“I think,” she continued, “she probably likes you a lot more than she expected. And she’s probably scared of getting hurt.”
“What does that have to do with Jaxon?”
“Oh, you know his name,” she said. I just smiled. I didn’t have enough time to get into the rest of the story. “Sounds like you’re leaving some things out. But we’ll talk about that later. Anyway, as a mother, there is nothing you worry about more than your child. Nothing. Not your job, not your health, not your own love life. Do you already know this little boy pretty well?”
“Yeah, I do,” I admitted.
“Then it sounds like her concern is not whether or not she’s interested in you. It’s whether or not you’re going to stay interested in him if it doesn’t work out with her.”
I took a deep breath. “Ma, have I ever told you what a genius you are?”
She laughed. “Never. I think you should say it again.”
“You’re a genius!” I said with a smile. “Thanks for the chat, Mom, but I’m almost at the gym and I have one more phone call to make.”
“Ok. I’ll go wake Rick up and have him take me to breakfast. Jet lag doesn’t seem to affect him at all. Lucky bastard.” I chuckled. “Do you have a game tonight, honey? We’ve been gone for so long, I can’t remember your schedule.”
“Yeah. Kickoff is at seven-thirty. Do you want tickets? I can leave my regular seats at will call.”
“Oh no,” she said. “Not this time. By seven tonight, I’ll feel like I should have been asleep for several hours.”
“Yeah, maybe you should get over the jet lag first,” I agreed. “Well, enjoy your breakfast. Make him take you somewhere nice.”
“I will. Oh! One more thing,” she said. “This girl you’ve met?”
“Addison, yeah.”
“She’s not one of those football groupies, is she?”
I laughed. “Mom, I don’t think Addison could tell the different between a tackle and a high school wrestling match.”
“Good,” she said. “I like her already!”
“Me too. I’ll talk to you soon.”
“Ok sweetie. Have a nice workout and good luck tonight. I love you.”
“Love you, too, ma.” I hung up and immediately pressed the hands-free button on my steering wheel again.
“Jason’s phone,” it said.
“Call Adam.”
“Calling Adam.”
He finally answered after three rings, sounding groggy. I knew I was gonna wake him up, but I didn’t care. He made a good enough salary to answer an early morning call every once in a while.
“Jason? What’s up? Is everything ok?” he asked.
“Yeah. Quick question.”
“At five-forty-five in the morning I’m not sure my brain is working quick, but hit me,” he said with a yawn.
“Didn’t you say Santana was gonna be in town this week some time?” I asked as I pulled into the parking lot.
“Uh, hold on . . . yeah, I think they’re coming in town Thursday. It’s at Southside Ballroom if I remember correctly.”
“Perfect. Do you think you could get me two tickets to that? I need it set up with security, too, so we can slip in the back door and kind of stay hidden from the crowd.”
“I don’t see why that should be a problem,” he answered, sounding more awake now. “You want to have dinner before the show?”
“Check on what time it starts and if there’s an opening act first. It’s gonna take about forty minutes to get there so we may not have time to eat until afterwards.”
“Ok,” he said. I could hear his pen scribbling in the background. “I’ll check and make reservations somewhere good for either before or after the show, depending on the times. You got a hot date or something?”
I pulled into my parking space and put the gear into park. “I’m not sure yet. Keep your fingers crossed. Gotta go. I’m hitting the weights.”
“Later,” he said and the hands-free set beeped as it disconnected.
Before I got out of the car, I grabbed my phone and sent a text.
Me: Heading into practice but I’m giving you a heads up. I’m calling you after the game tonight about something important. We need to talk.
I spent the next fourteen hours concentrating on my job. Weights, running plays on the field, lunch with the coach, interviews, game.
One of the nice things about being a guy is I can compartmentalize my brain, so I didn’t think about my pending phone call much. Don’t get me wrong, Addison was never far from my brain. And she snuck in easily during some down time.