Fourth Down (10 page)

Poppy didn’t give up when she couldn’t
go to her dream school. Instead she worked two jobs and went to a
different school, so she could still accomplish her end goal of
becoming a doctor.

Ultimately, I suggested this
Thanksgiving dinner because it would be the last one with my mom,
and because I didn’t want Poppy to be alone, which is how I found
myself at the grocery store with a list a mile long on Thanksgiving
morning. Number one on my list was a turkey. How the fuck was I
supposed to find a turkey on Thanksgiving morning? Fortunately
there was one turkey left. Unfortunately it was large enough to
feed a small country.

My cart was almost overflowing by the
time I reached the checkout line. We’d better have leftovers for a
week, because I was blowing my grocery budget out of the water
here.

“Hey, dude,” I heard a familiar voice
say from behind me. I paused in the act of loading my groceries on
the belt to bump fists with Josh. Unlike me, he only had three
things in his basket.

“Are you cooking for the whole town?”
He asked, looking at my cart.

“Seems like it, but no. There will
only be three of us eating all this.”

“Three? Who’s the third?” Josh
asked.

I didn’t answer right away and
continued unloading my cart. I hadn’t told any of my friends about
Poppy, not that there was anything to tell. Other than the fact
that she was my mom’s home health aide, and quickly becoming
something more than that to me.

“My mom’s aide is alone for
Thanksgiving, so she’s eating with us,” I explained, hoping he
would take it at face value. I should have known better. Josh was
almost as bad as his wife, Leah, when it came to sticking his nose
in my business.

“Seriously? That’s kind of weird.
Wait, what does this aide look like and how old is she? If you’re
here buying all this food for a holiday you normally don’t
celebrate, I’m guessing she’s young and hot.”

He was right about that, but I wasn’t
in the mood for talking about Poppy with him. I just gave him a
look that effectively ended the conversation. Instead Josh started
bitching about Grady leaving him with all the work in their boat
repair shop. Apparently Grady made a last minute decision to
accompany Lindsay to New York City for Thanksgiving.

When I arrived back at home, Poppy’s
car wasn’t in its usual spot. She better get here soon, because I
wasn’t going to start the cooking myself. I wouldn’t even know
where to begin.

Grabbing all six grocery bags,
including the one with the fifteen pound turkey, I went inside and
kicked the door shut behind me. There was music playing, not
something my mom would ever listen to, and I heard Poppy’s off-key
voice singing along. Walking into the kitchen I saw her trying to
reach a pan off the top shelf. She was barefoot and up on her
tiptoes, her fingertips just barely grabbing onto the side of the
pan. Being quite a bit taller I could see that if she pulled it out
any farther the other two pans stacked on top would come crashing
down on her head.

If it wasn’t for that fact I would
have stayed quiet and enjoyed the view for another minute. Her
jeans hugged her ass, and her t-shirt rode up to reveal a small
sliver of skin along her lower back. Just barely peeking out the
top of her jeans was a scrap of black lace. Based on her normal
wardrobe of jeans and t-shirts, I wouldn’t have figured her for the
slutty underwear kind, and I was definitely intrigued.

Setting the bags down on the floor I
stepped right up behind her. I grabbed the pile of pans just before
they dropped off the shelf. Poppy clearly hadn’t heard me approach,
because she squealed and jumped backward smack into me. I wrapped
my other arm around her waist to steady her and set the pans on the
counter.

“Easy, it’s just me.”

I was reluctant to let her go. The
length of her body pressed up against mine felt really good, but I
had no viable reason to keep holding onto her. So, I backed up just
far enough that she could turn around to face me.

“God, Ford! You scared me,” she
scolded me. Her hair was loose today and fell in soft waves around
her shoulders. It was dark brown, but when the sun hit it just
right, there were streaks of auburn as well. I needed to back up
even farther before I did something completely
inappropriate.

I took two steps back and held up my
hands in surrender. “Hey, I was just trying to help. You would’ve
knocked yourself out with those pans if I hadn’t been
here.”

She rolled her eyes, not impressed
with my coming to her rescue.

“Where’s your car? I didn’t see it
outside,” I said.

“It died. I think it’s just the
battery though…I hope,” she said, stepping around me to pick up the
grocery bags.

“I can take a look at it later, if you
want,” I offered, because I didn’t like the idea of her walking
around town by herself.

“Um, okay. That would be great.” She
turned to face me, her expression serious. “I hope you’re okay with
me being here today. Your mom was really insistent, and I don’t
mind doing all the cooking…but I don’t want to intrude on your time
with your mom, especially around the holidays.” Poppy dropped her
eyes to the ground.

It’s true I wasn’t the most
forthcoming with my feelings, and that was an understatement, but I
was actually glad she was here with us. Today and in general. It
didn’t escape me that this would be my mom’s last Thanksgiving.
Without Poppy here, we would have been doing the same old thing we
did every year, which was essentially nothing.

I stepped back toward her, too close
for my comfort, but I couldn’t help myself. Tucking her hair behind
her ear, I allowed my fingertips to trail along her jaw. “I’m glad
you’re here, Poppy.”

She smiled, and her hazel eyes
flickered to my mouth. Uh oh, I know that look. I got that look
plenty from drunk girls at the pub. It was easy to ignore them,
unless I was feeling like losing myself for the night. Poppy was
not easy to ignore, and I had the feeling one night wouldn’t be
enough with her. She wasn’t the kind of girl who did meaningless
flings, and I didn’t think I was capable of more than
that.

“If you need help, ask my mom,” I
said, making my cowardly escape to the family room.

