22

All of Last Chance seemed to be humming with anticipation as homecoming weekend approached. Black and gold was everywhere. Rita had officially proclaimed the Saturday of the game “Puma Pride Saturday,” although how exactly that was to be realized was still unclear. Two pretty girls in black-and-gold cheerleader uniforms had even appeared in Jess’s office soliciting her support for the big day. For a sum, she could have a congratulatory message printed in the program, and her choice of “Go Pumas,” “Get ’em, Pumas,” or “Pumas Forever” stenciled on her front window. They even promised to come back and wash the window by Monday afternoon. What could she say? She chose “Get ’em, Pumas,” even springing for the optional snarling puma face stenciled under the slogan. The only person she hadn’t seen was Andy.

She had seen him a time or two in the last two weeks, but it was only briefly and in passing. Perhaps he was completely occupied with his team, or maybe he was feeling his father’s loss more than he thought he would. Or, though she hated to consider this possibility, maybe the things she had said about football had just cut too deep and caused too much damage. At any rate, taking her to any homecoming event had not been mentioned again. Lainie and Ray had invited her to go to the bonfire with them, but even though she was beginning to realize how much she had been looking forward to going with Andy, tagging along like a third wheel with Lainie and Ray was decidedly not an option.

Friday evening, when she would have been getting ready for the bonfire, Jess was padding barefooted around her kitchen in yoga pants and her Beat Stanford T-shirt, looking for something to eat and feeling very sorry for herself. Heading back to her living room with a bowl of cold pasta, Jess stopped as she passed the front window. That was Andy’s truck, and it was pulling up to her curb, and while she was considering whether to run for her room to clean up some, or stash her pasta back in the kitchen, or just stand there wondering what was going on, he got out and walked to her front door holding a large plastic box at his side the way he’d carry a football.

“What are you doing here?” Jess opened the door before he could knock. She couldn’t help admiring the effect Andy presented standing on her porch in dark jeans and a white shirt with its collar peeking from a black sweatshirt adorned with a gold snarling puma and the words “LCHS Football” embroidered over the heart. Even if it did make her feel even sloppier than she did before.

“I’m here to pick you up. The bonfire starts when it gets dark, remember?”

“The bonfire? But we broke that off, don’t you remember?”

He considered. “Nope. Can’t say I do. All I remember is you saying you’d go to all the homecoming events with me, and so I’ve come to fetch you to the bonfire.”

Jess stared at him. Was he serious? He could say the most outrageous things with an absolutely straight face. But turning up to take her on a date she had very clearly broken was a stretch, even for him. Finally, he broke the silence.

“Look. I know we got off to a bad start.” He stopped and blew out a sigh before starting over. “No, actually, we got off to a really good start. Things just got bad in the middle there, and I take all the blame. You are an amazing, caring, wonderful woman, and I’m so glad you came to Last Chance. And despite everything I claimed, I guess I was kind of bugged that you weren’t impressed by me. And that’s really hard for me to admit. So can we go back to the beginning? Would you be my homecoming date?”

She just looked up at him for a moment before her smile broke through. “I’d love to go to homecoming with you.”

“Then here.” He handed her a clear plastic corsage box in which a gold chrysanthemum nestled in a mass of curling black ribbon. It had a black “LC” made of pipe cleaner in the center, and it had to have been the size of a salad plate.

“What’s this?” She carefully opened the shell and sniffed at the flower.

“It’s a corsage, of course, and a staple of homecomings everywhere. I brought it to you tonight because tomorrow I won’t see you until after the game.”

“Pretty sure of yourself, weren’t you?”

“What can I say? I had to be confident. If you didn’t say yes, I was going to look like the biggest fool in Last Chance, getting all dressed up and turning up with my flower.” He grinned. “You want me to help you pin it on? With that gold Beat Stanford on your shirt, it ought to go pretty good.”

“I’m not wearing this shirt anywhere.” Jess backed away. “What are you thinking?”

“No? Well, you’d better go change then. We want to get there well before it gets dark.”

