by Kitty Parker
But the butterflies are back and she's not sure if she's happy about that or not. She tries to tell herself that nothing can ever come of her crush on Jack. He has been around lately – the whole summer – but she supposes she's still waiting for him to just leave again and disappear from hers and Matty's life and after all of the other times he has done just that, why should she think he would do something otherwise or expect him to stay around now?
Daisy supposes that what it all comes down to is yes, she likes him. Yes, he gives her butterflies and she has a crush on him, but despite all of that, she just doesn't trust him.
…
Football signups are held in the town's community center on Saturday and it seems as if every boy of eligible age for the youth league in their town is there to sign up as well. Shawn has come with her and she's grateful for that because it's all a little bit overwhelming, crowds of people and different tables and a clipboard of forms to fill out.
The county's league is made up of twenty different teams. Ten games and then the playoffs. And depending on where they live – the county cut up into different zones – that is the team the boys will play for. Shawn had played for the Mustangs when he was old enough to start playing in the youth league but Daisy and Matty live in a completely different zone and Matty winds up being signed up for the Gators. Their uniforms are green and white and upon handing over the forms, one of the league workers takes Matty's picture and asks him in three different ways what his birthday is to make sure he's old enough and eligible. And once it is decided that he is and he's officially signed up, he's given a green tee-shirt with GATORS written in white across the front and a white gator on the shirt sleeve. Matty is so excited, he immediately tugs it on over the tee-shirt he's currently wearing.
Daisy finds the area where the other Gator boys seem to be congregating and they head over there. Shawn grins the instant he sees the somewhat short, stocky dark-skinned man wearing a Gators tee-shirt and holding a clipboard.
"Guess they'll let anyone coach nowadays," Shawn grins.
The man instantly turns and bursts into a grin when he sees him. "Please tell me you ain't got a kid in this league."
Shawn laughs. "This is my nephew. Matty, this is your coach. Coach Douglas. He was a senior on the team in high school when I was a freshman," he explains to the little boy.
"Look at those blonde curls," Coach Douglas teases him as he and Matty shake hands. "You gonna fool a lot of people out on the field if you're anything like your uncle over here."
"I'm a fast runner!" Matty boasts proudly.
"We'll clock you at our first practice," the man says, still grinning. He then looks to Daisy for a moment and then to Shawn. "This can't be your baby sister. She's supposed to only still be able to reach our waist. "
Daisy feels her cheeks blush. "Hi," she says as she sticks a hand out. "Daisy Greene. Matty's mine," she says though she supposes that is obvious given how much Matty looks like her.
"Pleasure," he smiles politely at her. "I'm Coach Douglas but everyone calls me T-Dog."
"He's so excited to start playing just like Shawn," Daisy says and looks at Matty as he is already sitting on the floor with the other gator boys, all talking and laughing excitedly.
"I'm thinkin' that with a Greene on my team, I'm already at an advantage," T-Dog says and even though she still feels hesitant about this entire thing, Daisy still smiles proudly.
…
"Jack!" Matty runs to him the second he sees him sitting on the front steps of the apartment building, smoking a cigarette.
Jack instantly flicks the cigarette away and exhales the last stream of smoke before standing up with a smile. "Hey, kid. Lookin' good," he says, looking at Matty's tee-shirt.
"I'm a Gator!" Matty exclaims proudly. "Are you going to come to my first game? It's next Saturday! You have to come!"
Jack looks at him for a moment and then sees the way his eyes flick over to her as she approaches them. He seems hesitant to say anything and she knows it's because he doesn't know what she wants. And she wants to laugh because she's not sure either. She feels for a split second that Matty should want to invite Jimmy to come and see him play. Jimmy is his actual dad and shouldn't Matty want his dad to see his first game?
But she doesn't even known if Jimmy would come if Matty did invite him and besides her daddy and brother, Jack is the most constant male figure in Matty's life. Of course he would want Jack to be at his games.
Daisy looks at Jack and all she can do is give him a small smile. Her son adores Jack. That much is obvious to everyone. And Daisy is completely helpless at keeping her son from things that he loves. Even if her own feelings for Jack are so muddled at the moment, she can't keep Matty from liking Jack and wanting him in his life.
She wonders if she should talk with Jack about this. Jack has absolutely no obligation to them. He's just their across-the-hall neighbor who got sucked into their life over the past year. She wonders if Jack feels he has some sort of obligation to come over for dinner or to spend time with her and Matty because he doesn't. She wonders why he's sticking around – for the time being.
And Jack sees her smile and then looks down to Matty again. "If I'm not workin', I'll be there. Just give me a time and place," he says.
Matty bursts into a grin and the way he is so happy and the way Jack is smiling a little down at him and then at her and then to Matty again, it does nothing to control the butterflies flapping around like mad in her stomach.
…
Daisy does exactly what she knew she would do. She winces.
Parents go to the practices. The kind of parents who yell at their kids and demand their absolute best and Daisy has to wonder if the kids are having any fun and if the parents are just trying to relive old glory football days through their kids.
