Catching Fireflies

by Terri E. Laine

  “Brenda’s got it covered,” he said.

  “You’re not working?” she asked.

  “Even I get a day off now and then. Are we going to get out of here? Traffic’s a bitch.”

  Chicago was a big city, nothing like Oklahoma. Cars, trains, and buses filled the roadways. Even the sidewalks were packed. Melted snow lined the streets. I hadn’t seen much of the stuff growing up. I took in as much as I could along the way.

  They chatted nonstop the whole drive, mostly about his wife and kids. It was a reminder that he and Brie didn’t have a tight relationship. When we finally pulled into their long driveway, I got a view of a house and yard, three or four times as big as where I grew up. From the front it looked like it might be three stories tall. Even though it was big, I’d been to Sawyer’s, and it was even bigger than this.

  I followed them up the steps past a melting snowman that stood in a patch of grass. Once we went through the front door, we stopped. Voices could be heard in the distance along with a wail from a baby.

  “Go ahead, Brie,” Brian said, because she looked ready to bolt from excitement.

  Women and kids. Even Brian knew she wanted to ooh and aah over her niece. Her brother folded his arms. I didn’t move, anticipating he wanted to speak to me man-to-man.

  “I love my sister.”

  I nodded, acknowledging him.

  “She’s a good girl.”

  Another nod.

  “She hasn’t had a serious boyfriend before, so I haven’t had to give this speech.”

  Here it comes, I thought.

  “I can tell you’re one of those pretty boy football players. You’re probably used to women lying on the ground in front of you so you can walk over them.” He’d said it like he had some bitter memories about lost women from his high school or college years. “If you have any plans to hurt my sister like that asshole Craig Davenport, I will figure out a way to end you or your football career.”

  I counted off thirty seconds in my head by fives in order to calm down before I spoke.

  “I could clap and say bravo for finally being a present big brother to Brie.” He did know that asshole’s full name. That meant he had been checking up on her. “But I won’t. I could be pissed off that you, not knowing anything about me, have prejudged me and lumped me in with that douche who got what he deserved. Further, I should kick your ass for suggesting that Brie is somehow lacking.” I took a moment to let that sink into him. “Truth is, your sister is the most beautiful woman I know, inside and out. And I hope every day that she doesn’t realize she could have her pick of guys who are better than me. I consider myself lucky she’s chosen me.”

  Brian took a few seconds before nodding.

  “Have I passed your test?” I added, my hand balled in a fist at my side.

  He nodded, and I followed him toward a room where the voices could be heard.

  “Brie, I love being a grandmother, but tell me you are being safe?”

  That had to be her mother. We hadn’t quite made it to the room, but he and I heard them well enough.

  “Oh my gosh, Mom. You did not just ask me that.”

  “You have a boyfriend. Brenda has shown me the pictures on your profile and—”

  We stopped in the opening of the room.

  Three women sat on a large tan sofa. An older woman, who resembled Brie with the same sandy blond hair, was seated on the arm. Next to her had to Brie’s sister, Brenda. They didn’t look much alike. Brenda’s hair was dark, almost jet-black. But they had the same green eyes.

  “We are being safe,” Brie said and turned from where she sat close to me on the other side of her sister.

  Brenda and her mom looked up.

  “Oh my,” her mom said at about the same time her sister said, “You aren’t lying.”

  Brie turned bright red. Brian took it from there, introducing everyone to me, killing the weird moment. Her mom insisted I call her Abby. After a few questions about our flight, she stood.

  “I have an early dinner ready. I can imagine you guys are hungry after the flight,” Abby said.

  “You cooked?” Brie asked. Her mom silently agreed. But it was clear that wasn’t usual for her. “And you’re home. I’m surprised we’re all in one place.”

  Abby glanced around, clearly embarrassed. “It’s about time we realized what’s important.” She patted Brie’s shoulder on the way out of the room.

  Everyone filed out after her, Brie taking my hand. Dinner was bursting with conversation. Each of the doctors in the family had stories to tell. Brie’s mom talked about babies she’d helped bring into the world. Brenda spoke about how those kids ended up at her pediatrics practice. Brian didn’t have any stories other than mentioning long neurosurgeries he’d performed over the last few weeks. And with her dad being a brain surgeon, I understood the pressure Brie must have felt to become a doctor herself.

  Conversations started to die down. Brian had left a while back to spend time with his family on his rare day off. Brenda’s husband, a guy who had stars in his eyes for one of the Holloway sisters, had picked her up. So it was just the three of us eating ice cream when Brie’s father finally came home.

  He stood about as tall as his son, all gray, and on the thin side.

  “Dad,” she said, giving him a hug.

  He kissed the top of her head before moving to kiss his wife’s cheek.

  “You’re the Chance I’ve been hearing about.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Brie jumped in. “Chance, my father, Dr. Clifford Holloway.”

  We shook hands.

  “So, tell me about yourself. I don’t know much other than you play football and you’re not a pre-med student.”

  Brie had given me Cliff Notes. Her dad was not much into football. He preferred golf. Her brother, on the other hand, was a football guy.

  “Cliff,” his mother admonished.

