Hustle and Heart

by Alison Mello

  Michelle raises her hand. “Will you notify the parents if it’s their child who doesn’t want to play?”

  “Absolutely. I don’t want to see kids give up at this point, but if they truly do not want to be here I will let you know. I can tell you, Michelle, your kid is doing great, and it’s obvious he wants to be out there.” Appeased with Jesse’s response, Michelle smiles, silently thanking Jesse for his response.

  “Are there any other questions? I want to get to my boys.” He glances around, and parents start to disperse. “I guess we’re good.” He turns to me. “I’ll see you after practice.” He starts his practice, and the girls and I go for our walk.

  I tell them all about my conversation with Jason before practice and how he handled it. “That poor kid. I feel so bad for him. You know DJ didn’t take it well when I told him his father passed on, but hearing your father doesn’t want you is so much worse.”

  “I know. It broke my heart, but I didn’t want him to think I was the reason his father wasn’t seeing him. It may sound selfish, but I didn’t want that to come between us.”

  “I don’t think that’s selfish at all,” Misty says. “I think it’s damn brave you had the conversation with him.”

  “I agree. Josh knows what it’s like to not see his father for long periods of time, but Kyle is sure to show him that he is loved each and every time he comes home,” Lori says.

  “Well, I told him that Jesse loves him and that we are here for him and will help him through it. He was very appreciative and thanked Jesse when he got here.”

  “Awww, that’s sweet,” Stella says.

  “I know, right? I swore Jesse was going to cry.”

  We’re so deep in conversation we almost lose track of time. Practice comes to an end, and the team gathers for me to release them to their parents. The ladies all gather their kids and bid us good night. Brianne storms down to the field as one of the last parents to get her kid and from the look on her face, I have a feeling it has to do with the meeting.

  “Coach Jesse!” she shouts out as she approaches us. “Can we have a word with you please?” Aiden stands by her side. “Aiden has something he would like to say.”

  “Coach, I’m sorry I purposely overate this week so I wouldn’t be able to play.”

  He shrugs. “You don’t need to apologize to me. If you don’t want to play, just don’t come. You don’t need to overeat to not play.”

  He looks up at his mom and then back to Jesse. “I want to play, Coach.” His words are coerced. I can tell from the way he looks between his mother and Jesse, plus his voice is shaky.

  “Then you need to start putting your all into both practices and the games. If you get on the game field and you’re not trying, I will pull you.”

  “Yes, Coach,” he says, sounding sad.

  “Have a good night.” Brianne’s jaw drops as we walk away. Clearly, Jesse has nothing more to say to her or him. As usual, he walks me to my car so we can get home. We need to get the kids cleaned up and ready for school tomorrow.

  It’s painting day, and Grace couldn’t be more excited. We’ve taken as much as we can out of her room to make it easier for us to move around. She was thrilled with the pale pink that Karen chose, and now it’s time to get the entire room done. Lucky for us, her room isn’t huge, and Karen has already done the trim of the room. She’s worked on it a little bit each day this week so that we’d only have the main walls to do today. We made sure to buy the color in a good paint that will mainly cover in one coat, hoping to only have to do touch-ups after we finish. Her bedroom set will be here next Saturday, at which time we’re kicking her out of the house and she won’t be allowed back in until it’s done.

  Karen comes in wearing the same yoga pants and t-shirt she’s been wearing to paint all week. She literally raced home from work, changed her clothes, and painted for about forty minutes until we had to go. We’re lucky Mom has recovered from her illness. She’s been helping get things ready for football while Karen worked on the room so that we could be ready for today.

  “Ready to do this?” she asks, totally excited.

  “Yeah, let’s do it.”

  We pour paint into two rolling pans and get to work on opposite sides of the room. “How’s Jason been? He seems like he’s handling everything well.”

  “He’s good. I told him it was over.”

  There’s nothing I want more than to adopt Jason and marry Karen, but it’s not my call. I turn back to the wall and begin rolling out paint.

