Hustle and Heart

by Alison Mello

  Gabe comes up next to me. “That’s right, Dad.” He holds his fist out. We bump and the rest of the team follows us up to the field.

  The stands are packed with people. Even the visitors bench is full of family supporting our team. They’re chanting and cheering as we walk to our side of the field. Aiden takes off his helmet and takes a seat on the bench while the remainder of the team prepares to take the field. The coaches have the boys in a huddle going over the game plan. This is when the boys really start to get that nervous energy. We give them the first four plays and then they start their chant. I send our four team captains out to take the field, and before we know it the game is underway.

  The first quarter goes smoothly. The boys are playing hard, and we’re up six to nothing. It’s amazing to sit back and watch this coaching team instruct these boys and encourage them. If they mess up a play, they’re right there encouraging them to try again, and they do an amazing job of making sure they rotate the boys so everyone gets their plays. It’s one of the things we’ve been complimented on so far this season. I want every child to get out there and get the experience of playing. If they don’t then they won’t learn. They need to know what it feels like to be tackled and the excitement of tackling another player.

  I notice Brianne talking with one of the coaches on the far sideline. The coach is shaking his head. It makes me wonder if they’re discussing my decision to not allow Aiden and the other overweight boys to play.

  Another quarter is winding down, and the energy in the stands is unbelievable. This is part of the fun. Hearing the cheer squad chant and the parents in the stands scream for you. It boosts you even when you’re losing; it gives you the drive to keep going. That energy fills your heart with the want to fight for the win to the very end. Yes, these boys are young and it’s about having fun, but this is the age where they start to learn the difference between having fun and the want to win. This is the age when it starts to matter and they know if they work hard it pays off. That is always part of my message to them.

  “Great first half, boys. We’re up by six, and you’re playing your hearts out. Win or lose, as long as you put your all into it that’s all I care about.”

  “Yes, Coach!” they all shout including Jason, who has spent the entire game cheering his team on from the sidelines. The entire team was very supportive of him, and it was nice to see.

  “Hands in.” They pile their hands on mine. “On three, go Dartmouth.” The bounce their hands on mine, and when I get to three they all shout.

  “Blue offense, get out there.” The boys hurry out and take their positions. One of the things we’ve worked hard on is teaching the boys their positions and knowing when I call for something who belongs where. The whistle blows starting the third quarter, and the boys get down into their positions. “You see how Mason is set up?” I ask Jason.

  “Yeah.”

  “He really should be over to the left a little more. He needs to be in perfect alignment to push the kid to the side so he can make the hole. That gives you the space to run through. These are the little things that you will learn as you play that will make you a great player.” I pat him on the shoulder.

  Gabe yells hike and hands it off to Brady who starts to run forward. Mason is supposed to make a hole for him, but is shoved to the ground. “See, that’s why Mason can’t get a hold on him.” This huge kid scoops Brady up and slams him to the ground. Brady rolls around in pain. This is why we didn’t want Jason to play this week. Too much can happen.

  That’s when I notice this kid isn’t supposed to be on the field. I run out to Brady who has the wind knocked out of him. “Breathe, buddy. You’re going to be okay.” He attempts to take a deep breath, but struggles. I look up at the kid who has run off the field. The ref comes over to ask how he’s doing. “Trystan, help him off please.” I look at the ref. “Number thirteen was not supposed to play today. He didn’t make weight.”

  The ref’s eyes go wide. “Are you serious?” I nod. The two of us jog over to the sidelines to have a word with the coach. “Why did you put him in?”

  The coach shrugs. “They’re winning and the kid deserves to play.”

  “That may be so, but he shouldn’t be playing on this team, and the kid he just slammed to the ground doesn’t deserve to be hurt because he’s playing against a kid double his size. That’s why we have weight rules.”

  “He didn’t slam the kid that hard.” He defends his player, but the ref stops him.

