The Lakeside Conspiracy (6 page)

CHAPTER 17

Once football season started, the days and weeks always flew by. It was already Thursday, the day before their second game. Thursday practices were just a quick walk-through. If the team wasn’t ready by then, no amount of practice the day before a game was going to help. Max was happy with the focus and enthusiasm. It had been a good practice.

At 4:55, he blew his whistle and pulled the team together at mid-field. He reminded them to get a good night’s sleep, to make sure their game shoes were shined and to get themselves ready to beat Siloam Springs the next night.

He also took a moment to remind them it was September 11
th
and that they enjoyed freedom to play football because others were sacrificing their lives to defend them.

“You guys were barely out of diapers when we were attacked,” he said. “Don’t take your freedom for granted. When you see a man or woman in uniform, you thank them for defending you. Understand?” They all nodded.

Max didn’t feel like cooking, so he made his usual stop at Feltner Brother’s. He planned to go through the drive-thru, but when he saw Dante’s mother coming out of the restaurant, he parked. He’d only talked with her briefly at the funeral. He got out of his truck just before she got in her car. “Ms. Jones,” he called.

She looked at him with a look Max could only describe as terror. It was as if she’d heard her name called and turned to see a zombie walking toward her. “Ms. Jones, it’s Coach Henry,” he said. “I saw you coming out of the restaurant. I just wanted to see how you were doing.”

“How I’m doin’?” she said. “My baby is dead is how I’m doin’, Mr. Henry,” she said as she opened the driver’s door and got in. “Just please leave me alone. I shouldn’t even be talkin’ to you.”

She got in the car, shut the door and wasted no time driving way. Max was left standing there trying to understand what had just happened. Why did she seem so scared to see him? As he walked into the restaurant, he wondered what she’d meant when she said she shouldn’t be talking to him. That didn’t sound like a grieving mother. That sounded like a grieving mother who was terrified of something. Or someone.

Max went inside and ordered his usual. Water though instead of tea. On his drive home, he couldn’t stop thinking about Michelle. He’d given her the space she asked for so he hadn’t tried to call or text her.

Maybe now was the time to reach out. The longer she was gone, the more he missed her. The more he needed her. The more he regretted how he’d abandoned her.

It was time to call her.

CHAPTER 18

After dinner with her parents on Thursday, Michelle went for a walk on the beach. It was a beautiful evening. The mid-September clouds were brilliant shades of orange, yellow, pink and purple. She walked south and looked out toward the horizon. Somewhere out in the south Atlantic off the coast of West Africa, she’d heard a tropical storm was forming. The odds of it hitting the east coast were low. For an area still trying to recover from Sandy, that was welcome news.

She was really missing Chris. After their dinner on Monday night, they’d gone out for coffee on Tuesday and a long walk on Wednesday. Chris had a commitment at school he couldn’t get out of otherwise they would have been together again tonight. He taught history at the older of the two high schools in Brick Township. The one where they’d first met.

Throughout the day, she found herself thinking more and more about him and less and less about Max. She felt guilty about that, but what was she supposed to do? She’d done all she could to rescue her marriage, but saving a marriage took two people. What was left to save anyway? Still though, she wished the nagging feelings of guilt would go away.

After a thirty-minute walk, she turned around and headed back toward the house. It was on the walk back she made the decision. She wasn’t going back to Arkansas. She felt a connection with Chris again. Being with him had kindled feelings that had been dormant for a long time. It felt so good to have a man actually take an interest in her. To genuinely care. Maybe she was never meant to marry Max.

Her phone buzzed. It was a text from Chris: “This meeting is SO boring! I wish I was with you!”

She replied, “Sorry!! I wish I was with you!!”

He sent another text, “Want to go to the football game tomorrow night? Brick is playing Toms River East.”

“I’d love to! I’ll meet you there.”

“It’s a date!”

“Can’t wait!!” she typed back.

CHAPTER 19

Max got home, turned on SportsCenter and watched while he ate his burger and onion rings. He told himself he’d call Michelle as soon as he was finished eating. The truth was that he was procrastinating. He felt as nervous as a high school kid calling a girl to ask her to the prom. Of course, today’s kids didn’t ask a girl to the prom over the phone. Now it was as complicated as asking a girl to get married.

After he finished his burger, he was in the mood for some dessert. He found some chocolate ice cream drumsticks in the freezer. Michelle knew he loved them and had gotten two boxes. They’d been in there for a month or so, but he had never opened them until tonight. That had probably made him seem ungrateful, which if he was being honest, was true.

That reminded him of something their pre-marital counselor had told them many years before. He had looked at both of them very carefully and said he was going to give them a formula for assessing their marital satisfaction.