  My brain is on overdrive. The room is silent which leaves nothing more to do than think. We’ve been dating for a few months. I know people would say I’m insane, but our situation is so different. We knew years ago we should’ve been together, but our paths were laid out and we were taken in a different direction. Now that we’re finally together, there’s not a soul on this earth I would rather be with and I know she feels the same way. I see it in her eyes when we make love. Now I just have to figure out how to make it happen. My arms are hard at work painting while my mind is reeling with ideas on how to have the kids help me ask her. She would love that, and it would make it so much more special.

  “I’m done with this wall.” Karen pulls me from my thoughts. When I turn to face her, I can’t help but laugh. She has paint spots all over her beautiful face. “What’s so funny?” She plants her hand on her hip.

  “You have paint splatter all over your face.”

  “Oh yeah, you should see your head?” I look in Grace’s mirror, and sure enough my bald head is covered in pink paint splatter.

  “That’s quite the look. Does it turn you on?” I pull her close to me and plant a kiss on her lips.

  “Babe, when it comes to you there isn’t much that doesn’t turn me on. I even love watching you on the football field. The focus and fierce look in your eyes while you’re out there coaching those kids.” A smile spreads across my face. I just figured out how I’m going to do it, but I have some planning to do.

  “What are you so happy about?” She presses her lips to mine.

  “Oh, nothing.” I feign innocence.

  “You’re full of shit. I can tell you’re up to no good.” She points her roller at me. “No problem. I’ll come up with a way to get it out of you.” She steps out of my hold and goes back to rolling the next wall. “You’re lucky we have to get this done so your daughter can sleep in here tonight.” I continue working because she’s right. The weather is getting cool so we need to be sure we can air it out and close the window before bed. We’ve been lucky with the weather so far, but there’s no way we can leave the window open all night.

  It takes us about another hour, but we manage to finish painting the room. We close the door and leave the window open. Karen sets a reminder on her phone to close the window around dinnertime so the room will warm up in time for bed.

  The kids are all playing a game downstairs. They look so cute playing together. The weather is really raw today, so they’re staying inside. Jason makes a funny face, and Grace falls back on her elbows laughing hysterically. I look at Karen with a smile. “Look at them,” I whisper.

  “I know. It’s awesome to see them all playing nicely.”

  “Okay, okay, it’s Grace’s turn,” Gabe announces.

  Grace scoops up the dice and rolls them to take her turn. She cheers excitedly when she gets the number she wants. Gabe and Jason shake their heads. “I can’t believe she’s beating us,” Jason says with frustration.

  “Dude, she’s just lucky.” Gabe takes the dice and rolls them, growling when he doesn’t get the number he wants. “This game is awful.”

  “Oh, Gabe, don’t be a sore loser.” I take the last few steps down the stairs and into the living room.

  “I’m trying not to, Dad, but this game is seriously out of control.” I raise my brows at my kid.

  “It’s Chutes and Ladders. How out of control can it be?”

  Karen cracks up laughing. “I’m going to go shower. I want to
wash this paint off before it becomes permanently stuck to my skin.”

  She runs back upstairs, and I decide to take that opportunity to talk to the kids. “Okay, everyone, listen up. This is important, and I only have a few minutes before Karen comes back.”

  They all huddle and Jason asks, “What’s up?”

  “How do you kids feel about Karen and I getting married?” I ask, a bit nervous.

  Grace claps happily, and Jason and Gabe look at each other before turning back to me. Gabe says, “That means we’ll be brothers.”

  “It does, but I want everyone to be ready when I ask Karen. It can’t be just Karen and I that have to be ready. You kids have to be on board too; that’s very important to us.”

  “I’m cool,” Gabe says.

  “Me too,” Grace announces.

  “Jason?” I look at him. “If you’re not ready, I understand. You just went through some stuff with your mom and dad, but know I’m here for you.”

