“Just a warning, that’s all. Just be careful. I wouldn’t want to see her hurt,” Sam said.
“So you’ve said and I’ve heard. I wouldn’t want to hurt her, so I guess we’re in agreement.”
Both men stared at each other for a minute, neither blinking. Sam turned and walked off to warm up and Stephen stood there and waited for Reye to return.
* * *
Later on that night, Stephen lay next to Reye in bed, watching her while she slept. She was funny and a bit quirky even in her sleep. When he spent the night, she’d draw her body into a tight ball and root around until she found her spot just underneath his arm, tucking herself into his chest. He didn’t know of anyone besides her who could sleep in one position all night. He looked down at her again and ran his hand along her side to rest on her hip. He understood her brother’s need to warn him. He was almost certain that Reye loved him. He was a jerk to remain here when he knew he would ultimately leave her. But not yet; she was his for the remainder of this semester. He leaned over and trailed kisses down the side of her face. She moaned; even in her sleep, she was responsive to him. It gave him such a kick. She turned onto her back and stretched her arms up and placed them around his neck, pulling him to her, not really asleep after all. He felt her legs stretch out under him, positioning her body so it lined up with his, squirming under him further to align herself until she was completely covered by his body. She opened her legs and secured them around the backs of his thighs, shifting her lower body until she felt him aligned with her. She lifted her hips, taking him in, kissing him as he slid into her warmth. He groaned as he pushed slowly into her, his rhythm not veering from that pace until they came together, quiet this time. He kissed her again and sought her hands to hold in his. Sated and now sleepy, he laid his head next to hers and closed his eyes, content to stay here with her, in her.
Chapter 12
Dr. Houston sat in her office reviewing the changes that would be made to the center’s staff next year. She’d just completed a discussion with Reye where she’d offered her a full time job at the center, and Reye had tentatively agreed to accept the offer. They would talk further about Reye’s role beyond the aftercare program, but for now she’d been content knowing Reye would continue to be involved with the center.
Being a mother to kids had been Susan’s desire since college. She wanted to nurture and give opportunities to those kids who were born without much. She’d wanted children of her own to mother, had married the love of her life with that goal in mind, but life had a different plan, and after years of probing and testing by doctors, children were ruled out. When life gives you lemons, and all that, so she’d become a mother to the many here at the center, including Reye. She recognized a gift and talent in Reye, along with a huge heart for kids. She couldn’t have been more proud had Reye been hers by birth, watching her grow in confidence as she encouraged her kids, kids who now felt safe showing Reye their deficiencies, knowing that she would treat them with care. The soccer team was a big hit, the kids and their parents were all hooked, now diligently creating a team name, and determined to locate a sponsor to buy uniforms.
She was a little worried about Reye and that boyfriend of hers, although she hadn’t met him yet. As far as Reye was concerned, he could walk on water. Did Reye have plans to follow him after school? Would she put her career on hold to be with him? Reye, with all of her talents and achievements, was far from confident, unable to see how capable she was. Having grown up focused solely on her difficulties with learning, which she perceived as deficiencies, had left her unable to view her accomplishments.
* * *
Reye opened the door and walked into her home. She was excited because she’d just finished a great soccer practice. The kids were improving, not yet ready for prime time, but well on their way to being equipped for the first game in a couple of weeks. She needed to talk to Joe about Shane, and she needed to do it soon. She hadn’t seen him in two weeks.
Reye stepped through the door to find Stephen on his back, stretched out on her couch, his head bent over a book, studying. He looked up and smiled when she entered. That smile always made her catch her breath.
“Hey, babe,” he said, putting his book down. She walked over to him and bent down, placing a quick kiss on his mouth. “How was practice?”
“You wouldn’t believe how the kids are improving.” She discarded her bag and kicked off her shoes, toed her socks off, and pulled her t-shirt over her head, continuing to talk. “They have graduated finally from kicking each other’s ankles to kicking shins. Do you remember when you first learned soccer?” She stood before him wearing a pair of his high school gym shorts and a sports bra. She could wear a paper sack and his body would respond to the sight of her.
“Who, me? I was born playing at the pro level. It’s you regular people who had to work at soccer. I was always good.”
“You have such an ego,” she said, laughing and punching him in the stomach. He grabbed her hand and pulled her to sit on his lap, putting his arms around her to hold her there. “Did I tell you that Sam is helping me with the center’s soccer team as an assistant coach?” she asked, testing to see if he would offer to help. She was well aware of the constraints on his time, but she wanted him to at least offer anyway.
“Yep, how is that working out?” he said, not the response she was looking for.
“It’s good.” She watched as his eyes moved to her lips, a clear sign that he wanted to do something other than talk. He pulled her to him, snagging her lower lip with his teeth. Undeterred and still in testing mode, she drew back and continued talking. “I was invited to dinner at my parents’ house tonight. My brother Jack and his wife are down from Ft. Worth, and I was thinking that if you weren’t busy tonight you could come with me.” His arms loosened their hold on her, not immediately, but quicker than she would have liked.
