Covering the Carolinas (14 page)

As he closes the door behind us, I pause to take in
the most perfect man I’ve ever seen and as he takes another step
toward me, I hold my breath waiting for his touch. His hands caress
my arms and as I look into his eyes, I raise my arms as he removes
the fabric from my body. As his eyes take in every inch of my body,
I move toward him and place my hands on his chest. While holding
his gaze, I slowly caress his abs as I make my way to his jeans. I
unbutton them, and slide them down his legs. He steps out of them
before leading me to my bed.

Gunnison kisses me from head to toe and as my hands
roam his body, he asks me if I’m sure once more. “Yes,” I say as he
steps from the bed and grabs a condom from his wallet. “You don’t
need that, I’m on the pill,” I say. “No, Mar. I don’t want to
chance it,” he says and there’s no arguing with him. I know he’s
right.

He hovers over me with one hand on each side of me
and slowly kisses down my neck. “Gunnison, I need you,” I say to
him and his breath hitches.

Looking into each other’s eyes as he enters me, I
can’t hold back the moan that escapes my lips. As he moves in and
out of my body, we fall into a perfect rhythm. As he begins to move
faster, I match his pace. When we climax together, we both look
into each other’s eyes and it’s as if my world is perfect for the
first time in my life. Gunnison kisses my lips as he slides out of
my body. After he disposes of the condom, he slides on his boxer
briefs and I excuse myself to the restroom, taking his shirt with
me.

GUNNISON

Waiting on Marleigh to come out of that bathroom is
nerve wracking. I can’t get enough of her now that she’s back in my
life. She’s like my on personal form of crack.

As I wait, I think about everything I want her to
know about what’s gone on in my life. I want to know every detail
of Gunner’s life and hers. My thoughts stop abruptly when she
enters her room in my shirt. Every thought I had has vanished, and
I’m at a complete loss of words. She smiles my way and then comes
to get in the bed with me. Kissing the back of her shoulder, she
turns toward me and greets me with her lips. “I love you, Gunnison.
Always and forever,” she says. “I love you too, Marleigh.” As she
places her head in the crook of my shoulder, I know that the love
between the two of us will last a lifetime.

Chapter 27

MARLEIGH

Waking up to Gunnison beside me for the second day
in the row is like a dream. Glancing at his sleeping perfection, I
decide to wake him up my way. I slide my hands up his chest and he
begins to move. I straddle his body as I touch my lips to his
chest, moving my way to his neck then to his lips. As my lips meet
his, he grins and rolls me underneath him. “Good morning,
beautiful,” he says as he caresses my lips again, then pauses
suddenly. “Oh shit. I’ve got practice.” He jumps up and grabs his
clothes and I can’t help but giggle at how scattered he is in this
moment.

When I realize I’m still in his shirt, I start to
remove it but he stops me, informing me that if I do that he’s
never going to make it to practice. He kisses me and tells me he’ll
call after practice and class.

As soon as I hear the sound of his engine, there’s a
knock at my door. “Come in,” I say with a smile on my face.

As my sisters bound into my room, Tinleigh says,
“Get dressed. We’re skipping class until we get the details.” I
shake my head and make my way to shower, and as I look at myself in
Gunnison’s shirt in the mirror, I realize that this isn’t a dream.
It’s real. I squeal like a little girl and do my own little happy
dance.

GUNNISON

Hurrying to campus, I’m thankful I keep my gym bag
in my truck. As I hurry to change and make it to the gym, Coach
questions my tardiness and then makes me run suicides along with
the other teammates.

As we go to grab water, Wade looks at me.
“What?”

“
Don’t what me! I haven’t seen you since you
left the party and you’re late for practice. I’m happy for you,
man,” he says as he pats my shoulder.

“
Thanks.” I can’t quit smiling.

After practice, Coach asks to see me in his office.
I take a deep breath as I enter and he tells me to take a seat.
“Del Valle, in the years I’ve known you, you’ve never been late to
practice or a game, do you mind telling me what’s going on?”

