Hey everyone! It's TexasForeverFan back with another Friday Night Lights story. This story is a sequel to One Beer and picks up towards to start of Julie's senior year. I loved the original story so much I had to write a sequel! Enjoy!
A loud cry came over the baby monitor sitting on Julie Taylor's nightstand. It must be 6:30, Tim thought to himself after his daughter's cries awoke him. It had become a routine, RaeLynn would wake everyone in the house who wasn't already awake at precisely 6:30 am. Tim carefully slipped out of bed, for Julie was still somehow asleep. It was her last week of summer, so Tim decided he would let her sleep.
He ventured down the hall to the nursery, which had once been the guest bedroom Shelley stayed in before moving to her own house.
"Morning precious," Tim greeted RaeLynn as he reached into the crib to pick up his crying 4-month-old daughter. "Let's go get you your breakfast and see if you woke Nana and Grandpa up," Tim told her as he held her on his hip. He carried her into the living room where Tami was drinking her coffee.
"I thought I heard my favorite grand baby awake," Tami greeted them. "Here I'll hold you while Daddy makes your bottle," Tami added outstretching her hands to take Raelynn from Tim. "Is Jules still asleep?"
"Yeah, some how," Tim answered as he warmed up RaeLynn's bottle. "Thanks to you we don't have to set an alarm anymore, do we Rae Rae?" Tami chuckled when she saw her granddaughter's eyes light up after hearing her dad say her nickname, which she was beginning to recognize.
"Are you going to work today?" Tami asked.
"I was planning on going in this afternoon, enjoy the morning with Julie and RaeLynn before Julie has to go back to school next week," Tim answered as he took RaeLynn from Tami and fed her the bottle.
"Julie will really like that. She's worried she is going to miss out on things with you and Raelynn when she goes back to school."
"Yeah, she mentioned that the other day," Tim replied. "Is Coach having two-a-days again this week?"
"Yes, he already left. Those boys need every bit of practice they can get," Tami replied. Over the summer, East Dillon High had been reopened and the football boosters fired Eric as head coach of the Dillon Panthers, forcing him to take the head coaching job at East and build the team up from scratch.
"It's going to be weird watching a football game from the stands and not being on the field," Tim stated.
"It's going to be weird seeing Coach in red," Tami laughed.
"Yeah," Tim chuckled. "I guess I'll have to get some new T-shirts before football season starts," He added looking down to see the blue Dillon Panther's cutoff T-shirt he happened to be wearing. "You know, aside from McGregor for a few games, I never played Varsity for anybody except Coach Taylor."
"Tim, you know you can call him Eric right? He doesn't mind, and you're practically family," Tami replied with a chuckle. Tim hadn't played for Coach Taylor in close to 6 months and had yet to drop calling Eric "Coach," he even occasionally referred to him as "Grandpa Coach" to RaeLynn.
"Yeah, I know. It's just weird calling him anything other than Coach," Tim responded. RaeLynn finished her bottle and Tim burped her.
"There's your momma RaeLynn," Tami said as Julie walked into the kitchen.
"Good morning baby girl," She greeted taking RaeLynn from Tim's arms and giving her a kiss on her chubby cheek.
"What! I don't get a good morning?" Tim dramatically pouted.
"Morning babe," Julie replied giving Tim a kiss. Tim smirked out of satisfaction.
"Good morning to you, too," He replied.
"I've got to do some paperwork at school to get ready for enrollment tomorrow," Tami announced as she grabbed her purse and left.
"Don't you have to be at work soon?" Julie asked, looking over Tim with his cutoff sleep shirt, gym shorts, and messy hair.
"Not until after lunch," He reported. "I'm all yours this morning," He added with his goofy smirk Julie had grown to love.
"Hear that RaeLynn? We get to spend all morning with Daddy," She told the infant sitting in her arms.
•
"She was out like a light," Julie quietly reported to Tim as she made her way back into the living room from putting RaeLynn down for her morning nap. "I don't want to leave her next week when I go back to school."
"She'll be with me, and you can come by during your lunch. You will get to be with her all afternoon and all day during the weekend," Tim reassured her, looking up from the ham sandwich he was piecing together.
"I know, but I just haven't left her for that long before," Julie replied. "And what if I miss something. What if she says her first word or crawls for the first time while I'm at school?"
"Julie, it will be fine."
"What if when she is older she asks me what her first words was and I can't tell her because I wasn't there, I was at school?"
"Julie, you can't sit here and play the 'what if' game. You've got to finish out your senior year, it's just 7 hours a day 5 days a week," He replied as he tore a bite from his sandwich.
"That's 35 hours a week, and there like 170 days in a school year. That's like... I can't even do that math in my head."
"Do you know how many kids stay with babysitters or at daycare while their parents work? You going to school is just like that, and she is getting to stay with at least one parent, we're not sending her off to a daycare."
Julie took a seat at the bar, a hundred different thoughts running through her head.
"And I think she would rather have a mom who graduated high school and went to college that missed a few life moments than a mom who dropped out of high school and can't provide for her family," Tim added, breaking her from her thoughts. "We have to provide for her, it's our job. I finished school and have a part time job, now you've got to do the same," He instructed. "Just finish out one more year. For RaeLynn."
I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, I am excited for this story! This story is set during season 4 which is when the whole East/West thing happens and I have some ideas for how I can weave that into my story. As always, let me know what you think.