“When I say my dad looks bad . . . he really does. He’s so thin, his bones break easily now. And he’s pale white. His skin almost seems translucent. It’s tough to see. If you don’t think you can handle it, I will understand.” Maggie turned to look at me, and her big green eyes were full of understanding. “I want to meet the man you adore. He’s got to be special.”

A jolt shot through my chest as I sat there and stared at her. Was she even real? How did she say the exact things I always needed to hear? I was beginning to think she was my guardian angel. If there were such a thing. God sure had let us down, but maybe he’d sent Maggie to me to give me the strength and comfort I was missing.

“Let’s go on in, then. I texted Momma and told her we were coming.” I hadn’t told Momma about Maggie. We didn’t talk much about anything except Dad. So when I texted her, I let her know Maggie was Brady’s cousin and we’d become good friends.

Momma had said to bring her, that they would love to meet her. Dad was awake and talking some today. I hoped he’d be awake to see Maggie.

When we got to the front door, Maggie’s fingers brushed my hand in that silent way of hers, reassuring me she was there and she wasn’t leaving me. I loved it when she did that. She always seemed to know when I needed it most.

I opened the door and stepped back and motioned for Maggie to go inside. The entryway was empty, but I could smell cookies in the oven. Momma had gone and fixed us a snack. “Smells like Momma is in the kitchen,” I told Maggie, then placed my hand on her lower back to lead her to meet my mother.

When we stepped inside the kitchen, Momma’s back was turned, and she was getting down glasses for us. Her hair had been brushed and pulled into a ponytail, and she was wearing a nice shirt and jeans. She didn’t spend much time getting fixed up anymore because she was afraid to leave Dad for too long. This was the most I’d seen her do to herself in a few weeks.

“Hey, Momma,” I said quietly, not wanting to startle her.

She spun around, and her gaze went straight to Maggie. She was curious. I never brought girls here. Momma had only seen Raleigh a few times at my football games, and we’d been together a whole year.

“Hello, you must be Maggie,” Momma said, walking over to greet us.

Maggie nodded. I had forgotten to tell my momma she didn’t talk. My momma wasn’t in on the town gossip, so she didn’t know anything about Maggie’s past. I opened my mouth to explain, when Maggie took a step toward her and held out her hand. “Yes, ma’am. It’s nice to meet you.”

I closed my mouth and stared at Maggie. I’d never heard her talk to anyone else. Not even her family. Yet she’d not hesitated to speak to my mother. One more thing about her that made her so incredibly special. After all she’d faced and all she’d been through, she still had compassion. She still sacrificed for others. I wasn’t sure I could have done the same in her situation.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, too. Please call me Olivia. West doesn’t bring friends home much anymore. I’m glad he felt like he could bring you,” Momma said with a light in her eyes I hadn’t seen in a while.

Maggie blushed and looked up at me.

“Maggie’s special,” I told Momma as I brushed my fingers over Maggie’s hand the way she so often did mine.

“I can see that,” Momma said, smiling. Her face was tired and weary, but my bringing Maggie here was making her happy. I realized Momma must feel so isolated with just us and no other life in the house. No distractions to help her cope with what we were facing.

“I think we both needed a friend who could understand us,” Maggie said, surprising me yet again by speaking.

Mom turned her smile to me. She liked Maggie. But who wouldn’t? “Your dad is awake. He needs to take his medicine soon. So you can bring her in there to meet him while he’s not napping.” Momma nodded toward the hallway.

He was in pain, was what that translated to. “If he needs to go ahead and take his medicine now, I can introduce her to him another time.”

She started shaking her head. “Oh no, he knows you’re coming and bringing a friend already. I told him. He wants to meet her.”

I glanced down at Maggie. “You ready?” I asked, wanting to give her one last chance to change her mind.

She nodded, and all the encouragement I needed was in her eyes.

I didn’t care that my mother would see me; I needed to hold Maggie’s hand right now. Slipping my hand over hers, I held it tightly. Then we walked down the hall to my parents’ bedroom.

