Devoted (2 page)

“Okay, so wait, can you
just call it out? I doubt I’m going to remember all that,”
I
told him.

“We’ve done all of this
before,
Brax
. What’s going on?”

“Nothing, just call it
out and I’ll do what you tell me to, okay?”

“Yeah, okay…ready?”

“Ready.”

He started calling out
what
I
was supposed to do. The timer would ring and
I
would rest one minute and then we’d go again. “Jab, cross,
hook, uppercut, body punch…repeat!” that was Sam’s last instruction and then
the buzzer finally rang. Six rounds of that shit and
I
was wiped.

As
I
was wiping off my sweat and taking in some water, Sam said, “Okay now, kid.
What’s going on in your head today? Maybe if we work on it now, you’ll have it
out of your system by fight night.”

I
sighed. I didn’t really want to tell anyone yet, but
I
kind of felt like I had to.
I
was ready to explode.
I
had bought the ring already and now I was obsessing over
whether or not asking her was the right thing to do.

“I’m thinking about
asking
Emmi
to marry me.” Sam’s eyebrows went up, but
he didn’t say anything. After a few moments of silence
I
said, “Come on, Sam. Say something. Tell me what you think.”

“Why would you want to
know what I think?” he asked
me
. “I’ve been married
three times and none of them worked out. I’m no expert on how to make a woman
happy, that’s for sure.”

“You’re like…the only
father figure I have, Sam. Are you not an advocate of marriage; is that what
you’re saying?”

“No, obviously I
believe in it since I’ve done it three times.
I
married some lookers too, let me tell you. I screwed all three of them up, bad.”
He paused, looking like he was thinking back. “It would be different for you
though, kid. You’re a better man than me.”
I
laughed
and he said, “I’m serious, kid.
I
was a crappy
husband. I wasn’t
mean
to my wives, I was just…absent.
I
didn’t give them the time that they needed or
deserved. The first one, she wanted babies real bad.
I
didn’t want kids…then. She told
me
that I cared only
about myself and she was right. I’m selfish, and this,” he said, holding out
his arms wide, “is my life. That’s not you though. You were smart enough
already at your age to realize that this wasn’t what you wanted. You can have a
real life with a home and a wife and kids if you want them.
I
can see when I look at you how you feel about this girl. I think she’ll be
lucky to have you.”

I
smiled, that was a lot for Sam to say on the subject of feelings.
I
was impressed. “I’m the lucky one,”
I
told him.

Proving he was still in
fact the Sam
I
knew and loved, he said, “You’re
gonna
be lucky if you don’t get your ass kicked by Gizmo.
Now get those gloves tightened up and step back into that bag.”

I
grinned and did as I was told.

“Now lead with your
nondominant
leg. Position your feet, no, wider…there you
go. Now, align the toe of your right foot with the heel of the left one. Keep
your head, shoulders and hips in line and bend your knees.”
I
knew all of this, most of it was fighting 101, but the thing about Sam that
made him a great trainer was that he recognized repetition as being the key to
making what you needed to do second nature.

“Now, step forward with
your lead foot and extend your left arm so that everything from your shoulder
down is in alignment. Okay, bring it back, now throw the blow. Good! That ought
to knock the son of a bitch’s head off.
 
Just make sure the punch and the foot land at the same time. Then, follow
with a cross and come back to your original stance. Now…connect the punches,
repeat the sequence and shadowbox for three minutes…go!” We did three sets,
increasing power with each set and resting one minute in between each. When we
finally finished and
I
went over to get my water, Sam
said, “Hey, kid…You should talk to her father first.”

“Really?
People still do that?”

“Is she close to him?”

“Yeah…I mean, I guess.
I
can tell she respects him a lot. She’s a typical girl, you
know…Daddy’s girl.”
I
had never met her father.
I
was just basing all of this on what I’d heard
Emmi
say about him.

“Then talk to him. If
he likes you and respects you, then he’s going to put in a word for you. Get
his blessing and it’s in the bag. That’s not to say she wouldn’t marry you
anyways, but a little extra insurance never hurt.”

I
was nodding, it made sense. “Okay, I will, Sam. Thanks.”

“Okay,” he said in his
gruff voice.
“Enough of the lovey-dovey, warm and fuzzy crap.
Shadow-boxing…Left jab, left jab, right cross, right cross, left jab,
right
uppercut.”

“Call it out for me,
Sam,”
I
said.

He sighed and shook his
head. “Damn teenage hormones,” he said, but he was smiling.
I
didn’t remind him that I hadn’t been a teenager for three years.

When
I
got home in the afternoon,
Emmi
was still out. She
left
me
a note saying she had come back from breakfast
with Zoe, but headed over to the school paper office.
I
had an idea about how to get ahold of her dad without her finding out.
I
went over to my desk and got out her residential
application.
I
remembered that she’d listed her mom
and dad’s cell phone numbers as emergency contacts.
I
found her dad’s number and with trembling hands and huge knots in my stomach, I
dialed it.

“Hello?”

“Hi,
Mr. Sadler?”

“Yes, who is this?”

“This is Braxton Gibbs,
Emmi’s
friend, um…boyfriend. I hope I’m not bothering
you?”
I
hoped she told him she had a boyfriend.

