Jessica's Life, Ch 3: The Final Game

Jessica's Life, Ch 3: The Final Game
Characters: Jessica, Emily, Kevin, Nelson, Valerie, Lauren, Rob, Susan, Brandon
Summary: The big game is coming up, but how is Jessica feeling? And how can she play a game without Aunt Lauren being there to watch? And what's up with her dad?


“You seem to be doing a bit better, Jess,” Emily said on Thursday. Jessica nodded slowly.
“Yeah. I guess. I’ve been working with Kevin on some stuff,” Jessica said. “And he’s making sure I’m eating enough every day. So you don’t have to worry.” She gave a smile.
“Good. Someone needs to make sure you are,” Emily replied with a giggle. Then she grew serious again. “But seriously. I’ve been praying for you, and so has Annie.”
“Thanks, Emily,” Jessica said. “If you could, would you keep praying? For me and for my family? And for Kevin?”
“Sure,” Emily said. “Of course.” Jessica smiled, realizing how good it felt to be happy.
“It’s good to see you playing again, Jess,” Monica said, a grin on her face.
“Do you know when Kevin’s going to say who’s starting on Saturday?” Valerie asked, coming up to the girls.
“Probably today,” Jess said. Emily coughed a couple of times, and the other girls looked at her. “Are you okay, Em?”
“Yeah. I’m fine,” she said. “I’ll meet you out on the field. Tell Coach I’m coming.”
“Emily, are you really okay?” Jessica asked, not wanting to leave. Emily nodded but didn’t say anything. “Because you don’t seem okay…”
“I’m fine. Just tell Kevin I’ll be out in a minute, okay?” Emily’s voice was firm, and whatever was going on, she wasn’t going to say.
“If you’re sure…” Jessica said, not completely convinced. She left Emily alone and went outside.

Kevin pushed them hard, knowing he would give them an easier day tomorrow.
“Ladies!” he called out. “Your form is sloppy today! We have a championship game in two days! Let’s fix it! Find the next level!” Emily was starting to lag a bit and so was Jessica. He motioned to them.
“Ladies, we have the big game on Saturday. I need both of you to give it everything you have right now. We’ll go easy tomorrow.” He was watching their faces as he spoke, and what he saw in Jessica’s worried him. Emily looked determined to play her best, but with her asthma, he didn’t want her overdoing anything. Jessica, on the other hand, looked as if she was giving up. This concerned him greatly. “Emily, just be careful today, okay? Don’t overdo anything right now.” With that he dismissed her, and she left him alone with Jessica.
“Jessica, what did we talk about on Monday?” Kevin asked, looking sternly at his cousin.
“Playing my best and not giving up no matter what happens,” Jessica answered slowly. “I’m sorry, Kevin. I’m just tired right now. It’s been a long day.”
“Have you been sleeping?” Kevin asked. Jessica looked down. She hadn’t been sleeping very well lately. “Jessica, if you don’t take care of yourself, then you can’t play this weekend. And I know how important that is for you.” He paused, allowing his words to sink in. Jessica’s face fell, and she looked embarrassed.
“I’m sorry, Kevin,” she said. “I really am.” And she was. She was sorry she hadn’t been playing her best, and that she was letting her aunt’s sickness get the best of her.
“I know, Jess. And this is hard. But you need to play your best. Understood?” Jessica nodded before running off to join the team on the field.
Emily gave her a strange look as she joined them, but Jessica shook her head. If Emily wanted an explanation, she could wait. Jessica didn’t want to talk.

Saturday came, and Jessica almost didn’t want to play in the game. Aunt Lauren really wasn’t doing well, and Kevin had been cranky at practice the day before.
“Jessica, you’re not okay today, are you?” Emily asked. Jessica shook her head, tears in her brown eyes. “Let me pray for you.” Emily took Jessica’s hands and bowed her head. “Dear God, I want to pray for Jessica and whatever is going on in her life right now. You know everything, and know what is hurting her right now. Please let her know that You are there, and You can take care of her and her family. Thank You for everything You’ve done and will do. In Jesus’ name, Amen.”
“Thank you, Emily,” Jessica said, taking a deep breath. “I want to talk to you later, maybe after the game?” Jessica ended with a question, looking at her friend. Emily nodded.
“Of course. And I’ll meet you out on the field. I have to take care of something really fast.” Emily glanced down as Jessica gave her a look. Jessica hesitate but left Emily alone.
Emily had been acting strange for the past month, but whenever one of the girls tried to get her to talk, she became silent or changed the subject. Jessica didn’t know what was bothering her friend, but she couldn’t deal with Emily’s problems right now. She had plenty of her own to deal with herself.

