“Well, thank you for your concern, Grant,” Randy scoffed. “Tomorrow I’ll avoid the theater, motorcades and the kitchens of all major hotels. Will that suffice to give you peace of mind?”
“Okay, leave the irreverent humor to me,” Grant laughed. “That was just wrong!”
“You’re too much, Soldier,” Randy laughed. “You sound pretty good though; Mom said you were sick.”
“Yeah, I’ve just got that cold the girls had a couple days ago,” Grant replied. “No big deal.”
“Do you think you’ll be 100% for your game?” Randy asked.
“If the good Lord’s willin’ and the creek don’t rise,” Grant exhaled.
“Are you saying that just to tick me off?” Randy asked.
“Yep,” Grant replied quickly.
Randy cleared his throat. “Listen, I’ll be lunching with some old West Point buddies while I’m in Arlington tomorrow, do you want me to…”
“Nope,” Grant answered equally fast.
“Yes, Sir…No, Sir…work on it,” Randy said gruffly.
“Yes, Sir,” Grant conceded.
Randy picked up a picture frame off his desk and stared at the only picture that existed of him in the company of all three of his boys. David and Ike stood smiling on either side of him as he stood there in the middle holding a blond toddler who stared pensively back at him, as if already challenging him.
“If you really want me to, I’ll stop hounding you about West Point,” Randy sighed.
“Wow,” Grant quipped, “this no internet access, out in the middle-of-nowhere thing really sucks! I had no idea they had discovered flying pigs!”
Randy groaned. “I mean it! Just promise me you have a plan.”
“Oh, I have a plan,” Grant nodded. “I may not take the road you took, but I look forward to the day you have to salute your Commander-in-Chief.”
“Watch yourself,” Randy chuckled. “You want me to vote for you, don’t you?”
Grant laughed out loud.
“Oh, Soldier,” Randy said gruffly. “Give your mama and your sister my love.”
“Will do; kiss the Pentagon for me,” Grant replied.
“I promise I’ll get down there for a game, Grant. I’ll talk to you soon, okay?” Randy said.
Grant stared at the wall. “Later,” he said as he eased the phone back into its cradle on the wall. He hopped down from the counter and blew down the hall, passing by Jack, Nora and Hailey who stood huddled in the living room, without so much as a word or acknowledgement.
Jack looked at Nora, and there was no hiding the anger that enveloped his face. “Grant?” he called, his concern lingering in the air.
“Jack, just leave me alone,” Grant called back, walking into his bedroom and slamming the door behind him.
“Nora, should I go try to talk to him?” Hailey sighed.
Before Nora could answer, Grant opened the bedroom door, crossed the hallway with clothes in hand and slammed the bathroom door behind him.
“I guess not,” Nora gulped. She turned to Jack and exhaled. “I’m sorry about all the door slamming,” she frowned.
“He’s fine,” Jack shook his head. “I’d have been slammin’ doors too if my daddy had never showed up to any of my games when I was in high school.”
“Jack, it’s not your place to judge Randy,” Nora gulped, testing the words to see if even she believed them.
“I’m not judging Randy,” Jack shrugged. “I’m just saying that now that I’m older and my dad’s no longer with us, it’s nice to be able to think back on fond memories of him in the bleachers every week, cheering me on and putting his arm around me after the big game, telling me what I did well and what I could stand to work on.”
Nora’s chin quivered as she tried to fight back tears.
“Please don’t cry,” Jack begged.
Nora opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out.
“My daddy never missed a game,” Jack recalled, “and now that I’m around the age he was then, I’m grateful for all the time he dedicated to making me feel like the most special kid in the world.”
“I miss him,” Nora gulped.
“Oh, my old man thought the world of you, Nora Jean…you know that,” Jack nodded.
Mr. Nelson had been a very special man in Nora’s life. Memories of what seemed like a lifetime ago began to flood her mind. She remembered his rocking chair on his front porch and the way he’d cut the crust off of her peanut butter and jelly sandwiches on Saturday afternoons in the summertime. She thought about all the times she had ridden home from church in the bed of his pickup truck, letting the wind blow in her hair. She remembered Jack’s daddy with her daddy, down at their barn, working for hours on old equipment as she and Jack climbed in the hay. She remembered later, when she was a teenager, how Mr. Nelson proudly snapped pictures of her and Jack as they prepared to head off to the Valentine’s banquet that the ladies at the church had set up. Though Mr. Nelson had plenty of help from Jack’s mother, Nora believed that it was the loving, doting example Mr. Nelson had set that prepared Jack for his future as a single father.
The front door opened and Jessica and Emily giggled their way inside.
“Mom!” Jessica sang out as she held multiple sheets of hot pink poster board. “Em and I need your help!”
