I really didn’t know what to say. I wanted to say no, but I couldn’t do that. “Sure, Coach, I’ll keep an eye out for him.”
Coach Armstrong straightened up. “Good man.” He turned toward the door before looking back at me. “Glad you’re on the team, Parker,” he said softly, and then was gone.
I pressed by head back into the pillow below me.
Shit. This was bad. I didn’t want to help Oliver Lee do anything except be my backup. How could Coach Armstrong expect me to help a guy steal my job from me? It made no sense!
I had to get out of this bed asap and get back onto the field. This just made things that much worse, that much more urgent.
I thought about pushing the button to call Charlotte and tell her all about what had just happened, and I even picked up the dongle and started to push the button before I stopped. No, I didn’t want to get her involved with this.
Not when something could go wrong, I didn’t want her to get in trouble.
I knew who I could call. Hud would help me out, I knew it. I pulled out my phone and texted him. Hud responded almost immediately and 10 minutes later he was sneaking into my room. “Hey bro, I came as quick as I could. What’s up?”
“I gotta get out of here, Hud, I gotta get back on the field before Lee steals my spot.”
Hud nodded slowly in sympathy. “Fuck yes, that’s what I want to hear, my man. How can I help?”
“Is the coast clear?” I nodded to the door behind Hud. He smiled and peeked out the door, looking from left to right before turning back.
“Yeah, looks like it. I think Charlotte might be out getting something to eat.”
“Quick, man, help me into the wheelchair.”
Hud came around and got the wheelchair. I pulled the blankets off and Hud helped me into the chair. “Let’s go, before she comes back.”
Hud checked the door one more time and then opened it, wheeling me down the hall, both of us smiling and giggling like schoolgirls.
It felt exhilarating to be out of that bed and that room. We roamed the halls, trying to avoid any team personnel we could find. Hud took me out to one of the smaller practice fields.
After a couple minutes we located a ball and started playing catch, me sitting in my wheelchair and Hud first 10 feet away. After I completed 5 passes, Hud would take a few steps back and we’d continue.
It felt so good to be out there and feel the wind in my hair again, the sun on my shoulders. It was starting to cool down in Massachusetts as the leaves turned brown and fall really started to settle in, but I couldn’t feel any of the biting cold on me, I was having too much fun.
After a few misses when Hud got really far away he jogged back toward me. “Feeling pretty good, yeah? Looks like you’ve kept up your strength despite no time in the weight room.”
“I could still take you down, big fella.”
Hud laughed out loud, echoing across the practice field. “That’s the funniest thing I’ve ever heard!” He kept guffawing till I started laughing too. I was no wimp; I was a professional athlete, but Hud made me look like a small child. The man turned heads with his muscles just walking down the street. He had to get all his clothes custom made, much to his chagrin.
“What do we do next, Lance?” Hud asked when he’d finally calmed down.
“Same thing again.” I said, with a spark in my eye. “But this time…” I got up, out of the wheelchair, resting on my own two feet on the grass outdoors for the first time since I could remember.
It felt perfect. The only way it could have been better was if Charlotte were here, I realized right then, instead of us having to avoid her stern gaze.
I looked across at Hud for the first time in weeks, at the grin that broke his genial face in two, and we both laughed. Hud tossed me the ball and we started our game of increasingly-distant catch all over again.
It was a really good exercise for a quarterback, making it easy to pinpoint the distance where accuracy problems came in. It was also great for a defensive player like Hud, who used it to practice his intercepting skills.
I didn’t put too much weight on my right leg, but as I started turning into my throws as Hud got further and further away, I noticed none of the pain I had felt immediately after the injury.
Maybe just a few weeks of Charlotte’s care and I was back to normal already? Maybe I could get back on the field this week and get my job back before Oliver Lee got too comfortable?
Just the thought of doing so lifted my spirits even further. I needed this.
And then Charlotte appeared. I don’t know how she found me, found us, but just as Hud and I were starting to really get far apart, Charlotte appeared at the side of the field and stood there, watching us.
She had her hands on her waist and even from here I could see the disapproving look on her face, her head shaking slowly as she watched us.