Jessica looked up at the stands, and seeing Uncle Rob without Aunt Lauren was enough to make her break down. But then she was shocked to see her dad sitting with her mom and Brandon. Her dad never came to her games. What changed?
“Okay, Team,” Kevin’s voice interrupted her thoughts. She brought her attention back to her cousin. “This is it! The game we’ve been waiting for! Let’s play our best. No regrets. Hold nothing back! Don’t let anything stop you from playing your hardest!” He looked directly at Jessica. “Now let’s go show the other team what we’ve got! Everybody hands in!” He led them in their cheer and the starters took their positions on the field. Jessica sat down on the bench next to Emily.
Jessica watched her cousin walk back and forth, watching the game. He looked stressed, and Jess figured it wasn’t all the game.
“Jess, are you mad about not starting today?” Emily asked softly. She had been watching her friend closely, and Jessica seemed upset about something. She didn’t answer right away, and Emily was about to repeat her question when Jessica finally said answered.
“I guess I was a little bit at first. It seemed really important to me that I start, and Kevin knew that.” Jessica fell silent.
“I noticed your dad’s here. This might be the first time I’ve seen him at one of your soccer games.” Emily paused. “But I noticed your aunt’s not here.” She was watching Jessica’s face carefully, and something changed when she mentioned her aunt.
“She’s not. But I can’t talk about it right now,” Jessica replied. She tried to keep her composure, but it was so hard. She finally couldn’t take it anymore and ran towards the locker room.

Emily grabbed Coach Kevin’s arm right after Jessica ran off.
“Emily, what is it?” Kevin sounded annoyed, and Emily felt bad for bugging him but this was really important.
“Kevin, Jessica just ran off.” Emily didn’t know what else to say. Her instincts said that her friend wasn’t alright, and she was worried.
Kevin closed his eyes. He had known his cousin was upset. But he had hoped that she would handle it maturely. He looked up at the stands and saw his dad. He was surprised to see his uncle Nelson sitting there, along with Jessica’s mom and younger brother. Emily’s tap on his arm reminded him he hadn’t answered her.
“Coach? Do you want me to go get her?” Emily asked. Kevin nodded, so Emily ran off.

Jessica sat in the locker room, sobs shaking her body. She should have known that Emily would start to figure something was going on. But she couldn’t stand it anymore. Seeing her dad sitting there with her uncle had shocked her. Dad never came to watch  her play. Had something Aunt Lauren said to him finally reached him?
“Jess? What’s wrong?” Emily’s voice came from behind her. “Kevin wanted me to come get you.”
“I really don’t want to talk about it,” Jessica replied. This was the first game Aunt Lauren hadn’t been at in a long time, but it was the first game her dad had ever come to. “Emily, can you tell Kevin that I will be out in a little bit? I need to think something over first.”
“Sure,” Emily said. She left Jessica sitting on a bench in the locker room and went back out to Kevin.

The second half of the game went differently. Emily played some, and Kevin even allowed Jessica to play. He had come and talked to her, reminding her of what Lauren had said before. She couldn’t let Lauren’s sickness take over her life.
Jessica played her best, actually better than she had ever played before. She played for her aunt. She also wanted her dad to see how good she was.
The game continued, and Kevin grew frustrated. Not so much with the game, but with his life. He knew the team could tell that he wasn’t himself, and he was not ready to tell them what was going on. He watched Jessica and Emily closely. Emily had been playing hard lately, pushing herself. Jessica hadn’t been playing enough, but she was clearly playing well.
He pulled Emily with just a little bit left to play, partly because they were winning and partly because he could see she was struggling. He left Jessica in because she was playing so well.
When the game finally ended, they had won, two to one. Kevin was happy, and he told the team he wanted to take them out for pizza again. He really didn’t want to, but he needed to. What he wanted to do was go to see his mom.
“Kevin, can I go with Dad and Mom instead?” Jessica’s brown eyes pleaded with him. She desperately wanted to go see Aunt Lauren, but she really wanted to spend time with her parents.
Kevin looked long at her before nodding. He knew this was important to his cousin, and maybe this would be good for Uncle Nelson too.

