The Journey Collection (30 page)

“Can we trust him not to corrupt the boy?” Penelope asked, while they watched the lineman and their son join the rest of the team that was waiting for them.

“No,” Travis laughed, “but when you’re thirteen and you get the chance to meet an entire team of professional football players, you take it. What kind of father would I be if I took that from him?”

“A good one?” she tittered, causing him to frown. “Oh, I’m just kidding.”

“He’ll be fine. I promise.”

Travis led Penelope over to where JJ and Malcolm were standing and introduced his wife to his former coach and the man who had taken his place as the starting quarterback for the Sharks.

“It’s nice to meet you.” JJ tilted his head toward Penelope, offering her a polite nod.

“You, too,” she replied. “Your team looks good, though you’re going to have a tough season from the looks of it.”

“Yeah, the hardest we’ve had in a while,” he told her.

Penelope gestured over toward the team. “You’ve got a lot of young players. Think they’re going to be able to handle the pressure?”

Appraising her for a moment, JJ smiled. “They’re gonna have to grow up fast, but with proper mentoring from the older members of the team, they should be fine.”

“Yeah, just dandy,” Malcolm grumbled. “Excuse me.”

He brushed passed Travis and headed toward the tunnel that led toward the locker rooms. Travis looked over at JJ, who had a frown on his face. “He’s being traded.”

“What?” He couldn’t hide the shock in his voice.

JJ rubbed the back of his neck and shook his head. “Denver made an offer that Stewart just couldn’t turn down. We’ve fought against it, but Malcolm is officially off the Sharks’ roster.”

Travis dragged a hand over his face and through his hair before turning to Penelope. “Will you be okay here for a minute? I’m gonna go talk to him.”

“I’ll be fine,” she replied, placing her hand on his chest.

He found Malcolm in the locker rooms, sitting in front of his locker with his elbows on his knees and his face buried in his hands. At the sound of the door opening, he looked up, scowling when he saw Travis standing there.

“What do you want?”

“Just thought you might need someone to talk to,” Travis said, shrugging his shoulders.

“And what? You’d be the one I’d turn to?” Malcolm shook his head. “Thanks, but no thanks.”

“Look, I get that you’re angry —”

“Angry?” he seethed, clenching his fists. “Angry doesn’t even begin to cut it. This is my home and now, I’m being tossed out because Denver offered Stewart more money for me than he could say no to.” Pausing for a moment, he took a deep breath. “I don’t know how to do this.”

“Do you love the game?” Travis asked.

“You know I do.”

“Then you hold your head up high, and you make a new home for yourself in Denver. The colors will change, your teammates won’t trust you at first, but you go there and you prove to them that you’re worth every penny they’re paying for you.”

“What if I can’t do it?” he wondered. “What if I go to Denver and find that I can’t do it without those guys out there protecting my ass?”

“You did it when you left high school and went to college, didn’t you?”

Malcolm nodded.

“And you did it again when you came to the Sharks, right?”

“Yes, but —”

“There are no buts,” Travis said, holding a hand up. “You’ve proven yourself to every member of this organization, to every fan that sits in the stands and cheers for you. And I have faith that you’ll go to Denver and prove yourself there, too.”

Malcolm sighed. “I hope you’re right, man. I really do.”

“Just remember why you’re playing the game and you’ll be fine. That’s a promise.”

Turning, Travis left Malcolm sitting in the middle of the locker room. Penelope and Max were waiting for him by the goal post. Sliding his arm around his wife and placing a hand on his son’s shoulder, he watched his former team practice, thankful for the chance to share this part of his life with his family.

***

Chapter Five

Lighting up the Mountain Sky

“Papa, where do you want me to put the wood?” Max asked, shifting his eyes over to Sherman Stone. The term of endearment, Papa, had been established from the day Max was born. From the way Penelope tells the story, shortly after she’d given birth to Max, Sherman lifted him to his chest and whispered that he’d be the best Papa in the world. Penelope had told Travis that her father hadn’t wanted to be just any grandfather; he wanted to be special and needed a special name for his grandson to call him.

“Over by the fire pit,” the man replied, gesturing to the hole he and Travis had just finished digging in the back yard.

Max walked over and dropped the armful of logs he’d pulled out of the wood, running off before they could put him to work again. Travis ran his fingers through sweat-soaked hair. He, Penelope, and Max had driven up from Texas to Colorado Springs two days ago and had been enjoying the fresh mountain air, as well as the chance to spend some time with his in-laws. Though she tried to hide it, Travis knew that his wife missed her parents.

Penelope’s tinkling laughter trickled toward him when a breeze shot through the air and Travis looked over his shoulder, finding her sitting on the back porch with Wanda. Mother and daughter were leaning toward each other, both oblivious to the fact that they were being watched. Bringing her hand down to her stomach, Penelope smoothed out her white, cotton tank top before tugging on the hem, trying to make sure her stomach was covered. In the three weeks since their trip to Miami, she had blossomed and was unable to hide her growing tummy any longer. Travis couldn’t be happier. He wanted the whole world to know that they were having another baby, and that this time he wasn’t missing a single second.

