Chapter 13

13

T ucker spread out the dominos he borrowed from Miss Jean, placing some face up to represent one football team and others face down to play the role of the other.

“This side is one team,” he explained to Reagan. “This side is the other. We’ll call them the Blanks and the Dots.”

“Okay,” she said carefully, taking in the two lines facing one another as he scattered other dominos around.

“Football has a simple concept, but it can become incredibly complex,” he began. “Basically, you want to get the ball over the goal line. That’s a touchdown and worth six points. If you get close but can’t quite get it across the goal line, you can kick a field goal. That’s good for three points if the kicker makes it.”

He finished setting up the dominos. “A team gets four tries to make it ten yards down the field. They can run the ball or pass it. If they accomplish that small goal and make it those ten yards or more, they get another four tries to do so again.”

“Another ten yards?”

Tucker nodded. “If they fail to gain ten yards, they have to turn the ball over to the other team. Most of the times if they don’t make it in three tries, they kick it way down the field on the fourth attempt. Or fourth down. That’s called a punt.”

Reagan studied the dominos. “Okay. Four tries. Ten yards. Kick it away if you can’t make those ten yards.”

“The tries are called downs. First down. Second down. Like that. The team wanting to move the ball huddles up and talks about the play they’ll run. Then they come to the line where the ball is. It’s called the line of scrimmage, where things get started.” He swept his hand along one line of dominos. “This is the Blanks’ offensive line. The Dots across from them are the defensive line. The lines can change and have a different number of players on them, but we’ll stick with basics for now.”

Pointing to a domino, he said, “This is the Blanks’ quarterback. Think of him as the president of the team. He makes all the calls on the field. He’s the man in charge of making sure the ball moves in the right direction and his team scores.”

Tucker indicated another Blank domino. “This is a running back. They come in different varieties and are called different names, but his job basically is to run the ball as fast and far as he can when he gets the call. These two on each end? They’re the wide receivers. They run down the field and try to catch the ball thrown by the quarterback.”

“This guy.” She touched a domino.

“Right. They’ve already talked about the play in the huddle, so every Blank knows the play they’ll run. The wide receivers run their routes. Not always a straight line. Sometimes, they’ll zig and zag around, but they know where they’re supposed to be if the ball is coming to them and will be there when the ball is thrown to them. At least that’s the idea.”

“What if they aren’t supposed to catch the ball?” she asked. “What do they do then?”

“They’re sneaky. They pretend the ball is going to be thrown to them. Try to make the guys guarding them think it’s coming their way.”

Understanding lit her eyes. “Oh, so they draw attention away from who really is getting the ball, so he’ll get farther.”

“Yes!” Tucker said enthusiastically.

“Who are these players?” she asked.

“They’re a part of the Dots’ defense. They try to figure out what the play will be.” He indicated three dominos. “These are the linebackers.” He pointed to a few more. “These are the defensive backs. They have all kinds of names. Strong safety. Free safety. Don’t worry about that now. Just remember they’ll be covering the wide receivers, trying to keep them from catching the ball. In fact, they’ll try to catch it themselves. If they do, that’s called an interception.”

“Could they run it the other way if they catch it?”

He grinned. “You’re catching on, Caramel. Yes, they can run all the way toward their goal line and try to score themselves. It’s a big deal if the defense can take the ball away from the other team and score.”

Tucker went over a few kinds of plays with her. Straight up the middle runs. End arounds. Fakes. When he saw how quickly she was learning, he even added in how a tight end functioned as a swing man, both blocking and receiving.

She tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. “This is a lot to learn, but I’m fascinated.”

“It’s a game a strategy. Try to outthink your opponent. Spot a weak player. A wide receiver might go back to the huddle and tell the quarterback of something he’s noticed about the guy guarding him while he’s running his routes. The quarterback will try to take advantage of any weakness.”

“How does he decide whether to run or pass?”

“Good question. Most quarterbacks don’t. The CEO is the coach, who stands on the sidelines and watches the game. In high school, the head coach almost always calls all the plays. He’ll send a player in with the play to call in the huddle as another player comes out of the game. You can only have eleven men on the field for your side at any given time. In college and the pros, sometimes the coach calls the plays, and other times the offensive head coach will call them. Usually, a team has a coach up in the press box, watching the game with that height advantage. He can see all kinds of things from that position, things where players on the field or coaches on the sidelines might be hard to spot. He can relay what he’s seeing, and the Blanks can take advantage of whatever he recommends.”

“Whew. It is starting to get complicated.”

“Most every team knows they have only three plays to make those ten yards. Remember we talked about if you don’t get a first down after three plays, you almost always punt the ball to the other team.”

“Go over why again. You said they have four tries to make a first down.”