He said it wasn’t complicated, but they should write it down anyway. Max remembered opening his notebook to a clean page, ready to copy down the formula.

The counselor said the condition of their marriage, whether it was good or bad, happy or sad, fulfilling or frustrating, would be determined by everything Max did and said plus everything Michelle did and said.

Max had written:

The condition of our marriage = everything I do and say + everything Michelle does and says.

Their counselor explained that promises, good intentions and plans that start tomorrow counted for nothing. What mattered was what they each actually did and said.

He hadn’t thanked Michelle for the ice cream. Or anything else she’d done for him over the past few years. Or for all the ways she had encouraged him and stuck by him. It wasn’t just a lack of appreciation. He’d failed to meet her needs and help her through the darkest season of their lives. He’d only been concerned about himself. His needs. His feelings. His anger. Sitting alone in his living room, he wondered how in the world he could have been so selfish for so long.

He picked up his phone and called Michelle. The butterflies were going crazy. It was ringing, but she wasn’t picking up. Just when he was ready for it to go to voice mail, he heard, “Hi, Max.”

“Oh, hey Shelle,” he said. “I wasn’t sure you were going to answer.”

“Well, actually I’d thought about not answering, but I was going to call you anyway.”

“You were?” Max said, suddenly feeling encouraged.

“Yeah, I went for a walk on the beach after dinner. I’ve been thinking a lot,” she said.

“Oh, okay,” he said, now feeling less encouraged by the tone in her voice.

“Max, there’s really no easy way to say this, but it shouldn’t be any great surprise to you…I’m not coming home,” she said.

Max felt like he’d just been punched in the stomach. He sat down. And then he felt it. The tightness. The darkness. The oppression that was so intense it felt like a physical presence with him.

“Max, did you hear me?”

Maybe she didn’t mean it the way he’d taken it. Maybe she only meant she was staying a few extra days. “Do you mean this week?” he said, hoping for the best, but fearing the worst.

“No,” she said. “I mean not ever.”

He closed his eyes. He tried to breathe. To stay calm. He wanted to think clearly and understand. Under no circumstances did he want to get angry. He wanted to respond well. He wanted to ask for another chance. But the lump in his throat prevented him from talking.

“Max, did you hear me?” she asked. “I’m not coming home. I’m staying here.” She paused a moment for a response, but Max didn’t speak. “This can’t be a surprise,” she said.

Max tried to speak, but could only manage a whisper, “I’m so sorry.”

“Me too,” she said. “I’ve gotta go now. I’ll call you soon to make arrangements.” She waited again for a response, then said, “Goodbye, Max.”

He sat on the sofa for several minutes. It was a bad dream. Only it wasn’t. This was real. Michelle wasn’t coming home.

“Everything I do and say plus everything Michelle does and says,” Max said softly. “No wonder she’s not coming home.”

He replayed the conversation in his mind. She was staying in New Jersey
.
He shouldn’t have been surprised. But he was.

In the distance, he heard a train whistle and pictured the tracks he had to drive over every day on the way to school. Once in awhile, the red lights would flash, the bell would ring and the gates would come down to block traffic while a train passed by blaring its horn.

You couldn’t miss the warning signs of an approaching train. Apparently though, it was possible to miss the warning signs of your marriage falling apart.

As he sat there trying to process what had just happened and fight off the darkness that was pressing in on him, three words suddenly popped into his head…

Don’t give up.

CHAPTER 20

It hadn’t been a good night of sleep. A thousand thoughts and images were swirling through his mind. He’d wake up with one thing on his mind and fall back to sleep with another. Never resolving anything. Every issue led to another. Questions didn’t have answers. Any answers he thought he had turned out to be wrong the more he thought about them.

Michelle was clear. She was done. She was not coming home. And he hadn’t seen it coming. And a week ago, he might not have even cared. But now he did. He just didn’t know what to do or who to even turn to for help. How many times had Michelle asked him to seek out someone to talk to? How many times had she pleaded with him to see a counselor?

Maybe there was no sense in talking to anyone at this point. It was probably too late. And then it hit him again, the thought he’d had the night before:
Don’t give up.
How many times had he spoken those very words to his players?

He tried to think of someone to talk to. And then he realized, there was no time to deal with any of this now. The Siloam Springs game kicked-off in thirteen hours. The buses were leaving the field house in nine hours.

His marriage would have to wait. But wasn’t that the kind of thinking that led to the problem? How many times had Michelle taken a back seat to football?

Maybe he should just resign. Quit football altogether. If it wasn’t too late to save his marriage, then giving up football was the least he could do. He’d offered to quit a week ago, but Michelle had said that wasn’t what she wanted. She knew he loved football.

