Devil Town

006

“That was really nice, wasn’t it?” Tami asked her husband at about noon when they finally got back home after a long morning of visiting with Billy and Mindy Riggins in the hospital. Not to mention they’d gotten to see Tyra, Lyla, Tim, Becky, and Luke, too.

“Yes it was,” Eric was too tired to be anything more than soft spoken at that point, and he was hardly that. He ditched his Dillon Panthers ball cap on the kitchen table, along with the set of car keys and disappeared to the bedroom. Although Tami was fully functional at this point after having only about five hours of sleep and a few tall cups of coffee; Eric most certainly was not.

Coach Taylor ended up falling asleep for a few hours nap while Tami tended to Gracie Belle after relieving the babysitter who had come over this morning on short notice. She’d felt bad about not taking Gracie to see the twins but sometimes kids carried more germs than adults so that could have potentially been dangerous. She knew Gracie would have been enamored with newborn babies; she remembered when Julie had been enamored by younger cousins being born.

Tami was pleasantly happy with herself; too, with how much Mindy had liked the baby basket and all the goodies inside of it. She had gone with neutral colors, not knowing when she was buying stuff that the twins were going to be one boy, and one girl. Mindy seemed just as pleased with that as she would have been with blue and pink.

She checked the answering machine at home and saw they’d missed a call from Julie, it dawned on Tami too that she’d missed a call on her cell phone, too. “Hi Mom, Matt and I just wanted to check with you again to see what day you and Dad would be up here in Chicago. I got your message about leaving on Monday or something for Philadelphia? Has Mindy had her babies yet? Call me!”

Julie had actually sounded excited for a call from her Mother, which shocked the hell out of Tami. It had been a while since she heard her daughter’s voice sounding like that, and she had to admit: she’d missed it.
“This place is adorable,” Julie commented as she took a seat at the gorgeous black bistro table inside of a quaint restaurant. She and Matt had been planning for the last week to go out to eat on his day off this week; Matt hadn’t disappointed. This place was turning out to be better than Julie’s imagination.

“I bumped into this place about a year ago now. I was looking for a different place, actually, I had got the address mixed up…this place turned out better than the place I had been searching for,” he explained and Julie couldn’t help but laugh. That sounded so much like something he would do.

A waitress came around and handed them a couple menus. Julie was almost too enamored with the atmosphere to pay attention to the menu. “Hmm,” Matt said as he looked up from the menu and gazed around the restaurant like his fiancée was doing.

“It is pretty nice in here, huh?” Matt asked and Julie nodded, finally coming back down to Earth somewhat and picking up her menu to glance at it. Even the menu was adorable to her: pink with vibrant letters and colorful trimmings. The waitress came back around a few moments later and the two of them placed their orders.

Matt went with a rather meaty sandwich of theirs and a salad, while Julie settled for a more vegetarian sandwich and a salad as well. The both of them ordered tall glasses of orange juice to go with their meals. Julie had definitely turned Matt more into a health nut after she moved up here to Chicago.

Before Julie, Matt had been living on take out and ramen noodles—your typical college male…but now Julie insisted if they did eat out: they ate out more healthily and most nights, she cooked something wonderful for them. It amazed Matt at how great of a cook she was to only be eighteen years old. He guessed Mrs. Taylor was a great cook, but the handful of times he’d had dinner with the Coach and Mrs. Taylor, Matt’s mind hadn’t always been a hundred percent there.

In fact, even while living here in Chicago, Matt’s mind hadn’t always been a hundred percent there. Matt could remember how stressful life was with his Grandma getting sicker and his Dad in Iraq…and then suddenly his Dad’s death and Grandma getting even sicker. Even after running away to Chicago, he still felt those daily burdens. Matt Saracen almost felt them more now that he was away from the problems. Julie Taylor melted all of that away for him… he could actually think with her here…he could breathe.

They’d only been waiting a few minutes for their food when Julie’s phone started to buzz in her pocket. She pulled it out, looking down at the caller ID and smiled some. “It’s Mom. I’ll be right back, okay?” She offered Matt and he nodded his head. Julie stood up from the table and disappeared outside to speak to her Mom on the phone.

“I got your voice-mail,” Tami started after Julie had said hello. “Mindy gave birth like a champ. A boy and a girl, they named them Timothy Eric and Tyra Christina.” Julie couldn’t help but go ‘awe,’ at the pure fact that the babies were named after Tim and Tyra…and then it dawned on her; they named the boy after her Father, too!

“That’s so sweet of them to name them after Tim and Tyra, and Dad, too,” Julie admitted. “How shocked was he to find that out?” She asked her Mother, who laughed softly.

