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Neil was closing the trunk, his duffel on his shoulder and another backpack at his feet, when heavy footsteps made him aware of another person approaching. Turning around, he found himself face to face, or in his case, face to chest, with Wymack.
“Hey, kiddo!” his old coach said, clapping Neil on the back and smiling at him.
“Coach, thank you so much for doing this! I could take him with me, but I know he would be bored out of his mind as soon as I started talking, and Andrew still has that goalies interview…” Neil was talking, when a younger voice interrupted him.
“I could have stayed home.”
Neil and Wymack looked at Luke. The boy was rising from inside the car, an annoyed expression on his face, while stretching the kinks from his back.
“You are eleven, Luke. I won’t leave you alone in a completely different state.” Neil replied, ignoring the pouting.
Wymack wondered, for a second, if he should mention that Neil, as a kid and a teenager, was left in much more dangerous situations, but knowing it would only ignite the demanding strike of Luke, chose wisely and remained silent.
“The cats were left alone!” Luke kept going and Wymack had to release a gruff chuckle. Luke turned on him with a betrayed expression.
“Look, kid, if Neil and Andrew were more worried about the cats than you, I would be seriously pissed off.” Wymack rebutted and Luke crossed his arms in front of his chest. “Now, come on, don’t be a brat. Abby has some pie waiting for us and you can even play on the court.” As soon as the word court left Wymack’s lips, Luke immediately changed his demeanor. He uncrossed his arms, rose his head and looked between Wymack and Neil, like he was waiting for one of them to yell “April’s fool day!”
“Really, dad?” Luke asked and Neil smiled at him.
“Why do you think I didn’t want to leave you with one of my teammates?” Neil knew how much Luke liked his and Andrew’s team, and, more than once, during the week, the boy asked to be left with one of them. “Or that Andrew didn’t take you with him to the interview?”
“It was supposed to be a surprise…” Neil sighed, and before he could utter another word, his middle was being engulfed by two strong arms.
Luke knew he could never have done something like this to Andrew, but with Neil, his limits were less defined in stuff like this, even prompting displays of affection from the boy. Andrew blamed Matt and Nicky more than once for that developing streak.
Being the middle of December, the Foxhole Court was free from pesky players, all of them finishing finals and getting ready for the holiday season, and so, Luke could play to his heart content.
“This is the best Christmas present ever!” Luke announced and Neil chuckled.
“Good, so I can give your presents to the neighbors’ kids.”
Luke rolled his eyes at Neil, with such an Andrew-expression, that Wymack felt his heart warm inside his chest. There it was, a real proof of how much his players influenced someone’s life in a daily basis, and it made Wymack all the prouder for seeing such a sight.
“I’m going to finish my presentation at four, hopefully, and I will meet you in the court as soon as I can.” Neil said, making sure he had his computer inside the duffel and all his notes. “And here I was, hoping that I would never need to present something in a classroom.”
Luke chuckled under his breath, while grabbing his backpack. He spent the last couple of weeks seeing his father work on his presentation, after Palmetto’s Director asked him to speak in front of the students in the last week of school. It was supposed to be about the importance of overcoming difficulty and finding the right path. Andrew had scoffed at Neil when he read the presentation over the striker’s shoulder, but Luke had caught his old man correcting some grammar mistakes, that with all the languages Neil spoke he tended to make. Both adults knew how important it was to show kids in need that there were people out there that could help them, and since Neil and Andrew helped some foundations, Neil wanted to promote the work those professionals did and maybe get more money to improve the conditions of work and care.
“You are going to be great, dad.” Luke said, squeezing Neil’s hand, feeling immensely proud of his dad.
“Go dazzle them, kid!” Wymack said, quickly hugging Neil.
Neil waved at both of them and walked towards the school, while Wymack and Luke moved to the coach’s car.
“Can’t we stay here and play the entire time?” Luke asked, when Wymack unlocked the car. His eyes were glued to the Foxhole Court, and Wymack chuckled. For all the difference in their blue, one icy, the other dark, Neil’s eyes and Luke’s were incredibly similar when looking at the building. He wondered how Andrew stood living with these two.
“Well, if you want to disappoint Abby, that cooked an entire lunch for you and got the best pie of the state, be my guest.” Wymack said and Luke sighed.
“Fine, just because it’s Abby.” Luke replied, already planning to demolish the entire dessert in less than 1 minute.