“I can’t,” he said, looking at her. “I am seriously behind in this class and I need to put some more time in.” He watched the disappointment form on her face, regretful that he’d put it there, but not wanting to get tangled up in her family. He captured her face in his hands, making her look at him. “I’m sorry. I would if I could.” He leaned in and kissed her. She tasted like mint and Reye, his favorite flavor. He pulled back and rested his forehead against hers. “You’re not too disappointed, are you?”
“No, I’m good,” she said, not meeting his eyes. He lifted her chin, forcing her to look at him.
“I’m fine,” she said, looking into his eyes. “Really. Will you be here later on, after I get back?”
“I’ll come by tomorrow. I haven’t been to my apartment in so long, I’ve forgotten what it looks like. I’ll just work from there tonight and see you tomorrow, okay?”
“Okay.” She leaned into him for another kiss, opening her mouth, seeking some proof that he wanted her in the face of his small rejections.
* * *
Later that evening Henri entered his apartment expecting the usual quiet, since Stephen had abandoned it for Reye’s. He’d seen him only occasionally since Christmas, and he was surprised to find him sitting on the couch watching TV.
“Dude, what’s up? When did you get here?”
“A couple of hours ago.”
“What, Reye give you a free day pass?” he asked jokingly.
“She’s at her parents’ for some family get-together and I didn’t go.”
“But you were invited?”
“Yes.”
“I feel you. Meeting the parents means commitment, and you aren’t that serious.”
“Nope,” he said.
“So what are you going to do? Are we still on for spring break in Cancun?”
“Yep.”
“Is Reye okay with you going?” Henri asked. “I haven’t told her yet.”
“Okay. Don’t you think she’ll mind? You do spend most of your time together.”
“I’ll be just hanging with the guys, right? I’ve never promised her m
ore than casual, and I’ve got to start backing off sooner or later. The sex is still amazing, though. Can you believe that? It’s not like anything I’ve had with anyone else, and it’s one of the things I am going to really miss.”
“She’s more than sex to you, dude? I know you.”
“So what if it is? Okay. It is more, there, I’ll admit it, I like her, a lot, but I’m putting an end to it anyway at the end of the semester. I am going home to Dallas. Period. End of story. Will I miss her? Yes. But I’ll get over it, I’m sure. Okay.”
“Whatever you say, dude,” Henri said and left the room.
* * *
Reye pulled up to the front of Shane’s house. A lone car sat parked in the drive; it belonged to Joe, she remembered. The lights were on in the house, a good sign that someone was home. Shane hadn’t been at practice today and she was through with putting this off. She’d decided to go by later rather than early, figuring that later would offer her a better chance of finding someone at home. She’d stopped by a local coffee shop to grab a cup of her favorite brew, killing time while she waited.
Reye took the step leading up to the front porch of Shane’s home. It was located near the center, in one of the older neighborhoods in the city. The condition of the homes on this street ran between ‘don’t give up the ship’ to ‘this ship has sunk’. Shane’s home fell into the first category, needing a new coat of paint and a few minor repairs, but overall it was in fairly good condition.
Reye knocked and waited. Shane answered, a smile lighting up his face, its twin in place on Reye’s. She’d missed him.
“Hey, Ms. Reye,” he said.
“Hey back at you.”
“Who is it?” a voice from somewhere within the house called out.
“It’s Ms. Reye,” Shane responded. “Do you want to come in?” he asked her.
“No, I’d better stay here,” she said, looking over his shoulder to see Joe enter the room, a kitchen towel slung over his shoulder. He was dressed in shorts and a t-shirt and he walked up to stand at Shane’s back, his expression blank.
“Can I talk to you a moment, Joe?” she asked.
“Shane, go and finish drying the dishes and I’ll be there in a second. If I take longer, get ready for bed, okay?”
“Sure, Uncle Joe.” The boy walked back into the house. “See you later, Ms. Reye,” he said as he went. “See you, Shane.”
They waited until he was gone. Then Joe stepped out on to the porch with Reye, closing the door behind him.
She spoke after a few moments of awkward silence. “I stopped by to check on Shane. I don’t know if you know this, but in addition to soccer, I also work with him in the after-school program at the center. He’s hasn’t been there in a while, so I wanted to check on him. Will he be returning?”
“I don’t know.”
Reye observed Joe, reading frustration in his body language as he began to pace. He stopped and spoke. His tone was defensive. “Look, my sister, Shane’s mother, took off about the last time you were here. She’s has emotional problems because of our parents, and they sometimes get the best of her.” He must have read the unasked question on her face. “Long story, and one that I’m not sharing. Anyway, she has a problem with alcohol,” Joe said and stopped pacing, walking over to sit on the step leading up to the front porch. “Sit,” he said, and Reye fought back the need to voice her indignity at his command. She stood there, giving him a ‘I know you didn’t just say that to me’ look. He looked up and revised his statement. “Please sit,” he said. She did and he con tinued. “This isn’t the first time she’s left. Shane called me one morning about two weeks ago after he woke up alone in the house. So I moved in here, hoping it would be temporary, because I’ve got school and work. But it doesn’t look like she’s returning. We haven’t heard a peep from her.” He was quiet for a minute. “I refuse to let him go into foster care. I know what that feels like.”
