Shadow Keeper (11 page)

“It’s nothing like that.”

“How about sleep? Are you getting at least eight hours?”

“I’m in bed by nine–thirty and the alarm goes off at seven,” I said, but left out the part about the scary nightmares and the sizzling hot dreams of Lisa.

His forehead wrinkled as he stared at me. The next thing he’d probably ask is if I did drugs, but he didn’t have to worry about that either. I needed a healthy body and wasn’t going to screw it up by pumping chemicals into my system. Lisa was my only distraction.

“Whatever’s bothering you, you need to get your head straight before Friday’s game.”

“I’m trying, coach.” Sure, that’s what I told him, but the truth was, I didn’t know how to get Lisa out of my mind. I had to talk to somebody about this, though. The coach seemed my only option. He had to be about fifty years old and probably hadn’t had sex in twenty years, but maybe he could remember back to when he was young. “There is something.”

“Yeah?” He sat up straighter, his complete attention on me.

“There’s this girl—”

He flopped back in the chair. “Don’t tell me she’s pregnant.”

“No.” I waived my hand through the air to dismiss that idea. “It’s nothing like that.”

“Good, because a pregnant girlfriend could put a damper on your plans to get a scholarship.”

“Right, coach. I understand. But this girl…” I glanced over my shoulder to make sure no one could overhear. “She’s driving me crazy.”

Coach burst out with a loud cackle. “All women are good at that.”

A chuckle of my own bubbled out as I agreed. “Yeah, but this girl is different. I can’t get her out of my head and it’s getting painful.”

“Then take a couple aspirin and quit thinking about her.”

“It’s not just my head.” I let out a heavy breath. He didn’t catch the explanation I tried to toss. “Thinking about her also affects my body. And I think about her a lot. When I get like that, I can’t seem to concentrate. And not just with football. I’m afraid this is going to affect my grades if I don’t figure out how to pull her out of my skull.”

“Oh.” He leaned forward in the chair and his mouth twisted askew. “Have you and this girl been engaging in, ah…”

Whatever word he stumbled for, he looked too embarrassed to say it. “We haven’t been engaging in much of anything and that’s the problem. What we’re doing isn’t enough, and my mind keeps trying to fill in the blanks.”

He picked up a pencil and scribbled spiral doodles on a notepad. “I can’t talk to you about this, Alexander. If word gets out I’ve been advising my students on their love life, I could get fired. Don’t you have anyone else to talk with? An uncle?”

I shook my head.

“One of your mom’s boyfriends?”

His suggestion made me smile. Evidently, he didn’t know my mother very well. “She hasn’t looked at a man since my dad died.”

His face scrunched up for a moment. “I know you go to church. How about the pastor?”

That made me laugh out loud. “Have you seen him? Pastor Williams must be a hundred years old. And I already know what he’ll say. If I think about sex, my soul will burn in hell.”

“Then how about a doctor?”

“Maybe, but my mom is a nurse at the clinic and everybody knows her.” I rubbed my hand over my jaw while I thought. “Somebody’s bound to blab that I saw a doctor. She’ll want to know why. I couldn’t explain something like that to her.”

“Then I don’t know what to tell you.” His head cocked to one side. “Didn’t you take the health class?”

“Sure, when I was a sophomore.”

“What did you learn?” His mouth twisted into half a grin. “Or did you sleep through it like Carson does with most of his classes?”

Coach wouldn’t be smiling if he knew Carson like I did. The D average student might’ve slept through sex ed, but he was getting more action than me. Of course I wasn’t going to mention it to the coach. “I listened in class, but they mostly preached abstinence. And if all else fails, wear a condom.”

“That’s good advice. The school’s official policy is for the students to practice abstinence.”

“I am, but that’s the part that’s killing me.”

“I understand your dilemma, and I think I have a solution. You need to go home and just relax.”

“If I could relax, I wouldn’t have this problem.” My shoulder’s drooped in defeat. If this was his only advice, I was doomed to suffer forever.