Wymack was silent during the ride, and Luke thought of Andrew and how their silences, when they were together alone, were never awkward. With Wymack, Luke didn’t have the same familiarity, but still there was some calm to be felt, knowing that this man was a positive father figure to his parents, uncles and aunts. That if it wasn’t for him, his life as a consequence would be very different.
When they parked in front of the homely house, Luke jumped from the car, his nose on the air, as if he could smell the promised pie. The door opened as soon as he closed the car door, and Abby came running towards them, to hug Luke and make sure everything was okay with him. Luke knew it was stronger than her to always make sure kids with rough pasts were the happiest and healthiest they could be at the moment.
“You look more and more like your parents!” Abby gushed and Wymack laughed. She turned to him, with her hands on her hips. “You know what I meant. It’s beautiful to see the effect Neil and Andrew have on you.” and Luke saw her eyes turning a bit misty. To diffuse her emotional side, Luke chuckled.
“Abby, you should say they are lucky I influence them. They became much more cooler since they were blessed with my presence in their lives.”
Abby opened her mouth, surprised. Luke was unsure why at first, but then realized it was the first time he made a joke about his adoption in front of her, since the only other time they met face to face he was still a bit on the fence with his whole new life and everyone that came attached with it.
“Are you sure he is Andrew’s and Neil’s? Because that was such an Allison thing to say, that I could almost see blond hair trailing after him.” Wymack replied, walking toward the front door.
Luke and Abby started following him, while Luke kept going on his tirade.
“Actually, Aunt Allison said the same thing you did, so maybe, you take after her as well...” Luke chuckled and Wymack grumbled under his breath about brats and their nonsense.
As soon as Luke entered the house, his attention was on the pie that he could smell from the entryway. He followed Abby, that smiled softly at his reaction, and would only have stopped in the kitchen, if something on the wall didn’t grab his attention. Decorating the house wall, were at least fifteen photo frames with people familiar to Luke.
“Are these...?” he pointed at the wall, grabbing the adults’ attention.
“Oh, those are the photos from your parents’ years on the Foxes, yes.” Abby replied, walking back to stand next to Luke.
“I saw the ones on the wall at the stadium, but I didn’t know there were more.” Luke could see that these ones were more private, stolen moments away from Championship victories and public parties. He could see pics that were clearly taken in this house, some that appeared to be taken in dormitories and one that was definitely taken in an airport. And it was this last one that made Luke turn to Wymack, that joined them, on the other side of Abby.
“Do you believe that even after this picture was taken, the majority of the team couldn’t realize your parents were completely devoted to each other?” Wymack asked, a reminiscent light in his eyes. “Idiots...” but it was said with such affection, that Luke could taste the love this man had for those kids, even after all these years.
Wymack, Abby and Betsy were talked about enough times at his house, that Luke could say he almost knew them all his life. He knew how important those three adults were in his parents’ lives, how they were essential in so many kids’ lives and their survival, and if he was now luck to live with Neil and Andrew, he couldn’t forget there were many kids that didn’t have the same opportunity at a good life, until Wymack saw potential in what others only saw a rebel or a criminal or a good for nothing person.
Luke perused the rest of the pictures with even more attention. He could see the change in his old man’s demeanour, with the time, especially when his dad was present, and he would totally make fun of his uncles and aunts next time he saw them because it was so obvious that Andrew Minyard was a complete different person after Neil Josten started appearing next to him.
Obviously, Luke knew how ridiculously in love his parents were, but seeing a picture of Andrew pre-Neil and after Neil was such a jarring juxtaposition that he felt his stomach jump a little. And the two people next to him, with the help of Betsy, were the ones he had to thank for his parents’ present happiness and his own healthy, safe and happy life. Because those traumatized kids would have been neglected by society just because they didn’t fit the molds people conceived in their sheltered minds. They would probably be dead now... it was the first time Luke had that thought, and he had difficulty swallowing the lump in his throat at the mere idea of his dad and old man dead.
“Thank you” Luke said, looking at Abby and Wymack. The two adults looked back, surprised and confused. “For helping my parents when no one else would.” He didn’t have to say that he felt grateful for the kind of life he had now, but he hoped it was clearly. And if Abby’s big smile and Wymack’s slightly rosy cheeks were any indication, his unsaid words were loud and clear.
“Now, let’s have some pie!”