Ever The Same

Week 38 - Stronger Than Me

You know I always thought I had to have the answers
Be her strength and take the lead
But when it comes to anything that really matters
She's stronger than me
——Stronger Than Me, Garth Brooks

Week Thirty-Eight
Your baby is as big as a mini watermelon

April 30, 2022

An early game meant that their whole schedule was off.  But Grayson wasn't complaining.  He wanted to get the hell out of New Orleans and back home.

He'd spoken to Cait three times the day before, assuring himself that she was okay and that Luke and Connor were taking care of her. The fact that Rae wasn't sure she'd be back right away had caused him no small amount of anxiety. But apparently Dameon Roberts had insisted on retaining his own counsel to negotiate his exit from the company and things had gotten protracted.

Before Grayson could call for the second time that morning, his phone rang as he was finishing up in the bathroom. He practically dove out the door, still in the process of pulling up his pants.

He grabbed the phone with one hand and quickly looked at the screen, breathing a small sigh of relief at the name. "Hey Coach," he managed, as he finally got his clothing arranged.

"G, how are you?" The voice of Mike Krzyzewski was always such a welcome sound. "I know you must be a little stressed right now. Thought maybe we should talk. Do you have time?"

"I do, Coach," Grayson managed. "I've got about twenty minutes."

"Good. So, take a deep breath and grab a seat. I'm worried about you, son."

*****

"G, win or lose, you're going to be okay.  Cait will be fine.  The babies will get here."  Grayson let Coach's voice soothe him.  They'd been talking for about fifteen minutes and Grayson had spilled his guts about how torn he felt. About how hard it had been to leave home the day before.  "The one named after me had better be a handsome son of a bitch or I'm gonna be pissed," Coach laughed.

Grayson couldn't help but laugh at that.  "How could he be anything but?" he giggled out.  "I mean, with my genes?"

"Great," Coach chuckled.  "The kid's gonna look like Ted Cruz."

"Ow!  Low blow, Coach," Grayson said in mock indignation.  "Y'know, plenty of people think I look like you."

"Then he'll be a handsome son of a bitch for sure," Mike snarked.  "Hopefully better looking than the one you named for Jack.  G," he paused and let both of them regain their composure, "you need to just focus on basketball right now.  When the game is over, you're gonna get home this evening.  And things will be okay.  There are going to be times you have to leave when one of them is sick or something.  And you won't want to do it.  But Cait can handle it.  She's tough.  No one is tougher than a mother."

"I know she is, Coach," Grayson whispered. 

"Everyone always thinks that the man is supposed to be the strong one," Coach told him.  "It's bullshit.  You're going to learn one thing for certain as you go through this process.  Our women are much stronger than we are, G.  And that's a good thing."

*****

"I can't believe we're married," Jackie said, looking at Justin.