Something had been changing inside Nelson. He had been talking with his sister, and their conversations were starting to get to him. Jessica had played beautifully in the game, and Nelson was glad he took the day off to come and watch her play.
He couldn’t figure out exactly what was happening, but watching his little sister fight this losing battle with cancer was really starting to affect him. It was hard for him because he cared a lot about her.
“Jessica, that was beautiful,” he said when she came over to him.
“Thanks, Dad. Can we go out for food now?” she asked, a little-girl smile on her face.
“Are you going out with the team, honey?” her mom asked, looking over to where the team was leaving. Jess shook her head.
“No. Kevin said I could come with you guys. Besides, I really want to see Aunt Lauren too.” Jess’s voice was quiet as she said the last part. Her family didn’t talk about their troubles, and her mom rarely mentioned Aunt Lauren’s battle. And her dad almost never talked anyways.
“That’s fine, Jessica,” Nelson said. “We can go celebrate.” He smiled at his daughter, and she gave a shy smile back. He hated the fact that he didn’t really know his own daughter. And worse was that he knew it was his fault. He had pulled away from his family, and he was the one who had broken the hearts of his parents.
Jessica was surprised that her dad was willing to take a full day off from work. And she liked that he was showing interest in her. It was nice to know he cared about her. He had been too busy to see how much Aunt Lauren’s struggle was affecting her, and like everything else that wrong, their family ignored it. They didn’t talk about it.

Kevin hoped that whatever his uncle was doing with Jessica was helping her. Uncle Nelson could be great, and Kevin remembered when he was fun, but times had changed his uncle.
Emily looked up at Kevin. His face looked sad, and he had been grumpier than normal lately. There was something going on in his and Jessica’s life, maybe something with Jessica’s aunt. Some reason Lauren hadn’t been at the game. She muttered a prayer for her friend and her family, praying that everything was alright.
Kevin gave his normal speech for after a good game, saying that he was proud of the team and all that, but his heart wasn’t in it today. He wanted to get it over with so that he could go visit his mom.

Jessica was thoroughly enjoying her time with her family. Her dad was very attentive to her, which was a nice change. Her mom was still a bit distant, and she got called into work and had to leave. That left Jessica with her brother and her dad.
“Thanks for lunch, Dad,” Jess said. She tried to hide her surprise when her dad gave her a hug.
“What should we do next?” he asked, looking at she and Brandon. He was realizing he had missed so much of his kids’ lives, and he didn’t want to miss anymore. Susan was busy again, and he was disappointed by the fact that she left in the middle of Jessica’s celebration.
“Can we go visit Aunt Lauren?” Jessica’s voice was very child-like, and she seemed unsure of herself. Nelson sighed but nodded. He didn’t really want to visit his sister, but he knew Jessica really wanted to.
“Is that okay with you, Brandon?” he asked, looking at his son. Brandon nodded.
Jessica frowned. Her dad was acting totally different than normal, not that she would complain. She liked the attention. She glanced at her brother. Brandon didn’t look too happy about visiting Aunt Lauren, but Jess knew he wouldn’t complain either. That wasn’t his style.
“Actually, Dad, can I head home?” Brandon asked. “I have a ton of homework to do this weekend.” Jessica gave Brandon a look and noticed something in his eyes. He obviously didn’t want to visit Aunt Lauren. She wondered why.
“Well…” Nelson thought for a moment. Brandon’s eyes pleaded with him. “Alright. Jessica and I will be home later. I don’t know when your mother will be home.”
“Thanks!” Brandon ran off, and Jessica could tell he was relieved. For some reason, he didn’t want to visit Aunt Lauren in the hospital.
“Dad, can I ask you something?” Jessica’s voice was quiet. Nelson nodded. “What happened between you and Aunt Lauren? I know you used to be really close.” When her dad didn’t respond, Jessica wondered if he’d heard her. She looked up at him, surprised to see tears on his cheeks.