Daisy's the quietest parent there is. She stands off to the side, away from the rest of them. She knows football. She went to every one of Shawn's high school football games and she has watched more than enough games on TV with him and daddy but she's not crazy about it. Not like most of the parents here, it seems.
T-Dog does what he told Matty what they would do. They clock him.
The team starts up on warm ups – jumping jacks and stretches and pushups and laps. It's so hot out, they stop plenty of times so water can get squirted into their mouths. All of the kids are wearing practice gear and helmets and practice green jerseys with their numbers in white. Matty is number 22 and his name – M. GREENE – is across the back of his jersey. Daisy admits she feels a little proud when she spots him on the practice field amongst all of the other boys.
The first practice, the coaches all figure out what the best positions for each boy would be. For nearly forty minutes, they practice tackles. Daisy winces every time she watches Matty and hears him as he and another boy crash together. They make the boys run sprints and T-Dog stands there with a stopwatch, writing down everyone's time on a piece of paper.
When they all take a knee, and T-Dog tells Matty that he's running back, Matty's head instantly whips over to find Daisy and she is smiling brightly and feeling so proud. That's her son. He's the running back for the Gators. And she knows how parents can get caught up in this. As long as he's having fun though. She has to make sure he's having fun and despite what everyone is telling him, football really is just a game.
There are many things in this life far more important than football.
…
On Friday's practice, T-Dog is yelling a lot more at the boys and Daisy doesn't like it but she's the only parent who apparently is bothered by it so she purses her lips together and stays off to herself as always and just focuses on Matty. He's tired and sweaty but every time they have to run the plays over, he's still pushing himself to do it right every time.
As long as he's having fun.
Someone comes to stand beside her suddenly halfway through practice and she turns her head to see who it is, startled with surprise.
Adam just
grins at her though. He's recently shaved his head and his face is all sharp angles – except the bridge of his nose which is flat and she wonders when and how he broke it. He's in jeans and a tee-shirt and he's obviously off duty today.
"Afternoon, sweet cheeks," he says, still with that grin, and Tana has told her more than once that Adam is nothing more than a flirt but he makes her smile nonetheless.
"Scoping out the single moms at football practice?" She asks with a tease in her tone.
Adam's grin doubles as he looks out to the field and the play T-Dog is having the boys run now. He scans a moment and then he seems to spot Matty because he watches him for a moment, watching as the quarterback, Tavon, pitches him a throw and Matty catches it and takes off running to the end zone, none of the other boys coming close to catching him.
"That's a good number to have," Adam comments.
"Is it?" Daisy asks.
Adam nods and without a word, he reaches into his tee-shirt and pulls out a pendant he wears around his neck. Daisy sees '22' in gold.
"I take it your number?" She asks even though she already knows all of this and he probably knows that she knows and he nods, dropping it back against his chest, his eyes going back towards the field. "What position were you?"
"Fullback," he answers. "Played in this league and in high school and all through college, too. I was good. Just not good enough to take it more than that."
And suddenly, just with that little story, Daisy looks at him because suddenly, he's human to her. He's so cocky and so sure of himself and walks with a little swagger in his step all of the time but he is human – just like the rest of them.
…
The Gators have their first game against the Wildcats and Daisy gets there first after dropping Matty off under the tree where the rest of the team is meeting. She gets a seat on the top row of bleachers so she can see everything. Her parents, Shawn, Maybelle and Nathaniel are all coming that day to watch but they're not there yet. Daisy had also invited Jimmy. She had called and gotten his voicemail so she left him a message, giving him the time and which field they'd be at but she never heard back and she'll be more surprised if he does show up rather than if he doesn't. She hadn't even mentioned it to Matty. She knows Matty really won't care one way or another. Jimmy's his dad but that's kind of all he is. Just someone who had the sperm to help make him. Not that he understands that fully yet.
She's brought a little cooler with her and she opens it now, taking out an apple. She puts her feet up on the bleacher in front of her and resting her arms on her knees, she munches on the apple and watches as other parents begin to arrive. She sees Jack the instant he arrives and he seems to see her because he comes straight for her, climbing up the steps and Daisy sets up straight as he eases himself down beside her.
He's wearing jeans and a tee-shirt from the garage he works at and he must have come straight from work because his hands still have oil and grease smudges on them. His baseball cap is backwards but he turns it around, bringing the bill over his face to shade some of it with the sun beating down on them. Without a word, Daisy reaches into the cooler and hands him a bottle of water and without a word, he takes it, simply giving her a nod of thanks and a small smile – a smile she returns.
She wonders if he knows how happy Matty will be to have him there. She wonders if he knows how happy she is that he's there and then she can't help but wonder why she's so happy.
Jack Belton mixes everything up in her head and she never seems to know what to do.
Her family arrives shortly after and Shawn stands along the sidelines to watch the game more closely as everyone else comes to sit up with her. If they think anything's odd with Jack sitting there beside her, they don't act like it. They never seem to act like it.
They just smile and greet him as if he's always been a part of them.
