Fourth Down (8 page)

Offering me an apologetic smile, she
said, “Now I’m sorry. You probably didn’t want to know all
that.”

“No, I do,” I said, and I actually
meant it.

“I guess the point of my story is that
I wish I could have said goodbye. Right now, when you’re in the
middle of it all, it’s hard to see any good in this situation. But
from someone who didn’t have the chance to say goodbye, to say all
the things I wish I had said, having these months with your mom
truly is a blessing.”

Poppy fell silent and glanced at me
cautiously, probably trying to gauge whether she had pissed me off.
Had she not started with her story about her dad, I probably would
have been pissed to have anyone tell me this time was a blessing.
Hearing how she wished she had known that her dad was dying put
things in perspective for me. It wasn’t like the heavens opened and
light shone down around me, but it did make me think about what I
should do with the time I had left with my mom. Or more like what I
shouldn’t do - sulking, yelling, arguing.

It was going to be hard enough coming
to grips with the fact that my mom wouldn’t be around this time
next year or even six months from now. On top of that I had to
start acting like a normal person, which was something I hadn’t
done in almost three years.

Looking across the table at probably
the nicest person on the face of the planet, I decided to ask for
help. “My mom tells me I need to be nicer.”

The corner of her full mouth twitched
up, and her eyes lost some of the cautiousness that had been there
since I showed up in her yoga class. “My mom tells me I’m too
nice.”

“Maybe we could be friends and help
each other out.”

That got a laugh from her, and it felt
good.

“Okay, we can be friends, but right
now I have get to class,” she said, standing up.

When I came to find her this morning,
I wanted to apologize and get the hell out. Somehow I ended up
doing yoga, drinking coffee and wishing she didn’t have to leave
yet. Standing up with her, I held out my hand to seal our
deal.

“Friends it is. I promise not to yell
at you.”

She shook my hand and walked to the
door, looking back over her shoulder. “Smile more too. It looks
good on you.”

Chapter Five

Poppy

I had my doubts after our talk at the
coffee shop, but Ford was serious about trying to be nicer and
about us being friends. We weren’t exactly sharing our deepest
darkest secrets, but he did stop avoiding me. When I arrived at
2:00, he hung around until ten minutes before his shift. After he
was done with work at 11:00 he came right home. Maggie was always
in bed for a long time by then, and I heated up a plate of food for
Ford. Whatever I had cooked for dinner earlier that
night.

Last week on both Wednesday and
Thursday night I ended up staying past the end of my shift, sitting
and talking with Ford while he ate. We didn’t talk any more about
Maggie or my dad. Instead Ford asked lots of questions about my
classes and where I wanted to go to medical school. I talked about
Brooke and could even laugh about some of the predicaments she had
gotten me into over the last couple of years.

She had tried to get me to go out with
her tonight, but I had to babysit my brothers. I’m not sure which
would be the lesser of two evils. Although I did promise to go to
the pub with her on Friday night. Apparently she was into some guy
who would be playing in a band there. Now that Ford and I were on
good terms, it’s possible I agreed to go with her because I knew I
would see him. He had been so nice the last few days that it was
hard to believe I had been intimidated by him before.

It was 5:30, and I had to be at my
mom’s house by 6:00. Hopefully I could have them in bed by 8:00 and
spend a few hours on homework before my mom and Rick came home.
Things never went as planned where my brothers were concerned, but
I could hope.

I called the pizza place and ordered
an extra large cheese pizza, because the little devils never wanted
to eat my cooking. Grabbing my backpack and keys, I left my
apartment for an evening in hell. Right as I opened the door I
squeaked in surprise to find Ford standing there with his fist
raised like he was just about to knock.

With a hand over my racing heart, I
scolded him, “You scared me!”

He put his hand down and looked at the
keys in my hand and my bag over my shoulder. I might have imagined
it, but he seemed disappointed to find me leaving.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.
Um…are you going out?”

“Yeah. Not out, but I have to babysit
my brothers tonight.”

Ford stuck his hands in pockets and
scuffed the floor with the toe of his shoe. “I didn’t know you had
brothers.”

“Unfortunately, I have three.” He was
still standing in my doorway blocking me from leaving. “What are
you doing here? Is Maggie okay?” The thought that he could be here
because something happened to his mom suddenly had me
worried.

“Oh, no. Mom’s fine. It’s my night
off, and Jane’s there. So my mom kicked me out of the house to do
something fun.”

This still didn’t answer the question
as to what he was doing here. Was he coming to do something fun
with me? Damn babysitting!

“My friends, Josh and Grady, are both
busy with their women. I don’t want to go hang out in a bar since I
work in one every other day. So…I thought I’d stop by and see if I
could take you out to dinner. You know, since we’re friends,” he
added quickly.

Thanks for the clarification,
Ford.

“Oh. I would but my mom lined me up to
babysit like three weeks ago. I can’t back out now,” I explained.
Even if we were just going out as friends I was seriously
disappointed to miss out on spending more time with him. Ford was a
puzzle that I was enjoying solving piece by tiny piece.

He had finally moved back a step so I
walked out the door and turned to lock it behind me.

“I could come with you and help out,”
he offered.

I turned to give him an “are you
completely insane” look. Who in their right mind would offer
that?

“You don’t know what you’re saying.
They are awful on a good day,” I said, starting to walk down the
stairs toward my car.

Ford followed me down the stairs.
“Come on, they can’t be that bad. How old are they?”

“Four.”

“Four? They’re all four?” He looked so
darn cute and approachable when he was confused.

I laughed, “Yes, four year old
triplets.”

