loss, and so we talk about it in terms we can understand. Of an all-American kid who worked hard and was loyal to his teammates, and the lost potential of the years he never got to know. Now that his record has been broken, and now that his high school has graduated a class that was not yet born when Cory died, his memory may begin to fade, at least in some parts of the town and the state. But never in the hearts of those who loved him.
Documenting athletes and their stories is central to my life and career. Still, it's always interesting to me that when someone dies, people seem to cling to that part of their identity. Maybe that's why I'm drawn to sports so muchâit's a way of being in the world, the same way my wife puts her words into the world on this blog, the way together we are raising our expanding family and hoping that they will be a force for good in the world. Sports are something to
do
.
My wife often asks me why I love sports so much, since they are in large part lost on her. (Which, I'll say, is lucky for you, because she spends that time writing instead.) For me, however, it's more than just the score at the end of a game. More than the yards on the field, the strategies, the stats, and even the celebrations.
What I love about sports is the spirit that each individual player brings with him (or her), the histories they carry in their hearts, the people who love them watching from the stands. They play because they have something to proveâto their teammates and coaches, to their families, to themselves. Leaving everything you have on the field in the form of blood, sweat, and tears is just one way of saying “I was here. I did something. I matter.”
More than any sport, though, what gives our life meaning are the people we have something to prove to. Our friends, our family, and even ourselves. Friendships are made strong through shared hardship, shared triumphs. Marriage, too. Sometimes you have to know what it feels like to let someone down, so you also know the victory of regaining their trust. Sometimes you have to know the tears of loss to appreciate the joy of winning. Sometimes the people who need love the most are the ones who seem to push it away. And in my case, sometimes your whole life hinges on something scrawled on a napkin.
Life isn't perfect. Love isn't perfect. People are taken from us too soon, lives unravel, families crumble. Even when we stay together, we take each other for granted, and the love that should lift us up to be better people sometimes leaves us room to become selfish, righteous, or controlling instead.
So how does love survive? How do any of us make meaning of it all? There are thousands of answersânone of them right, none of them wrong.
For me, it's about choosing teammatesâfriends, family, and most importantly my wifeâwho will not only forgive my imperfections but make me a better person in the process. I pledge them my loyalty, flawed as it is.
And then, win or lose, you just get back out there. Leave it all on the fieldâin love, in life, in work. Pick something that matters to you and commit your whole heart to it. Because none of us know how long we are given to play the game.
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Writing this series has been one of the most fun and challenging experiences of my life. So please let me say thank you to some incredible people.⦠Nicole Sohl and the rest of St. Martin's Press/Macmillan Entertainment, and Beth Phelan and Jenny Bent of The Bent Agency. I'd also like to thank those who've supported me in the writing of this book by giving me feedback, validation, and sometimes wine: Carla Birnbaum, Sarah Cutler, Jenna Denisar, Kristal Goelz, Marla Kaplan, Nan Merrow, Anna Needle, Stephanie Needle, Ross Newberry, Betsy Rainwater, Brenda Turetsky, Ryan Van Meter, and Rob Wade, as well as George Weinstein and the rest of the Atlanta Writers Club Roswell critique group. As always I'm indebted to Faith Williams at Atwater Group for being my punctuation safety net.
There has to be a separate paragraph for my family, especially my husband Sam Turetsky and our children, for all the sacrifices they have endured so that I could spend time writing. Living with a writer is a special kind of domestic torture. I am so grateful to you for putting up with me.
I am also incredibly grateful to those of you who have taken time from your busy lives to read this book, and particularly those of you who chose to follow Marci, Suzanne, and Rebecca on their adventures from start to finish. Many of you have made an effort to review my booksâincluding bloggers and readersâand I value your honesty and encouragement. Many readers have even taken the time to get in touch and tell me personally that you've enjoyed the booksâI can't tell you how much that means to me. Cheers to all of you!
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Also by
M. J. Pullen
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MANDA (M. J.) PULLEN
is the author of complex, funny contemporary romances, including
The Marriage Pact
and
Regrets Only
. She was raised in the suburbs of Atlanta by a physicist and a flower child, who taught her that life is tragic and funny and real love is anything but simple. After traveling around Europe and living in cities like Austin and Portland, she returned to Atlanta, where she lives with her husband and two sons.
www.facebook.com/MJPullenBooks
Twitter:
@MJPullen
. Or sign up for email updates
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Contents
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This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously.
THOMAS DUNNE BOOKS.
An imprint of St. Martin's Press.
BAGGAGE CHECK
. Copyright © 2016 by Amanda Pullen Turetsky. All rights reserved. For information, address St. Martin's Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.
The Library of Congress has cataloged the print edition as follows:
Names: Pullen, M. J. (Manda J.), author.
Title: Baggage check: a novel / M.J. Pullen.
Description: First edition. | New York: Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin's Press, 2016.