  “Yeah well, guess what. You broke Pop Warner rules. Your team has just forfeited this game.”

  “You can’t do that!”

  “I can, and I just did. Your team will play the remainder of the game, but no matter the outcome Dartmouth takes the win. Keep him off my field.” He points to the player who was overweight and shouldn’t have been playing.

  “He has an overweight player too.”

  “First, my kid is like a pound over and yours is like ten pounds over.” I cross my arms over my chest.

  The ref turns back. “That’s moot, his player is on the bench where he should be.”

  The ref walks me back to our sideline to check on Brady who is doing so much better. “You okay, buddy?”

  “I just need some water.”

  “Okay, take a break.”

  “Let’s finish this off,” the ref says to me before jogging onto the field. I send Braydon in for Brady so he can chill for a bit. I want to make sure he’s really okay before he goes back in.

  We play the remainder of the game without any issues from the opposing team. The coach is pissed and has been shooting me dirty looks, but I don’t really care. They lost because they don’t play fair and they have a crappy coach. They have some very talented players, and if they pulled themselves together they could win. They need a coach who has confidence in them and can teach them the true meaning of being a good sport.

  We find a spot to gather away from the other team. The team takes a knee as they do after every game. “Great game today, boys. You boys beat a great team, and you played your hearts out until the end. Even when they played dirty, you still kept your heads high and played with heart, and I’m proud of you for that.” Some of the players around Brady pat him on the back. It wasn’t only a dirty hit, but the kid is so much bigger than Brady. He is sure to ache in the morning. We end with our chant and a reminder that we have practice on Tuesday evening.

  DJ and Mason come over to Jason and Gabe. “Hey, you okay?” DJ asks him, referring to what happened last night. Gabe, Jason, DJ and Mason had a chat before the game. He trusts them, and I’m glad. It’s good he has friends he can talk to.

  “Yeah, I’m good,” Jason tells them.

  They do their new handshake, and the boys part ways. “Let’s go get your sister.” I put my arm around my son, and we all go in search of Grace.

  When we pull up to the house, Mom is sitting on the porch. The kids all race from the car, excited to tell her about their win.

  “She looks good today.” Karen looks up at me when I come around the car.

  “I agree.” I take her hand, and the two of us climb the steps. The kids are sitting around her, taking turns telling her stories of their day.

  “Grammy, can you believe the other team cheated? They put a player in who wasn’t supposed to play.”

  “Really?” she questions, genuinely interested. The boys continue the story about how Brady got hurt. “That’s it. Let’s go back there. No one messes with my team.” She stands firmly, and the kids all burst into laughter.

  “It’s fine, Grammy.” Jason tells her that their teammate is good. The smile that lights up my mom’s face melts my heart. It’s the first time he’s called her Grammy, and it means the world to her. She leans over and kisses him on top of his head.

  “You all need to go shower. You’re sweaty and dirty.”

  She gets a round of “Yes, ma’ams,” and they all take off into the house to get out of their nasty clothes. Mom takes her seat aga
in and starts to swing.

  I pat her on the shoulder. “We’re going to check on dinner. You enjoy the quiet while you can.” The two of us head into the house to ensure dinner is going okay and to get things ready for the big day tomorrow.

  Now that Jason is registered for school and getting settled into his classes, Jesse and I are off to spend the day together. Our first stop is at the paint store. We’re surprising Grace with some color samples today.

  “I’m glad we looked at bedding for her last night. It will make picking colors a bit easier,” Jesse says.

  “I agree. The set is gorgeous, and it was a really good price.” We found the perfect princess set online. It has tons of pinks and some purples in it too. Jesse thought we should wait to order it, but I disagreed and one clicked it instantly. I know she’s going to love it, and we want some of this to be a surprise so she doesn’t need to see it yet.

  As we pull up to the paint store, the manager is just opening up, but Jesse’s cell rings so he answers it to give the guy a second. All I can hear is a bunch of ‘okays and will dos.’

