The Journey Collection (29 page)

Chapter Four

A Father’s Pride

“Mom, come on!” Max whined, tapping his foot with impatience and scowling at the bathroom door.

Travis shook his head as he tied his shoes and stood up, walking over to his son. “If I were you, I wouldn’t rush your mom, little man. She’s not feeling good today.”

“I know,” he muttered.

The door to the bathroom opened and Travis and Max looked over to find Penelope standing there, with a washcloth covering her mouth and a light layer of sweat on her forehead. She had just pulled her yellow tank top on when she bolted for the bathroom with one hand clamped over her lips. Travis followed, but Penelope slammed the door shut before he could do anything to help her.

“We don’t have to go today,” Travis suggested, reaching out and slipping his arm around her waist, pulling his wife into his arms. “We can stay here and lounge around the pool.”

“Thanks, but I want to,” Penelope insisted, though he could hear the tremble in her voice. “I’ll be fine.”

“Are you sure?” Travis asked.

Penelope nodded.

Sighing, Travis looked over at Max. “Get her a bottle of water from the fridge.”

“Yes, sir.” Max scurried over to the mini-refrigerator and pulled out one of the bottles of water they had put in there last night. Walking back over to his parents, he held the bottle out to his mother. “Here.”

“Thank you, sweetheart.” Penelope took it, unscrewed the lid, and took a small sip. When Travis cleared his throat and lifted an eyebrow in her direction, she sighed and took a bigger gulp. “Happy?”

“A little,” he admitted. “You know I worry.”

“I do, but I’ll be okay. We still have some crackers in the car. They should help settle my tummy.”

While Travis still wasn’t sure they should venture away from their hotel, he let the subject drop. Keeping his hand on the small of her back, he led her and Max out of their room, through the corridor, into the lobby, and out of the hotel.

They had spent the last few days driving from Texas to Florida, and had pulled into Miami late the night before. Since they were on summer break from school, Travis and Penelope thought it would nice to bring Max to Miami, but they wanted to take their time and enjoy the trip. His time in Miami had been such a big part of Travis’s life before he had found his way back home. He wanted to share these moments with his son, but not at the expense of his wife’s health.

Where Penelope had appeared to miss the early stages of morning sickness, now at sixteen weeks along, she had had several bouts of nausea. Travis had made the point of asking if Penelope was okay to travel when they went in for her last appointment and Dr. Chan has insisted she would be fine. Dr. Chan explained that as long as Penelope drank a lot of fluids and tried to eat, that they shouldn’t have any problems. Travis was trying not to let his worry get the best of him, but his family was the most important part of his life.

“Is it always so hot here?” Penelope griped, reaching over and turning the air conditioning on full blast. She adjusted her vents so that they blew cool air on her.

Through the rearview mirror, Travis saw Max reach down and pull a blanket off the floorboard, tucking it around his legs. While the urge to laugh filled him, he didn’t let it out. It wasn’t Penelope’s fault that her hormones were out of control.

“Pretty much,” Travis replied. “You get used to it.”

Penelope snorted. “If you say so.”

Smiling, Travis reached over and took hold of her hand as he drove them through the streets of Miami. Every once in a while he would point out one of his favorite haunts, explaining how he had found it or sharing a story that tended to involve one of the other members of the Sharks football team.

After almost twenty minutes, Travis turned into the parking lot of Sharks’ stadium. Once again, he spied on his son through the rear view mirror. Max’s face lit up and his eyes widened as he took in the sheer size of the stadium.

“Wow,” Penelope murmured, causing Travis to look over at her. “You played here?”

“Yeah, pretty cool, huh?” Travis replied, pulling into the covered parking.

Penelope laughed. “That’d be an understatement.”

Travis had called Stewart Thornton when they had made the decision to visit Miami and had arranged for a private tour of the stadium. The way Travis saw it, he had brought in a lot of revenue for Stewart over the years. The least the owner of the Sharks could do was allow Travis to share the place that was once his home with his wife and son.