“Are you gonna keep staring at my little girl, or are we gonna get this done?” At the sound of his father-in-law’s voice, Travis looked over and watched as Sherman tore the baseball cap off his head, displaying his elegant silver hair and laughing at his blatant ogling.

Travis felt his ears turn red. “Sorry.”

“Don’t be,” the older man replied. “I still find myself lost in my wife’s beauty, too.”

“You do?” Travis asked.

“Oh, yeah.” Sherman nodded. “I’ve just learned to be a little more careful that I don’t let her catch me.”

“Why?”

Smiling, he brushed his hair back before placing the cap on his head again. “Because if Wanda knew how much I watched her, she’d use it against me. I’m putty in that woman’s hands, Travis. Just like you are in my daughter’s.”

“True,” he admitted, unashamed of the fact that his wife could get him to do anything for her just by batting her eyelashes.

“Come on; the sooner we get these stones placed around the pit, the faster we can go up there and annoy our wives.”

Travis laughed and picked up one of the large rocks they had been gathering to place around the hole they had dug.

An hour later, they had finished their task and headed inside to cleanup. Once he was in the guest bathroom, Travis turned on the shower so the water could start warming up and then slipped off his dirty T-shirt. He tossed it onto the counter, followed by his black cotton shorts. He had just hooked his fingers into the waistband of his boxers when the door started to open. Out of instinct, he reached back and grabbed a towel, trying to cover himself up. When Penelope poked her head inside, he sighed and dropped the towel onto the counter.

“You scared the shit out of me, baby,” he mumbled.

“Oh, sorry.” But the snicker lacing her words betrayed her and Travis knew she was lying. “I thought maybe you might need a hand — or two.”

“Hmm,” Travis said, grabbing her arm and pulling her into the bathroom with him. Pressing his wife against the door and causing it to slam shut, he leaned down and placed his lips against the side of her neck. “Will you wash my back for me?”

“Yes,” she breathed, arching her body toward him.

Moaning, he spun around and walked her into the shower. The warm water cascaded over the two of them, soaking them in an instant.

“Travis, I’m still dressed!” Penelope squealed.

“Well, I’ll take care of that.”

He began to remove her clothes, throwing them on the floor without care.

~*~*~*~

Half an hour later, Travis and Penelope stumbled out of their bedroom, both wearing dry clothes and with goofy grins plastered on their faces. With their fingers entwined, they joined Wanda, Sherman, and Max in the back yard. Sherman and Max were standing in front of the grill, preparing some hamburgers and hotdogs while Wanda watched in amusement.

“How was your shower?” Wanda asked. The smirk on her lips made it clear that she knew there had been more to their shower than just cleaning.

Feeling his ears burn from embarrassment, Travis cleared his throat and simply said, “Refreshing.”

Wanda burst out laughing, causing Penelope to begin giggling. With a roll of his eyes, Travis ignored them both and walked over to his son and father-in-law.

“How’s it going?” he asked.

“Papa said I could help with the burgers,” Max explained, smiling.

“Make sure you cook mine extra good. Last time I let you help, they were still mooing,” Travis teased.

“Whatever, Dad,” Max scoffed, as Sherman chuckled. “At least I didn’t give Mom food poisoning from undercooking eggs.”

Travis opened his mouth to defend himself, but promptly closed it again. “Touché.”

“That’s what I thought.” Turning back to his grandfather, Max said, “How long until the grill will be ready?”

“A little while,” Sherman replied. “We have to wait until the coals are hot enough. Charcoal is the only way to make a decent burger, if you ask me.”

Nodding as if his grandfather’s way of thinking made perfect sense, Max turned and looked at Travis. “Want to play catch?”

“Of course.”

Max smiled as he turned and ran into the house to get his football. A few minutes later, he came rushing back out, telling Travis to go long. As his son requested, Travis ran to the edge of the yard and caught the ball that Max threw. He gripped it with both hands, remembering how it had felt the first time he held a ball like this; five years old and barely able to get two hands on it. Now, he was playing catch for the hundredth time with his son. He never got tired of moments like these — not ever.

Bringing his arm back, Travis threw the ball back to Max, smiling with pride when the boy caught it. He was a natural, but even more important, he had a love of the game that rivaled Travis’s. For the next hour, they tossed the ball back and forth. When the new school year started, Travis knew that there was a good chance Max would be the quarterback for the seventh grade football team. A part of him wondered if the people of Clarendon would assume that the reason Max was the quarterback was because Travis was the coach. Of course, that wasn’t true. Max had an amazing arm and better control of his passes than most high school players. He practiced all the time and would earn the respect of his classmates and the rest of the townspeople, but as his father and a coach, Travis worried.