Taking a minute, I wipe my clammy hands on my
shorts. “Coach, I’m sorry I’m late, but I overslept. I know it’s
not like me, but my life has changed a lot over the past week.”

He looks at me very confused. “Del Valle, I stay out
of your personal lives and there is a reason for it, but when it
effects the team, I have to ask what’s going on.”

“
When I was a junior in high school, I
met
the
girl at the beach
while I was there for an AAU tournament during Spring Break. We
made a pact to come to school here and never be apart. You can
guess that didn’t go as planned.”

“
Being a teenager and distance is
tough.”

“
She out of the blue called it quits. No
reason except she didn’t want to influence my choices in life. I’ve
tried for three years to get over her. Her sisters go to school
here, and I finally saw her again at last week’s game.” Pausing, he
waits for more. “The thing is when she finally agreed to talk to
me, I got a shock that I didn’t know how to handle. Coach, I have a
son.”

Coach takes the pencil he’s been twiddling and
places it on his desk. “She didn’t tell you about him and just
showed up with him out of the blue?”

“
No, her parents surprised her because it was
his birthday. They didn’t know she was meeting me. Needless to say,
I didn’t take it too well but over this past week, I knew I had to
be a part of his life. I was late today because I took my son’s
mother on a real date and forgot to set my alarm. I’m sorry Coach,
it won’t happen again.”

“
You know for sure he’s yours?” Coach asks and
I take my phone from my pocket. Pulling up the picture from
breakfast Saturday, I show him. He grins. “You can’t deny that boy,
that’s for sure.”

“
Coach, all I’ve ever known is basketball. How
am I going to balance it all?”

“
Just like any of us do. I know your dream is
to make it to the NBA, and just because your world is changing
doesn’t mean your dreams have to. I’d personally wait and get your
degree first. I might be a little biased here because I want to
keep you here playing for me.”

“
I don’t plan on going anywhere, Coach. I have
a question though. When we play GWU would it be okay if I don’t
ride back with the team?”

“
You know that’s the rule,” he
says.

“
I know, but my son’s coming to the game and I
really want to spend time with him that weekend.”

He doesn’t say anything for a minute. “Have you told
your parents?”

“
No, sir, but I don’t know if I should tell
them over the phone.”

“
You need to do that sooner rather than later.
I’ll make this exception for you due to the circumstances, but I
expect you to be on time from now on.”

“
Yes, sir,” I say as I stand and make my way
to class.

After class, my phone rings, expecting it to be
Marleigh, I answer quickly.

“
Well, I didn’t think you’d take my
call.”
Fuck. Summer.

“
I thought I told you to leave me alone,” I
say, aggravated.

“
Look, I’m just calling to apologize. I was
out of line, not to mention drunk, and hurt that I knew you’d never
choose me. I’m not that girl who shows up when I drink.”

“
Summer, thanks for the apology, but I really
think you need to lay off the booze. The past few times you’ve
drank, you’ve gotten out of control. That’s not healthy. You really
can be a great girl when you aren’t drinking. Thank you for the
apology but it doesn’t change anything, we’re still over. Please
don’t call me again.”

Quietly she agrees, and I disconnect the call.
As I pull into the parking lot of my apartment, my phone rings
again, and when I glance down I feel sick.
Mom.

“
Hey, Mom!” I say cheerfully.

“
Hey, GC. I haven’t heard from you in a week.
That’s not like you. Everything okay?” she questions.
What do I say?

“
Um, Mom, Marleigh’s at school.”

“
Excuse, what did you say?
Marleigh?”

“
Yes, ma’am, and before you go protective mama
bear defending her cub, I want you to hear me out.”

“
But, Gunnison!”

“
No, Mom. There are things I didn’t know, but
do now. I love her and I always have, that’s never going to change.
I need to talk to you and Dad in person about a few
things.”

“
I don’t like where this is going,” she says.
“There’s something you’re not telling me. Don’t make me drive down
there right now, Gunnison Cyrus.”

Unsure of what to do, I tell her because if I don’t,
she will be at my door by morning. “Mom, she pushed me away because
she was pregnant.”