Parking in one of the visitor spaces, Travis turned and looked back at Max. “You ready, little man?”

“Yep,” Max beamed and unbuckled his seatbelt.

Laughing, he turned to Penelope. “And you? Are you ready, baby?”

She smiled. “Yes.”

Together, the three of them climbed out of the car and headed over to elevator that would take them to the top of the stadium where the business office was located. Travis could feel the excitement rolling off of Max as they were lifted higher. After a couple of minutes, the elevator came to a stop, causing Penelope to groan at the suddenness of the movement. Sliding his hand into hers, Travis tried to comfort her without smothering her. She had gone through one pregnancy all on her own and giving up even the smallest amount of control had been a struggle for Penelope. Travis hated that he hadn’t been there for her when she was pregnant with Max, but was vowing to be there for her this time around.

As they made their way along the corridor, Travis pointed out each photo that included him. There were framed covers from magazine shoots he had done, clippings from the local paper, as well as a few candid shots that had been taken on the sidelines by the Sharks’ personal photographer. It used to annoy Travis when the camera was shoved in front of him — almost like they were taking bits of his soul with each click — but now, he saw the beauty in the action. They were memories that would forever hang on the walls of Sharks Stadium.

Pausing outside of the business suite, Travis turned to Penelope and Max. “Before we go in there, I feel like I have to apologize.”

“For what?” Penelope asked, a laugh lacing the simple words.

“You’ll know when we go inside.” With a warning hanging in the air between them, Travis grabbed the doorknob and opened the door, ushering his wife and son inside. Just as he expected, the moment he stepped inside, the woman sitting behind the oak desk squealed.

“Well, well, well. If it isn’t
the great
Travis McCoy!” Margaret Keller stood up and rushed around her desk, throwing herself in Travis’s arms. Though he hadn’t seen her in almost three years, the secretary to the owner of the Sharks hadn’t changed at all. She still kept her black hair short, though if he looked hard enough, he would be able to see the handful of greying strands. Shifting her hazel eyes up to his, she glared. “You promised to stay in touch and it’s been almost a year since we’ve heard anything from you. You’re in big trouble, young man!”

Travis sighed, letting his head lob forward. “I’m sorry, Margaret, but I’ve been busy.”

“Oh, I know,” she said. “You just took your third straight team to the state championships, didn’t you? You must be one . . . ,” she shifted her eyes over to Max before looking back at Travis, “. . . heck of a good coach.”

“It’s not me; it’s those boys.” Travis smiled and turned toward his wife and son. “Margaret Keller, I’d like you to meet my wife Penelope and my son Max. Guys, this pushy but wonderful woman is Stewart’s assistant.”

“I prefer secretary,” Margaret snickered. “I know I’m old fashioned like that. Anyway, it’s nice to meet you both.”

“You, too.” Penelope offered the woman a hand to shake, but Margaret rolled her eyes and wrapped her up into a fierce hug. “Oh, okay.”

“I warned you.” Travis laughed.

“Oh, you hush,” Margaret scoffed, leaning back. She smiled at Penelope. “I’m sorry if I come on too strong. Travis is . . . well, he’s kind of like our prodigal son here. He doesn’t come home often and when he does, I get a little excited.”

“This isn’t his home.” At the sound of Max’s voice, they all looked over at him. Though, he tried to hide it, Travis could see the hurt and anger in his eyes.

“No, little man, it’s not — not anymore — but it was once. That’s all Margaret meant,” he explained. However, before anyone could say anything more, the door to Stewart’s office opened and they looked over to see him and Malcolm Rollins walking out. The two men spotted Travis, Penelope, and Max and smiled, though Travis could feel the tension between them.

“McCoy, been a long time.” Malcolm offered Travis a hand, which he took. “How’s it going?”

“It’s good. How about for you? You had a good season last year. Gotta be gearing up for next year, right?”

