Shooting Matt Ch. 28

"Affirmative, Leon. Affirmative." She grabs his hair and shakes his head. "I know what'll take my mind off the quietness around here."

Leon swivels his head to look up at her. "Oh? And what might that be?"

"You on your knees and that purple strap-on around my waist."

"How about on my back and you between my legs so I can gaze up at your beauty?"

"You are the sweetest man." She puts her hand on his cheek. "I thank God every day that you walked in and tried to sell me a new grill."

"I think it was a milkshake mixer but thank you."

She grabs his hair and shakes his head again. "I'll mix your milkshake, buster."

"I certainly hope so." He stands and offers his hand. She takes it and they walk slowly back to their bedroom.

***

"Snyder, nice work. Glad to see not everyone spent the summer hunting pussy and goofing off."

"Thanks, coach. I didn't spend one minute hunting pussy this summer." Matt tries to keep a straight face but fails. His coach blushes. Liam, gathering up towels and equipment, shakes his head. He's been impressed. Matt had been back with the team for almost a week and coach was happy to have Liam as an unpaid assistant. The fact that Liam knew swimming and was nearly as good at spotting errors as he was only sweetened the deal. Matt has been, for him, amazingly circumspect, meaning only the most dunderheaded had failed to spot that he and Liam were a couple.

"Still full of vim and vigor are we Mr. SynderSnyder? Excellent. Another 200 meters." He pauses. "Freestyle, butterfly, breast, and back." He pauses again. "200 meters each." He turns, then turns back. "Don't drown. You might be turn out to be halfway decent this year." This time when he turns from the pool, he doesn't turn back. Matt, with a smile, flips the bird at his coach's back and begins his laps. "The rest of you student athletes, and I use both parts of that phrase loosely, hit the showers. If I have not signed off on your course schedule, get it to me by the end of the week or you'll be suspended and I'll be mightily pissed off. Got it? Bigland, where the hell are you? Let's look at the times you clocked." He takes a seat on the bench and waves at Liam and the two paid assistants to join him. They cluster together around the coach and look over the various times for each of the swimmers and for each stroke and distance, including the splits. He's impressed at that detail of Liam's records. "Who's underperforming?" Liam points to a name.

"If he worked on his turns he could shave a second, maybe more. Don't you think?" He looks at one of the assistants, who nods. He points to another name. "Same, his turns suck." He points again. "I'm not sure about this one. His breast stroke times are way below the others."

"Maybe that's just not his stroke."

"Sure, but why is it so bad compared to the others? I'll watch him closer next time."

One of the assistant coaches speaks up. "Liam's right. It's the kick. His knees are too close when he's pulling his legs forward and he's kicking down almost as much as he's kicking back. I'll talk to him about it." He glances at Liam. "Nice pick up, kid."

The coach turns to his other assistant, who nods. "The kid's right about the turns as well on the other two. I didn't see any other glaring technical errors, though some of these kids are out of their league."

The coach nods. "We'll give 'em a little more time; we can afford it. Thanks, everyone." They start to move off. "Bigland, give me a minute." Liam returns to the bench. "Everything alright, I mean back in the locker room? Any problems?"

"No, sir," he answers, understanding the coach's question. He's telling the truth. He's not heard any whispered comments.

"Good. If you do, don't deal with it yourself. Understand? Bring it to me. Got it?"

"Yes, sir."

"Nice work and I don't just mean with tracking the times; I mean dealing with the swimmers, some of whom aren't as good as you, and with the other coaches." The coach scowls but it's with a smile. "Now fuck off."

***

Glenna looks at the small black and white photo Kate handed her for a moment. Her face breaks into a smile. Kate nods when she looks up. Glenna digs in her purse and pulls out a similar photo.

Leon offers Roy his hand. "Congratulations."

"Thanks." Roy shakes. His smile fades. "I'm scared shitless, man."

Leon offers him a smile. "Welcome to the club, Roy."

The two women grab hands and start prancing and squealing. They look so much like a couple of middle-school girls after a game winning touchdown that the two men begin to laugh.

"Kate, we should do a joint baby shower. What about it?"

"Absolutely. I had the same idea but didn't want to make you feel forced into something."

They head inside, leaving Roy and Leon standing on the carport.

"Beer?"

"Sounds, good."

Leon follows him into the house. Smiling as the two women go over, in detail, their OB check-ups.

***

"I need to ask you something?"

Randy sets his beer down. They're both covered in dust, except around their eyes and mouths where the goggles and mask had sat on their faces. They've finished sanding the seams of the drywall in the new bathroom addition. Glenna insisted they do the small cabin Liam and Matt 'rented' over the summer first, so it would be ready for them over the holiday breaks. They'd winterized the plumbing. They couldn't do much insulating of the log walls but they had added insulation in the attic space. They'd use film covers for the windows. If they got enough winter business, then they'd upgrade the windows.

"Sounds serious?" he observes.

"It is." It's unlike Kent to be hesitant. It makes Randy uneasy. "I've been thinking about what you said about a surrogate."

"Really? You haven't mentioned it since."

"I know. I was trying to figure out how that idea meshed with us. Was it something I should decide on my own, together. If you didn't want to be part of that, did I want to go ahead on my own. It's been a lot to think about." He pauses. "There's another thing."

"Such as."

"I have Brad's sperm, frozen. He gave several samples and had them stored before he started chemo."

"And you want to use his sperm?" Kent nods. "I assumed you'd use your own," Randy says before taking a sip of his beer.

