“Probably need to get on with the announcement. The media is pickin’ up on the fact that no one has seen me out. Rumors are startin’ to swirl.”
“What kind of rumors?”
“That I’m retirin’ and such.”
“Retiring? How could they think you were retiring? Haven’t you only been playing for like a few years?”
“Yeah, two. But it’s rough on the body. I have buddies who didn’t last that long. Everyone has these major expectations during the draft and then”—he waves his hand through the air—“the pressure gets to them, and that’s the end of the line.”
That would be horrible.
“Anyway.” He sighs. “Gonna fly back to Texas and do the whole song and dance. Get it over with.”
“Are you happy you’re transferring or whatever you call it in football when you switch teams?”
“We call that getting picked up. Or trading, but that’s not what I did. I wasn’t traded. Texas picked me up. I was a restricted free agent, and ’cause my current team couldn’t match the offer Texas made me, I was able to switch teams. They never wanted to let me out of my contract, though, not in a million years.”
“Sounds like you had them by the balls.”
His head whips around to look at me. “Eli had them by the balls, but yeah—pretty much.”
“What team wouldn’t want you?” I muse out loud. “I hear you’re pretty decent.”
“Pretty decent?” He’s amused. “Why, Josephine, are you payin’ me a compliment?”
I laugh too. “I don’t know much about football, but word gets around.”
“They’re paying me a shit ton of money to play decent for Texas.”
“You must be excited to get back to your roots.”
“Yup, my pops played for Texas, and my mama is still there, so it’ll be nice to keep an eye on her.”
“Do you feel responsible for her?”
He shrugs his shoulders up and down a few times as an answer, eyes on the highway. “Sure, don’t we all?”
Eh.
I wouldn’t say I feel a sense of responsibility for my parents; then again, they’re both still around for each other, so that hasn’t fallen on me. I’m sure it will, someday, though that time hasn’t come.
“What about your brothers?”
He shrugs again.
It’s all the answer I need, considering we’re on a long stretch of interstate, northbound for an entirely different state, just so he can check on his little brothers.
My phone vibrates.
I smile when I see that it’s Molly.
Molly:What are you up to today? Wanna grab brunch? Iron Lady is having bottomless mimosas until 1. Then you can tell me more about that asshole from last night.
Darn. I love bottomless mimosas on a Sunday…
Me:Shoot—I would, but I’m not home. Not sure when we’ll be back.
Molly:First of all, it’s like, 8—how are you not at home? And second of all, what do you mean WE’LL be back? Who are you with???