Emily sat eating pizza with Monica and Valerie.
“Did you notice how Jessica just left after the game?” Valerie asked the other two girls. Emily nodded.
“Coach Kevin also seemed distracted today,” Monica added, taking a huge bite of pizza. “At least his speech wasn’t as long as normal.”
“Monica, how many times have we told you not to talk with your mouth full?” Val asked, giggling. Emily smiled.
“A lot,” she replied, answering for their friend. “But yeah. I noticed that too. Kevin did seem distracted. But I think Jess left because she went out with her family.”
“She’s been acting strange lately,” Valerie commented after a few minutes of all the girls eating.
“I know. I’m kinda worried about her. But when I talked to Kevin about things, he just said they were taking care of it,” Emily said. She didn’t mention anything about Lauren.

“I’m really not proud of what I did, Jessica,” Nelson said. He didn’t want to tell his daughter what had come between he and his little sister, but if Jessica wanted to know, then he would at least tell her some of it. “I started acting out, doing things I shouldn’t have been doing. I was an embarrassment to my family. It was nothing Lauren did. She tried to stop me from going that road. But I was determined to have my way. I’m not proud of that phase of my life.” He thought back to Sabrina, his ex-girlfriend. He’d been a sophomore in college when he started dating her, and they wound up together in every way. She’d gotten pregnant, and he’d asked her to marry him. But she said no, saying she wasn’t ready to be a wife and mother, and she had gotten an abortion. They didn’t last long after that. But he didn’t tell Jessica all of that.
Jessica looked at her dad. She gave him a hug because she knew how hard that was, talking about the past. “Will you tell me how you met Mom?”
“Yeah. I can tell you how I met your mom. We met when I was in law school and hit off perfectly. Lauren loved her, my parents loved her, and after some time, so did I.” Nelson paused in his story. He had been in bad shape when he met Susan, but she brought him back to life. “She made me feel whole, like I hadn’t felt in years. After I finished law school and she got her nursing degree, we got married.” He stopped. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to tell Jessica about the babies her mother had lost early in their marriage.
“Do you love Mom?” Jessica’s tone was gentle. She wondered about this because she had never really seen her parents be super affectionate.
“Yes. I love her. I love her very much. Our marriage hasn’t been easy. She had a miscarriage and lost both babies. If those babies had lived, they would be twenty-two years old. Ben and Nicole, your older brother and sister. Susan was devastated by the loss of the babies. When she wouldn’t talk to me, I started working more. I figured it would be easier if I got caught up in my career, because then I could give her the things she wanted.” Nelson stopped. He cared deeply for Susan, but the loss of the twins had been extremely hard on her. Between that late miscarriage of the twins and Sabrina’s abortion, Nelson had become very hard-hearted. He didn’t know how to handle kids.
“I’m sorry, Dad.” Jessica’s heart broke for her parents, but she understood more about them than ever. Aunt Lauren had told her a little bit of this, but hearing it from her dad’s perspective made her think differently about them. She had always figured he just didn’t care about her, but maybe she had been wrong. Maybe he had always cared, but he didn’t know how to show it.
“I’m sorry too, Jessica. I haven’t been a great father to you, or to Brandon.” Nelson’s smile was sad. “Lauren’s been talking to me.”
“Dad? Can we go visit her now? I want to tell her all about the game.” Jessica’s smile grew as she thought about the game. It had been fun, and Kevin had been pleased, which was nice. He’d been in a bad mood lately.

Kevin sat with his mom in the hospital. His dad hadn’t left her side since he got there right after the game ended. Kevin told her all about the game, telling more about how well Jessica did than any of the other girls. He knew how much she wanted Jessica to play well.
Lauren smiled when she heard how well her niece played. She knew Nelson had been planning to watch the game, and she sincerely hoped he had been able to go. She was too tired to speak much, but she was glad that Kevin was telling her about how the girls play. She was extremely happy for Jessica, and very glad that she had been able to play, even with everything going on. She made eye contact with her husband, and Rob took control of the conversation.
“Kevin, your mom and I want to talk to you about something,” Rob said, looking at his son. Kevin looked from one parent to the other. They looked serious.
“What about? I’m not in trouble, right?” Kevin knew that he was acting like a little kid, but his parents almost never wanted to talk to him about stuff anymore. It made him feel like a kid again.
“Kevin, your mom wants to make sure that you’re doing okay.”
“What do you mean?” Now he was confused. Of course he wasn’t okay. His mom was dying. His parents exchanged a look.
“We want to know how you’re doing. How you dealing with all of this,” Lauren said. She almost regretted saying this because the hurt look that came into her son’s eyes was almost too much to bear.
“Mom, I really don’t want to think about it, much less talk about it.” Kevin’s voice was hard, and he knew he was being border-line rude. But he couldn’t help it. He loved his mom, and he didn’t want to think about the fact that she wasn’t going to be around for much longer.
Kevin was surprisingly saved from talking about the topic when his uncle and cousin showed up. He gave them all hugs and then politely excused himself, saying he had some things to do.

