by Gregg Stutts
For the first week after they’d left New Jersey, Chris had called or texted her constantly. At first, Michelle ignored him. When that didn’t stop him, she answered one of his calls and made it clear it was over. She was sorry for hurting him and didn’t want to hear from him again.
That worked for a couple days until he started calling and texting again. That was when Max answered one of the calls and told Chris he wanted the harassment to stop. It turned into a shouting match before Max finally hung up. It worked though. There’d been no contact from him for almost two weeks.
Max got home just after 6:00 p.m. and found Michelle in the kitchen. “Hey, Shelle, something smells good.”
“It’s almost ready,” she said while continuing to stir the pot.
“Can I give you a hand?”
“Nah, I’m okay.”
“I really don’t mind helping. How about I do the salad?”
Michelle said nothing. Max got to work slicing the tomato and red onion. He wasn’t sure what to make of her silence. After several minutes of trying to remember what he might have done to upset her, he said, “Shelle, have I done something wrong?”
She stopped what she was doing and turned to look at Max. Her face was red. Her eyes were puffy. “Max, we need to talk.”
His stomach filled with butterflies. His legs suddenly felt rubbery. He couldn’t remember what he’d done, but knew it had to be bad.
She took his hands in hers but said nothing. She only stared at the floor.
“Shelle, are you okay? What is it? What’s wrong?”
She wiped her eyes and said softly, “I’m pregnant.”
WHAT’S NEXT?
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About the Author
Robyn and Gregg Stutts
Go down the coast about sixty miles from New York City and sixty miles east of Philadelphia and you’ll find my hometown of Brick, New Jersey. It was a great place to grow up and play football! After high school, I attended Cornell University where I met my wife Robyn. We got married on June 8, 1985 and have four wonderful children (three daughters and a son) and four (soon to be five) grandsons.
Now we live in Fayetteville, Arkansas where Robyn leads the ministry of Young Life in this area of the state. Whether it’s through writing, coaching or speaking, my passion is to help people believe God, not their circumstances, negative emotions or the voice in their head that tells them they’re not good enough or that God won’t come through. My other passion is to help couples build amazing marriages. If you’d like to know more, please check out my website: GreggStutts.com
If you’re currently facing challenging circumstances due to a health issue, a financial crisis, a strained relationship or something else, then let me encourage you to check out this devotional I wrote in 2018 while Robyn was going through treatment for leukemia.
The Lakeside Confession
By Gregg Stutts
Copyright (c) 2015 by Gregg Stutts
All rights reserved.
This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, businesses, events or locations is purely coincidental.
I wrote this book during a four-week period in June and July of 2015 while staying at Sharp Top Cove, a Young Life camp in Jasper, Georgia. My wife, Robyn, was on assignment there. I dedicate this book to her, the rest of the assigned team, the summer staff, the work crew, the interns and the property staff.
The Lakeside Series Overview
Book 1: The Lakeside Conspiracy
Max and Michelle Henry once had the perfect marriage and an ideal life in the small town of Lakeside, Arkansas where they live with their daughter, Sarah. But can their love survive Sarah’s tragic death?
Max is angry with God and throws himself into football where he has always enjoyed coaching success. But he’s coming off two losing seasons and three is unacceptable at Lakeside High School. The pieces are in place for a championship run until his star player is killed in a mysterious accident…an accident Max discovers the police are covering up.
Michelle has been forced to grieve and cope with the pain of losing Sarah by herself. When she takes a trip to see her parents, she finds comfort in the arms of an old boyfriend.
Is it too late for Max to win her back? Can he put together a championship run to save his job? Will digging into the cover-up reveal secrets worth killing over?
Book 2: The Lakeside Confession (this book)
With one game left in the season, Max Henry is on the brink of losing his job as head football coach at Lakeside High School, but his off the field problems are even worse.
He and his wife, Michelle, are trying to put the pieces of their marriage back together when a devastating confession threatens to tear them apart for good while unseen enemies are intent on destroying them.
Will making the playoffs be enough to keep his job? Can their love survive another tragedy? When it matters most, can Max trust God to come through?
Book 3: The Lakeside Council
Max and Michelle are trying to get back to “life as normal,” but their lives are anything but. When the city council passes a law that restricts civil rights in Lakeside, Max and Willy begin to investigate and discover way more than they ever imagined.
Book 4: The Lakeside Collusion
Max discovers that the inexplicable events in Lakeside are only the beginning and people at the highest levels of government are pulling the strings.
Chapter 1
Monday, October 28
“I’m pregnant,” Michelle said.