Because the turkey I found was so big,
it would be late in the evening before we would eat. I spent the
afternoon watching football while my mom and Poppy worked in the
kitchen, occasionally breaking to bring out snacks and watch the
game for a while. My mom almost fell over when she saw what I was
watching. She didn’t say anything, but I could tell she was
pleasantly surprised. Another surprise for her was when Poppy asked
endless questions about the rules of football, the teams and made
comments on the colors of the uniforms. Even more shocking was that
I answered her questions. It felt good to be talking about the game
I loved again.

During the commercial I scrolled
through my phone and saw I had a new e-mail from my coach at LSU.
He e-mailed me every few months to check in. Even though I never
responded, he kept it up. Usually he just sent a few lines about
how this year’s team was doing, but today’s was simply wishing me a
happy holiday. It was long past time I replied, so I sent back a
quick e-mail wishing him the same. My mom would be proud that I had
done something nice. His e-mail from a few weeks ago telling me
about the coaching job still sat unanswered in my inbox.

It was after 7:00 by the time we sat
down for dinner. There was a ridiculous amount of food on the
table, and it all looked delicious. We joined hands, and my mom
said grace. It was a simple and to the point prayer, and I found
myself wishing it was longer so I could keep holding onto Poppy’s
hand.

Before I could dig into my food, my
mom stopped me and said, “We’ve never done this before, but I would
like for us to each say what we’re thankful for. I’ll start. I’m
thankful for this wonderful meal, the life I have lived…and most of
all I am thankful for my son.”

My mom kept it short and sweet,
because she knew even that would make me uncomfortable. Which it
did, but I was determined not to let it show.

I cleared my throat. “I’m thankful for
this time we have together.” That was the only thing I could think
to say. My mom patted my arm, and I glanced at Poppy. She smiled
and blinked back tears. Well, shit.

My mom turned her attention to Poppy,
waiting for what she was thankful for.

“I’m thankful for my family, even if
they make me a little crazy. I’m thankful for being included in
your family today…and I’m thankful for new friends.” She looked
right at me as she said these last words, and I couldn’t look away
from her sweet eyes even if I wanted to.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw my
mom watching us with a smile. “Well, let’s dig in. We have a lot of
food to eat tonight.”

After dinner, my mom left us to go to
bed early. She gave strict instructions for Poppy to relax and
watch TV while I did all the clean up. It took me a good forty-five
minutes to wrap up all the leftovers, figure out how to dispose of
the turkey carcass and wash all the dishes.

Poppy had been lying on the couch
watching some girly movie, but she sat up when I came into the
family room.

“I should be getting home,” she
said.

“We can watch the rest of the movie,
and then I’ll drive you home,” I suggested. This was the first time
we had been alone today, and I wasn’t ready to let her go yet. Even
if I wasn’t going to push her down on the couch and kiss her like I
wanted to, I wanted to just be near her. She seemed to have the
ability to calm me with just her presence. When she was around, I
wasn’t so angry and depressed.

“Um…okay. If you’re sure?”

“I’m sure,” I said definitively,
sitting down beside her, close but not too close. Just like the
other night at her mom’s house, I stretched my arms along the back
of the couch and put my feet up on the coffee table. Poppy drew her
feet up under her and angled herself towards me to see the TV
better.

We watched the movie together in
silence. Actually she watched the movie and I watched her out of
the corner of my eye. After a while she relaxed and leaned her head
back against my arm, her soft hair tempting me to run my fingers
through it. I felt like I was in middle school, sitting next to a
girl I liked for the first time. I was hyper aware of the few
inches of space between us, her soft breathing and my inevitable
reaction to her closeness. Hoping she didn’t notice I was turned on
just by sitting next to her, I risked a glance in her
direction.

Her eyes were closed with her dark
lashes casting shadows across her cheeks. A strand of hair had
fallen across her forehead, and I gently brushed it to the side.
She didn’t move. Awesome. Here I was with a hard on just from
sitting next to her, and she was asleep. Obviously she wasn’t
having the same reaction to me.

Now what was I supposed to do? I could
wake her up and take her home…or…I could make her more comfortable
and let her sleep here…with me. I never said I was a
saint.

I wrapped my arm around her shoulders
and stretched out on the couch, pulling her down with me. She
stirred slightly, rolling halfway on top of me and throwing one leg
over both of mine. Oh, God. This was heaven and torture at the same
time. How long could I stay in a constant state of arousal, I
wondered. Because with one of her hands on my chest and her warm
breath on my neck, I didn’t see my situation changing anytime
soon.

At twenty five years old, I had never
had a serious relationship. When I was playing football, I just
never had the time. And since, I hadn’t been interested in more
than the occasional night with a beautiful girl. Let’s be honest, I
haven’t exactly been Mr. Personality.

I’m not saying I wanted to get into
something serious with Poppy, but it was the first time ever that I
was able to enjoy just “snuggling” with a girl and not care if it
went any farther. Don’t get me wrong, if she woke up and attacked
me I would be all for it. But I really liked just lying here with
her.

I placed one hand over hers on my
chest and ran the other through her hair and down her back. Over
and over until I finally drifted off to sleep.

Chapter Seven

Poppy

This wasn’t my first sexy dream, but
they had never felt so real before. I rocked my hips against
something solid and fisted my hand in the sheets. Wait. That’s not
the sheets I’m holding onto. It’s Fords shirt. And I just rubbed up
against his leg. My eyes flew open as I remembered where I
was.

I breathed a sigh of relief when I
realized he was asleep. At least he didn’t know I was humping his
leg. Then I became aware of my leg draped over him and his hands -
one in my hair, holding my head against his shoulder, and the other
on my ass. How did we get like this? I wondered. And how was I
supposed to get untangled from Ford without waking him
up.

The mature thing to do would be to
wake him up and ask him to take me home. But that would bring
attention to our current positions, and I didn’t want him to think
I was trying to put the moves on him. The other option would be to
slip away like a coward and walk home.