  “Dad, he’s already talked about himself. You missed it.”

  “Yes, but I want to hear from the man who’s captured my daughter’s heart. I think that’s fair.” He held my gaze as if I should flinch or glance away. I did neither. “What’s your major, business or maybe communications?”

  “I can’t believe you,” Brie said, exasperated. “That’s very judgy and stereotypes athletes.”

  I waved her off. “It’s okay.” I faced her father. Her brother had been the warm-up. He was my true test. “Actually, I’m majoring in electrical engineering. A little history about me, I graduated high school, valedictorian.” Brie’s eyes grew the size of saucers. It wasn’t something I talked about or rarely even thought about until then. “I scored a few points off from perfect on the SAT. I blame lack of sleep.”

  I grinned, more to myself, remembering.

  “As for football, it was the vehicle I used to go to school. You may or may not know that academic scholarships are hard to come by these days. My family’s financial situation was and is different. A full scholarship was the only way I could attend college. I was lucky enough to be offered both an academic and sports scholarship. I chose to accept the sports scholarship in order to give another kid the opportunity at the academic one I turned down. And with my current GPA, I’m on track to graduate summa cum laude.”

  Study group had paid off, and I’d brought my grade up for that one class I’d been on the line for. And I was back in the hunt to receive the highest honor our university bestowed.

  The two women glared at her dad.

  “Okay.” He held up his hands, begging off his wife and daughter. “I’m sorry I judged you and unfairly at that. Call it lack of sleep.” He paused. “Or just a father trying to protect his daughter. But I apologize.”

  I nodded.

  “Well, it’s getting late,” Abby said. “We should check to see if the guest room has sheets.”

  “Mom, we aren’t in the Stone Age. We’re all adults. You have to know that Chance and I sleep in the same bed at college. So, why should things be any different h
ere?”

  She glared at her parents, but focused on her father. Apparently, he had the final word. He spread his hands, giving her the green light.

  “Fine, we should check your room. The maid doesn’t clean in there like you requested. I have no idea what it looks like,” her mom said.

  Brie glanced at me, and I shrugged. “Give me a minute, okay?”

  I nodded, and she gave her dad a warning stare before disappearing with her mom.

  It was fine with me. I had a few more things I wanted to say.

  “I want to add something while it’s just you and me.”

  He didn’t speak, giving me the floor.

  “Even though football is a tool, if I’m given the opportunity to play for the NFL, I’ll take it. Mainly so I can give Brie the life she’s accustomed to.” I spread my hands, encompassing the house. “Because whether you like it or not, I plan to marry your daughter one day. And I hope I have your blessing.”

  Although Dad and Chance made peace, I still worried they would kill one another before I made it back downstairs. I hated leaving them, but I also didn’t want to be mortified if anything embarrassing had been left out in my room.

  A quick check said that Mom had lied about not letting the maid in my room. It was pristine with a bed made to perfection.

  I turned to head back downstairs, and Mom stopped me.

  “Brie, before you go, I just wanted some time alone with you. I want you to know how proud I am of you. It’s true you have some trouble at school, but we believe you.”

  “Thanks.”

  I’d received no communication from the school yet, which bothered me. Would she be so proud if I got kicked out?

  “And I also want to say I really like Chance.”

  “It doesn’t bother you he’s not going to be a doctor?”

  That was something that she and Dad had harped on growing up.

  “No, of course not. He appears to have a good head on his shoulders, and I see how he looks at you. That young man loves you. And what more could a mother want?”

  She stroked her hand down the side of my head to cup my cheek.

  “But Dad’s made comments about doctors should marry doctors.”

  She sighed and let her hand fall away. “Before me, your father thought himself in love with another woman. Only she became jealous of the time he spent studying in his first year of medical school. He warned her that his life would be like that with lots of time away. She left him. And he was devastated. It turned out great for me because I’d had a crush on him. And once she was gone, he finally saw me.” She smiled. “But that’s another story. Your father just believes that only another doctor would understand the life of a doctor.”

  “I might not even be one,” I said cautiously. I hadn’t decided if I wanted to go to med school to become a psychiatrist.

  Mom lifted my chin. “You don’t have to be a doctor for us to love you, Brie. I know we haven’t been the best parents. You were a surprise for us at the time when our careers started to take off. We weren’t there enough for you. And for that I’m deeply sorry. But I hope we haven’t given you the impression that we can only love you if you become a doctor.”

  “I thought—”

  “We are doctors. So we are passionate about it. But ultimately we want you to be happy. If you wanted to join our little merry band of doctors, we would be thrilled, but only if it’s what you want.”

  “Dad?” I asked again.

  “Your father would love nothing more than you to join one of our practices or start one of your own in a specialty of your choosing. He just wants the best for you. He’ll come around. Trust me when I say that the most important thing is your happiness.”

  She hugged me, and I felt the weight lift from my chest. We headed back downstairs.

  “Everything okay?” I joked, trying to break the tension I felt in the room.

  Chance smiled. Dad looked a little tense.

  “Come, I want to show you my room.”

  I took his hand and pulled him up the back steps. Inside my room, I closed the door and leaned on it, afraid that my brother or my father had said something that would make him run. I asked him as much.

