Touchdown

by Garnet Hart

  “I came back,” he replied and entered the apartment. “I need to fix something here.”

  Franki came in, as well, as if she was too excited to hear what the famous coach came to say. “I’ll make us all a cup of tea.”

  “Yes, please,” Zoey replied and watched her friend run to the kitchen. “Sit down, please,” she told Logan.

  Logan looked around and chose the single couch. “These are new?”

  She smiled and sat on the long couch. “I bought it yesterday.”

  He nodded. “Excellent choice. Blue’s my favorite color, too. I thought women like pink.”

  She laughed. “Not all women do.”

  “You like it here more than your house in Springfield?”

  “That’s not my house anymore.”

  “You’re both serious about that divorce, huh?”

  She shrugged. “Troy asked for it.”

  “And you signed it?”

  “What can I do? He wants me out of his life.”

  “You think so?”

  “Why else would he divorce me?”

  He looked at the ceiling and examined the interior design of the apartment as if he had forgotten they were talking about something. “He asked for a divorce, and when you signed it, he got depressed.”

  She frowned. “W-what?”

  He smiled. “Talking about stupid men, huh. Your husband is stupid. He doesn’t know what he wants.”

  She didn’t agree. “He’s just too self-centered. What he wants, he gets, no matter the cost, no matter who gets hurt.”

  “You don’t really know him, do you?”

  “That’s how I know him.”

  He squinted at the sight of the paper on the floor. She quickly picked them up.

  “It’s from the court. Troy should have gotten a copy too.”

  “Oh, that.” He nodded. “Jeremy got the copy for him.”

  “So he knows already?” She returned to her seat.

  “He knows, and that’s the problem. He’s a complete mess right now. I have to do something to fix him or we will lose the Superbowl.”

  She sighed and did not say a word. With all those issues surrounding him, he probably could not sleep at night.

  “This case is serious, Miss Graham. You both could be imprisoned.”

  Her lips parted. She had not expected that such petty crime would amount to imprisonment. “For how long?”

  “Maybe years.”

  She sucked in a sharp breath. That sounded too much to her. “That’s not fair.”

  “I know. You never did anything wrong. Don’t worry. I’ll give you a good lawyer. I was the one who started the idea of Troy marrying you in the first place, so let me handle your attorney’s fees.”

  Somehow, that made her feel better. Money was her main problem in the first place. With all these issues, it may not be wise to demand the four million dollars that Troy promised her, or it would only implicate her more.

  “Anyway,” Logan paused and pulled out something from his pocket. “I have two tickets here for you. It’s all I have left. Everything’s been sold out.”

  Reluctantly, she took the tickets from him. It’s the first time she had ever held a Superbowl ticket. She could never afford to buy one herself.

  “I went to see Troy’s father a while ago, but… he would not let me in. Would you like to speak with him instead?”

  She nodded, wondering what he wanted her to tell Stanly.

  “Troy made it up with his mother, but Stanly is difficult. Troy loved his father, even if he had been nothing but an ass. I think it would help if you can convince Stanly to call Troy and let him know that he’s supporting him. Anyway, the Patriots are not playing against the Jets this time.”

  She compressed her lips. “Stanly hates him. He does not even want to speak with him.”

  “That’s why you have to try. He listens to you. You might be able to convince him. Please, Zoey. You have no idea what a mess your husband is right now. He needs to feel that his family is by his side.”

  She bit her lower lip. “Why are you doing this?”

  “Doing what?”

  “Cleaning up after his mess. You’re not his father.”

  “He doesn’t have a father. He has nobody.”

  She was clueless as to what he meant by that.

  “You’ve seen it yourself,” Logan explained. “His father never gave a damn about him.”

  Since the start, she did notice the tension between Stanly and Troy. “I did, and I’ve always wondered why, but I didn’t want to ask Troy about it.”

  “You want to know why?”

  She nodded, intrigued. “Sure.”

  “You heard about his brother’s death?”

  “I read it in the news.”

  “His brother, Ashton, was his parents’ favorite son. When he died, they blamed Troy for it. Then they turned their lives into a hell. Troy tried to stay away to keep his sanity intact, but he couldn’t get away. He loved his parents so much, something that my sister and my brother-in-law failed to see. They were too busy mourning for a dead son, not realizing that they’re killing the other one, in the process.”

  Something pricked her heart. So Troy had been going through something like that with his parents but he never even talked about it.

  After pondering over the matter, she took a deep breath. “Fine, I’ll talk to Stanly. I’ll give these tickets to him so he could go with Paula. Troy needs his parents, not me.”

  Logan sighed. “You have to go, Zoey. He needs you too.”

  She chuckled. “He is divorcing me, and he wants to take my baby from me.”

  “Ah, fuck that. If he wanted to divorce you, he could have filed your application already. I saw the documents. It’s still sitting in his house until now.”

  “Maybe he’s busy.”

  “Busy my ass. He’s confused. He realized he didn’t like to file it after all.”

  For a moment, she could not speak. That seemed unbelievable.