“You’re probably not the only player with this dilemma, so there’s only one solution.” The coach sprang out of the chair. “Exercise. From now on, you’re all doing extra laps around the field. And I’m increasing the number of pushups and sit ups. You boys will be so tired and worn out after practice that when you go to bed at night, girls will be the last thing on your minds.”

“Right, coach. A girl will be the last thing on my mind when I crawl into bed at night.” A heavy groan rumbled in my throat. “And she’ll be right there when I wake up in the morning.”

Chapter Fourteen

“Hold on, Paul.” I yanked off my sunglasses and plopped them over the brim of my baseball cap to get a better look. “That looks like Lisa’s car.”

“You mean the red Lexus that just pulled into the parking lot of the supermarket?”

“Yeah.” I motioned to the driveway. “Turn in there. I just want to say hi. Then we can go.”

Lisa had already climbed from the car when Paul swung up next to her.

“Hey, good looking,” I said from the passenger window. “What are you doing running around in your jammies in the middle of a Sunday afternoon?”

A big grin spread across her face as she walked toward me. “It’s just a little past noon, and these aren’t my jammies.”

I hopped out of the car and grabbed at the hem of her baggy tee shirt. “These are the same kind of clothes I wear to bed.”

She grasped my wrist and pulled my hand away, but didn’t let go. “You wear a pink tee shirt and flannels with teddy bears on them to bed?” she teased.

“Not pink.” I twisted my hand so our fingers twined. “But Stevie got me a pair of flannel bottoms with puppies on them for Christmas last year.”

“Oh, how sweet. I’ll bet you look cute in them.”

My imagination took a trip of its own as my gaze wandered over her body. “What do you wear to bed if you don’t wear these?”

Her mouth opened, as if to speak, but she gasped in a breath. She smacked me on the arm with her open hand. “I’m not telling you.”

“Hi, Lisa,” Paul said.

She ducked down and looked through the window. “Hi, Paul.”

“What are you doing here at the supermarket?” he asked.

“We ran out of sugar.” She straightened and looked at me. Her eyes rolled. “My mom needs it for her coffee.”

“I guess you can’t let your mom have a caffeine fit.”

She nodded as her gaze wandered over me. “Why are you wearing cutoffs? I thought you went to church on Sunday mornings.”

“We did, but after services, my mom dropped me off at Paul’s and I changed into this.” I tugged at my long sleeved shirt.

“Alexander,” Paul said. “We’ve got to roll.”

“Where are the two of you off to?” she asked.

“Tubing.”

Her eyebrows rose. “What’s that?

“We’re going to Low Water Bridge and ride the rapids down Cache Creek on inner tubes. This may be the last good weekend before the weather turns cold.”

“You picked a good day for it. The weatherman said it might hit ninety today.”

“Yeah,” I agreed. “Good old California weather. Practically the middle of October and it’s still warm enough to go swimming.”

“Dude,” Paul said. “It’s getting late.”

“Guess I’ve got to go.” Reluctantly, I relaxed my grip on Lisa’s hand.

“Sure.” She curled her fingers so our tips hung up. Her little pinky snagged onto mine and she held it. “Sounds like fun. Wish I could go with you.”

“Do you want to go?” I didn’t know if she was serious, but I hated missed opportunities.

Her teeth caught at her lower lip. “I’d like to, but I can’t imagine my mom letting me go anywhere with two guys she’s never met.”

“It’s been two weeks, Lisa. You promised to talk to your mom about me so we could go out on a date.”

“I know. And I’ve been trying. I keep dropping little hints about a guy in my Spanish class who’s really nice, but then she starts lecturing me about how young I am.”

Paul jumped out of the car and leaned over the top. “Your mom knows Sherry. Would she let you go if Sherry went along?”

“Good idea,” I said to Paul. “Give her a call and talk her into going.”

