CHAPTER 17: Logan
It was the last week of July, and I was coming home from the high school, where I'd been holding football team tryouts. We'd had several good players try out—including a few girls—and I felt confident that we'd not only have a good team this year, but that they'd finally make it to the championships—which, I'm told, they haven't been able to do in 15 years.
I parked the Jeep in the garage next to Mary Anne's white SUV, and went into the house, where I found Mary Anne waiting for me, and dinner already prepared. "Hi," I said, giving her a kiss.
"Hi," she answered. "Oh, I went to the doctor today, and he gave me some good news."
"Oh, yeah? What's up?" I asked as I got the milk out of the fridge and two glasses out of the cupboard. We have really cool glasses, by the way. They were a wedding gift from my parents, and they're rectangular-shaped with deep red rims, black corners, and silver 8-pointed stars on the sides.
"Well, I think dinner speaks for itself," she answered, smiling that gorgeous smile of hers.
I studied the food for a moment. There were baby carrots, baby shrimp, and baby pork chops. She'd also set out two jars of baby food: one with applesauce and one with peaches.
"Okay, let's see here," I said. "Baby foods. Well, that can only mean one thing, and I know about a hundred times better than that Jesse guy on Full House. You're pregnant, right?"
By the way, Full House was always the one show I couldn't stand. I once told some of my friends that just watching five minutes of it was guaranteed to make your IQ drop about 25 points. Or was that Family Matters? No, that was the one I'd described as the Chinese water torture, the rack, and the Spanish Inquisition all rolled into one.
She nodded, and her smile got even bigger. "And I didn't have to resort to playing Pictionary to get you to figure it out," she said.
I laughed and hugged her. We were just over the moon. Imagine us as parents! If there's one thing we were sure of, it's that our lives were about to be changed forever. And it sure helped us to know that we had plenty of baby-sitting experience.
The next morning, I was pulling out of the McDonald's drive-thru with my breakfast burrito and coffee, and was on my way to the high school.
Today was the last day of football team tryouts, which meant that I'd have to decide the roster for the season. This was my second year to do this, and I wasn't exactly looking forward to it, because I knew I'd have to make some very tough decisions. I still remember when I'd tried out for the SHS varsity team my freshman year, and how nervous I was on the last day, so I knew exactly how these guys would be feeling.
"If this is it, please, let me know-ow; if this ain't love, you better let me go-o," I sang along with the radio as I pulled into the parking lot. After I turned off the ignition, I took a moment to say a silent prayer before I got out of the Jeep. That's when I looked toward the bike rack, and chaining up a black BMX was a kid named Mitch. He has short, wavy dark blond hair and hazel eyes, and at 6' 3" and 220 lbs., he was one of the guys I was definitely considering for the team, a real ox of a kid. If there was ever a barfight, I guarantee you he'd be the last one standing.
"Hey, Coach!" he called as he hung his bike helmet off the handlebars and grabbed his football helmet.
"Hi, Mitch," I answered, throwing my trash in the nearby dumpster. "How's it going?"
"Oh, pretty good," he said. "We have a little surprise for you in the locker room."
"What is it?"
"Come on," he said, grabbing my arm and pulling me inside. See what I mean when I said I was sure of putting him on the team?
You should've seen the look on my face when I got there. Right there on the wall was a big yellow banner with a drawing of a stork wearing the school's football uniform, and in its beak was a blue blanket with a football wearing a pink baby's bonnet. Beside the drawing, in the school colors, were the words, "CONGRATS, DADDY BRUNO!"
"You guys!" I cried. "How did you know?"
"My girlfriend told us," another kid named Aaron said. "Her mom knows your wife, and last night, all the cheerleaders got together and worked on this."
"Wow!" I marveled. "Thanks, y'all!"
"No problem," Mitch said. "Daddy!"
As we laughed, I had a feeling that choosing the roster for this year's team wouldn't be such a chore after all.