Why is she crying? “Shelle, what is it? What’s wrong?” Max said.
They’d tried to get pregnant for years. They’d always wanted another child after Sarah, but it never happened. Were twelve years of infertility over? He wanted to be excited, but his heart sank as he realized something was wrong.
Michelle shook her head and stared at the floor. It was hard to understand her through her tears, but he finally heard, “It’s not the baby.”
He hugged her tight. “What is it, Shelle? If it’s not the baby, then…” It hit him. Like a punch to the stomach. He let her go and stepped away. His legs didn’t want to support him. He braced himself against the kitchen counter.
“I’m so sorry,” she said.
Momentary joy evaporated as quickly as it had come. Max slammed his fist on the counter. Then punched the cabinet that contained the mugs and glasses. “Aaaaahhhh!”
Don’t Max, you’re going to regret it.
He had only seconds to get out before he might say or do things he’d regret forever. “So you’re pregnant…” He watched Michelle nod her head. “…but the baby isn’t mine?”
She reached for his hand, but he yanked it away. “How long have you known?” he asked.
She couldn’t look at him. “I’m hardly ever late, so I bought a test this morning.”
He stared at her and debated whether to leave or let loose with a verbal barrage that might end his marriage on the spot. He heard Willy’s voice in his head, “Don’t be surprised by difficulties. They’ll come when you least expect them.”
Well, he was surprised. He brushed past Michelle and almost ran to the door.
“Where are you going?” she said.
“For a walk.”
“Can I go with you?” she said as she reached again for his hand.
He shoved her hand away. “When were you going to tell me, Shelle?” He stared at her and shook his head. “If you hadn’t gotten pregnant were you ever going to tell me?”
She tried again to touch him, but he glared at her. “Don’t.”
“I was going to tell you…” she was crying harder, and he could no longer understand what she was saying.
He pushed the front
door open. It was a pivotal moment. He had one foot inside and one out. Stay. No, leave. Stay and talk it out. Get out, now!
“Max, it could be yours,” Michelle said.
He laughed in her face. “Could be?” he said. “Could be? Wow, Shelle! Just what every husband wants to hear from his wife, ‘it could be yours.’” He slammed the front door as hard as he could and left.
Chapter 2
Tuesday, October 29
Max was jolted awake at six o’clock. He shut the alarm off and threw his legs over the side of the bed. He took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. The previous night was still fresh on his mind. Painfully so.
After storming out of the house, he walked for an hour before going back and getting his truck. He drove around for a couple more hours before getting a motel room for the night.
He flipped the bedside lamp on and squinted as his eyes adjusted. If he could get to school by six-thirty, he could shower and shave at the field house before anyone else arrived. He had clothes there to change into. No one needed to know he hadn’t slept at home.
He saw eight missed calls from Michelle. She also texted twice. “I’m so sorry! Please, answer your phone!” came at 6:28 p.m. after she’d tried calling three times. And after several more calls, another text at 7:09 p.m. said, “Please, Max! Let’s talk about this! I love you! Please call me!” She tried calling again at 8:37 p.m. and then got the hint he wasn’t interested in talking to her, because there were no more calls or texts.
The words, “It could be yours,” kept echoing in his head. When he heard that, he lost it. Those four words sent him over the edge. Four simple words made him feel patronized, disrespected and humored all at once. And it set him off. He hadn’t exploded like that since the day Sarah died.
He felt so stupid now to believe things were getting better with Michelle. Nothing was better. Nothing was different. They were still in trouble. Big trouble. And as usual, God was nowhere to be found.
He glanced around the room, but hadn’t brought anything in with him. He shut the door behind him and walked to the office. The guy behind the desk looked like he was still half asleep. “I’ll need room 117 for another night.”
He started his truck and tuned to the local ESPN station. He caught the beginning of an interview with Donnie Black, the former head of the Northern Arkansas State University Football Foundation.
It had been a month since he and Michelle, with the help of Dante’s mother, had revealed to Lakeside and the media, the truth behind Dante’s death. In the two days prior to the Carroll County Touchdown Club, they had pieced together the key players and events. And then in the only venue possible, they confronted Donnie.
Max still felt awful that Joe Patterson, the Pioneer’s long-time coach had gotten caught up in the scandal and resigned as a result. He knew Joe deserved better than that. If he was guilty of anything, it was trusting those around him to do their jobs faithfully and with integrity. Donnie Black betrayed Coach Patterson. And now Max could relate to feelings of betrayal.