I eased the door open slowly and peeked inside.

“Stop being quiet, boy. I hear you. Come on in.” He wheezed then coughed. It was a much weaker version of the booming voice I’d always known.

Maggie didn’t pause but walked right inside with her hand still firmly tucked in mine.

“That’s the prettiest friend you ever brought home,” he said, smiling as if he weren’t hurting all over.

“Thank you,” Maggie said.

“I thought I raised you better,” my dad said, still wheezing through his words. “Girl who looks like this one ain’t for friendship. You’re supposed to snatch her up.”

Maggie laughed beside me, and Dad’s grin grew.

“He’s got a train of girls waiting for their turn. He doesn’t need to add another to the long line,” she replied, and my dad laughed. It wasn’t the deep belly laugh he used to do, but it was the first laugh I’d heard from him in a while.

After he coughed and got his breath back, he looked at me. “Got a line, do you now?”

I shrugged. I didn’t talk about girls with Dad much. Not after he caught me looking at porn on the computer when I was thirteen and gave me the sex talk. We talked football, school, life. But not girls.

“Yes. You should hear the girls in the stands at the pep rallies. He’s very popular with them,” Maggie informed Dad.

He laughed again. “I’m sure you got boys lining up for you, too. If this one is too blind to lay claim, I don’t doubt one of them will.”

My smile left. I didn’t want to think about that. Maggie was meeting my momma and my dad. What if she started talking to another guy? What if she wasn’t just mine anymore?

Dad let out another laugh, and I lifted my gaze to see him looking directly at me. “Ain’t fun to think about, is it?” he said.

My gut twisted and felt sour. I didn’t like thinking about that, and my dad clearly knew it.

“All this laughter in here. What in the world am I missing?” Momma asked as she stepped inside, looking happier than I’d seen her in a long time. Hearing Dad laugh was good for both of us.

“There’s my favorite girl,” Dad said as Momma walked over to him. He still looked at her like she was his every wish come true. Momma bent down and kissed his lips. “I had to go make these two a snack. Tonight is game night, and West needs some carbs.”

Dad looked from Momma to me. “You gonna win tonight?” he asked. This was always our thing.

“You know it,” I replied just like I always did.

“That’s my boy.”

It Takes Years Before They Wise Up

CHAPTER 21

MAGGIE

I had texted with Aunt Coralee several times during the game to check on Mr. Ashby, or Jude, as he’d told me to call him. She had assured me he was sleeping and everything was fine. I wanted to be able to reassure West that everything was okay every time he looked up in the stands at me.

He did it several times, and each time I nodded.

Through it all, he managed to run in a touchdown and make several plays I didn’t understand but that, according to Uncle Boone, who explained things as they happened, were very impressive. West was always there for Brady to make the best plays.

I knew tonight he wouldn’t be going to the field party. He was worried about being away from his dad. I had asked Aunt Coralee if I could go home after the game instead of going to the field party with Brady. Even though I was glad I’d met his parents, emotionally, I was spent.

Although Jude had talked to me, it had been hard for him, and he was using all the energy he had to talk to us. He gasped for breath and coughed. Then watching the way he stared at his wife like he adored her had broken my heart.

I couldn’t remember a time in my life when my parents had looked at each other that way. I could remember them fighting and yelling, and they’d always made up. Yet not once did they look at each other the way West’s parents did.

To think that they would lose that was so incredibly sad.

As the crowd made their way out to their cars, I followed Uncle Boone as he went to wait on Brady to come out of the locker room. I wanted to see West before I left. Leaving his dad today had been hard on him. He’d held on to my hand the entire ride back to my house. If I could’ve held his hand on to the football field, I would have.

“There’s West,” Uncle Boone said, nodding toward the field house. “I reckon you’ll want to go see him. I think he’s probably looking for you.”

I glanced up at Uncle Boone, and he gave me an understanding smile. I hoped he didn’t think what West and I were doing was anything more than friendship. I had explained it to Aunt Coralee because she’d asked me. But I hadn’t really explained it to Uncle Boone.