Jess hesitated. She had agreed to go to the bonfire, yes, but that didn’t mean she was going to jump through hoops to do it. If he could turn up at the last minute that sure that she’d go with him, he could just cool his heels until she was good and ready to go. She opened her mouth to tell him so, but for once an impulsive side she didn’t even know she had told the do-it-my-way side to sit down and shut up. She handed the corsage back to Andy.

“Give me five minutes. I’ll be right back.”

Andy was waiting where she left him when she came back.

“Is this okay?” Jess was wearing black flats, black slacks, and a soft, black V-necked sweater. “I’ve never been to a bonfire.”

He stood back for a better look and smiled as he handed her the corsage again. “You look amazing. I’ll be the most envied guy there.”

“I wear this? Like on my coat or something?”

“That’s the idea. Except at the dance. There you wear it on your dress, of course.”

“Oh, the dance. I forgot about the dance. So I wear it on my dress too? Well, thank you.” Jess tried to sound enthusiastic. “You know, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a corsage quite this big.”

“Oh, this one is small, comparatively speaking. There are places where, what with streamers and other stuff, the corsage pretty much takes over the whole girl. They look like walking Rose Bowl Parade floats.”

Jess laughed out loud. “I love it. Who knew so much was going on outside the lab? So I wear it tonight?”

“No, just at the game and the dance. I was just kidding about pinning it to your T-shirt.”

“Okay, then I’ll go put this in the refrigerator so it stays fresh. Gotta say, though, you sure seem to know a whole lot about this process.”

“This isn’t my first homecoming, you know.” Andy followed her into the kitchen. “I’ve bought my share of mums.”

“I’ll just bet you have.” Jess had to move some things around in her refrigerator to make room for the enormous box.

“I was even homecoming king.”

“Wow!”

“Twice.”

“Do they even do that? I mean, let you run for king after you’ve already won once?” Jess picked up a gold cashmere scarf she had brought with her from her bedroom and knotted it around her throat.

“I didn’t run. They wrote me in. It was the first time it had ever happened, and they changed the rules after that: no write-in vote for a former homecoming king or queen will be counted.”

“And you caused the rule change? There is just no end to your accomplishments, is there?”

“I’m telling you, you don’t even know the half of it.”

Jess laughed again and took a black pea coat from her closet. “I think we should go now. If your head gets any bigger, it’s not going to fit through the door.”

Andy took the coat from her and held it while she slipped her arms into the sleeves, and when she turned around and smiled up at him, the bantering tone completely disappeared from his voice. “You do look amazing.” His hand barely brushed against her face as he touched her hair. “You will be, hands down, the most beautiful woman at the bonfire. You’d be the most beautiful woman anywhere we went.” He bent down and brushed her lips with a light kiss.

“Okay, be honest.” Jess looked up at him, wondering that she felt so unsettled by so gentle a kiss. “What were you thinking when you came by tonight? Did you really forget? Were you winging it? What?”

He opened the door and she walked out before him. “Not really winging it. Just hoping a bluff would work. I remembered on some level that you said you weren’t going to come with me, but it wasn’t till today that I realized I had never straightened things out with you, so I just decided to proceed as if I had. And just so you’ll feel better? I did not know until you told me whether my bluff had a chance.”

“Well, now you know.” She locked her door and took his arm as they walked to his truck at the curb. “And that was even before I knew you were the only two-term homecoming king in the history of Last Chance High.”

The first thing Jess noticed when she got out of the truck Andy parked in a vacant field behind the high school was the aroma of frying onions. The second was all the people. She had thought this a high school event, but clearly it was much more. It was truly Last Chance coming home. Young couples pushing strollers, older folks holding hands as they strolled through the early evening, families more or less keeping track of their kids as they stopped to talk to friends, knowing that wherever their kids wound up and whatever they did, they were in sight of someone who knew them well. And everywhere she looked were the letterman’s jackets. The oldest one she saw had a ’57 on the sleeve and was worn by a wiry man with a shock of white hair munching on a cupcake, and the newest, with shiny, unscuffed leather sleeves, were on members of this year’s team.