During the interview, Donnie shifted the blame to not only the two foundation employees, Alex Martin and Jerry Peterson, the two knuckleheads who had chased him and Michelle from New Jersey to Arkansas, but to college athletics in general. Donnie talked about the pressure to win. The pressure to raise money. The pressure to get the best athletes. The pressure to build better facilities and stadiums. The pressure never ended, he whined.
Most of all, Donnie placed the blame squarely on the shoulders of Jack Murphy, a man who conveniently couldn’t defend himself because he was dead. Donnie said it was Jack who came up with the scheme to approach high-level high school football players from other states and entice them to come to Lakeside where their parents would be given good jobs and nice homes. In exchange, they would agree to play their final two years of football for Lakeside and then continue on at Northern Arkansas State.
That was Donnie’s version, but almost everyone believed it was Donnie, not Jack, who came up with the plan. Dante was their first recruit and everything was going according to plan, until he decided he wanted to play at an SEC school. That’s when Jack Murphy paid a visit to Dante and his mother, warning them it wasn’t going to be possible to de-commit from NASU. They had agreed to the terms and would be expected to honor the agreement. Of course, nothing was in writing. No one was that dumb. Everything was verbal. Everyone was expected to keep quiet and keep their word.
Alex Martin and Jerry Peterson told a different story than the one Donnie was telling. They said they worked for Donnie and did his dirty work. They said it was Donnie who saw the plan unraveling and ordered them to give Dante “a good scare.” They confessed to running him off the road, but claimed they never meant to kill him.
Of course, Donnie claimed he had no idea where Alex Martin and Jerry Peterson had gotten the idea to harm or even scare Dante or Jack. He also didn’t know why they followed Max to New Jersey and chased him all the way back to Arkansas.
Donnie shrewdly admitted to some “minor violations,” as he called them, but was careful to not implicate himself in the “rogue activities” (again, his words) of Alex and Jerry, two low-level employees of the foundation.
Donnie was arrested the day of the Touchdown Club meeting but was released, at least for now. A grand jury was expected to indict him. Alex and Jerry were still being held and charged with second-degree murder in the deaths of Dante Jones and Jack Murphy.
As dangerous and stressful as those few days with Michelle were, they were some of the best days of their marriage. They worked together. They trusted each other. They relied on each other. The danger and adventure had reignited a spark in their marriage. The excitement was back.
It was all an illusion though. During the great month they were having, Michelle was pregnant with another man’s baby.
Chapter 3
Max stopped at a red light and flashed back to when he and Michelle were being chased by Alex and Jerry on the exit ramp. When he’d given Michelle the word, she had put the car in reverse and slammed into the grill of their car. It knocked them out of commission, at least for a little while. He’d felt so proud of her.
His phone buzzed as the light turned green. It was another text from Michelle. He threw his phone on the seat and accelerated through the intersection. He wasn’t interested in anything she had to say. If he hadn’t been so distracted, he might have noticed the car that made a right turn and pulled in behind him.
He was replaying the scene with Michelle from the night before. She was pregnant. With another man’s child. Then she gave it one last shot to keep him from walking out the door by saying, “It could be yours.” He couldn’t help laughing again. On what planet would that make a man want to stay with his wife?
He drove around to the field house and parked. If he hurried, he could shower and get dressed before any of his assistant coaches showed up. They had a meeting at seven o’clock. This was Bentonville week. It was as big a game as any they’d played all year. With a 5-4 record, a win would give them a playoff berth. They’d be on the road for every game, but at least they’d be in. A loss would make it tough, but not impossible to still make it in.
Bentonville would be ready. They always were. They were coming into the game with eight wins and only one loss. Their only loss had been to Fayetteville. Lakeside would have to play their best game of the year to win and he planned to have them ready to do just that.
First though, he needed to reply to Michelle. He opened her latest text and read it. “Max, I don’t know what else to say. I’m so, so sorry! Please let’s talk. Okay?”
He read it several times before typing, “Lots to do for Bentonville game. Will call later.” He thought about it for a moment and changed the second sentence to, “Will try to call later.” Then hit send.
He didn’t notice that the car that had followed him for the last several miles had parked next to him. As Max got out of his truck, the last person on earth he wanted to see exited the car a
nd headed directly toward him.
Donnie Black looked like he was on a mission.
Chapter 4
Wednesday, October 30
There could be no good reason Donnie Black wanted to see him, so there was no use in pretending to be cordial. “What do you want Donnie? I’m busy,” Max said without breaking stride toward the field house.
“Saw you back at the intersection. Figured you were on your way to work. Thought I’d come see you,” Donnie said. “You got a problem with that?”