Darlene Gardner - Anything for Her Children

Lori’s head bobbed in agreement, as though whatever happened was common knowledge.

“What happened?” Keri asked.

Carolyn smoothed the sleeve of her orange sweater and widened her eyes. “Didn’t Bryan tell you?”

“I haven’t talked to Bryan since this morning,” Keri admitted. Her son left for the gym before she arrived home on game days because he liked to watch the junior varsity, which played before the varsity.

“Wait till you hear this.” Carolyn leaned closer, nearly knocking Lori over. “Becky Harding admitted she lied. Just came straight out and told Quinlan she made it all up.”

That explained Grady Quinlan’s uncharacteristic change of heart. He’d been forced to soften his stance.

“That’s great,” Keri said, but something didn’t add up.

“But why would Becky admit to that?”

“Guess guilt was eating her up,” Carolyn suggested.

“Maybe embarrassment, too. Everybody found out she had a thing for Bryan.”

“That’s something else that doesn’t make sense,” Keri said. “I heard she’s dating one of the football players.”

Carolyn slanted Keri a significant look and patted her on the hand. “You’re so young sometimes, Keri. If you can’t have the one you love, you love the one you’re with.”

Maybe, Keri thought. But if Becky was so resentful of Bryan, why had she been hanging out with him a few days after the Snowball Dance? Keri had asked Bryan that very question last night, and he’d shrugged it off. A chance meeting, he’d called it.

“Oh, look!” Lori pointed to a group of lithe young girls in black unitards who were running lightly onto the court, their toes pointed like ballerinas. “The dance team. I just love watching them.”

Loud music with a rap beat sounded over the public address system. Before Lori could get too entranced with the dancers, Keri leaned over and asked close to her friend’s ear, “Do you know which of the cheerleaders is Becky?”

Her attention focused on the smiling, dancing girls, Lori answered, “Sure do. The shortest one. Long, dark hair. Bangs. Sets up on the end.”

The very cheerleader who’d given Keri a heads-up when Bryan had come flying out of bounds. Keri scanned the gym for black-and-gold uniforms, locating the majority of the cheerleaders near the doors leading to the snack bar.

“Save my seat,” Keri told Lori, then descended the bleachers and walked directly to where Becky chatted with one of her squad members.

“Becky.”

The girl turned around, a puzzled expression on her pretty face as she tilted her chin to gaze up at Keri. Keri was of average height, but Becky wasn’t much more than five feet tall. Keri smelled the peppermint scent of the gum Becky was chewing.

“Yes?” Becky asked expectantly, a half smile on her face.

“I’m Keri Cassidy.” Most people in Springhill knew Keri had adopted Bryan and Rose after Maddy’s fatal accident, but Becky didn’t seem to be one of them. “Bryan Charleton’s mom.”

Becky’s smile vanished, her jaws stopped working on the gum and her posture turned rigid.

“If you’re here to ask me about that nutrition paper, I already took care of it,” she said in clipped tones.

“I heard you told Coach Quinlan you lied about writing it.”

Becky’s wary expression didn’t change but she said nothing.

“Why did you say you wrote the paper in the first place?” Keri persisted.

“It doesn’t matter,” Becky said, chomping down on her gum. “Bryan’s playing tonight. Isn’t that what everybody wanted?”

“Of course it mat—” Keri said, but Becky had already turned away, obviously having said all she was going to say.

Taken aback by the girl’s rudeness, Keri clenched her jaw. She thought about tapping the girl on the shoulder again, but creating a scene wouldn’t get her answers. She started back to her seat, nearly bumping into a woman with long, curly blond hair who was holding a foil-wrapped hot dog and a bottle of water. Mary Lynn Marco, Tony’s wife.

Their eyes met. Before Keri could say hello or even smile, Mary Lynn walked quickly past her, as though being chased by a hellhound. So much for letting the other woman in on the long-overdue fact that Keri wished her only the best of luck with Tony.

The half started almost as soon as Keri reached her bleacher seat, giving her little time to dwell on either Becky’s comments or Mary Lynn’s coolness. The two teams played at a breathtaking pace, exchanging baskets and the lead.

Keri had seen Bryan play basketball many times, but still marveled over how a boy who was so laid-back off the court could be so intense on it.

When Bryan got the ball at the three-point line with thirty seconds left and Springhill trailing by four, Keri knew the shot would be good even before the ball left his fingertips. The three-pointer brought Springhill within one, sending the crowd into hysterics.

“I can hardly stand how exciting this is,” Lori said, literally on the edge of her seat.

Westlake successfully inbounded the ball to its point guard, who dribbled up the court. From two seats away, Carolyn yelled, “Steal the ball.”

When the opposing point guard attempted to get the ball to a teammate, Bryan did exactly that, swooping into a passing lane out of seemingly nowhere to grab the ball out of the air. He raced down court, with two Westlake players hounding his every stride. The crowd roared as the clock ticked down to ten seconds.

Instead of forcing a shot when he was well defended, Bryan alertly passed to a teammate open under the basket. Joey Jividen. One of the younger boys on the varsity, Joey had entered the game when another player fouled out.

With nobody guarding him, Joey had an easy two points. The ball left his hand with plenty of time to spare. It banked off the glass, rattled around the hoop and rimmed out.

One of the opposing players grabbed the rebound but lost his footing and stepped on the end line. The referee blew the whistle, signaling possession would go to Springhill. The clock showed five seconds left to play.

“Time-out,” Grady yelled, forming his hands into a T.

The Springhill side of the crowd was silent, seemingly in shock. “How could you miss that gimme, Jividen?” A guy with a booming voice yelled from somewhere behind Keri.

“I’ll tell you how,” Carolyn Brown muttered. “Joey’s not very good. He shouldn’t even be on the court.”

“I think Joey does fine,” Keri said.

Carolyn harrumphed.

The Springhill players walked back to the huddle, with Joey at the rear, hanging his head.

Keri expected the hard-nosed Grady to go ballistic. He ignored Bryan and the other three players who’d been on the floor, walking past them to meet Joey.

Leaning his head close to the boy, he put his arm around him and said something meant for Joey’s ears alone. Keri got a glimpse of Grady’s face when he let Joey go and saw not anger, but determination.

He directed the five players who’d play the last five seconds to sit down so they could go over the strategy for the last play. Joey Jividen was one of the five.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” the man behind her groused loudly, while on the sidelines Grady pointed to his clipboard. Murmurs went up from the rest of the crowd.

“He needs to bench Joey,” Carolyn said. “That boy’s gonna lose us the game.”

That boy, Keri thought, had just gotten a much-needed boost of confidence from his coach.

“I think Coach Quinlan’s doing the right thing,” Keri said.

“Bryan will take the last shot,” Lori predicted. “The best player always does.”

Everybody in the gym, including the opposing team, seemed to arrive at the same conclusion. Two Westlake defenders shadowed Bryan, clearly having been directed not to let him catch the pass.