  He cuts the call and says, “I need you to send an email out from your phone right now if you can. We need to schedule a mandatory parents meeting. One of the parents has accused me of not allowing the kids to get all their plays in.”

  My eyes go wide. “That’s bullshit.”

  “I know, and Mike knows. That’s why he is going to have my back.”

  I pull out my phone and tap out a quick email then look up at Jesse with a smile. “Done.”

  “Thank you, now let’s do this.”

  We walk straight to the pink section and start glancing over the ridiculous number of shades we can choose from. We’ve already agreed that the color won’t be anything too bright and crazy. We want her room to look nice, not be a cartoon fairytale. Once we agree on a few sample colors, the gentleman gives us the small containers of paint in a bag with a few small brushes, and we leave.

  Our next stop is the furniture store to order her new bedroom set and schedule the delivery. “Want to grab a bite to eat after we hit the furniture store?”

  “Sure, where do you want to go?”

  “Remember the hot dog stand we used to go to?” he asks.

  “Of course I do.”

  “You down?”

  “For a hot dog and the park? Of course.” He squeezes my hand. His beautiful eyes are so full of excitement as he pulls away. We take the short ride in silence. My head is full of memories from when we did things like this as kids. After school they would have practice, and then we would walk over to the hot dog stand, grab a hot dog, and then go to the park. Our parents would pick us up from there when they got out of work. That’s how I first met Josephine. Brian, Jesse, and myself were the only ones left at the park. Brian’s mom had come to get him leaving just me and Jesse. Josephine was so angry that he would leave his girlfriend at the park. She lectured Jesse and told him, “Don’t you ever leave a woman alone in the park.” I can still hear the sass in her voice. She had me call my mom, and they gave me a ride home.

  “Hey, we’re here.” Jesse squeezes my hand one more time, and that’s when I notice we’re at the furniture store. Thankfully, the place isn’t overly busy and since we know what we’re picking this should be a quick in and out.

  We walk through the door and the sales reps are waiting to pounce on a sale. Jesse walks straight past them and to the bedroom section. “I want to see the set first,” he tells me, so we both scan the store looking for it. It takes us a few minutes, but we finally locate it. “She is going to love this.” He looks so happy.

  “I agree. I think it’s the perfect set for her.”

  “Can I help you, folks?” We hear a sweet, soft voice from behind us and we turn around. “Hi, I’m Cindy. Is there something I can help you with?”

  “I’m Jesse.” He shakes the woman’s hand. “And this is Karen.” I shake her hand as well. He continues on. “We would like to order this set for my daughter.”

  “It’s a beautiful set, isn't it?” We both nod our agreement. “Right this way.” She ushers us over to a small desk that’s situated in a discreet spot on the sales floor. We take a seat, and she begins the process of ordering the set as Jesse fills her in on exactly which pieces he wants to order. “I see here you already have an account with us.”

  “Yes, ma’am. I just ordered a bunk bed for our sons’ room.”

  “Excellent. That will make the process a bit quicker.” She types away in the computer. A few minutes later she confirms the pieces that Jesse wants, the address it’s to be delivered to, and they set the delivery date for two weeks from today. That will give us enough time to get her room squared away. Jesse grabs his paperwork, and we thank her for her time.

  As we’re getting to the car, our stomachs both rumble. “I think it’s fair to say we’re both ready to eat.” I wink at him.

  “I’m starved.” He pulls out of the spot to make the short trip to the park. That’s the nice thing about small town living, everything is within a short drive. He picks a spot at the park and we climb out, walking hand in hand across the street to the hot dog stand.

  “Remember the day that Brian left us alone at the park and your mom freaked out. She gave you so much sass about how rude it is to leave a woman at the park alone.”

  He throws his head back in laughter. “I remember that. After Mom dropped you off, she lectured me the entire ride home about manners and how to properly treat a woman.”