  “He’s a man who doesn’t even understand his own feelings. His parents never loved him. He never knew how it feels to be loved, and I don’t think he even knows he is in love. But even if he knows, he might not admit it, or he is too scared to accept it.”

  “A man like Troy? Scared?”

  “You think he’s tough?”

  “I’d say insensitive… inconsiderate.”

  Logan chuckled. “Men won’t show it, but believe me, they can be more sensitive than women.”

  “Not Troy. Why should he be scared?”

  “He thinks you wouldn’t love him in return, just as his parents never did.”

  Again, she could not speak. Is that really the reason why?

  She lowered her head, staring at the tickets in her hand.

  “I know you find it hard to believe what I just told you, but I know my nephew. Since he married you, he’d changed in a way that I never thought would be possible for him to be. He’s just scared to put his heart on the line. He likes to pretend he’s tough, but the truth is, he’s at the verge of breaking down.”

  She bit her lower lip. “I’m scared too. What if you are mistaken?”

  He shook his head. “I don’t think so. This time, I’m positive.”

  *****

  Zoey remained dazed even after the judge had announced her case as dismissed and left the courtroom. She should be happy that she no longer had to worry about going to prison, but instead, she felt even worse.

  The things that she’d heard still had not completely sunk into her head. What was clear was that Troy submitted, through his counsel, a manifestation confessing himself to have forced Zoey, by use of threats and intimidations, to change her statement regarding the accident that took place a few months ago. As a result, since the prosecutor had no other evidences against her, they had no option but to dismiss the case against her.

  “Less one of your worries,” Chelsea, her lawyer said, as she fixed her things. “I’ll call you next week for your
custody case.”

  She nodded. After Chelsea left, she slowly rose to her feet.

  “Congratulations.”

  She looked up and found Jeremy standing in front of her. “Why did he do that?”

  “I think he finally decided to take full responsibility for his stupidity.”

  “Stupidity? You assisted him.”

  “No. I never told him to do stupid things. He did it despite my warnings. As of your sham marriage with him, maybe I did. But that’s because I know it’s not illegal.”

  “So what will happen to him?”

  “He is guilty, of course. He admitted it.”

  “Will he go to prison?”

  “His ten-month sentence for his negligence is waiting for him after the Superbowl, plus additional months, or maybe years, for this. Let’s just hope the judge will be lenient to him.”

  She compressed her lips. “It’s not fair for him.”

  Jeremy squeezed her shoulders. “He took the blame for you, Zoey. You don’t have to feel sorry for him. You can just thank him and forget about it.”

  She nodded, even if it didn’t feel right to her.

  “By the way, there are two ladies out there that you might want to meet.”

  She turned in the direction that Jeremy nodded. She found two women—one very young, probably a teenager, and the other one was a middle-aged. They both had auburn brown hair with freckles across the bridge of their nose. They looked just like her. It was like seeing herself a few years ago with the teenager and two decades from now with the older woman.

  She quickly turned away, unsure of what to think and what to do. For a moment, she thought about approaching them, but she suddenly hesitated and walked out of the courtroom.

  Were they her family? Was that older woman her mother?

  She was not ready for this encounter. Jeremy should have at least warned her about it.

  As she descended the stairs, she stopped. When she looked back, she saw the women following her. They suddenly stopped. The older woman’s eyes were teary.

  She turned away again and continued down the stairs. She knew they were following her so she slowed down her steps. Slowly, she turned to have another look at them. The teenager approached her, but could not say a word.

  Zoey licked her lips. “Would you… like to join me for lunch?” she asked.

  Immediately, the teenager nodded. “I’m Jaycee, and this is my mother, Lily.”

  Lily stepped closer, her tears at the verge of bursting. “Can I hug you?” she asked.

  Zoey’s heart swelled and bled at the same time. If this woman was her mother, she despised her for abandoning her, but at the same time, she was happy to finally meet her family.

  She nodded, and Lily wrapped her arms around her, first loosely, and slowly tightened.

  She closed her eyes as Lily sobbed on her shoulders. Jaycee joined them, resting her chin on Zoey’s other shoulder.

  This must be her sister.

  Chapter 23

  “Seven months,” Troy whispered and sighed. Jeremy did not want to disclose to him the decision of the judge as to his motion for reconsideration until the Superbowl was over, but he finally got the information from the clerk of court.

  His team mates were already at the entrance to the field, but he chose to sit by his locker room for a little longer.

  Suddenly, his phone rang.

  He drew his brows together when he saw who was calling. So what did his father want from him now?

  “Hey, Troy!” Stanly yelled from the other line. But even with his loud voice, Troy could barely hear him because of the noise in the background. “I’m here in the stadium. VIP seat.”

  His frown deepened. “Really? Why didn’t you tell me you were coming?”

  “I thought I might want to surprise you.”

  He chuckled. Did this man come here to annoy him again. “You’re wearing your Jets jersey?” he suspected.

  “No, son. I’m wearing a number twelve Pats jersey. It looks kind of ugly to me, but I’ll put up with it, just for tonight.”

  He was momentarily speechless. What sort of miracle happened to his father just now? “No kidding.”

  “Not at all, and you’d better win because my sports car’s on the line. You lost and you’re buying me another sports car.”

