by Lisa Bilbrey
While Max and Travis had been talking, the Broncos had managed to drive the ball down to their twenty yard line but lost control when they fumbled on the third down. The Panthers had recovered the fumble and were now working their way toward their end zone. They had speed on the outside and size on the line. At the end of the first quarter, the Panthers’ quarterback handed the ball off to one of the running-backs, who ran for thirty yards and a touchdown.
“Damn it,” Russ snarled as the opposing team’s fans began cheering.
“It’s still early,” Travis said. “They just have to regroup and put this one behind them.”
“Let’s hope they can,” Russ muttered.
The extra point was good, giving the other team a seven-to-zero lead. Setting up for the kickoff, the Panthers sent the ball out to Andy. He broke through several tackles before being brought down just past the fifty yard line. Cody called his team in for a huddle, giving the defense time to set up on the line. As the game clock ticked away, Cody and the offense set up on the line of scrimmage. He called for the ball; however the center, Zach Harden, snapped it too aggressively, sending the ball flying over Cody’s head. The Panthers’ linebacker was on the ball before anyone could move, causing the Broncos to lose control of it yet again.
By the end of the first half, the Panthers had scored again, giving them a fourteen point lead. When the buzzer rang, sending the two teams to the lockers rooms, Travis stood up and told Penelope that he’d be right back. The Broncos were letting their opponent intimidate them. He stopped outside of the locker rooms and took a deep breath before going inside. Just as he expected, they looked tired and worn out. When he entered, every single player turned away.
“Hey, look at me,” Travis ordered, pulling their attention to him. “You can do this. You can win, but you can’t do it with that attitude.”
“We can’t,” Andy huffed, running his fingers through his matted, brown hair. “Every time I get my hands on the ball, they’re in my face. I can’t think of what to do before I am tasting grass. Let’s face it; they’re bigger and faster than us.”
“Maybe they are bigger and faster,” Travis admitted. “But that doesn’t make them better. I’ve watched you play teams that were both bigger and faster before, yet you beat them. How?”
“I don’t know,” Andy replied. “Luck?”
“Heart,” Cody said, stepping through his teammates and coming over to stand next to Travis. “He’s right. We’re lying down and taking it up the ass.” Cody looked over at Coach Reynolds with wide eyes. “Sorry, Coach, but that’s how it is.”
“Don’t be,” Coach Reynolds laughed.
Cody smiled before turning back to the team. “I didn’t spend the last ten years working my butt off to get this far, just to throw it away because we’re facing a team that’s bigger. Now, if we go out there and give it everything we have and we still lose, then at least we can walk off that field knowing that we put it all on the line. I won’t settle for less, not from me, and not from you guys.”
“Come on, you jackholes,” Trey roared, standing up. “I ain’t a quitter. We can do this!”
Andy slapped his hands together before he scrambled to his feet. “When we found ourselves down against the Bobcats, we shoved that ball down their throats and got the win. I say we go out there and teach those Panthers how the Broncos play football.”
One by one, the rest of the team stood up and began cheering. Travis could see the pride and determination on their faces. With just two quarters left in the game, they’d have their work cut out for them, but he knew they could do it. They were fighters. Travis stayed with them until it was time for them to go back out onto the field. Stopping outside the door, he smacked each one of them on the back of the head as they walked past him.
Coach Reynolds came out last and stopped next to Travis. “Thanks for that, Travis. These boys have been a bit overwhelmed with all of this. Most of these kids haven’t seen a stadium this big before — other than on television, of course.”
“I remember,” Travis said, nodding. “They’ve earned this chance. I just don’t want them to beat themselves.”
“Me either, but, you know, they don’t listen to me like they did to you.” Coach Reynolds sighed. “Maybe it’s because I’ve been yapping in their ears for four years, I don’t know, but they needed you here today to tell them they could do it. So, thank you.”
“You’re welcome. Just glad I could be here.”