He thought about what she’d said about not hiding behind football. That’s exactly what he’d done. Rather than face the pain head on, he’d suppressed it and thrown himself totally into coaching.

Before leaving the house, Max did something he hadn’t done in a long time. Something he’d swore he’d never do again. It wasn’t long. Or eloquent. But it was from his heart. He prayed,
“God, please help me.”

CHAPTER 21

Max looked at the clock. Siloam Springs was up 35-28 with just under two minutes left in the game. They were lined up to punt. Lakeside would get the ball back with enough time to score. With 1:48 showing on the clock, the Siloam Springs punter got off a high, wobbly kick. The Lakeside coaches were yelling at Joe Taylor to get away from the ball.

In the excitement of the moment, he didn’t hear them and tried to field the punt. It didn’t bounce off his helmet like the previous week; it just went right through his hands. At the very last second, he’d taken his eyes off the ball and saw two tacklers coming right at him. The ball ended up on the ground under a pile of players from both teams.

One by one, the officials pulled players off the pile to reach the bottom to find out who had recovered the ball. Both teams were pointing like they knew they had it. When it was down to just two guys, Joe jumped up with the ball in his hands. The referee signaled Lakeside had recovered and put the ball in play at their own 27-yard line with the clock showing 1:39 left.

There was plenty of time to score. Max listened as his offensive coordinator called the play and sent the offense out onto the field. The play was designed for the quarterback to roll to his right and throw a 15-yard pass to the receiver closest to the Lakeside sideline.

The center snapped the ball. The quarterback faked a run and then rolled to his right. The receiver ran a perfect route and the defender was playing a little too loose. When he made his break to the sideline, he was wide open and the pass was perfect. When the Siloam Springs defender tried to close and make the tackle, he took a bad angle. That allowed a 15-yard pass to become 29 yards as the receiver broke a couple more tackles.

The first down stopped the clock with 1:31 remaining. The official placed the ball at the Siloam Springs 44 yard line. Lakeside was at the line of scrimmage ready to run a play when the referee blew his whistle and motioned to the clock operator to start the game clock.

The ball was snapped with 1:26 left. The quarterback faked a screen pass to the left, then handed the ball to the tailback on a draw play. Siloam Springs had blitzed, so the ball carrier was hit in the backfield. It slowed his momentum so he only gained 2 yards.

That made it second down and 8 with the clock running. Lakeside had only one time out left and Max needed to save it. The offense lined up to run their next play and looked to the sideline for the call. 1:09 remaining.

The play was a quick pass to the tight end, Blake Collins, one of the two boys whose charges had suddenly been dropped. Blake caught the ball, broke a tackle and picked up nine yards, enough for a first down. The clock stopped while the chains were moved. There was 1:01 remaining with the ball at the 33-yard line. Still plenty of time to score.

Lakeside snapped the ball and the quarterback pitched it to the tailback who took the ball in stride on a sweep toward the Siloam Springs side of the field. The play gained seven yards. One more block and he would have gone all the way.

The play ended in-bounds, so the clock kept running. The Lakeside offense had practiced this type of situation hundreds of times, so they weren’t panicking. It was second and 5 with 0:47 on the clock. They went back to the quick pass to Blake, which gained four yards.

It was third and 1 with the clock running. The ball was on the 28-yard line. Still enough time. The Lakeside quarterback looked over the defense. He took the snap and dropped back to pass. The Siloam Springs outside linebacker blitzed hard and no one picked him up. He planted his helmet right between the quarterback’s shoulder blades. He went down hard, but held onto the ball. The play lost 8 yards, which brought up fourth down and 9.

The clock kept running. With 0:38 seconds remaining, Max was forced to call his last timeout and talk it over with his offensive coordinator. They decided to go back to the first play they’d called on the drive—have the quarterback roll right and look for his receiver breaking to the sideline at about ten yards. They made sure the receiver knew to get beyond the first down marker.

The referee signaled the end of the timeout and the Lakeside offense ran back onto the field. Everything was coming down to this play. A first down would keep the drive and the game alive. It could also turn their young season around. A 1-1 record was a whole lot better than 0-2.

The Siloam Springs defense was still playing loose. A good route by the receiver and a good throw would easily pick up the first down. The center snapped the ball. The quarterback rolled right toward the Lakeside sideline. The receiver slowed to make his break. This time, the defender closed harder and took a better angle.

As the receiver made his break, he got his feet tangled up and tripped. It was too late for the quarterback to adjust—he’d already released the ball. The defender broke hard for the ball, but it was thrown too low for him to get there and the Lakeside receiver was just barely able to get his arms underneath the ball and make the catch from his knees.