“He was quite flattered. They’ve also made Tim and Tyra the Godparents. I’m not quite sure how that’s going to work, though,” Tami stated in a soft voice. As she was on the phone with Julie, she could hear Eric snoring from the bedroom. She had just put on some cartoons for Gracie Belle to watch, so it was somewhat hard to hear Julie over all that.

“Not going to work out….?” Julie asked; a questionable tone in her voice. Last she’d heard from her mother; Tim and Tyra were going strong even though her best friend was still off at school in Houston. “You’ll never believe whose back in town…” Tami’s voice faded, not particularly in a bad way but she didn’t have to say anymore. Julie knew.

“When’d Lyla come back into town?” “A day or so ago now; she and Tim have spent nearly every waking hour together as I understand.” Julie nodded as she listened to her Mother. She hated to end the conversation so short, but, she had to get back in to eat with her fiancé.

“Look Mom, I hate to end this so soon. I’ll have to call you back this evening. Matt and I are actually out on a lunch date and our food just got to the table…” Julie’s voice trailed. “Oh!” Tami exclaimed.

“Tell me all about the date later tonight then. Have a good meal,” she told her daughter, ending with an ‘I love you,’ to which Jules returned before hanging up. Julie slid the small phone back into her pocket and disappeared back into the restaurant with her beau for a nice warm meal.

“What’d your Mom say?” Matt asked over dinner and Julie smiled rather brightly. “The twins came. A boy and a girl; they named the boy after Tim and my Dad…and named the girl after Tyra. Tim and Tyra are the Godparents, too,” it didn’t honestly surprise Matt that they’d named the boy after Tim and Coach Taylor. It did however surprise him that they’d make Tim and Tyra the Godparents.

Matt Saracen was a huge #33 Riggins fan; after all they’d been on a team together for a couple years and gotten to know one another quite well. But the last thing Matt ever thought of Tim was that he’d make a good Dad. I guess he’d proved to have made a good Uncle, though. And Tim was, after all, quite a bit different now that he’d gone to jail; Matt had to keep reminding himself of that. Although it had been way too long since Saracen had seen Riggins for him to pass an official judgment.
“Could you two just stop with the bickering? We’re all tired.” Tim said as he slammed the truck door shut on the driver’s side and headed for the front door to unlock it. Lyla and Tyra both came walking up behind Tim, finally silent after a hellish ride back to the Riggins house from the hospital.

“Now, Tyra, can you get Mindy’s bag together while I get Billy’s?” Tim asked and Tyra nodded, hanging her head in a bit of defeat, disappearing into the master bedroom. Tim looked over to Lyla, who by now looked like a walking plague. Lyla was pissed at Tyra but for the majority, she was so sleepy she could barely think straight.

“I’ll have to drive the bags back to the hospital, but after that, I’m coming home. You’re more than welcome to sleep in my bed,” Tim said quietly and Lyla shook her head some, rubbing her eyes. Thankfully she didn’t have any makeup on today or it would be ruined by now.

“I don’t feel right doing that… I can just call my Dad to come get me. You and Tyra need time together,” Lyla said quietly, biting on her lower lip as she looked up to Tim. He nodded his head some. “I don’t want you to go…but I don’t want you to feel uncomfortable here. I don’t think Tyra will keep fighting with you if you’re asleep.” Tim admitted. Lyla reluctantly agreed with him, she was just too tired to keep fighting with him or Tyra.

Lyla yawned and slowly nodded her head, wrapping her arms up around Tim’s neck and pressing a soft kiss to his lips before she disappeared into his bedroom, crawling into his bed and crashing out pretty quickly. Tyra had on-looked from the doorway of the master bedroom.

“I realize you and Lyla never had closure,” Tyra kept her voice quiet. “But that doesn’t mean she can come in here and ruin what you and I have going. Tim, this is the most real a relationship has been between us in the six or more years we’ve been on and off with each other.”

There was no denying that. Tim knew Tyra was more than right. Tim knew it was wrong of him to be more or less leading one of them on…although he wasn’t certain which one quite yet. Tim knew Lyla was his ‘end all’ girl, but he felt something so real for Tyra Collette now and it was undeniable. It was strong. But nothing was ever going to be stronger than what he had with Lyla Garrity, in the past or in the present, or the future.

“I know, Tyra. I’m not trying to hurt you, or her. You’re right, we didn’t have closure. She left for college and so did I. I fucked my whole life up and she disappeared. I thought I lost her for good and yet, here she is; it’s bringing back old feelings. Feelings that ain’t gone,” Tim admitted as he walked across the hardwood flooring to Tyra who stood in the doorway of the bedroom.

