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“How so?”
“You would have never delayed taking a shower immediately after returning from a run. You used to leave in the middle of a conversation and make me wait when you were sweaty.”
“Wasn’t about the sweat, Whit. It was about control.”
Her eyes narrow. “That’s so messed up. Rude actually. What the heck?”
“Not about controlling you.”
“You know my headspace is a little bit messy. Could you be a little less cryptic?”
“After a game, a workout, busting my ass for Danny’s old man, my testosterone level was pretty damn high. Then, there you were.”
She still looks confused.
“I needed to take care of myself.”
“Oh my God, shut up.”
I wink. “Say please.”
After a shower, I go to pick her up at her place. She is still getting ready herself, so I sit and drink some sweet tea with Pastor B and Mrs. B while waiting. Nothing much has changed at all with them. Monday through Thursday, they visit jails and rehab centers to spread the Word. Sundays, they spend all day at First Methodist, and on Fridays and Saturdays, they prepare for the week ahead.
I let Pastor and Mrs. B know that I invited Whit and Nora to go to the batting cages near Fort Worth and that Whit is still working that out. I also invite them but they decline.
10
Friday
Elbow on the console, one hand on the wheel, hat on backward, he checks on Nora at least once a minute. Nora who passed out after spending two full hours at the batting cages and then going to dinner at a barbecue place we’d gone to dozens of times with Bianca after she took us to the very same place. Then, we hit the ice cream stand that all four of us always got huge sundaes. I can’t believe Nora ate as much as she did.
“Mom ever meet Nora?” he asks.
“A few times. She was at the baby shower the ladies of the church hosted for Nelly. Then, after she gave birth, Nelly spent the first few months here. She then moved away, got her own place, and then she …” Whit shrugs instead of saying she died. “I have a picture of Bianca holding Nora.”
“Yeah?”
“I took more but gave them to Nelly. They might be in one of the boxes with her belongings in storage that I plan to one day let Nora sort through.”
“Nora ever talk about Nelly?”
“She knows Nelly was her mom first, and then she had to go to heaven and wanted me to be her mom.”
There’s so much more that I could tell him, all the incredibly sad things, the things that make me angry, and the miracle that Nora is. I know he adores her, and she talks nonstop about him. No need to muck up the beauty of that, not yet anyway.
“You have fun tonight?”
“Yeah, it’s been a while.”
“You’ve still got it, Whit. I can’t believe that you didn’t get to play in college.”
I glance back at Nora. “She’s better than softball.”
“I get that.”
I’m not sure he does, but he needs to. “I love her more than I have ever loved anyone or anything in my entire life.”
His lips turn up. “Always knew you be an amazing mom.”
