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Coach grumbled, “Just how I wanted to end my long day.” He looked back at my mom. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to cause any problems.”
“Not one bit of this shit show is your fault.” Her nostrils flared as she glared toward the bike headed our way, causing a dust storm in its wake.
“Mom?” I wasn’t sure why the air around me had suddenly tensed.
Her eyes met mine, and they meant business. “Come here.”
I did. No questions were dared to be asked when Mom was in ‘stern’ mode.
Once again setting down wiggly-legged Ev, Mom warned me, “You watch your tone toward him and don’t anger the beast barreling home.”
Beast? “Yes, ma’am.”
It was true that I could get lippy, but Mom had never referred to Dad in any way other than with respect. Or, at least, that is all I had witnessed so far. Now that I was learning some parents are flawed, everything appeared before me as if I was suddenly wearing binoculars. I noticed frustration where I’d never noticed it before. Sadness where I never expected.
And, jealousy out of nowhere.
Dad rolled right into the front yard and under the tree. As soon as he saw Everleigh racing toward him, he raised his hand. Tiny bare feet stopped, her upper body swaying from the sudden halt. Then Dad pointed down to a muffler.
That shiny jet-black hair moved as she nodded. “Haw-t!”
“Good girl.” He started to smile until he eyed Coach, then glowered at him while taking off his helmet, the bike’s engine idling loudly as if an unspoken threat.
With my new binocular eyes, I finally realized how intimidating Dad was. Easily over six feet, he also had a large frame. He was younger then but already had weathering skin from countless hours on his bike.
The motorcycle went silent, but the air crackled and rumbled as if still being shuttered by the engine.
Placing her hands on my shoulders, Mom nervously moved my back to her front and spoke over my head. “Sheriff, thank you so much for giving my son a ride home. How’s this little quarterback doing?”
My heart started to pound because I could feel her shaking. I wasn’t sure who was in danger, but Coach seemed to have a strong clue.
Carefully studying Dad getting off his bike and picking up Ev, Coach replied, “A natural. Eyes that can spot an opening like no player I’ve ever worked with.”
With an eerie calm that had chills spreading down my back, Dad kissed Ev’s cheek while asking Mom, “Is this how we’re gonna handle this situation, Char?” Mom ignored him, but my eyes snapped to his. He grinned at me. “Oh, the ‘natural’ has an impressive set of ears, too. He seems to be the only one hearin’ my meaning.”
Purposively, Mom agreed, “He is like his daddy,” then spun me around and bent down so we could be face-to-face while she held my chin and proudly proclaimed, “Like a lynx. A skilled hunter who has excellent eyesight and hearing.”
Dad chuckled. It was a disturbing one, but a step in the right direction. “Smart woman. Going after my ego to chill me out.”
Mom, with her left eye so Dad couldn’t see it, winked at me. She may have claimed Dad to be a beast, but, apparently, she was a skillful tamer.
I couldn’t stop the devilish smile that took over my face.
“Oh,” Dad sounded intrigued. “Someone likes the name Lynx, huh?”
Lynx.
By claiming that name, something took root in my chest. Something in that name made my feet feel closer to the earth underneath them. I found my shoulders, still held in Mom’s grasp, set back as if I had decided to become a man right then and there. “Yes, sir.”
Dad said, “I like it, too, boy.”
Never wavering her sight from mine, Mom’s eyes glistened with pride. “You make me so proud. Do you know that, baby?”
This women’s admiration gave me a place in this world.
She released my chin and stood up to tell Coach, “Again, thank you so much for giving Duke a ride home. Legend got caught up with business.” She glared at my dad, not offering the same pride she freely gave to me. “Isn’t that right?”
Dad’s calming attitude was immediately replaced with what I would learn to be guilt. He looked past Ev and to the gravel under his big biker boots. “Uh… yeah, that’s right. Business.”