“What’s up with Kev?” Jessica asked after he left. She wasn’t used to seeing her cousin leave like that; normally he wanted to spend as much time with his family as possible.
“I think it’s hard for him to see his mom like this,” Uncle Rob said, a sad smile on his face.
“It’s hard for me too,” Jessica admitted. “I hate seeing Aunt Lauren so sick.” She reached out and took her aunt’s hand. Lauren gave her a feeble squeeze. Jessica was shocked to feel how weak her aunt had become, how much of a toll the cancer and treatments had taken on her.
“Jess, can I talk to your dad alone for a minute?” Lauren gave her husband a look, and he took Jessica’s hand.
“Jessie girl, let’s go get a snack,” Rob said. He smiled at his niece. They walked out of the room, leaving the brother and sister to talk.

“I watched her play today, Laurie,” Nelson said, using his nickname for his little sister. “I can’t believe I never watched her before. I’ve missed out on so much.” Lauren nodded slowly. “Do you remember when we used to play soccer in the yard? And when we went swimming at the beach?” Lauren nodded again.
“You were always so much better than I was at everything, Nel,” Lauren giggled a little bit. She enjoyed the time she had with her brother. She thought back to when they were kids. They had had some good times together, and sometimes she missed their close friendship.
“Lauren, I have a confession to make. Well, actually more of an apology.” Nelson paused, unsure of how to continue. “I owe you an apology. For the way I treated you when I was in college. And how I embarrassed our family.” He was sitting next to her bed, and she reached out and touched his arm. “I wish I could have apologized to Mom and Dad.” They exchanged sad smiled.
“It’s okay, Nelson. They know you’re sorry for it,” Lauren said. “And I didn’t mind. I still thought you were the best older brother in the world.”
“Well, I still need to apologize for how I behaved in college. I was wild. I got involved in things I shouldn’t have, drinking... and girls. I met this girl, Sabrina. She was beautiful, and we became intimate.” Nelson stopped, disgusted with himself. “I know I shouldn’t have gotten involved with her. She was everything I knew was wrong. Mom and Dad raised me better than that.” Lauren nodded, understanding filling her eyes. “Anyways, she ended up pregnant, and I felt guilty and responsible. So I proposed to her. I was going to marry her. I thought I loved her, and I thought she loved me. But she turned me down, and a week later, she told me she had an abortion. Obviously we didn’t last very long after that.”
“Nel, I’m so sorry. I’m sorry you had to go through all that pain by yourself.” Lauren’s voice was soft, a soothing balm over Nelson’s hurting heart.
“And you know how I met Susan. I didn’t tell her about Sabrina. I don’t want to hurt her.” Nelson’s voice was quiet, embarrassed. He didn’t want to hurt his wife. He loved her. “It was painful when we lost the twins. You saw that part. I thought I would never have kids. I thought losing Ben and Nicole was some sort of punishment I was going through, after getting Sabrina pregnant and letting her have an abortion.”
“And then Jessica came.” Lauren stated the fact.
“Yes. And I pulled away. I didn’t know how to be close to her. But she was a beautiful baby.” He was quiet again. “I missed out on so much of her life, and Brandon’s too. I realized that. I don’t know my kids at all, and they don’t know me.” Lauren took her brother’s hand.
“There’s still time, Nelson. You have time for this. Let them in. Don’t shut them out anymore.” Lauren’s voice was gentle, and she was almost pleading with Nelson. She knew he had more time than she did, and if this was something good that was coming from her illness, then that was the way God worked. And so be it.