"I know. So, did I. Using Brad's seemed just too weird." Kent says and picks at the label on his beer bottle. "But the idea kept popping into my head. I thought about his parents. They might not accept the kid as their grandchild, I understand that. I've been trying to reconstruct how important Brad thought a kid was and the answer is not much, except he left his sperm. I didn't know about it until after he died. It was in his will."

"I, Brad leave Kent my sperm. That kind of thing?"

Kent gives a rueful smile. "There was more legalese involved but yeah, that's the gist of it."

"So, you said you've been thinking about what you'd do if I decided I didn't want to be a part of this. What did you decide?"

"I'm not entirely sure. I did decide that I want to do this. Do I want it bad enough to walk away from us to get it? That's much harder."

"Would you want it to be our child or your child?"

"Our child," Kent answers without hesitation. "Our child, of course."

"Let's do it, then."

Kent looks stunned. "Really?"

"Really. Why not? If you and Brad had had children, it wouldn't have made a difference to me. If you decided you wanted to adopt, I'd be okay with that. Why not? Have you looked into surrogates?"

"Only in the most superficial way." He looks at Randy. "You're really okay with this?"

"I'm really okay with this." He smiles. "In fact, I love the idea."

Kent's face breaks into a smile broad enough to melt Satan's heart. "Shall we put the shower surround in before we call it a day?"

Randy nods and drains his beer before standing.

***

"What? You're kidding?" Glenna asks, leaning against the snack bar counter. She smiles. "Sure, I'll ask. I don't know if Dr. Ramirez does that sort of thing but I'm guessing she does. I know they have a fertility clinic as part of the practice. I'm guessing they work with surrogates. If they don't, I'm sure she can give me some names for you." She leans over and hugs Kent. "This is so wonderful. Wow."

"Thanks," Kent manages to mutter. Glenna and Randy look away and give him some space.

Back near the grill, Rosalita catches Mary Beth's eye. Mary Beth stares, confused. Rosalita nods toward Kent, raises her eyebrows. Mary Beth's eyes go wide. She smiles and shrugs.

"Mr. Kent?"

Kent looks past Glenna.

"Are you saying you're looking for someone to be a momma for you?"

***

When Liam walks in, Matt is sitting at the breakfast table, a stack of papers in front of him and a frown on his face. The frown slides off his face when Liam bends over for a kiss.

"Don't touch me. I feel gross. Let me go shower and change first."

"Sure, suppers ready when you are."

Liam nods at the papers. "Any Hemingway's, David Foster Wallace's or Morrison's in there?"

"I'd settle for complete sentences at this point."

"That bad?"

"Almost," Matt shakes his head. "No, it's not. There's some bright kids in this class and some of their ideas are clever and imaginative. They just need help with the packaging."

"That's the spirit, Dr. Snyder."

"Nobody calls me that, even 'professor' sounds weird. Besides I'm only an associate professor."

"Not for long, baby. Get that next book proofed and to the presses. Work. Work. Work."

"Slave driver. I should..."

What Matt thought he should do was lost in two high-pitched squeals of, "daddy!".

"Hang on, you two. Daddy's wearing his nasty old scrubs. I got plenty of kisses for ya but no hugs until after I take a shower and change. Deal?"

"Deal. Deal," they squeal.

"Me, first," the slightly smaller, blonde haired little girl insists.

Matt frowns at his daughter. "Josie, does that sound fair to you? Always being first?"

"Uh-huh, I'm the littlest and I'm your baby girl."

"Yes, but Jeff is only a year and a half older and he's our baby boy."

"It's okay," the solemn dark-haired boy interrupts. "Are grandpa Randy and Kent coming this weekend for birthdays," he asks.

"That they are, kiddo," Liam tells him, kissing him on the cheek, having already given in to Josie's demand to be first.

"And Brad? Will Brad come, too?" Josie asks, clasping her hands and jumping up and down. For a soon-to-be three-year old she has a major crush on her fourteen-year old cousin.

"Yes, Brad will be here for your birthday and my birthday. So will grandma Mary, Rosalita, Fernando, uncle Leon, aunt Glenna, and William. Roy, Kate, Megan, Jill, and Carl are gonna call to wish us happy birthday. It was too far to come all the way from Colorado. We'll see them at Christmas, though, for sure."

Josie considers this, then nods.

"We'll all be together for Christmas?"

"Yes, kiddo, we'll all be together for Christmas."

Liam straightens up. His back pops. He frowns. How the fuck can he be turning thirty-six? He kisses Matt on the forehead again and walks down the hall.

He's whistling softly when he opens the door to the bedroom. He's anxious to ask his dad about his latest show. Randy had taken a lot of grief over some of his short videos and erotic photos but he seems to have weathered the storm. He wants to ask Kent how he's enjoying retirement. He wants to watch his daughter torment Fernando and Brad for attention and feel good about how gently they handle her feelings. He wants to smile as Rosalita bosses his mom around. Plus, he wants to know if the rumors in the paper about her and Glenna selling the bakery business are true and if Leon and Glenna are really considering opening a restaurant in Pittsburgh.

He has a lot to catch up on.

He touches his fingertips to his lips, then to his heart and then holds them high. He's not sure if there's anyone there but if there is, he wants him, or her, to know he's grateful.

He steps out of his scrubs, puts them in the hamper and turns on the shower.

He's still whistling as he steps under the warm water.