“Pretend each end of the dining room table is the goal line for the two teams. Let’s say the Blanks are here. Football fields are a hundred yards in length. If they’re at their own thirty-yard line and don’t make a first down, they have to turn the ball over to the Dots.”

She brightened. “And the Dots would be close enough that their chances of scoring are better since they’re so close. Even if they couldn’t make a first down because the Blanks dug deep and wouldn’t give up any yardage, they could kick a field goal.”

He beamed at her. “You are catching on fast.”

“So, if they kick it down the field— punt it —what happens?”

“The punt returner tries to run it back as far as he can. Sometimes, though, he can see the other team is moving fast toward him. He might wave and call for a fair catch. That means he catches it and doesn’t move. No one from the other team can hit him. Play will start at that spot.”

“But if he does catch it and sees daylight, he can run down the field and try to score.”

“Exactly.”

Tucker wanted to kiss her as a reward. Badly. Hell, he didn’t need an excuse to kiss her. He just wanted to. Desperately. But his head told him he needed to give both of them time and space. Even the thought of kissing someone besides Josie was a little hard to wrap his head around, which was adding to his confusion. Reagan had to feel the same way since she hadn’t looked at a guy since Arch.

Yet this woman was starting to fill more and more of his thoughts.

“I think you have enough background now, Reagan,” Tucker said, pushing his growing feelings aside. “Seeing a game live is really going to help cement what you’ve learned.”

Miss Jean entered the dining room and asked, “How is the football lesson taking?”

“Your niece knows enough to follow the game tonight, but not enough to make her dangerous,” he replied.

Jean Bradley cackled. “Football is in the blood of most every Texan, Reagan. Your daddy shortchanged you when he didn’t teach you the ins and outs of the game. I’m glad Tucker’s taken it upon himself to help you figure it out.”

“He also said we’d eat at the game tonight, Aunt Jean. Ry’s food truck will be there until the barbeque runs out.”

“Then you better get yourself a jacket and head over to the stadium,” Miss Jean told them.

As they got into Reagan’s car, Tucker said, “I tinkered some with your aunt’s truck today. Used the tools she had handy, but I think I’m going to need to swing by and borrow a few from Uncle Shy’s friend who owns the auto garage on South Main.”

“I’d be happy to give you a ride there tomorrow,” Reagan said.

“I’d appreciate that.”

On their way into town, she said, “I’m going to want to turn this rental car in soon. Staying in Texas, I’ll need to have my own transportation. I’ll have to drive to the Austin airport to return this rental. There should be several dealerships there where I can look for a car. I think I’ll ask Harper since she lived in Austin for several years.”

“Do you know what kind of car you want?”

“Anything that isn’t puce colored.”

He died laughing— since this was the exact color of the car she drove now. “You aren’t fond of puce? Why, I thought it was every woman’s favorite color.”

“Changing the subject, we got an invitation today.”

“We?” he asked, looking at her curiously.

“Not exactly we as a couple. We as in Finley invited two people that just happened to be us. In two weekends, Holden’s new movie will have its world premiere in Austin. There’ll be some big to-do. Finley told me Dax and Ivy were going. Ry and Emerson, too.”

‘I’ve never been to a fancy film premiere. Then again, Austin isn’t quite a Hollywood red carpet event kind of place. It’s actually a fun, laid-back town, for the most part. Liberal as all get-out in a mostly conservative state, but it has some terrific places to eat and a lot of interesting stores and bars where you can listen to good music.”

“Is Austin where you and Josie lived?” she asked quietly.

Tucker nodded. “I can probably recommend a car dealership to you. We both bought vehicles there. After the wreck, the insurance company paid for the car, which was totaled. I sold my truck back to the same dealership and hit the road.”

“If it’s going to bring back sad memories for you, Tucker, you don’t need to attend the movie premiere. I’ll even stay home with you.”

“No way. I know we don’t know Holden very well, but I think it’s important to go and support him on his big night. Dax told me that Holden wrote the screenplay from his own novel. Supposedly, that’s a huge deal because it’s a different kind of writing. Kind of like an Olympic sprinter in the one-hundred-meter race changing horses midstream and becoming a marathon runner.”

“Holden gave me copies of both his books. I started Capitol Crimes when I got home today. I read for four hours nonstop. I’ll be able to finish it tomorrow since I have just a little bit to go.”

“Then we need to stream the movie together. With the book’s details so fresh in your mind, you can make a good comparison between the two. Personally, I usually prefer the book to the movie version of it.”

They reached the stadium and though it was only five-thirty, the parking lot was more than half full for a seven o’clock kick.

“It looks like there’ll be a nice turnout for this game.”