Travis returned to his seat just in time for the beginning of the third quarter. Penelope gave him a questioning look, so he tilted his head toward the team, hoping that she’d understand where he’d disappeared to. Based on the smile that slipped over her lips, she had.
Since the Broncos received the ball at the beginning of the game, the kickoff team set up on the field. The referee blew the whistle, and Brody Mallory strode up and sent the ball flying down the field with a swipe of his foot. The Panthers’ receiver caught the football but had hardly managed to take two steps before Andy had him flat on his back. Travis laughed when the Broncos fans cheered.
“Now, that’s what I’m talking about!” Russ roared.
“Woo-hoo! Go Broncos!” Max screamed, jumping to his feet. “Did you see how fast he got down there? That was awesome!”
“Yeah, it was,” Travis agreed. “They know what to do now.”
“You talked to them, didn’t you?” his son asked, sitting back down.
He nodded. “They needed to know they could do it.”
Smiling, Max turned back to the game. “Good.”
The Panthers tried to get a first down, but the Broncos stopped them each time, eventually causing the Panthers to punt on the fourth down. Andy received the ball, spun around a defenseman, and ran down the sideline for a touchdown. He kicked for the extra point, closing the gap to just a touchdown between the Broncos and the Panthers. The stadium exploded when the Broncos fans cheered their team on. Broncos pride could be heard loud and clear.
Setting up the ball to kick again, Andy made sure the team was ready before he ran up and sent it soaring through air once more. Just like the last time, the Panthers’ receiver managed just a couple of steps before Dusty Huck planted him in the ground.
As the third quarter ticked away, both teams battled back and forth for control of the ball. The Panthers were able to get to their fifteen yard line, but the Broncos stopped them from scoring again. When the buzzer rang, Travis released a heavy breath and dragged his fingers through his hair.
“Nothing like a bit of pressure, boys,” he muttered under his breath.
“You used to say the pressure was the best part of the game,” Penelope said, leaning her head on his shoulder.
Travis laughed. “Nah, it was always getting the girl.”
“Oh, is that so?” she cooed, bringing her lips right up against his ear. “Hmm, you can get me any day, baby.”
Gasping, Travis choked at the same time that Max stood up and yelled, “Go Broncos! Kick their butts!”
“Max, language,” Travis and Penelope shouted at the same time. Looking at each other, they burst out laughing.
“Oh, baby, you’re a mean tease,” Travis growled, sliding his arm around her waist and kissing her.
“I’m not a tease if I mean it,” she purred. “I’m yours — just yours.”
“Promise?” Travis asked, feeling a sudden sense of vulnerability.
Penelope brought her hand up to his cheek, caressing him with a gentle touch. “I’ve always been yours. Since the day you asked me to be your date to the spring dance.”
“I was so scared to ask you,” Travis whispered.
“Why?”
Closing his eyes, Travis shook his head. “If you’d said no . . .” He paused and took a shaky breath. “I didn’t want to ruin our friendship, but I couldn’t stay away. I loved you even then, and I never stopped. Not once.”
“Me, either,” she murmured, kissing him. “Never.”
“Eww. Gramps, they
’re doing it again!” Max complained, grabbing Travis’s shoulder and pulling. “We’re here to watch the game, not play kissy face.”
“We are watching!” Travis exclaimed.
“Oh, yeah?” Max scoffed and pointed out to the field, where the referees were debating a flag that had just been thrown. “What just happened?”
“That’s easy,” Travis joked. “The Broncos caught the Panthers checking out the cheerleaders. They didn’t like it, so the Broncos hit the Panthers, and before you knew it, everyone was Kung Fu fighting!”
Max fell back in his seat and laughed. “What? Where did you get that from?”
“You’ll see,” Travis said, tilting his head to the field. The head referee turned toward the Broncos’ side of the stadium and brought his arm up in front of his face, bringing it down like he’d grabbed the front of a facemask.
