“Thank you. I was worried that he was going to say something to Stella Jane that he was going to regret.” Julia sucked in a deep breath. “Or worse.”
Her words had barely left her mouth before the blare of the band made it too hard to hear her.
The crowd sang out the fight song very loud and got even louder as the Grizzly Bear mascot ran past everyone waving the flag above the crowd.
“Here you go.” Iris handed Clara back to me so she could clap and march right alongside everyone else.
“You need these.” Julia took out a pair of headphones and stuck them on Clara’s head. “I’ve seen famous football players’ wives put headphones on their babies at games. I’m glad I did too. I think this is the loudest crowd we’ve had.”
It was the largest crowd, but half of them weren’t walking along with us when we passed Old Mill Books. They were in line trying to get in, and I had no doubt it was for a copy of Beyond Boundaries.
“Iris, you coming?” I asked when I noticed she’d stopped right in front of the bookstore’s display window. “Iris,” I said her name again when it seemed she didn’t hear me. “I-riiiis,” I sang and waved a hand in front of her face.
“Yeah. Go on. I’ll catch up.” She pushed my hand out of her line of vision. “I just might go in there and pay Stella Jane a little visit.”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea.” Not that I was telling her what to do, but it wasn’t going to get her anywhere. I stood behind her and put a hand on the side of her arm. I was glad to see Piddy still had her job and Stella Jane was right at the table signing away. “Besides, I need you to help me with Clara.”
It was like my words went in one ear and out the other. Her eyes focused on Piddy when Piddy walked behind the counter and went to the door of the bookstore.
“I’m sorry, we are out of books and closing,” Piddy told the crowd and shut the door, turning the sign to Closed.
“See, they are closing. We can go in the morning after yoga.” It seemed like the thing to tell her in hopes she did forget about going there and yoga.
“I’ll be there before kickoff.” Iris pushed past me and disappeared into the crowd.
I was pushed along with the crowd going to the game and tried to look above them to see how far up Julia and Clara had gotten. Instead of fighting my way through the crowd, I went with the herd, clapping and chanting the Sugar Creek Gap High School grizzly bear fight song.
It wasn’t long after that that I saw Bobby Peters. His head stuck up over the crowd. Thank goodness Iris did stay back because she might’ve plucked his head off right there if she’d seen him.
I tried to glance away when our eyes caught, but I guess my reflexes were getting a little delayed. He offered a faint smile as if it were a truce. I smiled back and couldn’t help but remember some of the good times when all of us were first married and before Grady was born.
Bobby Peters and Richard had actually become hunting buddies, so most of August’s hunting season, Iris and I would bake in the old farm kitchen while they headed out to hunt. It was some of the best laughs Iris and I had. We always dreamed of having husbands who did things like us, having babies together, then growing old while loving up on our grandchildren.
Boy, did things turn out so differently.
I let go of a big sigh and followed along with the crowd, picking up the fight song where they were, and left Bobby Peters to himself.
The ten-minute walk really got me pumped up for the game and to root Grady on. There was nothing better in the world than seeing my baby doing what he loved. When we made it to the football field and made the two lines on each side of the goalpost, I could see on Grady’s face how excited he was as he led the team through the roaring crowd.
He stopped at the very end where Julia and Clara were standing. He wrapped his arms around Julia before giving her and Clara a kiss.
The team got on the field to do their warm-ups, and the crowd made it off the field to take their seats in the stands.
My dad, Zeke Grey, Vince Caldwell, and a few of the other older men in the community were hanging on the chain-link fence around the football field. On my way over to say hello, I could tell by all of their lips moving that they were talking over one another, giving their opinions on what the game plays were going to be.
“Bet you ten to nothing Grady is going to let the old quarterback start.” Zeke’s arms hung over the fence, and he pointed to the field where the old quarterback and the new one were both warming up. Grady was standing between them like he was trying to decide which one was going to start.
“I wouldn’t take that bet if I were you,” I told the other men.
“Bernie!” They all turned around and greeted me about the same time.
“Hey, guys.” I went down the line and gave each one of them a hug. “How are they looking?”
“I think we will have a shot at the state title if he goes with the new quarterback.” Vince had already made up his mind.
“Look at him, Vince.” Zeke was primed to argue. “He’s a twig out there, and the upperclassmen will pummel him.”
Zeke had a good point, but I already knew Grady was going to start the freshman. I kept my lips zipped. I’d learned when Grady first started to coach that I had to keep my mouth shut because I’d told things to people that got back to him, not realizing I probably shouldn’t’ve told.
“Go, Grizzlies!” I pumped my fist in the air and headed to the stands.
Julia always had the front row blocked off for me, my parents, and some of their friends. I never said anything, but I preferred to be on the top row next to the announcer’s box. Being up higher made for a good field view, and it was easier to read the plays. Julia wanted to sit close to Grady, and I didn’t blame her.
The front row would be much more convenient now that she had Clara, and carrying a baby up those stands was probably something no one wanted to do. Especially for a night game where the darkness made it hard to see those stadium steps.
“Hi,” I mouthed and waved to people I saw in the stands. “Hey, Mom.” I was happy to see Clara in my mom’s arms. I grabbed Clara’s hand and gently shook it. “There’s maw-maw’s girl.”
It’d taken a good couple months for me to accept Grady had decided to have Clara call me maw-maw. I completely embraced it now and didn’t give it a second thought.
“Did you hear about Lucy Drake?” My mom looked like she was about to burst to tell me something. “Lucy Drake has been reading Beyond Boundaries, and there’s a part in there about a woman who is a huge flirt and has never been able to snag a man. She sleeps around, and she’s the local television reporter, not a radio DJ like Lucy. Bernie.” My mom grabbed my arm.
I turned around and looked over my shoulder up to the press box to see if Lucy Drake was taking the liberty of using her press pass to sit in the box with the announcers. WSCGR did live game broadcasts. She didn’t fool me or really anyone else for that matter.
Lucy Drake used her good looks to get whatever it was she wanted, and on chilly game nights, she didn’t want to be cold or seen all wrapped up in a blanket. She liked showing off her figure in her custom-made Sugar Creek Gap shirt and skinny jeans with her fancy knee-high boots.