“It’s a big rival of Lost Creek. That— and Ry’s barbeque truck —have probably pulled in the crowd.”

Reagan parked, and they headed toward the food truck. Tucker said, “You’ll see a couple of familiar items on Ry’s menu. Sliced beef. Chopped beef. Those kinds of sandwiches. But Ry served in the military overseas. He picked up some interesting food knowledge along the way. He’s infused some barbeque dishes with an Asian flair. From what I gather, those new creations have become pretty popular, both around town with people who patronize the food truck and with Harper’s clients at the winery.”

“Is that why Ry does the catering for the event center and not Shy?”

Tucker nodded. “Aunt Shelly gave me the lowdown when I arrived in Lost Creek. Things were pretty strained between Uncle Shy and Ry, and it was all about Ry wanting to change things up a bit. Uncle Shy is all about tradition and things not changing. Thanks to Emerson, though, she helped them patch things up. The catering end was becoming a little too much for Uncle Shy to handle, so he’s turned it over to Ry.”

By now, they joined the long line which stood in front of Ry’s food truck. Tucker saw both Ry and Emerson getting orders out as fast as possible. Watching his cousin and wife work, he decided he was ready to speak to Ry about working in the barbeque business alongside him. Ry had mentioned wanting to invest in a new smoker because of his growing business. Tucker thought it was time to touch some of the blood money and turn it into something useful.

They reached the front, and Reagan said, “Take care of us, Ry. I’m sure I’ll like whatever you give us to eat. My treat,” she said in Tucker’s direction.

“Coming right up,” Ry said with a smile.

“I’ll get you two banana puddings,” Emerson added. “It’s Ry’s grandmother’s recipe. To die for.”

“Looks like a big crowd has turned out for the game,” Tucker said as Ry wrapped their food in brown paper. “Think I need to talk to you about a few things, Cuz.”

“I’m all ears,” Ry said. “Text me when you want to get together.”

“Are you working a wedding tomorrow night at the winery?” he asked.

His cousin laughed. “I most definitely am. A big one. I hear that Reagan is going to be shadowing Harper.”

That was news to him. “How about I stop by the kitchen and help you get meals out tomorrow night?” he suggested. “We can talk afterward.”

“It’s a date,” Ry said, handing over their food.

He turned and saw Emerson had already given Reagan their desserts, and so they set off to find a place to eat.

“Why don’t we head back and sit on the hood of my car?” Reagan said.

“Good idea. I don’t see anywhere open except the ground.”

They took their dinner back to her rental and climbed atop the hood, stretching out their legs.

As they opened their food, he saw Ry had given each of them a sandwich and long stick speared with smoked meat and vegetables.

“I hear you’ll be at the event center tomorrow night.”

She brightened. “I’m going to follow Harper around to see all she does during a wedding and reception. She’s going on maternity leave come mid-November and will be out for six weeks. We had a long talk yesterday, and we found out how alike we are in so many ways. Just our approach to life and business. Anyway, her two assistants will be stepping in to fill her shoes while she’s away, but Harper said she could use another set of hands.”

“That’s where you come in, I suppose.”

“I’m going to see how things go tomorrow night. Get there a few hours before the wedding and learn about the pre-ceremony activities, then stay after for the reception, as well. I meet with Harper, Paula, and Dayna Monday morning at ten. Harper is going to have a plan outlined by then, so each of us can see what our responsibilities will be in her absence. Of course, I know it involves more than just working the wedding itself. There’ll also be clients to meet with. That kind of thing. I probably won’t be involved in much of that since I’m new to the operation, but I’d like to sit in on some of those meetings to see what they’re like.”

“That’ll keep you in Lost Creek for the next couple of months,” he noted, happy to hear she’d be sticking around.

“It will. If there aren’t any complications, Harper will return at the beginning of the new year in January. By then, I hope to have figured out what I want to do. Working for Weddings with Hart won’t take up all my time.”

Tucker hoped it didn’t.

Because he planned to spend a lot of time with her himself.

“I’m going to be at the wedding tomorrow, too. I’m helping Ry with the catering. We’ll talk afterward about me joining him in the food truck.”

“That’s terrific, Tucker. Like me, that won’t be full-time, though. It should give you plenty of time to work on your songwriting.”

She had a bit of barbeque sauce in the corner of her mouth, and he wanted to lick it away. The only thing that stopped him from doing so were all the people passing by in the parking lot.

Instead, he took the pad of his thumb and wiped it away, causing her to blush profusely. He wanted to lick his thumb but dabbed it on a napkin instead.

“I think you look presentable enough to go to the game now, Caramel. What do you say?”

Her eyes lit with mischief. “I say we eat our banana pudding first and then go inside the stadium.”