Team Mom by Franklin White

She turned to look in the nearby mirror then said, “Baby, since you have known me I have never bragged about myself but I want you to listen to me.”
    He stepped in closer. “I’m listening.”
    â€œBaby, I look good in this dress, I swear I do.”

15
    At twenty-eight and raising a son all alone, Shonda Black didn’t have too many chances to travel to downtown Atlanta or up to Buckhead to see what they offered. She had never held a grudge about it, because she loved her son. At this point it didn’t matter, because she was painting the town now. She promised herself it would not be her first and last time.
    â€œDid you enjoy the room service?” Coach asked.
    Shonda moved farther down on the bed, enjoying the thread count. “You know I did,” she told him.
    He said, “We could have done Ruth’s Chris. . . . As a matter of fact, if you want to go over there for a drink, we can.”
    â€œUh-uh. I’m good right here in this bed, next to you, sipping on this wine and looking at the view of the city.”
    Coach asked Shonda if she was sure she was okay.
    â€œYes. Who would have thought yesterday that tonight I would be on club level at the InterContinental Hotel? You have outdone yourself, sir.”
    They were both looking out at the skyline. They had to be looking south, because they could see downtown Atlanta clearly.
    â€œI owe Jarques’s friend’s mother, Jackie, such a huge favor for letting Jarques stay over.”
    â€œYes, she helped to make this happen,” Coach replied.
    Shonda sat up a bit. “Wow. I just thought of something. Pretty soon he will be able to just stay at home alone if Mama wants to get away,” she mused. “Hell, college is knocking on the door, if you want to get technical.” She had some of her wine. “I hope he’s ready for all that.”
    Coach was looking directly at his beauty queen. “We talk to them about that all the time. It’s just not football with us. We are trying to get these young men to understand that going to college is the best choice in these times, and that’s if you’re playing football or not.”
    Shonda told Coach, “And that’s exactly why I brought him over to your team, because that is the word on the streets about you. The word is that you care.”
    â€œPeople say that about me?”
    â€œYou’re a legend, baby.” She began to laugh; then she returned to the topic at hand. “It’s just that since he was a little boy, I have tried to tell him that whatever he wants in life, he can get it if he works at it, but I have always wondered if those words would mean more coming from a man.”
    â€œI grew up with my mom,” Coach revealed.
    Shonda could see Coach go back into his memory bank. She would never forget how he looked after telling her about his wife and kids. That night, even through the darkness, his pain was so clear.
    Coach was looking back at the skyline now. “But my pops, he was always around, but not around. You know what I mean? Come in some days or . . . not. He wasn’t too talkative. Not one word about girls or what it meant to be a man. I think he thought that my seeing him every once in a while was good enough, because, you know, none of my friends had their dads, either.”
    â€œSo, you never heard those words coming out of a man’s mouth, either?”
    â€œNo.”
    â€œAnd you’ve done very well with your life. So it’s possible,” Shonda said, realization dawning.
    â€œSure it is.”
    Coach and Shonda sat looking at the city in silence.
    A few minutes later Coach said out of the blue, “Maybe we should tell J about us.”
    She turned to him, her wineglass still in her hand.
    Coach made himself clear. “I would like to tell your son about us. Then I can help you get the message to him about achievement and goals. You know, lead by example on a