His friends stayed close and so did Rocky, Rocky doing it by moving to his side, wrapping her arms around him and putting her head to his shoulder.
This felt good, it felt very good. But it didn’t strip a single layer off the thick wall of fury fencing him in and he stayed still, not moving a muscle until halftime when Rocky got his attention by pressing into him.
He looked down at her only after he lost sight of both of his boys after they entered the locker room.
“You want a soda?” she asked quietly.
“Nope,” he answered.
“Coffee?”
“No.”
“Cocoa?”
“No.”
“You okay?” she asked.
“Nope.”
“Oh boy,” she whispered then he felt her body jolt against his, her arms moved from around him and she stepped away.
He saw her looking around him and he heard Silvestri mutter, “Oh fuck,” when he turned around and saw Gabby, Stew trailing, bearing down on him.
“You gonna quit snugglin’ with your girlfriend long enough to do something about that,” she jabbed a finger at the field, “Tanner?” she leaned into him antagonistically, “hunh?”
“Not now, Gabby,” Layne murmured.
“Tripp’s so damned excited that his Dad’s bangin’ High and Mighty Raquel Astley, he doesn’t have his fuckin’ head in the game!” she screeched.
Before Layne could say a word or find a reason why he shouldn’t rip the head off his kids’ Mom, Rocky spoke.
“I’m sorry,” she said immediately, “I shouldn’t have –”
“No you shouldn’t!” Gabby shrieked.
“I’m thinkin’ you need to calm down, woman,” Joe Callahan suggested in a way that sounded more like a warning.
“It’s okay, it was my fault,” Rocky stated.
“Damn straight it was,” Gabby snapped.
“No, it wasn’t,” Layne said, his voice sounding like a rumble and his eyes cut to Gabby. “I’ll deal with Cosgrove.”
“Oh yeah? How?” Gabby shot back.
“Don’t worry about it and don’t,” he hesitated searching for control, “ever,” he hesitated again, losing the control he found and searching for it again, “speak to or about Rocky that way again. Do you hear me?”
“You have got to be jokin’!” Gabby shouted. “She’s outta her husband’s house a month and you’re in her pants!”
Layne took a step toward her, Gabby took a step back, Stew, he noted with disgust, took two fucking steps back leaving Gabby shifting in the wind and both Colt and Cal came up to his sides.
“Your situation is precarious, Gabby,” he informed her, his voice low, he was aware they had an audience and that audience was listening. “Do not push me. Understand?”
“Go to hell, Tanner!” she snapped.
He turned away from her and walked back to Rocky. Then he slid his arm around her shoulders and pulled her into his side. He felt the tension ebb out of the boys around him and he knew Gabby and Stew had retreated and only then did he tip his head down to see she was staring at the top of the fence and biting her lip.
“Sweetcheeks,” he called quietly and watched her head tilt back. When he caught her eyes he noted, “One ex down, one to go, we’re halfway there.”
She stared at him for a second.
Then she gave him the dimple.
*
There were a fair amount of people milling about after the game and Layne knew why.
Both Jasper and Tripp were going out for pizza, Jas responsible for getting his brother home so there was only one reason Layne would remain after the game.
Therefore Colt, Morrie and Cal remained too and Rocky’s Dad, Dave and his cronies Ernie and Spike were also sticking close.
So did Gabrielle, but Stew was nowhere to be seen.
Some of the crowd was waiting around to see what Layne would do. The rest of them were likely there to give moral support or, perhaps, set up the ladder for Layne to climb in order to swing Cosgrove’s noose around a stout branch.
The folks in that town liked their football but they also looked after their kids. Cosgrove’s abuse of Tripp had been widely witnessed and an unpopular man struggling to keep his footing in that community had not only slipped, he’d come crashing to the ground.
Most of the players had come out when Jasper and Tripp came out together. When they did, Layne saw that Jasper was so close to his brother, he was crowding him but Tripp didn’t notice. His mind was elsewhere. He’d stayed benched the second half and he’d been humiliated in front of his friends, his schoolmates and half the town.
Jasper saw Layne first and he started with surprise, his eyes darted to his Mom and then came back to Layne.
Gabby closed in on Tripp.
“You okay, honey?” she asked.
Tripp took a quick step away from her, not wanting to be mothered, not anytime at fourteen years old and especially not then.
“Yeah, Mom,” he muttered.
Layne approached but Rocky stayed clear, standing in a huddle with Josie Judd, February Colton, Violet Callahan and Violet’s extremely pretty daughter, Keira.
The minute Layne met Keira between the third and fourth quarters when the women had decided that they’d given it enough time, they’d borne down on Rocky and infiltrated the boys long enough to pull Raquel aside for a quick, voices lowered discussion before they all returned and hung out with the men, Layne could see why Jas had been hooked.
He stopped close to Jasper, Tripp and Gabby and said, “Good game, Jas. Tripp, sweet tag and great run, Pal.”
Tripp tipped his head back just enough to look at his father under his brow and then bent his neck again.
“Great catch, kid,” Cal said, coming up to Layne’s side, Tripp shrugged, not looking at him then Cal went on. “You Jasper?”
“Yes sir,” Jasper replied.
“Layne says you’re goin’ for pizza,” Cal remarked.
“Yeah,” Jasper answered.