Page 21 of Base Block

“That’s weird.”

“There’s no one else in our family,” he explained. “Maybe distant people, but I never knew anyone but my mom. I grew up living on and off with her. In the off times, I was in the care of the state of Indiana. That was sometimes ok and sometimes shitty, but always much, much better than when I was with my mother. I got taken away permanently when I was ten and she also disappeared right around then. She died a year or two later but I didn’t find out until I was fifteen.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Thanks,” he answered. “My grandparents had been in that house, living there together, but they didn’t want anything to do with us. They had their own problems. My grandpa was a huge alcoholic and my grandma took pills. The first thing I did when I moved in was to clear a million empty liquor bottles out of the garage, which made room for the ATVs. The pill bottles were in a can behind the house and there were a million of those, too.”

“They were mean not to take you in when you needed them.”

“It was probably for the best. I wouldn’t have been happy there,” he told me.

I had a hard time believing that he’d been happy cycling through foster homes and stints with his mother, either. But dinner was more important than reminiscing for him at this moment, so we stopped to get the cheapest carryout we’d found up here and brought the paper boxes back to the motel. After he ate, and ate, and ate, he lay back on his bed and covered his eyes again.

“I’ll turn out the lights,” I said quickly.

“You must be bored out of your mind,” he commented. “This doesn’t compare very well to the life you used to lead.”

“I told you that I was tired of it.”

“Parties, free drugs, nice clothes,” he listed. “But I like what you wear now.”

“Thanks.” If I ever got a job, I could afford a sewing machine and then I would be able to really outfit myself. “I’d rather be here.”

I did turn off the lights and he was silent for a few moments. I thought he had fallen asleep and I jumped when he spoke again.

“What are we going to do if this doesn’t happen?”

I understood what he meant. “I talked to a woman today whose husband is trying out to be a kicker.” I wasn’t sure exactly why he was needed during games and had decided to ask Callum about a kicker’s role, but now wasn’t the time. “She said that since their college graduation, he’s played for five different teams. It doesn’t sound like they’re rolling in money, but it’s a living.”

“Five teams, so five cities. Five moves, five new places to live,” he said, holding up his big hand and wiggling his five digits. “That was one thing I said I’d never do when I got older. I wanted to stay in one place and not have to pack up my shit one more time. That was hard when I was a kid. When I left my last placement, I barely had anything to my name.”

“You may have picked the wrong career for a stable lifestyle.”

“Yeah,” he sighed. “But if I can make the Woodsmen roster…”

“Let’s talk about things we can fix right now, like your shoulder.”

“You can fix that?” he asked.

I made him turn over and then, in the sliver of space that wasn’t covered by his body, I sat next to him on the bed. “This was something I did in my former job.” I started to massage his back, gently at first.

“The entourage.”

I nodded, although he couldn’t see me. “I got pretty good at it.”

“That is good,” he agreed, sighing as I went in harder.

“Is this where it hurts?” I carefully felt his shoulder and he didn’t yell or slap me. I couldn’t imagine Callum doing either of those things. “Are you actually injured?”

“It’s ok. Injuries are normal in football. There are always a few parts of your body that could use some work, but that’s what the off-season is for. Mmmm,” he said. He sounded content. “Can you do this all night?”

Since I now considered myself to be a part of his entourage, I was available to rub his back for the rest of his life. “Try to go to sleep,” I recommended. “If the other guests here act like they did last weekend, it will be loud and crazy.” Even at this remote outpost of a motel, people had come to party. “We should get you some sound-canceling stuff. Or a white noise machine.”

“As soon as the money starts rolling in, we’ll get everything,” he promised. “Real shoes for you that don’t slap when you walk. An oil change. All the luxuries.”

“That sounds great but I don’t need anything.”

“I keep thinking about you in that gold dress. It probably cost a lot,” he said.