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AUTHOR'S NOTE: I continue to be amazed by the number of guys who have emailed saying that they like the story. Thanks, guys. Your encouragement and kind words mean a lot!
WHEN LOVE COMES - PART 9
Momma Phillips drove us back to Jamal and Matt's apartment. It was only three blocks from campus so I wouldn't have to go very far to pick up my car. Jamal and I helped Matt get into the apartment and into his bedroom.
Momma P. announced that we had to help Matt get cleaned up and that she was going to cook some dinner for us all before she started back to her home. "That is if I can find any thing to cook with in this god forsaken wreck you call a kitchen," she said as she disappeared into the kitchen area.
By the time Jamal and I had finished helping Matt get in and out of the bath tub, dinner was ready. Maybe I was hungry, but it seemed to me that Momma P. was one of the world's best cooks. After dinner, she left to go back to her home, and I left shortly after that.
The next morning Jamal and I helped Matt into my 4Runner and went to the hospital for the surgery. The surgery was done under a local anesthetic, so Matt was awake when they brought him into the recovery room. His knee was heavily bandaged and a velcro and strap brace extended from mid thigh to mid calf. We took Matt back to his apartment, and I went home.
Over the next few weeks Matt got pretty good on the crutches. He wore the brace constantly for the first two weeks. After that he was allowed to take the brace off at night or when taking a shower. He had physical therapy every afternoon. The doctors had found the damage to the knee was worse than they'd originally thought, but Matt was determined to be ready for the pro draft and his rookie season.
On the Monday before Thanksgiving, Matt came into my office in the early afternoon. He said he was on his way to physical therapy. The big brace had been replaced by a smaller velcroed knee brace, but he was still using one crutch. We chatted for a few minutes, and then I asked him if he was going home for Thanksgiving.
"No, my dad and I haven't spoken since that day in the hospital. I'm just going to stay here."
"What about Jamal? Can't you go home with him?"
"No, he and Momma P. are going up to Maryland to her parents for the weekend. Besides, I need to keep up with the physical therapy."
"Why don't you come out to my house for Thanksgiving. Kevin and Kathy Williams and their kids will be there, and there'll be plenty of food."
He smiled, "Thanks, Doc. I'd really like that."
He got up from the chair, grabbed his crutch and headed off to his physical therapy session.
On Thanksgiving Day, Matt come out to my house about noon. I already had the turkey in one oven and the pies baking in the other. He helped get the kitchen cleaned up and the table set. Most of the time he left the crutch leaning up against the wall and sort of hobbled around. He had dressed nicely in a plaid button down shirt and docker pants. He looked pretty good, but the bright blue of the knee brace on the outside of the pants added a comical touch to the whole ensemble. I commented on that, and we had a running string of jokes going about his sense of high fashion.
Kevin, Kathy and the kids arrived around two. Heather and Allison, and even baby Gary, were fascinated with Matt. He seemed to have a natural knack for communicating with the children. Matt and the girls settled in to watch a Walt Disney video while Kathy, Kevin and I had our first glass of wine.
Apparently Matt was offering a running commentary on the video that had the girls squealing with delight. We could hear their periodic laughter out in the kitchen.
We ate dinner about five in the afternoon. All of us ate way too much. Following dinner, the girls went back into the living room for another video. The adults stayed out at the dining room table for some more wine and conversation.
Kathy was feeding the baby, but I noticed she also spent a lot of time watching Matt. About eight that evening, the baby started to get cranky so Kathy and Kevin decided it was time to head back in to town. Kevin offered to help with the kitchen clean up, but Matt said that he would take care of it as his contribution to the meal. We moved all the dishes into the kitchen, and Matt started on the clean up. I walked Kevin and Kathy out to their car.
As Kevin was getting the kids settled in their car seats, Kathy turned to me and said, "You know Matt really likes you."
"Yeah," I replied. "I've had him as a student in several classes, and we seem to get along pretty well now."
"No, Dummy. I mean he 'likes' you."
"Come on, Kathy. He's a big straight jock."
"He's big and he's a jock, but I don't know about the straight part. I noticed the way he looks at you. That's not a look of straight friendship. I think there's something there."
Kevin came around to where we were standing. "Kathy's right, Gary. He really likes you. Go get him!"
"Guys, this is one of my students!"
"He won't always be a student," smiled Kathy as she and Kevin got in the car and drove off.
I stood there in the drive way wondering if I'd missed something, and then finally deciding that they were off base. Matt was a student. I really enjoyed his company, and he was one of the sexiest men I'd ever seen, but he was straight. That single night almost three years ago had been a fluke.
I went back in the house. Matt was still working on the dishes. I grabbed a dish towel and began drying. When we got done, he accepted another glass of wine. I noticed a look of pain pass over his face as he maneuvered himself into the chair in the living room.
"Is your knee bothering you now?"
"Yeah, I think I kind of over did it with the kids. It's a little sore. I'll soak it in the bathtub when I get home."
"We could go soak out in the hot tub now, if you want."
He gave me that crooked grin of his and said, "That sounds like just what the doctor ordered. Thanks."
Matt shed his clothes in the dining room, and I gathered towels and the wine bottle and went out to the deck. We removed the cover of the hot tub, and he climbed in while I went into the bedroom and stripped.
As I came out to climb into the tub, he said, "You still don't have a tan line, Doc."
"Yeah, I'm one color all over, but now it's because I'm not out in the sun much at all instead of being out in the sun without any clothes like I was in the summer."