“Ha, facemasking, not Kung Fu fighting!” Max smirked.
“That’s just what they want you to believe,” Travis disagreed. “I know the truth.”
Max sighed. “You can be so weird sometimes.”
“I know,” Travis said.
Once the referees had pushed the Broncos back fifteen yards, the fourth and final quarter started. The tension filling the Darrell K. Royal Texas Memorial Stadium was thick and palpable. While Travis didn’t know what winning the state title would mean to the people from Seymour, for the folks from Clarendon it meant watching their children be rewarded for working every day to achieve their hopes and dreams.
“Do you think they can do it?” Penelope asked.
Travis looked over at her. “Yeah, I do.”
“Me, too.” She smiled. “They have heart.”
Cody brought his team up to the line of scrimmage. A second later, the center snapped the ball. Cody took three steps, brought his arm back, and threw the ball. At first, it didn’t look like his receiver was there, but just as the football was spiraling downward, Andy found his spot, and it glided into his hands. He was brought down right away, but they’d gained enough yards for the first down.
Rallying his team, Cody lined up for the next play. This time when the ball was snapped, he faked a left lateral toss, spun around, and took off running to the right. A defenseman was coming right at him, but before Cody could be taken down, Trey came out of nowhere and blocked the Panther.
“Yes!” Travis screamed, standing up. “Nice hit!”
Cody managed to run for ten more yards before being driven out of bounds. Penelope reached up and placed her hand on Travis’s arm, coaxing him back into his seat.
He laughed. “Did you see that? That’s how you block!”
“I did,” she giggled. “I heard it, too. Based on the look on his momma’s face, I don’t think she much enjoyed the sound of his helmet colliding with number thirty-four’s.”
Travis looked over his shoulder at Laura Williams. She was standing next to her husband with wide, fearful eyes and her hands over her mouth. Tyler Williams had his arm around her and, from Travis’s viewpoint, appeared to be attempting to soothe her rattled nerves.
“It’s easy for a guy to be proud of the hard hits,” Penelope explained. “But as a mom, they’re terrifying. The wrong angle, and everything changes.”
Travis took a deep breath and looked over at her. “I know. I wasn’t thinking.”
“You’re a jock; you’re not supposed to be thinking,” she snickered before she gestured to the field. “Thankfully Trey is not hurt, but I can just imagine how scary that must have been for her.”
Travis shifted his attention to Max, who was jumping up and down. “Me, too.”
With a first down, the Broncos once again set up on the line of scrimmage. Cody tossed the ball over to Andy, who ran it up the middle, picking up three yards. For the next three minutes, the Broncos worked their way down the field, picking up two first downs and inching toward the goal line.
The Panthers, however, weren’t going to make it easy for them. While they battled for each inch of ground, the time on the clock wound down: three minutes, two, and then one. With thirty seconds on the clock, Cody took the snap and threw the ball down field. Travis, Penelope, Russ, Max, Nadine, and everyone around them scrambled to their feet and held their breath while the ball soared into Andy’s hands — Andy who was standing in the end-zone.
“Yes!” Travis shouted, wrapping his arms around Penelope and spinning her around.
“It’s not over yet, boy,” Russ hollered. “They have to make the extra point to even push the game into overtime.”
“No,” Travis laughed. “They have to go for the two-point conversion. Those boys don’t have another quarter in them. It’s now or never.”
“Two points.” Russ shook his head and whistled. “That’s pretty risky.”
Travis looked at him, smiling. “If the championship game isn’t the time to take risks, then when is?”
“You’re right,” Russ agreed. “This is it.”
Placing one hand on Penelope’s back and the other on Max’s shoulder, Travis watched while the team lined up for the extra point. Cody called for the snap and stumbled backward. He looked to his left, and then his right, but nobody was open. Tucking the ball against his chest, he took off to the right, dodging linemen. With a linebacker in the way, he spun to the left, found a gap, and fell over the goal line. The stadium was silent until the referees shoved both of their arms into the air, signaling that the two-point conversion was good.
