AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Picking up a few snacks, we next headed to the local high school. It looked like a converted warehouse. It was yet another location not on my phone’s map.
Pulling into the parking lot, we spotted Titus in his truck waiting for us. When we parked next to him, he got out. His broad smile was as big as ever. He certainly had a way of making people feel welcome.
Titus’s tour began in the school’s main building. It was where they used to store their moonshine after bottling it. In the 50s, the town got a few more kids and they converted it into a school. The building’s square footage has been growing ever since.
I had thought that my high school’s locker was lacking. It turns out it was professional grade in comparison to what the Snow Tip Falls team had. The field wasn’t much better.
“It’s not much, but it’s about the grit of the players and not the quality of the field. That’s what I always tell them,” Titus said showing us around.
“You’re right,” I said sincerely.
“There are guys on the team who have real potential, too. If we had better equipment… and a better coach,” he said with a self-deprecating laugh, “some of these kids could go far. Some might even be good enough to get a scholarship to East Tennessee. You would know something about that, right? Maybe you could talk to them about it.”
My heart melted at his request. “I would be happy to. Anything I can do to help, just let me know.”
Titus’s smile in reply was genuine. He cared about the kids. There was no question about it, he was a good guy.
“Are you Cage Rucker?” One of the kids asked me when he came onto the field for practice.
I looked at Quin. Quin smiled.
“Yeah,” I said suddenly liking being recognized.
I had been recognized a hundred times over the years. But this was the first time in a long time that it affected me. I wasn’t sure why.
“Cali, you’re on the football team?” I asked when he joined us on the field in uniform.
He blushed staring at me.
“Yeah. I’m the kicker.”
“He has a golden foot, that one,” Titus said encouragingly.
Cali turned red and then peeked over at Quin to see if he had heard it. Quin had. Cali was crushing on my boyfriend hard.
Cali was a smaller guy with a style that hinted at emo. To see him on the team, surprised me.
It made a little more sense to find out he was the kicker. You didn’t have to be built like a linebacker to kick a football 80 yards. And, sure to show off for Quin before the beginning of practice, that was exactly what Cali did. He was unquestionably good enough to play for a school like East Tennessee. A few of the kids here were.
To my continued surprise, Titus didn’t just have me speak to them, he roped me into running practice. It ended up being fun. Something about it felt right even though I was sure that Quin was bored out of his mind.
“I appreciate you doing this for the kids,” Titus said as we headed back to our trucks.
“Seriously, it was my pleasure.”
“Cage was in his element,” Quin told him.
I didn’t think Quin would notice that, but he was right. This was definitely what I wanted to do with my new life.
“Would you guys allow me to take you to dinner to thank you? We could head to Nero’s thing afterward.”
“That would be cool,” I said not giving Quin a chance to weigh in.
The truth was that working with the kids had given me a high and I wasn’t yet ready to come down from it. Heading back to the diner, both Quin and I looked around for Nero when we entered.
“He’s not here,” Titus volunteered. “He helps out with the rush on the weekends,” Titus said making fun of how few people it took to be considered a rush in Snow Tip Falls.
“Do you know Nero well?” Quin asked putting back on his investigator’s hat.