“Max, time to cook,” Sherman called.

“Okay, Papa.” Max threw the ball back to Travis before turning and running over to where his grandfather stood with a platter full of hamburger patties and hotdog wienies.

Travis tossed the ball into the air, allowing it to fall back into his hands as he walked over to the porch and dropped into the seat next to Penelope. She turned her chair toward him and propped her feet in his lap.

“Comfortable?” Travis asked, wrapping his hands around her bare feet.

“Very.” She smiled. “I would be even more comfortable, though, if you’d rub them at little.”

“Like this?” he gripped her left foot in one hand and started tickling the sole of her foot.

Penelope burst out laughing and screaming at the same time, trying her hardest to release her foot from his iron-tight grip. “Stop!”

“Not like that, then?” Travis chortled, letting his fingers rest against her skin.

“No.” She folded her arms in front of her, huffing. However, he saw the corners of her mouth struggling to lift into a smile. “Do it right!”

“Hmm, I think you forgot the magic word,” he replied, gliding a single finger down the length of her foot.

“Travis,” Penelope whined, struggling to pull her foot away. “Please rub my feet!”

“Since you asked so nicely,” he snickered. Using both hands, he began to massage her feet, starting with the left one and then moving to the right.

Penelope leaned back in her seat and moaned. “God, that feels fantastic.”

“I’ll just give you two a moment alone,” Wanda said, standing up. “There are some things a momma shouldn’t hear her daughter say and that’s one of them.”

Penelope laughed and watched her mother walk over to where Sherman and Max were standing. They said something to her, but she shook her head and gestured to Penelope and Travis. With a quick look over their shoulders, both Sherman and Max nodded, as if to agree with the unspoken statement from Wanda.

“Pretty sure we’ve scarred my mother for life,” Penelope stated with a smirk.

“You don’t sound very upset by it,” Travis mentioned, lifting an eyebrow in her direction while he continued to massage her feet.

“I’m not. Momma acts all innocent, but let me just say that I’ve walked in on more than one embarrassing moment between my parents over the years. Heck, just last night I couldn’t sleep and thought I’d get some milk, to make me sleepy. When I walked into the kitchen, I found Momma sitting on the breakfast table with Daddy standing in front of her. I’m pretty damn sure that he had his hand up her nightgown.”

Travis shuddered. “You didn’t think about telling me that before I ate breakfast at that table this morning?”

Penelope laughed. “Sorry, but I was trying very hard not to think about what happened after I left.”

With a bad taste in his mouth, Travis looked over to where his in-laws and son were standing, and tried very hard to get the images of them being intimate out of his head. He failed, and the convulsion that shot through him had Penelope laughing again.

“I may never be able to look your father in the eye again,” Travis grumbled.

Leaning forward, Penelope placed her hand on his arm, giving him a seductive smile. “Well, maybe later, I’ll help distract you.”

Travis growled and reached for her, but before he could pull his wife into his lap, Max yelled, “Mom, Dad, time to eat!”

“Oh, good, I’m starving,” Penelope gushed, scrambling to her feet and rushing down to the picnic table.

Taking a deep breath, Travis stood up and followed her, wondering if his wife had any idea just how much she affected him.

By the time they had finished eating and cleaning up, the sky had turned dark. Pulling their chairs off the back porch, they settled around the fire pit, which was now providing enough heat to combat the cool, mountain air. The family turned their attention to the night sky and waited for the fireworks to begin. Max had been so excited when Sherman and Wanda explained that every Fourth of July the city would shoot off hundreds of fireworks. With their house situated at the base of Pikes Peak, they had the perfect view of the upcoming show.

A few minutes later, the first firework shot through the air, exploding and sending hundreds of red sparkles throughout the sky.

“Wow,” Max murmured, awestruck.

“Pretty incredible, isn’t it?” Wanda asked.

Max nodded and smiled, but kept his eyes locked on the sky. “Yeah. It’s beautiful. Jana would like them.”

“She would, huh?” Wanda appeared to be struggling to keep her laughter at bay.

Though it was dark, the glow from the fire made the redness in Max’s cheeks visible. “She loves the night sky. Says that the stars remind her of diamonds.” He shrugged his shoulders. “I think she’d like this, too.”

“Well, maybe when you’re older, you can bring her here and we’ll show her,” Wanda suggested.

“Yeah, someday,” Max murmured.

Biting the inside of his lip, Travis looked over at Penelope, who was gazing at her son with tears in her eyes. Neither of them was surprised to hear their son talk about Jana with such adoration. It hadn’t been a secret that he cared for the girl, having declared at the tender age of ten that he was going to marry her. While they agreed that he was too young to know what love was, Travis suspected that Max was in love with Jana. After all, he hadn’t been much older than his son when he fell in love with Penelope.

***