The roar of the crowd was deafening while they yelled and screamed, cheering for the boys — no, the men — who’d led them to a state title. There were tears of joy and hugs between strangers. And when the Broncos lined up along the sidelines and pulled off their helmets, each and every one of them looked at Travis and nodded. Bringing one hand up to his chest, he returned the gesture.
Max climbed up onto the bench, wrapped his arms around Travis’s neck, and whispered, “Thanks, Dad.”
It had been a moment that Travis had hoped would come, but he hadn’t wanted to push him too hard over it. Max had begun to trust him not to leave and not to hurt his mother, but most of all, he had to trust his father to love him.
So in return, Travis returned his son’s hug and murmured, “No. Thank you for bringing me home.”
Penelope slipped her arms around the two of them, and Travis knew that they would embrace whatever new journey came their way — as a family.
***
The
Journey
to
Forever
***
Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
***
Chapter One
New Beginnings
Travis McCoy stood in front of the mirror in his bedroom, straightening his tie and trying in vain to get his hair to lay flat. His dark, curly locks didn’t want to cooperate, so he gave up. No point in fighting a losing battle, after all.
“I don’t understand why I can’t go with you.” At the sound of his son’s voice, Travis shifted his eyes up and looked at Max. The boy was sitting on the edge of the bed, balancing his football in his lap and glaring at the floor.
“I told you,” Travis said. “Mom and I are going on a date. You’ll have fun with Gramps. He’ll probably let you do whatever you want, like run with scissors and play with matches.”
“Yeah, I know.” Max shrugged his shoulders. “Are you nervous?”
Travis took a deep breath before he turned to face his son. “Yeah, I am.”
“You shouldn’t be.” Hopping off the bed, Max smiled. “She’ll say yes.”
“How can you be sure?” he asked. “It’s only been a few months.”
“But she’s loved you for, like, ever,” Max scoffed, rolling his
mocha-brown eyes. “Dad, trust me on this one. I know women.”
“How do you know women?” It was Travis’s turn to scoff. “You’re not old enough to even like girls yet.”
“That doesn’t mean they don’t like me. And that’s not the point,” Max stated. “Women like Mom don’t fall in and out of love. They’re in it till the end. Just woo her; make her feel pretty.”
Travis stood there, staring at him. “Who are you, and what have you done with my son?”
Max rolled his eyes and walked out of the room. “Yeah, real funny, Dad.”
Travis laughed before sitting on the side of the bed and opening the drawer of his nightstand. Lifting the small, black velvet box out, he placed it in the palm of his trembling hand. Tonight, he planned to propose to the woman who had owned his heart since he was Max’s age: Penelope Stone.
Just the thought of her made him smile. It’d been five months since he’d found her again, found their son, and found where his future rested. The journey hadn’t been easy for any of them. Travis had tried to deal with the pain of learning that he’d missed out on ten years of his son’s life while chasing after his dream of being a professional football player. While he had been one of those lucky few who’d found himself standing on the fifty-yard line with a hundred thousand screaming fans around him, Travis had been willing to give it all up for Max and Penelope. They were his future — his life.
Now he was ready to tie himself to them even more. He wanted Penelope to be his wife; he wanted to slide his ring onto her finger and promise to always love her — just her.
Of course, Travis had talked to Max about marrying Penelope first. Max had been the main man in her life for the past ten years, and Travis wouldn’t disregard his feelings — not when their son’s opinion mattered so much to both of them. In order to get their son to himself, Travis had told Penelope that he was taking Max to Amarillo to watch a movie and have a little male bonding time, which they had done. First, however, Travis had taken Max out to lunch at his favorite restaurant, all in an effort to butter up the kid.
“Max, I need to talk to you about something,” Travis started. Even though he tried to keep his voice calm and even, it broke at the end.