His face twisted into a tight pinch. “Have Lisa do it. She knows Sherry’s number. I’m going inside and get us some drinks and chips.”

My optimism for a fun day increased. Not only would I spend the day outside with my friends, Lisa would be with me. But when I glanced at her, she didn’t look happy. “Aren’t you going to call Sherry?”

“I don’t think she’ll want to go.”

“She loves tubing.”

“It’s not that. It’s…”

“Your mom?” I speculated when she didn’t continue.

“No.” Her gaze darted to the door of the supermarket where Paul had disappeared. “Sherry told me something in confidence.”

“I know Paul and Sherry haven’t been getting along.” I let out a hard breath. Paul was a friend, but he brought this on himself. “Has it gotten so bad that they’re not speaking?”

She shrugged while continuing to stare away from me.

My enthusiasm for the day drooped. “I suppose calling your mom to ask if you can go tubing down Cache Creek with three strange guys is out of the question.”

“Three?” Her head snapped up. “Who’s the third person?”

“Carson. He’s got the tubes at his ranch. We’ll get him on the way up the valley.”

Her hand thrust into the pocket of her pink teddy bear jammies. She had the cell phone flipped open and ready to dial before her hand cleared the flannels.

“You’re calling your mom?”

She shook her head so vigorously that her braided pigtails whipped over her shoulders. “I’m calling Sherry.”

My lips curled into a grin. “She’s got the hots for Carson?”

“Who told you that?” Her mouth dropped open.

“I just guessed it, but from the look on your face, I guessed right. Do you think she’ll go if Carson will be there?”

“Please don’t say anything.” She grabbed my hand and squeezed it tight. “Sherry will think I betrayed her confidence.”

“Not a word,” I swore. “But if she hooks up with Carson in front of Paul, this day is not going to end well.”

“Carson doesn’t know how she feels yet. Sherry is giving Paul until the end of the week to tell her the truth about...about something he did. If he’s not honest with her, then she’s going to breakup with him.”

That
something he did
was Regina. If Paul told Sherry the truth, I wondered if it would make any difference.

“I feel kind of bad for Paul and Sherry, and Carson. We’ve been friends for a long time. When this plays out, that’s all going to change.”

Her hand gripped mine tighter. “I hope it doesn’t change anything with us.”

I glanced into her eyes. There were a lot of changes I wanted to make between Lisa and me, but I didn’t know if that would ever materialize. “You don’t have to worry. Whatever happens, we’ll still be friends.”

“Is that all?” Sunlight sparkled in her blue eyes. “I thought I was your girlfriend. At least, that’s what you’ve been telling everyone at school these last two weeks.”

The muscles in my chest constricted, but I relaxed when the corners of her mouth twitched into a smile. My optimism for a great day swelled again. “Yeah, that’s what I’ve been saying, but I didn’t know you were listening.”

“There’s Paul,” she said. “I’d better make some calls.”

While Paul and I crammed food and drinks into the ice chest in the trunk of his car, Lisa walked around the parking lot, talking on the phone.

“Okay.” She opened her car door and stuck a foot in. “It’s all set. Sherry and my mom both said yes.”

“Great.” I walked to her so I didn’t have to yell. “You go home and change into some shorts and a long sleeved tee shirt. We’ll swing by and pick up Sherry, then stop by your house so you can introduce me to your mom.”

She shook her head. “Sherry is picking me up. You’d better wait for us at her house.”

“Why are you afraid to tell your mom about me?” My anger cranked up before I got it under control. “I don’t like all this sneaking around behind her back. If your mother finds out, she’s going to believe I really am a bad influence.”

“I’m trying, but you don’t know my mom.”

“Yeah.” I let out hard breath of air. “And it looks like I never will get to know her.”

“Maybe this afternoon when we get back.” She glanced into my eyes. “I told my mom that Sherry and I are going swimming with some friends. When you drop me off at home, I’ll introduce you to her then.”