West climbed out of the truck, followed by Ryker and Brady in the Tahoe. A Range Rover then came pulling in too fast and slammed on the brakes. The driver door swung open, and Gunner climbed out grinning like the cocky son of a bitch he was. They were all here.
“I got the beer,” Gunner said and reached inside his Range Rover to pull out a six-pack. “Ready?”
“When did you get in town?” I asked him.
“About thirty minutes ago,” he replied. “Then you had to go and steal the damn show.”
We all began walking down the hill toward the field house.
“So I hear you said yes because of a girl,” Gunner said.
“Of course he did,” West replied for me. “His ass could be anywhere. He came back to Lawton.”
“Nothing wrong with that,” Nash told him.
“Didn’t say there was, but Asa has reasons to hate this place. More so than I do,” Gunner said.
He was right. I did have reasons to hate Lawton. Memories that would always be attached to this town. But I had more good memories than I had bad. “That field is where I grew up, where I made some of the best memories of my life,” I reminded all of them. It was true for them as much as it was me. “If I’m going to coach the game I love, then why do it on a field that means nothing to me when I can do it on the field that made me?”
Ryker grinned and shook his head. “Damn. Now you got me getting all sentimental. Hand me a beer, Gunner.”
Coach Rich walked out of the locker room to find us sitting in the middle of the field drinking beer. “I should’ve expected to see the whole lot of you. Just clean that shit up when you’re done, and Asa, welcome home, son,” he called out before walking toward his truck.
“Where you gonna live?” Brady asked me.
“With me,” Nash replied before I could.
I shrugged and took a drink. “I guess with Nash for now. Haven’t thought that far.”
“He ain’t thought about nothing but Ezmita Ramos since getting back in town,” Ryker said.
I couldn’t argue with him. He was right; I had thought of little else.
CHAPTER TWELVE
EZMITA
My sister’s graduation was in two hours, and since I had spent another day working in the house, I was just getting out of the shower when the doorbell rang. I quickly wrapped my hair in a towel and pulled on a T-shirt dress that covered enough of my body before rushing to the door. The electrician said he would be here tomorrow between nine and twelve to fix the two outlets that weren’t working. Unless he was a day early, then I wasn’t expecting anyone.
I didn’t stop to check out the window and opened the door.
Once again, there stood Asa surprising me with his presence. I paused, leaving the screen door closed betweenus. His coming around like this was going to make it harder when he left town again. As much as I enjoyed seeing him standing on my front porch, I also didn’t want that memory haunting me once he was gone. I had already mourned the loss of Asa in my life. I didn’t want to go through that another time.
“Asa.” I said his name, unsure if it was a greeting or a question.
“Looks like you’re getting ready for something,” he said, taking in my appearance.
“Lawton graduation,” I told him.
“Ah yes, I forgot about that. I didn’t get a Lawton graduation. Covid stopped that,” he replied. “I…” His shoulders lifted and fell with a sigh. “Look, I know you’re busy and I should leave you alone to get ready, but I don’t think I can. I need to talk to you.”
I reached out and opened the screen door for him. When he took it from me, I stepped back and let him come inside. He was right that I needed to get ready, but this was also Asa telling me he needed to talk to me. I had an Asa weakness that hadn’t gone away over time. I was accepting that now, just as I needed to accept this was fleeting. He was leaving.
Asa didn’t walk very far into my house. He stopped just inside, and the smell of his cologne was so dang sexy Iwished he had stayed outside. Now my house was going to smell like him.
“I took the Spanish teacher position and offensive coordinator coaching position at Lawton today,” he said, turning to face me.
Of all the things I’d expected him to say, this was not one of them. “Oh” was what came out of my mouth as a response.