Page 83 of Ruff and Tumble

“How I would have loved an opportunity like the one you’ve been given. And you’re throwing it away like yesterday’s garbage.”

“It’s fine. Don’t worry about me. I’ll just die full of shame for the son who wasted his talent. Give me a moment. I’m sure the Grim Reaper will be here any minute.”

Cole sat and took it—much longer than he thought he could and much more calmly than he might have had he not had Regina’s blessing and Hailey’s words to support him.

I can guarantee that your mom will still open her arms to you. You get to keep hugging her, Cole. You get to keep being hugged.

A few months ago, he wouldn’t have believed that. The look on his mom’s face was so shocked and so hurt that it was hard to imagine she could ever forgive him—for what he was doing to his father, for what he was doing to his family. Today, however, he knew it to be the truth. It might take months—years, even—before his parents could fully wrap their heads around his decision, but he knew without a doubt that his mom would end this day with a hug. Not because she understood how difficult this was for him, and not because she approved of what he was doing, but because that was what she did.

She was his mom. She hugged him. She hugged a lot of people, actually, and in a way that had been highly embarrassing during his teenage years, but that didn’t matter. He’d never realized before what it meant to be offered physical affection for no reason other than the ties of family.

He realized now. It meant everything.

“I left Regina on the phone with the team,” Cole said as soon as his father stopped railing at him to draw a much-needed breath. “They’ll probably just list me as injured for the Kickoff Cup next weekend so the team doesn’t completely freak out, but my retirement will be announced not long after that.”

“If modern medicine had been in my time what it is today, I’d still be playing football myself,” his father announced with a firm set of his jaw. “You don’t know how lucky you have it.”

At mention of that word—lucky—Cole couldn’t help but smile.

“That’s funny to you, is it?” his father demanded. “My back broken and my knees blown, everything I was put into your training…”

“Julian,please,” his mom begged. “At least sit down if you’re going to start yelling again.”

“No, Dad. I don’t think your injuries are funny—and I don’t think mine are, either—but ‘luck’ is a funny word to use in this instance.”

For some reason, this caused his dad to perk up. “Luck.That’s it, isn’t it? This is nothing more than the curse at work, the only way fate can stop an unstoppable force like you. Hailey failed.”

“Don’t.” For the first time since this conversation started, Cole spoke with hard authority. His parents responded to it almost immediately, both of them turning to him with interest. “Don’t try to blame this on Hailey. She didn’t fail. She doesn’t even believe in the stupid curse—and neither, might I remind you, do you. She only did all this because I asked her to, because I was too much of a coward to tell you to your face what I was feeling.”

“As well you should have,” his dad grumbled.

Although Hailey had taken Philip from him, Nala was still residing with his parents until the Puppy Cup aired. The beagle entered the room just then and, with one look at the tense faces of the three people in it, darted for his dad’s side. Unthinking, his dad sat in his favorite recliner before patting his lap, at which point the beagle jumped up and immediately settled in for a nap. He had no idea that he’d done it—sat down and relaxed, his anger ebbing away with each brush of his hand over the puppy’s fur—but Cole and his mom shared a knowing look.

“Does this mean she’s coming over for dinner on Friday?” his mom asked, tacitly accepting the truce brought by the puppy. Cole knew it would be a while before any of them could talk about football without tempers flaring, but he was willing to accept his end of the olive branch. “I tried inviting her, but we got cut off before I could get a firm answer.”

“You asked her to dinner?”

“The Wegmores are coming, and she handled them so well last time that I thought she might do the trick a second time. The poor thing. She doesn’t have much family of her own, does she?” His mom clucked and shook her head. “Well, the Wegmores aren’t much of a consolation prize, but what can you do? They’re what we have to offer.”

“You asked her to dinner?”

His mom looked at him with an odd light in her eyes. “Yes, dear. I already said that. Are you sure you didn’t hit your head as well as your shoulder?”

“She won’t come,” he said, ignoring the question. “I’m sorry, Mom. I ruined it.”

Cole wasn’t sure what he said or did next, but he was in his mom’s arms before he knew what was happening. In his lifetime, he’d been tackled and hit from every angle. He’d taken physical blows that would fell a tree and stood up to coaches shouting at him with so much violence that they’d actually spit in his face. He’d listened to his father shout him through football drills when he was barely old enough to walk and stood watching as Hailey showed him the inner workings of her heart.

This, however, was his breaking point.

“Cole, love, don’t worry.” His mom was tall and strong but not as tall or as strong as him. That didn’t seem to matter as she continued holding him, her arms not quite reaching around his torso. “We’ll pick another date, one that works for her. You know Gertie will do anything for a free dinner.”

He gave a watery chuckle, but his mom didn’t release him. It was as though she knew that she was the only thing holding him together, that the moment she let go, he’d fall to pieces.

“It’s not the date,” he said, his voice shaking. “It’s me. I wrecked it. She’s the best thing that’s ever happened, and I blew my chance.”

“Well, really.Dosomething, Julian.”

“What do you want me to do?” came the irritable reply. “He won’t listen to reason about football. What makes you think he’d take my advice about women?”