  “It still looks the same.” I point to the little red shack with its paint peeling from age. It’s got a small plexiglass covering surrounding the tiny walk-up window where you place your order. As usual, the plexiglass is plastered with flyers and business cards from small, local places advertising their work. The owner is still working behind the window. He works the window during the day, and then he hires the high school kids to work the afternoons through dinner.

  Jesse looks down at me. “Hot dog with ketchup?”

  “With BBQ chips and a chocolate milk,” I finish his thought.

  “Can you believe this?” he says to the owner. “She comes to the best stop for Coney Island hot dogs and she gets a dog with ketchup.”

  The owner laughs. “How’s it going, Jesse?”

  “I’m good, man. How are you?”

  “I’m good, business is still crazy.”

  “Glad to hear it. Can I get two Coney Island hot dogs, one dog with ketchup, two bags of BBQ chips, and two chocolate milks?”

  “You got it.”

  A minute later he is back with two small boxes. One that holds our hotdogs and another with our chips and milk. We happily walk across the street to the same picnic area we hung out at as kids. There were days when we would just hang out, and other times we would study for a test. We were a good group of kids. We all studied hard, but we had a lot of fun too.

  “Remember the time we were all hanging out and Shelby tried to be slick and jumped from the swing?” Jesse chuckles, taking a bite of his hot dog.

  “Yeah, she broke her ankle. Della was pissed because that took her off the cheer squad and they were about to compete.” I shake my head. “Della spent more time whining over her ankle than Shelby did.”

  Jesse’s expression changes slightly. He looks into my eyes. “The day we brought you home, my mom knew.” He licks his lips. “She knew that I really liked you and that Della was a distraction. Do you know what she told me?”

  “No idea.”

  “She told me that we had a connection and we were meant to be. She told me to be patient, that we would have our time and, by God, she was right.” I smile. “I’m never letting you go.”

  “When I called my mom that day to tell her you were bringing me home, she asked me what happened to Brian. I told her he left me at the park.” I pause, thinking back. “Mom said that she knew I thought I was in love, but Brian was no good. She wasn’t happy when I told her we were getting married, but she respected my decision.”
I look him in the eye. “You know she never said it, but I could hear the I told you so in her tone when he left me.”

  He presses his lips to mine. His fingers gently run over my jaw and into my hair at the nape of my neck. He deepens the kiss, sending a shiver down my spine. Heat instantly builds below.

  I pull away and look into his eyes. “Take me home.” He smiles and presses his lips to mine one more time. Grabbing my arm, he pulls me from the bench and practically drags me back to the car. We haven’t had too much time to ourselves lately, and I think the realization that the house is empty just hit him. We hurry across the street, dumping the milk containers and our trash. “We can eat these at home.” He tosses the BBQ chips in the backseat. I can’t help but laugh at the playful look on his face when he pull away from the curb. “Thank god I only live a few minutes from here,” he mumbles when he hits the stoplight.

  “You realize we have a few hours before the kids get home, right?”

  “Yup, and I plan on taking complete advantage of the time.” The light turns green, and he hits the gas.

  “Where’s your mom?” I ask, knowing full well she’s gone to play cards with her friends. Her medication has really started to help her feel better, so she decided to get out of the house.

  He glances over. “It’s Monday, she’s gone to play cards.” He wiggles his brows. “She didn’t get to go the last two weeks. She was itching to get out. Said she was going to take advantage of her freedom while she was feeling good. She won’t be home until just before the kids come home.”

  He pulls into the driveway and jumps from the car as soon as it’s off. I leisurely unfold myself from the car, purposely taking my time. He’s already on the porch with the door open and waiting for me when I slowly climb the steps. The look of impatience is plastered on his face. He knows what I’m doing, and he’s not amused. He takes my hand and pulls me into the house, slamming me against the door as soon as it’s closed. “Is there a problem?” He rests his forehead on mine.