He took off his hat and ruffled his
fingers through his hair. “Huh. Well, my offer still stands.
Seriously, Poppy, I don’t have anything better to do and my mom
won’t let me back in the house until at least 10:00.”

I rolled my eyes at his less than
flattering suggestion that I was his last resort. “When you put it
that way how can I refuse,” I said sarcastically, trying to step
around him to get to my car.

“Hey,” he said, reaching out to grab
my arm. “That didn’t come out right. What I meant to say was please
can I come with you? I enjoy your company, no matter what we’re
doing.”

I crossed my arms over my chest.
“Fine. But we should drive separately so you can leave when you get
tired of them, which will probably be about twenty minutes after we
get there.”

His hand went to the small of my back
to guide me toward his truck. “No, I’ll drive you. I need more
adventure in my life,” he joked.

“Don’t say I didn’t warn
you.”

Half an hour later we arrived at my
mom’s house, pizza in hand. My brothers immediately started
devouring it as soon as I set it on the table. I introduced Ford to
my mom and Rick and dropped my bag off in the living room. When I
came back to the dining room, Rick was talking to Ford about what a
tragedy it was that he was injured right before being drafted. Ford
looked more uncomfortable than I had ever seen him, and he looked
to me with pleading in his eyes.

Before I could intervene, one of my
brothers piped up, “You play football? That’s cool! We can watch
the game together.” The other two cheered for that suggestion
around mouthfuls of pizza.

“That’ll be fun,” my mom said as she
quickly kissed each little boy and dragged Rick out the door. “Call
me only if it’s an emergency. We’ll be back by 11:00.”

I gave a half-hearted wave and focused
my attention on my brothers, who were peppering Ford with all kinds
of football questions. Seriously? They barely knew the alphabet,
but they knew the names of formations and plays? I guess I know
what Rick’s priorities are with his sons.

“Okay, boys. That’s enough questions.
Can you introduce yourselves to Ford?” I asked, trying to impart
some manners. They just looked at me like I was speaking another
language. “Tell him what your names are,” I clarified.

“Braden!”

“Brandon!”

“Bryden!”

Ford glanced at me with a raised
eyebrow. I shrugged. “Yeah, I know. My mom needs help in the baby
naming department. You do remember my name is Poppy, right? Not
short for anything, just Poppy. Like the flower.”

He laughed and studied my brothers,
who were wearing different colored versions of the same shirt. He
rubbed his chin like he was deep in thought. “I think I’ll call you
red, green and blue,” he declared. The boys seemed delighted by
that idea for some reason that only makes sense in a four year
old’s mind.

Once they were done shoveling the
pizza in, there were a few pieces left for Ford and me. Rick had
left the TV on to the football game in the family room, and the
boys pulled on Ford’s arm until he followed them.

“Come on! Let’s watch football,” they
cried.

I caught up with them and grabbed for
Ford’s other arm but caught his hand instead. “Are you okay with
watching the game? Your mom mentioned that you don’t watch football
anymore.”

He glanced down at our joined hands
and nodded. “I’ll be fine. You should start on your homework while
I have them occupied in here.”

I released my hold on his hand,
because it was just kind of awkward to be holding hands for no
reason. “Um…okay. I’ll just be in the dining room. Yell if you need
help.”

“I was a four year old boy once, you
know,” he replied.

I had to smile as I remembered the
photos Maggie had shown me of Ford as a little boy. “I know. Your
mom showed me the pictures.”

From the dining room table where I had
set up my laptop and spread out my notes, I could hear my brothers
asking Ford a million questions. He answered them all, even the
ridiculous ones. He was patient and kept their interest better than
if the sky had opened up and rained matchbox cars. Next time I had
to babysit I was definitely bringing him along.

The game ended shortly after 8:00 and
I switched off the TV and declared it bedtime. The boys insisted on
Ford coming upstairs to see their room, which turned into showing
him their pajamas and talking him into reading them a story. I just
had to supervise, which officially made this the best babysitting
experience ever. When they were finally tucked in and we were sure
they weren’t coming out for one more drink of water, we went back
downstairs. With Ford entertaining them all evening, I had made
great progress on my homework. So, I packed up my books and laptop.
Maybe we could find a movie to watch for the next couple of hours
until my mom and Rick came home.

Ford was on the couch with his shoes
off and his feet up on the coffee table. His baseball cap lay
beside him on the end table, and his hair was sticking out in a few
places. It made me want to curl up beside him and run my fingers
through it. To tame it down or mess it up more. It didn’t matter
which; I just wanted to touch him.

From the first time I saw him in his
cowboy hat and no shirt on Halloween, I was attracted to him. His
less than pleasant demeanor after that had prevented me from
wanting to act on that attraction. But now that he was actually
being a decent human being? And stretched out on the couch with
that space right next to him calling for me to snuggle up? Even if
I wanted to, it would be a cold day in hell before I ever made the
first move on a guy. Especially this guy. He was way out of my
league, and he probably saw me more as a little sister
anyway.

I didn’t realize I had been standing
in the doorway staring at him until he turned his lethal blue gaze
on me. “Poppy? You okay?”

Snapping out of my Ford induced daze,
I nodded. “Yup, I’m fine.”

Then I noticed what he was looking at
and ran over to try to snatch it out of his hands, but he was
faster. He moved the family photo album off his lap and held it out
to the side, causing me to miss when I lunged for it. I ended up
sprawled across his lap, reaching for it. Why was I always
inappropriately touching him?

“Give me that!”

“No way. It’s only fair since you’ve
seen my baby pictures.”

“Fine,” I huffed, trying to gracefully
crawl off his lap. He chuckled at my obvious discomfort and put his
arm along the back of the couch behind me when I sat up next to
him. Here I was snuggled up against him after all.