“Can I help?” she asked, taken in by his story and his commitment to Shane.
“You would help us?” he asked in disbelief.
“It’s not you. I’d be helping Shane. I can bring him home from the center or soccer practice until school ends. What? We have two more months left, right?” she continued. “Can he get to school in the mornings?” Joe nodded yes. “And the bus can bring him and the other kids from school to the center. You just need someone to bring him home and I can do that. I hate to see him stop. He’s come so far in his studies. I don’t want him to lose that.”
“You would do that? After all the things I said to you and about you?”
“I’d do it for Shane.”
He sat quiet for a second. “Okay.” There was a long pause. “Thank you,” he said.
“I’ll start tomorrow.”
* * *
Sunday, the week before spring break, found Reye and Stephen at her house again. They were always at her house. This day they were both sitting on the floor studying. Stephen was actually studying, but she was mostly daydreaming.
“Did I tell you that I was offered a permanent job at the community center after graduation? That would mean that I would be here in Austin. What do you think about that?” she asked.
“Sounds good, if that’s what you want to do,” he responded somewhat distractedly. “You seem to enjoy the time you spend there.”
“Okay.” She’d hoped for a different answer, one encouraging her to look for work in Dallas, perhaps, where he would be.
“What are your plans? Still going to work with your family’s law firm?”
“I think so. Why wouldn’t I? I like Dallas, it’s home.”
“Have you thought about practicing anywhere else?” she asked.
“No,” he answered firmly and succinctly.
Leave it alone, Reye, she thought. She’d been anxious lately about them, about how this would end. She loved him very much, and was very much afraid of the damage it would do to her if he left. And her instincts were telling her that he would.
“Are you going home for spring break?” she asked.
“Actually, Henri and I, along with some other frat brothers, are going to Cancun, this being my last time and all. We’re leaving this Saturday.”
“Oh,” she choked out, more than a little hurt. His plans hadn’t included her. She added the trip to Cancun to her growing list of slights. One, he never mentioned her meeting his parents; two, he didn’t want to meet hers; three, they were always at her house; four, they never went anywhere else; five, he didn’t want to help with her team; and six, he’d been distracted lately, mentally elsewhere. Could he be seeing someone else? The only constant between them seemed to be their sexual compatibility. That was the one area where she felt she had his complete and undivided attention, an unbelievable connection to him. But was that all this was for him?
* * *
Reye looked into the expectant and scared faces of her soccer team. This was their first game of the season. She’d started out with thirteen players, eleven boys and two girls. Most hadn’t played soccer before and here they were now, standing in a circle waiting for her to give her first pre-game pep talk. The team’s name, Lightning, had been Anthony’s recommendation. Almost everyone preferred it to Ladybugs, which was Shondra’s suggestion. They were all dressed in their hot pink and sky blue uniforms courtesy of Barbara’s House of Braids. Blue soccer shorts with matching blue shirts timed with pink piping around the neck and sleeves. The socks were a matching blue; the girls pleaded and were granted the option of wearing pink socks. The boys refused, mutiny evident in their faces at the suggestion. Sam and Reye were dressed in matching blue shorts, with pink polo-style shirts that had LIGHTNING COACHING STAFF engraved on the left top side. Between the parents and sponsors, they’d been able to round up soccer balls, shoes, and shin guards for those kids who couldn’t afford them. They were a family now.
All but a few of the parents had taken off to watch their child’s first game of the season. It was being held at one of the local h
igh schools’ soccer fields, which was usually kept in fairly good condition. It was typical Texas weather for March, totally unpredictable, ranging from the high seventies at the beginning of the day to freezing two hours later. Today, however, was perfect; low seventies, with the sun shining brightly down on them, the trees starting to bud, even.
Looking down into the faces she’d grown to know and love this year, she felt a rightness and gratitude for the opportunity to help shape and be a part of their lives. She stood quietly waiting for their chatter to stop.
“Okay, guys, this is our chance to put all those skills we’ve worked on in practice to use. You’ve worked so hard in preparation for this game, so let’s continue that effort. We can do this! We can win! Eric and Shondra, you’ll be the team captains today.” Eric was athletic, with a strong grasp of the game gained from playing at home with his older brothers and father. The other less experienced boys on the team admired him. Reye took in the kids’ smiles, asking, “Are we ready?”
Thirteen mouths screamed, “Yes!” Blowing her back with their enthusiasm.
“Arms in, everybody. Lightning on three. One, two, three, Lightning! Take your places on the field. Jésus and D, you two will be the subs today.” Reye looked over at the opposing team, all shiny in their red, white, and blue uniforms, remembering herself at this age, nervous, excited, and filled with energy. One thing could make this day more special for her, Stephen’s presence. He was busy with school, of course, and then he was leaving for spring break tomorrow, he needed to pack, yadda, yadda, yadda. She understood, but she also knew, but didn’t voice, that you showed up for what was important to you. She was hurt.
Reye looked out at the field and saw her kids in their places, waiting for the game to begin. The referees had arrived, the center referee reminding her of Stephen; they looked to be the same age. She pegged the two linemen as middle school age. The ref blew the whistle and the game began.
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