Malcolm’s jaw clenched shut for a moment before he replied, “Yeah. Look, I’ve gotta run. It was nice seeing you.”

Before anyone could utter another word, he left. Travis shared a look with Penelope. He hadn’t even gotten to introduce his wife and son to the man who’d taken his place as quarterback. Shifting his attention to Stewart, he noted how tense and uncomfortable the man seemed. It was clear that their meeting hadn’t gone very well.

“Well, since Travis isn’t going to introduce us, I guess I will,” Penelope said, breaking the awkward silence that had filled the room. “I’m Penelope and this is our son Max.”

“Oh, sorry,” Stewart murmured, crossing the room and offering his hand. “I’ve heard so much about you, Penelope. I’m Stewart.”

She laughed, eyeing Travis closely. “Should I be worried about what he’s told you?”

This time Stewart chuckled. “No, I can assure you that it was all good.”

“Like I would say anything else,” Travis scoffed, sliding his arm around his wife’s waist.

“No, I know you wouldn’t.” Penelope leaned into his embrace, and brought her hand up to her stomach. At sixteen weeks, she’d just started to show, but unless one was paying attention, it wasn’t noticeable.

Travis cleared his throat. “Well, we’re just gonna take a look around, if that’s still all right?”

“Oh, of course,” Stewart said, moving over to Margaret’s desk and rifling through the papers on top.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Margaret walked over to him, pushing him away from her desk. “I have everything just where I want it and you’re going to mess it all up. Now, what are you looking for?”

Stewart stared at her for a moment before he said, “Visitors’ passes.”

Margaret slipped her hand under a stack of papers and pulled out a small bundle of passes. She picked up her pen and scribbled on three of them before handing them to Travis. “These should get you anywhere you want to go inside the stadium.”

“Thanks,” he said, smiling.

~*~*~*~

By the time Travis led Penelope and Max out onto the field, they had explored every inch of the stadium. Travis had lost count of how many times Max had gotten excited on this trip. First, it was the view from the business office that overlooked the field, which Travis had to admit that was amazing.

After leaving the business office, they headed down to the locker rooms. Thankfully, it was empty. While Max loved it and ran from locker to locker, amazed by the Sharks names listed on each, Penelope stayed close to the door with a grimace on her face. It was clear that she didn’t enjoy the smell of “sweat and boys,” as she declared. Travis was so used to it, he hadn’t even noticed the odor until she pointed it out.

From there, they headed out onto the field, where they found the rest of the team running drills — everyone but Malcolm. He was standing on the sidelines, next to James Jorkins, head coach of the Sharks. Based on the hand motions between both men, they weren’t having a pleasant conversation.

“McCoy?” At the sound of his last name, Travis looked over and smiled at the three-hundred pound lineman jogging his way. Gary Clark was about the same height as Travis, though he was twice as wide. Embracing him in a one-armed hug, he asked, “What are you doing here, man?”

“Thought I’d bring the family by,” Travis explained, motioning to his wife and son. “This is Penelope and Max.”

Gary looked from Travis to Penelope, and then down to Max. “Nice to meet you both.”

“You, too,” Penelope murmured. “You should open your stance on the line. It would stop you from getting pushed back on your butt.”

Gary’s mouth dropped open as he shifted his attention from her up to Travis. “Dude, your woman knows football?”

“Better than any of us,” Travis admitted. “And she’s right. You were playing like you had . . .” He let his words trail off as he looked down at his son. “Well, let’s just say that you need to loosen your stance up.”

“Yeah, I know. JJ keeps telling me the same thing.” Gary tilted his head toward the sidelines where James and Malcolm were still standing. “Anyway, mind if I take the kid around and introduce him to everyone?”

Max snapped his gaze over to Travis and the pleading look in his eyes had Travis laughing right away. “Of course. Just remember that he’s just thirteen, so be mindful about what you say in front of him.”

“Not like I’m taking him to a strip club or something.” Gary scoffed before placing a hand on Max’s shoulder and leading him out into the field.