  He looks at the floor then to Gabe, Grace, and back to me. “Do you really love us?” His eyes instantly well with hurt.

  I look him in the eye and with sincerity I reply, “With all my heart. We all do.”

  He smiles. “I’m in.”

  I pull the three kids in for a quick hug. “Good, because I want you all to be part of the proposal.”

  “Cool, what do we do?” Jason asks.

  Checking the stairs to ensure she isn’t coming, I add, “I have some planning to do, but we’ll do it one week from tomorrow.” I go into all the details of how I want this to go down. They add their input, and we bounce some ideas off each other. The smiles on their faces as we discuss this is exciting.

  “What are you all up to?” We all jump and turn to discover Karen at the bottom of the stairs with her hands firmly planted on her hips and one eyebrow raised.

  “We’re just discussing a movie for tonight.”

  “In a football huddle?”

  The kids and I look at each other cautiously then back at Karen. She rolls her eyes. “Whatever. I’m going to help your mom with dinner.”

  “That was close. Remember this is a surprise, not one word of this to anyone or it’ll be ruined.”

  They all agree, and we really begin planning the movie we’ll watch tonight. It’s become our thing to watch movies on Saturday evenings with the kids. It’s a great way to relax before a day of football.

  All week Karen has tried to get me to spill on what I was discussing with the kids last week, but not one word has been leaked and the entire league is in on it. Lucky for us the weather is going to be beautiful today, so we’re having everyone over after the game to celebrate. This is going to be such a great surprise for her. I hope she loves it.

  We pull up to the field and, I have to admit, I’m a bit nervous. This is very risky to do in front of the entire stadium. She could say no and that would leave me completely devastated, but deep down in my heart I know that won’t happen.

  Mom pulls into a spot beside me with Grace. The [40][41]boys climb out of Karen’s car and go straight to the trunk. My next mission is getting us an SUV we can all fit in. I hate we have to take two cars. The boys slip their pads on over their shirts and tuck their jerseys in. Mom hurries Grace across the street to get her ready for her game. The cheer coaches hurry her onto the field because the game is about to start, but with all we have going on, we were running late this morning.

  As usual, Mom, Karen, and I stand on the sidelines watching her do her thing. They look so cute out there, and I’m so proud of her. She’s taken cheer very seriously, and she works hard. She’s managed to not only get her cartwheel down, but now she can do a roundoff too. Of course, this has led to her asking to do gymnastics in the off season, and I couldn’t say no. If all she does is cheer and gymnastics, I can handle that. I told her I would get her signed up as soon as football is over. Now if we make the playoffs, that won’t be until early November, but she is fine with that.

  The game is going by incredibly quick. Karen and I take turns watching Grace now that the team is starting to show up. “Will you stay with Grace?”

  “Of course.” I walk over to gather the team up. My coaches are all here, and the kids are excited for game time.

  Mike comes over. “You really doing this?”

  I look at Gabe and Jason. “We doing this?”

  “We’re doing it, “they agree in unison.

  “Good luck, man. You have some big ones.” He pats me on the back and walks away.

  “Dude, she is either going to kill you, or love you for life and for your sake, I hope it’s the latter.” Trystan nudges me.

  “Me too, man. I’ve worked hard to get this all squared away. The last thing I need is for her to freak out on me.”

  “Nah, I know my mom, she’s going to love it.”

  “Good, because it’s time to weigh-in.” I hurry the boys down to the locker room for weigh-in. Both teams have no problems this week. We’re down a player because Aiden didn’t show, but that’s fine because he doesn’t want to be here anyway.

  My palms start to sweat; it’s almost time and I don’t mean game time. Well, it’s almost time for that too, but I don’t get nervous over games so much anymore. I’m more nervous over how this is going to go. I look up at the sky and say a quick silent prayer that it goes well. We make our way up to the field to prepare for our pre-game introductions. The cheer squad has lined up a little different this week and, as planned, Grace is asking Karen to be on the field with them. She stands exactly where Grace tells her to and then she runs over to us. The music begins, and the banner is stretched out. The team is announced and they runs through breaking the banner.