The play gained nine yards, not the ten they needed. With 0:32 seconds left, the referee called an official timeout to measure for a first down. If they were short, the game would be over. Siloam Springs would run out the clock and Lakeside would go home 0-2.

The chains were brought across the field to the Lakeside sideline. The officials pushed the players back and stretched the chain. The officials huddled over the ball. Max stood on the sideline just a few feet from the ball. It couldn’t have been any closer. If it was a first down, then it was by a hair.

It was so close, the referee had to get on his knees to get a better look. After a moment, he stood up and signaled first down for Lakeside. The Siloam Springs coach began arguing the call, but it wasn’t going to change anything. The officials spotted the ball just barely inside the 27-yard line.

The Lakeside offense quickly broke the huddle and ran to the ball with 0:28 seconds left. The center snapped the ball with 0:26 on the clock. The quarterback took a quick three-step drop and looked for Blake running straight up the seam in the middle of the field. It was the perfect play call. The safety had moved over to cover the receiver on the wide side of the field. Blake was wide open.

Siloam Springs had blitzed though and Lakeside’s left guard stepped the wrong way. That allowed the linebacker a direct line to the quarterback. He had to pull the ball down and took a hard hit right in the chest, but somehow held onto the ball. They lost seven yards on the play.

Even worse, the clock continued to run. With 0:19 left, the Lakeside quarterback got to his feet and looked to the sideline for the call. The play was one they’d been setting up the entire drive. The quarterback would roll right and make it look like the pass to the sideline again. Only this time he would stop and throw back to the other side of the field to Joe Taylor who would delay for two seconds to make it look like he was blocking before releasing for the pass.

The ball was snapped with :09 seconds on the clock. As the quarterback rolled right, the entire defense went with him. One thousand one, one thousand two. Joe released. No one was near him.

With 0:05 seconds on the clock, the pass left the quarterback’s hand and Joe caught it perfectly in stride at the five yard line and took it in for the touchdown. The Lakeside sideline went wild. With just 0:01 second on the clock, Lakeside was down 35-34. An extra point would tie the game and send it to over time.

But Max wasn’t going to take the game to overtime. Lakeside had the momentum. He called for a fake extra point. The play was designed for the kicker to step up as if he was going to kick, but for the holder to throw a pass to Blake in the end zone.

The Siloam Springs defense went all out for the block and completely ignored Blake. By the time they realized it was a fake, Blake was holding the ball in the end zone for two points. Lakeside was up 36-35. They had pulled off a 63-yard game winning drive in under two minutes.

The Lakeside players and fans went crazy. Max wondered if that was the drive they’d all look back on as the one that turned the season around. To put together a game winning drive like that in the closing minutes would build the confidence his team needed to face the rest of their conference schedule.

Both teams took the field for the kick-off with just one second left on the clock. Max reminded the kicker to kick a line drive right at the Siloam Springs front line, so their best returners couldn’t touch it.

Max started to turn around to find Michelle in the stands and then stopped. She wasn’t there. He missed her more in that moment than he ever had.

The referee blew his whistle and the ball was kicked. It caromed off a Siloam Springs player’s shoulder pads and bounced to one of their kick returners at their 30-yard line. He started to his right toward the Siloam Springs sideline. The Lakeside kick-off team cornered him near the sideline at midfield.

That’s when he stopped and threw an overhand lateral to one of their players almost thirty yards away from the action. It was a perfect throw. Called at the perfect time.

He received it at the 47-yard line and put a move on a Lakeside player that literally caused him to fall over. He broke a tackle and then cut to the sideline. At the 20-yard line, a Lakeside tackler tried to shove him out of bounds, but never got a good shot. The Siloam Springs player walked a tightrope down the sideline the remaining twenty yards and scored.

This time, the home side of the field went wild. The coaches and players ran to the end zone to celebrate as the band started playing their fight song. The Lakeside sideline and fans looked on in stunned silence.

No penalty flags. No time left. Game over. Siloam Springs won 41-36.

For the second time in twenty-four hours, Max could hardly comprehend what was happening. First, he’d lost his wife. And now he’d just lost a game with one second left. It would likely mean he’d also lose his job.

A loss was bad enough, but to lose like this was devastating. It was a game they should have won and won easily. And they had won. But let it slip away.

Somehow, Max had to find the words to help his team. He knew they were as stunned as he was. This was not what anyone had expected. After two losing seasons, they had worked hard and were looking for a playoff run and maybe a championship. No one thought they’d lose this game.

The coaches pulled the team together at the other end of the field away from the Siloam Springs celebration. They all removed their helmets and took a knee. A couple of the assistant coaches pointed out some positives they’d seen, but it was hard to believe them.