“Where’s your jacket?” Jess cocked her head and looked up at him. “I think you’re about the only guy here without one.”

“At home. I don’t wear it much anymore, I guess.” Andy shrugged. “I played on some great teams here at Last Chance, but it’s the playing I like to think about, and the guys who played with me. I don’t need to wear the trophy.”

Jess looked around. “I think you’re a minority of one.”

“Maybe.” Andy slipped an arm around her shoulders as they made their way through the crowd. “And if I hadn’t had the opportunity to play beyond high school, I’d probably never take the jacket off. When they talk about the Glory Days, it’s a lot more than winning all those games. It’s a time in your life when you’re young and the world is in your hand. Putting that jacket on gives you back a little of that feeling, even if it’s only for a night.”

“Don’t you think that’s a little sad? Living in the past like that?”

“Nah. They’re not living in the past. Look at them.” He pointed to a couple men who, judging from the numbers on their sleeves, were probably in their mid-thirties, laughing and talking. One rested his hand on the shoulder of a boy leaning against him. “They’ve got families, jobs, lives to live. They might not even live in Last Chance anymore. But at homecoming, they’re here remembering. And there’s nothing wrong with that.”

“I guess not. It’s just a different way of looking at things than I’m used to. I’ve always had to make sure I was ready for what came next. I can’t think of one thing in my past that I wish I could go relive. It was hard to get here, and I’m just glad I made it.”

“You have every right to be, but you know, that’s what makes me sad. Thinking of all you’ve missed working toward your future. This is your very first homecoming, for crying out loud. And you just watched your first football game. That’s just depressing.”

Jess knew Andy was teasing her—sort of—but his comment put her a little out of sorts anyway. Truth be told, she was much more accustomed to being admired for her life choices than pitied. She walked in silence next to Andy until he gave her shoulders a little shake.

“Come on. I know how hard you’ve worked, and the sacrifices you had to make to get where you are, but admit it. Isn’t your life a little richer now that you’ve enlarged it? Look around! These folks are having a great time, and be honest, aren’t you having a great time too?”

Jess did look around, and to be honest, she was having a great time, but she didn’t particularly feel like telling Andy he was right, so she shrugged. “Maybe.”

He laughed. “You are something else, you know that? But I know what will fix you right up.”

“Oh, what’s that?”

“A foot-long hot dog.”

“A what?” That was the last thing Jess expected to hear. “Why would I want that?”

“Because they’re great, that’s why, and because the Boosters sell them to support the team, and because that’s what you eat at the bonfire. Doesn’t the smell of those onions just make your mouth water?”

“Um, not so much.”

“Well, come on anyway. There’s a whole row of food booths out behind the school, and every club and organization in the whole school has one going, except those running the bouncy house or the pony rides. We’re bound to find something you like, and besides, it’s your civic duty to support your high school. This is everyone’s big fund-raiser of the year.”

“Since you put it that way, maybe I should see what they’ve got. What about salads? Do you think I might find a nice fresh salad?”

“Probably not, but I bet I could score you a funnel cake.”

“Practically the same thing.”

The walk they took across campus was slow and interrupted often by people who had seen Andy play at Last Chance High years ago and wanted to shake his hand, or who had seen him coach and had observations or even advice that they wanted to share. Andy stopped to speak to each as if they were the one person he had hoped to run into, always drawing Jess into the conversation and introducing her to whoever had stopped them. And when they parted, it was always in the same manner: a handshake, a slap on the shoulder, and a question. “So, are we gonna take ’em tomorrow, Coach?”

Andy always responded the same way. “That’s the plan. You going to be there to support the team?”

“Wouldn’t miss it.” And with a wave of the hand and a nod to Jess, another fan of Last Chance football slipped away in the crowd.

“You know, I’m beginning to understand how you managed to be elected homecoming king twice.” Jess bumped him with her shoulder as he took her hand. “I bet if they hadn’t implemented that term limit rule, you could get it today.”

“And you don’t think that would be sad?” Andy’s eyebrow rose as he looked down at her.