  What Karen isn’t expecting is the three kids to run from behind the group with another banner of their own. Jason and Gabe are each on an end and Grace is holding a bouquet of flowers. In big letters it says, ‘Will you marry me, Karen?’ Karen instantly begins to tremble, and her hands go to her mouth. The entire stadium begins to chant, “Do it, do it, do it.” She looks around with tears running down her face, and when she turns back to me I have a diamond in my hand. “Please, Karen, will you marry me? Make us one big happy family.”

  She nods and whispers, “Yes, I would love to marry you.”

  I put the ring on her finger then scoop her up and spin her in a circle as the kids jump up and down around us. The team parents are holding up letters that spell out ‘Congrats Jesse and Karen.’ She bursts into laughter through her tears. “I can’t believe you did all of this.”

  “All for you. I love you so much and wanted this to be a day you’ll remember forever.”

  “It’s certainly not one I can forget.”

  I give her a quick kiss, and Mike comes over the loudspeaker. “Okay, you two, we have a game to play.” The crowd erupts into laughter, and the five of us run off the field.

  All the boys gather around Karen when we get to the sideline. They each hand her a flower and congratulate her. That part wasn’t my doing. That was all Trystan, Stella, Misty, and Briggs. I think it was really sweet of them. She waves up to the crowd, thanking her friends, and the refs start the game.

  At halftime, we’re losing seven to nothing, but I’m not stressing it. We’ve had an awesome season so far, and this is the toughest team in the league. I’m glad we’ve held them to just seven. “Hey, just so you know, the celebration is not over. Everyone is coming to our house after the game.”

  She narrows her eyes at me. “I knew you were up to no good.”

  “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

  The ref blows the whistle starting the second half, and our kids take the field. Karen walks up and down the sidelines as she usually does, cheering for the boys and giving them water. The smile on her face could light up this entire stadium, and knowing I put that smile there has me feeling like a million bucks.

  There’s less than a minute and a half left on the clock and we’re on the five-yard line. We don’t have much time, bu
t this is our chance to score and potentially tie the game. I pull the team together for a quick pep talk and give them the play. Gabe is in as quarterback, Jason is a running back, DJ is a wide receiver, and Mason and Jacoby are on the line. “Mason and Jacoby, I need you two to make a hole for Jason, can you do that?” They nod. “Everyone else, you know your job, just do it.” I look at Jason. “He’s going to hand you that ball; you run with all you got.”

  “I got this.”

  We break the huddle, and the boys line up. Gabe calls hike and steps back handing Jason the ball. As he runs forward a big kid comes at him, but one of the lineman holds him off. Jason stiff arms another player and runs through the hole and into the end-zone.

  “Touchdown,” the ref shouts as the clock runs down to forty seconds.

  I pull the boys together one more time. “We’re going to run that special play we’ve been working on.”

  Gabe smiles. “I got this.”

  “Green offense two! Green offense two on the field,” I shout to the team. The appropriate players run onto the field, and Gabe fills them in.

  They all line up the way they’re supposed to. Gabe does his thing calling out the appropriate numbers and then he yells, “Hike.” He pretends to hand it off to Jason who runs toward the hole that Mason and Jacoby have made. The entire defense has run to Jason, leaving DJ wide open. Gabe throws the ball and DJ catches it in the back corner of the end zone. The refs blow the whistle, and we’ve tied the game with less than thirty seconds on the clock. The boys jump up and down with so much excitement, you’d think they won the game. Their excitement doesn’t come from scoring though, it comes from pulling off a great play. You see, these boys don’t care if they win or lose, they care about each play and if they manage to successfully execute what they set out to do. That’s what learning the game of football is all about, being successful one down at a time.