Silence fills the other side of the phone.
“Gunnison, did I hear you correctly? She has a baby?”

“
No, Mom, we have a baby. I have a three year
old son named Gunner and he’s absolutely perfect.” I hear my mom
begin to cry. “Don’t cry, Mom. It’s been a lot for me to take in,
and I didn’t exactly find out the way Marleigh had wanted me
to.”

“
Are you sure he’s yours?” she
questions.

“
There’s no doubt. I wanted to tell you and
Dad in person, but I couldn’t wait that long.”

“
How do you know he’s yours, Gunnison?” she
questions again.

“
His birthday is nine months after the
tournament, and he looks just like me, Mom. Hold on and I’ll text
you a picture of us.”

After sending it to her, she checks it and cries
harder. “Gunnison, he looks just like you when you were that age.
I’m a grandma?” she asks as her voice has a new hope.

“
Yes, Mom. You are. Now, how am I going to
tell Dad?” She doesn’t say anything. “Um, there’s no need to worry
about that, he’s in the room with me and saw the picture.”
Oh god, he’s going to kill me.
“No
worries, I’ll handle him and I can’t wait to meet this precious
little one. I do want to hear every detail of this story when we
come to the championship.”

“
Yes, ma’am,” I say. “Hey, Mom. Thank you for
not freaking out too much. I love you guys.”

“
We love you too, but Gunnison we need to
discuss your new responsibilities so they don’t become a
distraction from school or the team.”

“
I know, Mom. Marleigh’s parents watch him
while she’s here at school but we still have to figure out how
we’re going to tell him I’m his daddy and how we’re going to take
care of him going forward.

“
Sweetie, you have a good head on your
shoulders and I’m proud of all you have accomplished. We will be
here for you as you two figure things out.”

“
Thanks, Mom,” I say as we hang up the
phone.

Chapter 28

MARLEIGH

Without class today, I spend my day with my head in
the clouds reliving the perfect night with Gunnison. I fill
Tinleigh and Carleigh in on all the details. I also tell them about
him visiting Gunner in Gaffney and wanting Gunner to go to the
championship games here.

By eleven o’clock, they are satisfied with my
details and go to class. As soon as they are out of the house, I
call Gunner to check on him and tell my parents about the plans for
the Gardner-Webb game. I have decided to tell him about his daddy
this weekend. The question is how? Do I tell him before we go or
after? Should Gunnison tell him? All of these questions fill my
head, and being alone I realize that even though my life is falling
into place, there are now a lot of what-ifs filling my head. Each
of them revolves around one little boy. Confused, I pick up my
phone and call my daddy.

“
Hey, Mar, didn’t we just talk to you?
Everything okay?” he questions.

“
Kinda. Daddy, I just need to talk to someone
and Tin and Car are at class and Mama’s got Gunner.”

“
Come on now, you just want someone who will
shoot ya straight. What’s going through that pretty little head of
yours?”

“
Well, you know the plan for the
weekend.”

“
Yes. I thought we had that figured
out?”

“
We do, I’m just worried about how we’re going
to tell him. I don’t want to say too little or too much, ya
know?”

Daddy takes a deep breath, and I know he’s going to
tell me what I need to hear even if I don’t want to hear it.

“
Mar, I’ve already thought about this. In
fact, Gunner and I had a little talk about GC today. He wants to
wear that jersey 24/7.” I burst out laughing. “What’s so funny?
Didn’t know this country bumpkin’ was down with y’all’s lingo, did
ya? Back to what I was sayin’, he admires GC and when I asked why,
he told me it’s because they were the same.”

I gasp. “Daddy… that’s what he told Gunnison at
breakfast.”

“
He told me about that in toddler talk, I’d
guess you’d call it. I thought this week I’d just take the moments
we have together to have a little man to man talk. Sometimes I
think because I’m around all the time he doesn’t think about not
having a dad. Just let me work a little Pap magic with him, and
Mar, it’s all going to work out just fine. That big man upstairs is
smiling on y’all, and I have a feeling he’s going to give you the
perfect opportunity to explain this to Gunner.”