  “You bet for the Pats?” Troy could not believe it.

  “Of course, I did. Bob’s a Sea Hawk’s fan, so he gave me a chance to win back your ball. He thinks you’re no match against his team, but I’ll prove to him my son wasn’t voted MVP twice for nothing.”

  Troy did not know what to say. He had never expected to finally earn the support of his father. He could only smile.

  “By the way, Zoey’s with me.”

  His smile faded. Now, this was another surprise. “She is?”

  “Yes. She convinced me to come along. She was too persistent I couldn’t say no. Logan gave her only two tickets so we didn’t take your mom with us.”

  He nodded. So that was the urgent matter that Logan was talking about when he suddenly left for New York in the middle of their practice.

  He chuckled. With all of these surprises, he was lost for words. “Can I talk to her?”

  “She went to buy hotdogs. Why don’t you call her instead?”

  The idea left him with second thought. He wasn’t really sure what to tell her. After all those nasty things that he’d done to her, yet she still came all the way to Arizona to show her support. He hoped that was the reason why she came.

  The siren rang. He could hear the crowd’s wild roar both through the phone and from the outside of the locker room. The game was about to start.

  “Dad, I have to go. I’ll call you later.”

  He heard his father saying something, but with all the noise, he couldn’t understand a word.

  He hanged up and found Logan standing before him.

  “Ready?” his coach asked.

  Troy smiled and took a deep breath. He felt so light that he easily pulled himself to stand up in a fraction of a second. All his baggage was gone. He now had wings instead. “Ready,” he replied firmly.

  Logan smiled back and tapped Troy’s shoulder. “Let’s go kick some fuckin’ sea ass,” he growled.

  “With pleasure,” Troy replied and put on his helmet. Together, they ran to the entrance where the rest of his team was waiting.

  This wasn’t their home stadium, but over seventy thousand people yelled and roared as his team was called to the field. The noise was deafening, but flattering.

  As soon as he was standing on the sideline, he glanced behind him, searching. He found his father, both arms raised while waving at him.

  He smiled and turned to the woman sitting beside Stanly. He was overwhelmed. Indeed, his wife was there. She was staring at him, smiling while raising a placard where the words “Give me a touchdown, baby” were written. Most of all, like his father, she was also wearing a number twelve jersey.

  Tears welled in his eyes. He felt like sobbing like a child. He’d never had this kind of support from his family before, not especially from a wife that he had hurt so deeply.

  “You got it, babe,” he shouted as he pointed a finger at Zoey. He knew she couldn’t hear him, but what mattered was that she’d know he acknowledged her.

  Now, it was time to get back into the game. For the first time after a long time, he wouldn’t have to carry a heavy baggage with him on the field. Now filled with renewed vigor, he could play like he’d never done before. The unstoppable tornado would make a comeback on the field tonight. His team would win their third Superbowl title.

  *****

  “That was awesome, Dude. You’re unbelievable!” Matt said as Troy walked out of the shower. It had been an hour ago since they were crowned the Superbowl Champion and they’d been celebrating with their families and fans on the field, but his team mates were still in the locker room, still proclaiming their victory. His father came to the field to join him earlier, and it
was somewhat an emotional, yet amazing, experience to him. He wished Zoey could have come down too, but for some reasons, she stayed in her seat and just watched. When he had decided to go to her, she disappeared.

  “You catch like the devil, Matt,” Troy replied, limping to his locker.

  Matt followed him. “Only if the quarterback knows how to throw,” he said and laughed. “How’s your knee?”

  “Ah, those pricks didn’t know how to make a good break,” he humored. “Besides, they could have done it earlier in the game.”

  Matt laughed again.

  He was injured during the fourth quarter of the game when the opponent team tried to stop him from throwing his winning pass. They failed, but succeeded in throwing him out of the game during the last two minutes. The Pats still won, though. But he could say that was the toughest game he’d ever played his whole life. The opponent was a team of savage monsters.

  A doctor had already checked on his knee and said it was only a minor dislocation. It would be healed in a week or so as long as he’d undergo a set of therapy. The only problem was that… jail was waiting for him. He had to fly back to New York the next day to commence his sentence which the court had considerately postponed to allow him the chance to play for the Superbowl.

  “Myers,” Hank called as he approached. “Logan took your wife and your Dad in the bar. We’ll continue the celebration there.”

  Troy nodded. “I’ll be there,” he said and smiled. All the while, he thought Zoey had run away from him without giving him the opportunity to talk to her. He had to see her. There were a lot of things that he had to tell her.

  Quickly, he put on a shirt and a pair of jeans. Half an hour later, he arrived at the hotel bar with the rest of his team. Their general manager, their coaches, and some coaches of other teams were already there, waiting for their arrival.

  Champaign poured all over the place, but Troy wasn’t in the mood to drink. He was looking for someone.

  He found his father laughing with another old man at the corner. He approached them. “Dad?”

  Stanly quickly turned to him and gave him a hug. “Son, that was the greatest game I’ve ever seen,” he said and nudged at his companion. “This is my son. Now a three-time Superbowl MVP. Can you believe that?”