  He stepped to me, and with his hands braced on either side of me, he kissed me in that tender way of his. It had the effect of making me breathless every time.

  When he pulled back, he said, “There’s not much either of them could say to make me run. I’ll fight for you and do whatever I have to so they don’t convince you to walk away from me.”

  I kissed him hard, unable to be alone with him and not touch him. When my hands started to get a mind of their own, he moved his hips out of my grasp.

  “So tell me about your choice of purple for your walls. I never thought you for the girly type.”

  I narrowed my eyes at him. “It’s not purple,” I challenged. “It’s blue.”

  His brows rose much like the curve in his mouth. It was spectacular to see and could light up the world. “I see purple.”

  “Well, you must be color-blind because it’s blue.”

  I found the crotch of his jeans and gave him a little squeeze. He bolted like a scared rabbit. I laughed, wondering what my roommate would think of that term used when it came to us.

  “No, firefly. I will not fuck you in your parents’ house, especially when they are here.”

  As I advanced, he maintained some distance between us.

  “If you persist in molesting me, I’m going to find the guest room and sleep in there, alone.”

  “Fine,” I said, seeing the determination in his jaw. “We’ll see if you can just hold me all night long.”

  “Brie, that’s what you don’t get. I would have held you forever if that’s all you would have allowed me to do.”

  Pointing a finger at him, I said, “See, when you say stuff like that, I just want you more.”

  That flash of teeth preceded what he said next. “Exactly what I was going for.”

  He wasn’t a rule breaker no matter how much I cajoled him. At one point, he’d built a pillow wall between us until I’d finally given up.

  The next day, Thanksgiving, went well. In fact, Brian, Chance, and Dad ended up watching a football game together. Both my brother and my dad seemed to have a change of heart. Either that or they were making the best of it as to not cause tension in the house.

  I spent time with my nephews and nieces, whom I hadn’t seen in a while. And I happily helped in the kitchen cooking with the rest of the women in the family. Chance had offered to help, but Mom told him to hang with the guys. Really, they wanted to quiz me about him.

  Everything was truly great until the next day right before we left. Brenda had come over to take us to the airport. Both my parents were home, which again felt different, but nice. When she arrived, she brought in the mail. There on top was an official looking letter from the school.

  We all stared at the paper-thin envelope. I wasn’t sure what to think. If I’d been waiting for an acceptance letter into college, the thinness would be the kiss of death. But what would an expulsion letter look like?

  With shaky hands, I picked it up. It was addressed to me. I walked a little away from the kitchen island we’d all been congregated around. With my back to them, I read it two times before I set it back down in the middle of everyone.

  Minutes later, my mom called out, “Oh,” and Brenda followed with a, “Brie.”

  But it was Chance who wrapped his arms around me.

  The letter from the dean basically said they believed that there was more to the “relationship” than I’d led them to believe. However, they didn’t have any proof of it. So they’d taken extra steps to investigate all the grades in all my classes, which was what had taken so long. And while I remained steady and consistent in most of my classes, in the class where Davenport was a teacher’s assistant, I actually lost a few points on my overall grade during the time period in question. Ultimately, they’d ruled in my favor. Although I�
�d been exonerated, a record of the hearing and its finding would be kept in my file in the event that something like this came up again before I graduated. They went on to say they apologized that I’d been unfairly treated by a staff member, meaning Davenport. They added how that wasn’t what they stood for and why rules are in place, blah, blah, blah.

  My family was jubilant. I spent an extra ten minutes hugging everyone. I can’t say that tears weren’t involved. It was also heartwarming to watch Brian and Dad clasp hands with Chance and invite him for Christmas.

  We landed back in Oklahoma several hours later that Friday night. We were spending the rest of the holiday weekend at Chance’s. He wanted time with his little brother. He talked to him on the phone, but hadn’t gotten the opportunity to see him a lot with school.

  “Have you gotten the results back?”

  Chance’s mom had agreed to the DNA test. The funeral home had collected samples from his dad to be used in multiple tests if necessary before his burial. Then he’d cornered his mom after the funeral. We’d bought a kit from a pharmacy and taken Ian’s mouth swab in front of her after we’d taken him for ice cream.

  “Not yet, but it could be in the mail at the house.”

  I nodded. He drove us back in the truck, as he’d taken us to the airport in it. He wouldn’t let me pay the parking fee and had arranged with my sister to give back the plane ticket money. With his dad’s life insurance, he wasn’t broke. But it was just enough to pay the mortgage off on the house. And Chance didn’t want to use it for anything outside of house expenses. He was responsible like that.

  Chance had to be back for the rivalry week game on Saturday with OSU. We stopped and got Ian, so he could see his brother play and hang out with Mason. The next day, after we dropped him back off with Clarissa, we didn’t get on the highway. Instead, he pulled into a large lot.

  “Why are we stopping?”

  He only held out his hand, and trusting him I took it. Standing there, I took in where we were. The place was large, but nothing like the high school I’d gone to. The stands looked worn, but that only proved how deeply entrenched the community was with local sports. I could almost hear the crowd that would gather there on any given Friday night.