Jess laughed. “Maybe just a little. But everyone seems genuinely glad to see you, and when you introduce me and tell them I’m the new doctor, well, they seem glad to see me too. Rita does the exact same thing, and they get this panicky look on their face, like they’re afraid she’s going to break their leg or something to make sure I have some patients.”

“Speaking of whom, mayor incoming at 2:00.”

“There you are, Andy. Evening, Jess.” Rita tossed a quick greeting and smile Jess’s way before focusing her attention on the new coach. “I’ve been looking for you. I might need for you to talk to someone here in a little bit. Do you have your phone with you, in case I can’t find you?”

“Okay, Rita, what’s up?” Andy cocked his head. “I know for a fact that this bonfire is a Last Chance High event. Always has been. So who is it that I might have to talk to? And why do I need to talk to them?”

“Oh, well, I contacted a few sports editors—Albuquerque, Las Cruces, and Tucson, of course, since you played there—and told them about homecoming and the fact this is your first homecoming since you came home to Last Chance. I thought it would make a good story, and they seemed to think so too. None of them promised, but they did say they’d see what they could do about getting someone down here to cover it. And I need to find you if they do show up.”

Andy opened his mouth and closed it again. “Sure, Rita. I’ve got my phone on me. Just give me a call.”

Rita gave one sharp nod. “Good. I’m going to go wait by the driveway so I can see them when they get here.”

Jess watched her head out at a brisk pace. “Do you think the editors will show up?”

“I doubt it. That’s a long way to come to interview a high school football coach, especially of a school this size. But that’s Rita, bless her, and why I didn’t argue with her. She truly believes that Last Chance is the best-kept secret in New Mexico, and all it needs is a little more publicity.”

“I have to say I agree with her, though maybe not that it needs more publicity. I happen to think it’s a pretty special place just the way it is, and I’m so glad that it’s my home now.”

“Me too.” Andy brushed away a curl that had found its way to her cheek.

“Andy! I haven’t seen you since you got home. Glad you’re back.” A tall man in a blazer, an open-necked shirt and possibly the only salon-styled haircut Jess had seen on a man since she arrived in Last Chance grabbed Andy’s shoulder and extended his hand.

“Greg Anderson!” Andy looked truly pleased to see him. “And Sue! This must be your little girl?”

His forehead furrowed as he looked down, because Emma was sobbing inconsolably.

Greg rolled his eyes, and his smile grew tight. “Yes, this is Emma. Sorry about the hysterics, but she put too much catsup on her hot dog, and big surprise, it dripped all over her dress. Come on, Emma, pull it together. Everyone’s looking at you. Just don’t be so careless next time.”

Emma gasped for breath through her sobs. “I’m sorry. I’m trying. I just can’t stop.”

Sue Anderson pulled her daughter to her and put her arm around Emma’s shoulder. Emma still sobbed. “Greg, I think I need to take Emma home, or at least out to the car for a while so she can calm down.”

“All right.” Greg was visibly annoyed as he looked from his wife to his weeping daughter, and Jess could tell there was so much more he’d like to say. “Just call me when you decide what you’re going to do.”

“Okay, I will.” Sue wore a determined smile as she turned to Andy and Jess. “Andy, I can’t tell you how nice it was seeing you this evening. All the best on the game tomorrow. And Dr. MacLeod, nice seeing you too. I’m sure we’ll see each other again.” She held Jess’s gaze a long moment, and Jess mentally pumped a fist. Yes! Hang in there, Emma. Help is on the way!

Greg turned back to Andy and Jess with a short laugh after they left. “I’m sorry you got treated to that display. My law practice keeps me in Tucson during the week, and with only females in the house at home, I have a feeling it’s all drama, all the time.”

Jess didn’t say anything, but Andy still looked concerned. “Are you sure she’s okay?”

“Oh, I’m sure she’ll be fine. Most of the time, Emma’s a perfect little princess, but when the slightest thing does go wrong, this is what I deal with.” His smile broadened but still looked a little forced to Jess as he reached for Andy’s hand again. “Andy, it was great to see you again. So glad you’re back in town. Sometime when I’m home, we’ll have to get together and relive old times. And nice meeting you too . . .”