“This doesn’t mean I don’t love you. This is real this time, between us… I can feel that. Part of me doesn’t want to lose that. You’ve been there for me through a lot and fuck knows I’ve put you through a lot more, shit I shouldn’t have, so much shit you didn’t deserve. This is probably one of those times. But Tyra, I can’t stand here and tell you I’m not still in love with her. I can’t tell you that with every second I’m with her that it doesn’t get stronger.”

Part of Tyra was sick of listening to Tim, the other piece of her was surprised he could talk this deeply about his feelings. Garrity must seriously have something over him…a real string, a real pull. “I just wanted you and me to work this time, Tim,” Tyra whispered, a few tears coming to her eyes. “All I’ve thought about today is what it’d be like to have kids with you, to marry you. I’ve never thought about those things before,” she admitted, wiping the tears away. “I’m tired of being a guy’s second best.”

“I’m tired of making you feel like you’re second best, because God I don’t mean to,” Tim sighed and wrapped his arms around Tyra, holding her to him as she cried for a moment or so. “I don’t want to cut this moment short,” he whispered into her ear. “But Mindy and Billy really need us to take stuff to them,” he reminded her and she pulled away, nodding.

Tim and Tyra finished packing a couple bags for Billy and Mindy, who planned to stay in the hospital a few days with the twins at doctors’ advice; the two left a sleeping Lyla in Tim’s room and went back to the hospital to drop the bags off.
“Can Vince Howard really fill the shoes of great Panther quarterbacks in the past? Jason Street, Matt Saracen, J.D. McCoy, they have full on legacies in this town to a certain extent. Can Vince Howard really do what those three did?” A caller asked Sammy Mead. Vince and his Mother had been listening to the radio program on their way to the supermarket that morning at a little after seven o’clock.

“You may be right, you may be right,” Sammy admitted. “But I believe this boy can lead the Panthers to victory. I’ve watched him over the last two years and I believe Coach Taylor has molded a fine quarterback. You have to remember it was Coach Taylor who made Jason Street, and especially Matt Saracen. Look how bad that kid did his very first game!”

Even Vince had seen the tapes of Saracen’s first game. The fourth quarter he played after Street was hurt. Jason Street was an inspiration to Vince, no doubt about it—but Matt Saracen was the biggest inspiration to the young football player. Matt was the Dillon Panther legacy in Vince’s opinion.

“You know you’re going to be the best quarterback that school’s ever seen, right, Vince?” His Mother asked and he nodded his head as she shut off the engine of their car, walking into the grocery store with her son. “No doubt,” Vince solemnly agreed. He had a month before practice started. All Vince wanted was Jess to come back and work with him this summer like she did last year. Vince didn’t think he was this great quarterback without his right hand lady.

Plus, his quarterback Coach was going to be Billy Riggins. Vince wasn’t the biggest Riggins fan… that was more Luke Cafferty’s place. But Vince did believe every deserved a try and if Coach Taylor finds that Billy isn’t doing his job right: Vince knows that Coach will take it upon himself to show Vince everything he knows just like he did with Jason Street and Matt Saracen.

“I’m just not even going to sweat it, Ma,” Vince said as he helped his Mother reach items on top shelves in the store. Came in handy to have a tall kid, she thought to herself. “I’m just going to practice my heart out come next month.” Vince admitted and his Mother, Regina, nodded her head in agreement.

The two of them rounded a corner and bumped cart first into an old friend of Regina’s: Corrina Williams. “Well hi there, Regina,” Corrina said in her always hospitable sounding voice. “Well hi yourself, Corrina. It’s been a while! I didn’t know you were back in town?” Regina questioned.

“Oh, girl, I couldn’t stay away from my family too long. Brian is doing so well at A&M and playing for the Aggies. He’s at football camp right now, me and the girls thought we’d come back for a visit, stay with some relatives. He’s meant to come to town for a visit when he has a few off days,” Corrina informed Regina.

“Girl I’ve got my own football son now,” Regina admitted and pulled Vince a little more forward. “My boy won state this last season with the Lions.” Corrina nodded her head, having remembered hearing about Coach going to the East Dillon Lions and starting up a team.

“What position did you play, boy?” Corrina asked, to which Vince replied ‘quarterback.’ “Oh my! And you won state? That’s great! I’m such Brian would love to meet you and chat it up,” Corrina admitted and Vince smirked a bit. “It’d be a pleasure to meet the great Smash Williams."
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