“No, Braxton, you’re
not disturbing me at all.
I
have a day off work today,
I’m out running some errands but you caught me sitting with a cup of coffee.
I
’ve actually heard a great deal about you from my daughter
and my wife and I’ve been looking forward to meeting you myself.
Emmi’s
okay, right?”

“She’s fine, sir. I’m
sorry,
I didn’t mean to worry you. She went to the newspaper
office.”

“You don’t have to call
me sir, Braxton. Call me Ed.”

I
didn’t think I could do that, but I didn’t want to argue with him, so I said, “Okay,
thanks.”

“So,
Emmi’s
okay, is there something I can do for you?”

“Um, I was just hoping
that we could get to know each other,”
I
told him, the
first sign that I was chickening out.
I
didn’t really
want to ask him on the phone. Maybe
I
should have
driven to their house.

“
Emmi
tells me you do some mixed-martial-arts fighting?” Her dad was going with the
idea of us getting to know each other it seemed.

“Something
like
that.
I
did get offered a
contract with the professional MMA league though, recently. That was
flattering.”

“I’ll bet that was
exciting. Are you going to accept it?”

“No, sir, I really
don’t want to do that the rest of my life. It was good to get through college.
I
have one fight left, the big one for the championship and
then I’m finished. It helped with all of the expenses for school and I set up a
college fund for my sister as well.”

“That’s great, sounds
like your sister has a pretty good brother. And how is school going?”

“It’s going great,
sir…um, sorry, Ed. It’s going great. I graduate this year and I have a 4.0.”

“Well, that’s
impressive,”
Emmi’s
dad said. “I struggled for a 3.0.
You must be a smart guy.”

“Thanks, I love
computer stuff so it all comes kind of easy to me.”

“Yeah, but I know
there’s a lot more to it than just your primary classes. Give yourself credit
where it’s due.” It was no wonder that
Emmi
was so
well-adjusted. Ed barely knew
me
and he was already
trying to be supportive. “I’m sure my daughter appreciates a boyfriend who can
hold an intelligent conversation,” he went on to say. “Unfortunately, her last
one was a bit lacking in that department.”

I
wanted to laugh, knowing the punk he was talking about. But,
I
held it inside and said, “
Mr
…Um, Ed…”

“Now it’s Mr. Ed? I
sound like the talking horse.”

“What horse is that,
sir?”
I
asked him.

He laughed and said, “Never
mind, Braxton.
I
’m showing my age. It was way before
your time. Before mine too, but I caught the reruns.”

“Oh, okay.”
I
had no idea what he was talking about. “I was wondering if
you and I could maybe have lunch
sometime?
”

“I’m free now,” he
said.

“Oh,
um…yeah, sure.
Are you here in town?”

“No, but I’m close.
I
was just finishing up my errands and thinking about
getting some lunch anyways. How about
I
meet you at
Buffalo Wild Wings out just off the highway? That’s about halfway for us both,
right?”

“Yeah, that’s perfect,
thanks.”

“Looking
forward to talking to you, Braxton.”

“I’m looking forward to
it too, sir…Ed, thank you.”

I
hung up the call with a few less knots in my stomach. He was
really
nice
…or he was pretending to be so he can get me alone way out on the
edge of town and kill me.

CHAPTER
THREE

EMMI

After Zoe and
I
had breakfast, I went to the University Newspaper office.
I
was a little nervous about seeing Sarah, since she had
been snippety with me lately over Braxton, but I had photos that I needed to
turn in to her.
I
still had the ones of the fight and
the ones I’d taken of Braxton, and the ones of him and me. I didn’t know what
Sarah was going to think, nor if she’d even publish the ones of
me and Braxton,
but I still had my job to do.

I
made my way through the offices and the printing room in search of Sarah.
I
finally found her in the conference room where we had our
staff meetings. She looked up when
I
came in and she
actually looked happy to see me.

“Hey, Sarah, are you
busy?”
I
asked. She had a pile of paperwork in front
of her, it looked like job applications.

“Hi,
Emmi
.
I
’m
not too bad. I was going to call you today; actually, I’m glad you came by.”

“I’m sorry, I should
have brought these photos in yesterday but I just got a little overwhelmed
and…”
My
stomach suddenly felt sick. Was her animosity
going to affect
my
job?

“
It’s
okay,
Emmi
. Sit down, today is fine for the photos. I
wanted to talk to you about something else.”

I
sat down, but I made sure to pick a chair out of striking distance. Not that
I
thought she would strike me, but you can never be too
careful.
I
really hated thinking that way about her.
I
liked Sarah before all the jealousy nonsense started.

“I’m going to graduate
at the end of this semester and that means my job here as head photography
editor is going to be open. They’ve left it to me to assign my own replacement
and I can’t think of anyone more qualified than you.”

I
was staring at her as she talked, but I wasn’t sure I was really processing her
words.
I
was literally stunned.
I
think my mouth probably hung open for a full minute before I realized how stupid
I must look and closed it.

“Me?
Really?”

Sarah smiled.
“Yes,
Emmi
.
I
know you’re probably suspicious of my intentions since I’ve been anything but
cordial lately.
I
owe you an apology.
I
knew that Braxton and I weren’t going anywhere a long time
before you came into the picture. It just took
me
a
minute to get my head back on straight when I realized that he had actually met
someone he was willing to settle down for.
I
honestly
thought it would never happen and I just had to sort through some feelings
about that. None of that should have been directed at you though and I’m truly
sorry that it was.”