We both laughed and settled in to a nice conversation. He was beginning to wonder if the rehab on his knee would work. He told me that he didn't really mind the idea that he might not have a football career after college so much as he would have a year or two earlier.
"I think I could be real happy teaching and coaching in high school. I loved working with the kids in football camp, and I'm really excited about student teaching next semester."
"You seem to have a way with kids," I said. "Kevin and Kathy's girls thought you were pretty special."
"I've always liked kids. I really miss not seeing my brother, Mark, but Dad won't let him come to visit here, and I sure don't want to go home very often."
"What will your dad do if you can't go pro?"
"I don't know. He'll probably disown me, but he thinks I'm just trash anyway so it won't be much of a change."
"You're NOT trash, Matt. Don't let any one tell you that you are!"
"Thanks, I've been seeing a counselor. She's helped me with that, but after twenty-one years of hearing that you're a piece of shit, it takes a while to think otherwise."
The rest of the evening was spent alternating between periods of easy chatter and times when both of us closed our eyes and relaxed in the soothing water of the tub. About eleven we decided we'd had enough and got out of the tub. We dried off on the deck and then went into the house. Matt started pulling on his clothes, and I wrapped my towel around my waist and watched. I was struck again by his fluid motions and absolutely sexy demeanor.
"If you don't have plans for dinner tomorrow, why don't you come on out and help me with some of these left overs."
"Thanks, I'd like that a lot. I've always thought turkey was better the second day. I get out of my physical therapy around six."
"Fine, come on out after that. We'll eat and then soak in the tub again."
"It's a date, Doc." and he clapped me on the shoulder as he started out the door.
I spent the next day correcting exams and seminar papers. When Matt pulled up to the house about six thirty, I was just beginning to think about dinner. He was dressed more casually this time. Sneakers, sweat pants, and a flannel shirt. He looked good no matter what he was wearing!
It didn't take long to heat up the left overs. Of course we stuffed ourselves again. It didn't seem that we'd much of a dent in the mountain of food containers in the refrigerator.
After cleaning up the kitchen, we adjourned to the hot tub with another bottle of wine. Matt was in a talkative mood. He told me more about his family that night than I'd learned in the three previous years. The counseling had allowed him to open up about his abusive father. He said that he now realized why he had always sought approval from his father by trying to be the star athlete, but his father was never satisfied. He realized that his dad was trying to live out his own youth through his sons, but that didn't excuse the beatings and verbal abuse. At one point, I thought he was going to cry, but he pulled himself together at the last minute.
All I could do was listen. This kid was pouring his heart out to me. I wanted to hold him and tell him it was all right, but I held back. I was afraid of what might happen if I touched his naked body. Matt had never mentioned our one night together, and I didn't think I should bring it up.
He left to go back into town about midnight after agreeing to come back out for another meal of left over turkey the next evening.
The next evening, which was Saturday, we had another meal of left overs. This time, when we were cleaning up the kitchen we both started tossing the remaining left overs into the trash. Three days of turkey was enough!
We took another bottle of wine out to the hot tub. This time Matt asked me lots of questions about my high school, college and family. It was clear that he'd said most of what he wanted to say the other day, and clearly he expected this evening to be my turn to talk.
We got out of the tub around eleven. I thought that he would get dressed and go back into town, but he suggested that we sit in the living room and talk some more. He didn't bother putting any clothes on. Instead he wrapped his towel around himself and headed into the living room. I followed his lead by wrapping my towel around my waist. I grabbed another bottle of wine and went in to the living room.
We over indulged on the wine that night, so he ended up sleeping in the bed upstairs.
The next morning, I got out of bed, relieved myself in the bathroom, put on my jogging clothes, and went out for a run. The sun was just beginning to rise in a cloudless sky. The frost began to melt away almost as soon as the sun light hit it. By the time I returned from my run, the only frost left was in the shadows.
I smelled the coffee as soon as I got into the house. Matt was seated at the table in his boxer shorts drinking a mug of coffee and munching cereal.
I pulled off my windbreaker and poured myself a mug.
As I drank my coffee, I studied Matt. His body fascinated me. It was close to perfection with the only visible blemishes being the two long scars on either side of his knee.
I asked what he had planned for the day. He said he didn't need to be back in his apartment until the evening when Jamal was expected back from his Thanksgiving trip. I told him that I was going to go looking for a Christmas tree and he was welcome to come along if he wanted. I explained that my family always put up our Christmas trees the weekend after Thanksgiving. He thought that would be fun so after we both had showers we headed out in my 4Runner to locate a tree.
We found the right tree after a couple of stops and spent the remainder of the day decorating the tree and pulling Christmas decorations out of storage. Matt really enjoyed himself. His limp was almost unnoticeable until his knee started to get tired in the mid afternoon.
When we had all of the decorations up, Matt started getting his things together to go back into town. I suddenly realized that I didn't want him to leave just yet, so I suggested that he check to see if Jamal was back and, if he was, to invite him out for dinner. Jamal had just walked in the door when Matt called, and he jumped at the chance for another home cooked meal. He had gotten his license back just before Thanksgiving, so he was able to drive himself out to the house.
I fixed a simple beef stew that both Matt and Jamal told me was great. It must have been good because there wasn't any left when we got up from the table. They helped clean up the kitchen, and then both of them left saying that they had tests early in the week that they had to study for.
The house seemed awfully quiet after they left.
(To be continued)