It wasn't like that with Spencer. Daisy recognizes the difference immediately. Her family was always nice to Spencer. Perfectly polite. But that's exactly what it was. Polite. With Jack, they treat him like an old friend.
The game gets underway and just as how it had been during practice, during the game, every time she sees someone from the opposing team take Matty down, she winces and cringes and sometimes, she even turns her face away, blocking it with help of Jack's shoulder. And every time she pulls her head back, she sees him smirking but he never says anything about it and he thankfully doesn't tease her about it.
"He's good. Real good," Johnathan notes at halftime as both teams go off on the sides of the field for orange slices and water and to listen to their coaches.
Daisy nods and smiles because of despite the cringing and wincing, she's proud of her son.
"Coach Douglas has said that with Matty and Tavon both, those two might take us all the way this year," Daisy says and hopes she's not boasting too much. "They've already declared each other to be best friends. Tavon's spending the night at our house next week."
"That's so sweet," Annette smiles and then looks to Johnathan. "I remember Shawn and the quarterback getting along. Remember how much he hated the fullback though?"
Daisy pretends she doesn't hear as the game gets underway again.
One of Shawn's favorite things to do in high school was complain about Adam Hersh.
She doesn't know why that would matter to her anyway.
…
The Gators win – 46-7 – and everyone stands up to cheer as the team gathers one more time on the field for some parting words from T-Dog.
"That's right, Matty!" T-Dog calls after him once they are all dismissed. "Don't let any of those boys laugh about your pretty curls!"
Matty's hair is matted down with sweat now as he comes racing towards them. "Mama!" He shouts and Daisy is smiling as he practically crashes into her. His pads stab her in the ribs but she's doesn't care as she hugs him and kisses his sweaty head.
"You did so, so good," she smiles down at him.
Everyone congratulates him, kissing him and hugging him, and Matty hasn't stopped smiling, riding a cloud of euphoria and he looks like he has had the absolute best day.
"Jack!" Matty greets him last. "I knew you'd come. I knew it."
Jack smiles. "'course I came. Couldn' miss your first game."
Matty grins at that and Daisy smiles, too, and Jack is just so good with him. Better with him than Jimmy could ever even hope to be and she wonders if Jack knows how good he is with him; how much he means to Matty.
She feels like she really needs to have a conversation about this with the man.
Not today though. Today, they're going to get pizza as a celebration and she feels just as happy as Matty is when Jack agrees to come with them, too.
…
Halfway through the day, Daisy goes and puts a yellow post-it on Jack's door, asking him to dinner, and then goes back into her apartment to continue baking the two dozen lemon cupcakes with the lemon zest cream cheese frosting she has had on order for an upcoming birthday party the next day for one of the nurses at the hospital. She's already finished Dale's order for the day and it feels so good to have that job. She hasn't done bad – not at all – once she recovered from her accident and scar and got back to baking. She has had an insanely busy summer and she's financially comfortable for the time being. But getting the opportunity to have a steady, guaranteed paycheck, she jumped at the chance.
She leaves to pick Matty up from school. Practice starts at six o'clock so Matty is able to eat dinner before she has to get him to the field. She serves him dinner a little early and when Jack knocks on the door five after five as always, Matty's almost completely done with his.
Matty immediately starts telling Jack all about school and practice from yesterday as Daisy serves both him and her plates of the beef stroganoff with egg noodles and then sits down at the table with the two men in her life.
As soon as that thought pops into her head, she almost physically slaps her forehead to get it out of there. She can't believe she's just even had such
an idea occur to her. Matty. Matty is the only man in her life. Jack is just… her friend? Yes, her friend. He told her that he wants them to be friends and with the amount of times he's been around and everything he has helped with other the past couple of months, he definitely is her friend. She can't really deny that anymore. She can deny everything else. Butterflies and tingles and this ache she feels in the pit of her stomach when he's near but she can't really deny that he's her friend. He even brought her flowers one night! That must mean they're friends.
"Will you be around later tonight?" She asks him once they're clearing the table and Matty has run off to go get his football gear.
Jack looks at her. "Everythin' a'right?" He asks.
Daisy nods and gives him a small smile. "I just need to talk with you."
Jack keeps looking at her and he does this. Where he looks at her as if he's studying her. And Daisy stands there, letting him look until he finds what he's looking for. She knows what it is. He's looking for an answer or even a clue as to what she wants to talk about.
But she knows he won't be able to find anything. Even she doesn't know what she wants to talk with him about.
…
After putting Matty to bed and getting him tucked in, she comes back out to the living room. The apartment is clean though and she has nothing to busy herself with picking up. She has baked a couple of extra lemon cupcakes and she takes one now, leaving her apartment and heading across the hall to Jack's door. She barely gets two knocks out before he swings the door open and she gives him a small smile, holding up the cupcake.
"I've just added them to the menu and have never made them for an order before. Taste test?" She offers.
Jack doesn't take his eyes off of her as he takes the cupcake from the palm of her hand.
He steps aside so she can enter and she does so, the butterflies flapping inside tonight.