He doesn’t need to lift a finger to do that. Not with her and not now with Kona.
The big Hawaiian watches their son on the side lines, a smile broadening his mouth as he chats with Brian, his old football buddy, now assistant coach of the CPU team.
Keira doesn’t feel comfortable here. This campus and its memories are like a bruise to her, something that has faded but still aches if she brushes too close. But Kona had insisted, made Keira promise to cheer Ransom right along with him. It wasn’t hard. She’d been cheering her son in everything he’d attempted over the years.
Except that damn race.
When the boy beats the clock ahead of two larger, stronger players, Kona shouts, brimming with pride and Keira snorts, rolls her eyes at his excitement.
Kona had been doing that for a month now; every time Ransom played a particularly complicated chord on the piano or guitar, every time he tackled Kona as they practiced, the man’s excitement was palpable.
Often, Ransom told her, Kona would offer him rewards—new clothes, expensive shoes, a tour of the Steamer’s stadium and, two weeks ago, Kona announced he wanted to throw Ransom a big sixteenth birthday party.
“I don’t need all that, Mom. What do I tell him?” Ransom had asked and Keira sympathized with him. But she knew Kona. He’d be disappointed if Ransom turned down the opportunity for Kona to spoil him a little and when she mentioned that to Ransom, the boy stopped complaining about his father’s plans.
“He’s just excited to be around you, son. He’s making up for lost time.”
On the field a whistle blows, signaling a break and Ransom looks up at her, offers her a quick wave before he falls to the ground, exhausted, excited, with a huge grin on his face.
Kona notices the move, says something in Brian’s ear, then runs up the steps to sit next to her in the stands.
“He’s great.” Elbows on his knees, Kona focuses below them, to the players, to their son as he downs a bottle of water. “Seriously, two more years with him improving and he can write his own ticket.”
She notices the way he bobs his head, as though he’s planning, scheming, what their son could accomplish, what would be available to him with a little bit of hard work.
“Have you talked to him about that?”
He looks down at her, frowning. “What do you mean?”
“Have you talked to Ransom about what he wants to study? Where he wants to apply to?”
Kona turns his attention back to the field as the players are lined up for drills. “Business, he said.” Kona stretches back, slinks down into the seat. “CPU has a great Business department. I think Professor Walker is still the Dean, but I’m not sure. It’s what my degree is in.”
“Yes. Business. That’s what it is this month.”
“What?”
Keira smiles, sitting up straight in her seat, folding her hands in her lap. “Kona, he’s almost sixteen. Last year he wanted to go into the military.” His mouth drops open, eyes big and shocked. “Three months ago he was determined to go to LSU because of their Communications program and when he was eight, he wanted to be Thor.” Kona’s frown is deep and she almost feels bad for him, for the disappointment she sees paling his dark complexion. “He’s a kid, Kona. He has a lot of grand ideas, but Ransom has no clue who he is or who he wants to be.” When he continues to frown, rubs the back of his neck, Keira sighs. “One thing that hasn’t changed though is how much he loves to play. Don’t worry about that. Wherever he goes, he’ll be on someone’s defensive line.”
Kona’s eyebrows move up and his smirk is deep, exaggerates the cleft in his chin. “You know positions now?”
“Don’t look so surprised.” Keira watches Ransom’s move on the field, that focused, steady stare he narrows as he tackles a kid twice his side. “My son has been playing football since his was big enough to carry the weight of peewee shoulder pads. I’ve had to learn.”
When he wasn’t practicing with the Steamers, Kona had spent nearly all his time with Ransom. Keira didn’t mind, she was still dealing with lawyers, making sure Ransom was up on his correspondence work and trying to fit some writing in for the deadline waiting for her back home.
They hadn’t spoken much and when they did, it was always about Ransom, about his party or if it was okay with Keira that Kona take him for a weekend. She’d been reluctant about that one, but their time together was important. They needed that time before the end of the summer when she would take her son back to Nashville. But she had caught Kona staring at her, sometimes just in a glance, sometimes a long stare when he thought she wasn’t looking.