“Jess.” She gave her name as she took the hand he offered. “Thank you.”

Greg adjusted the lapels of his blazer, patted his hair, and moved off. Andy turned back to Jess. “That was one unhappy little girl! Did spilling something on your dress make you that upset when you were little?”

“Um, short answer? No. Of course, that would have entailed me actually wearing a dress, and that didn’t happen very often—and never around catsup.”

“Come on.” Andy put his arm around her shoulders and looked at the sky. “It’s nearly dark, and they’ll be lighting the bonfire soon. We need to get something to eat. If anyone tries to stop us, we’ll just link arms and bowl them over. Agreed?”

“Agreed.”

They walked around the corner of the school building and found the food booths. Some, like the Boosters’ hot dog stand, looked nearly professional; others, like the German Club bake sale, were nothing more than two card tables pushed together, covered with a length of butcher paper, and stacked with cookies, cupcakes, and brownies.

“This is more like it.” Andy looked around in satisfaction. “Wait right here. I’ll be right back.”

As Jess waited for Andy to return, she looked around. Picnic tables filled the area, most in groups under signs reading “60’s,” “70’s,” or “90’s.” Beyond the tables and beyond the borders of the school property, guarded by a fire truck from the San Ramon Fire Department, rose the mountain of wood and other flotsam and jetsam that would become the bonfire.

“Hey, look who’s here.” Jess turned to find the Cooley clan—Ray and Lainie, Steven and Kaitlyn with Olivia between them, and Sarah—all coming from the direction of the Boosters’ hot dog stand, although only Olivia and Steven had hot dogs.

“Should have known we’d find you here.” Steven took a huge bite of his hot dog and had to shift it to the corner of his mouth to continue talking. “I asked Andy if he wanted to come with us, and he gave a pretty evasive answer.”

“What’s evasive about ‘Thanks, but I’ve got other plans.’” Andy appeared with a funnel cake and handed it to Jess. “Here’s your salad.”

“Well, you didn’t say what your plans were.”

“Nope.”

“There you go, being evasive again.” Steven finished his hot dog in another bite.

“Where’s Chris?” The funnel cake, the first Jess had tasted, was really good. It could hold its own against a salad any day.

“Working, of course. The Dip ’n’ Dine won’t close for another half hour or so. And he didn’t really want to come anyway. He said after working for twelve hours, following me around and trying to look interested while I talked to people he’d never met just didn’t sound like all that much fun.” Sarah grinned. “Who knew?”

Out in the field, a siren sounded once, and people from everywhere began to make their way to the bonfire site.

Ray fell in alongside Andy. “I saw Rob Ellis a little while ago. He told me you had arranged for a scout from U of A to come see Zach play.”

“Zach’s a good man and an exceptional football player. I’m glad we could work something out. But all I can do is get someone here; the rest is up to him.”

“Well, I tell you what, Rob couldn’t say enough nice things about you. He said he was up all night last night putting together a highlight reel of Zach’s high school football career. You know he’s been filming every game Zach played in since he first put on a uniform.”

“Good. I’m sure that’ll be helpful.”

They arrived at the bonfire site and joined the others who had been gathering there. Steven hoisted Olivia to his shoulders. At first Jess stood at Andy’s side, still holding his hand, but as the crowds pressed in, he pulled her around in front of him, one arm around her waist, the other around her shoulders. She leaned against him and felt his breath by her hair.

When someone lit torches and they were buried in the wide base of the pile, Jess could feel the anticipation build around her. As the flames licked their way up through and finally out the top, the crowd seemed to take a deep breath and let it out in a collective sigh.

Jess leaned her head back against Andy’s shoulder and, closing her eyes, felt the warmth of his kiss touch her face. Last Chance was a good place to call home, and she was so thankful she was here. She smiled to think of how recently she would have called it a lucky choice, but even now she could hear Elizabeth chiding that luck had nothing to do with it. And Jess finally understood what that meant. She opened her eyes to watch a spark thrown from the flames circle high into the black sky before it finally disappeared.