Read Touchdown for Free Online Page A

girl up. “You’re coming back, aren’t you?”
    “Zoey is still in the hospital, so I’ll sleep with you again,” Bessie replied.
    Troy frowned. “She’d been sleeping here for the last two nights?” he asked.
    “Yes. Logan does not know shit about raising a child. What made you think he can?”
    *****
     
    “Is your name, Troy?” Bessie, who was sitting in the backseat of the car, asked. “Aunt Paula is your mama?”
    Troy held onto the top of the seat and turned around to look at her. “Yes. Did she tell you I’m her son?”
    “No, but I saw your picture in her room.”
    He wanted to laugh. She could have seen Ashton’s photo.
    “What’s your last name?” Bessie asked again.
    “Myers. My whole name is Troy Myers.”
    “You’re not Troy Myers,” Bessie giggled. “That’s the name of the football player Zoey hates. And he’s popular.”
    He frowned, while Logan, on the wheel, laughed. “Don’t I look popular?”
    “No. If you’re popular, you won’t be in jail.”
    Logan laughed again. “Ain’t that kid something?”
    “You’re not a bad man, are you?”
    “What made you think I am?” Troy returned.
    “Because only bad men go to jail. But the police let you go, because you’re not bad, right?”
    Troy nodded. “Right.”
    “Wrong, kid,” Logan interrupted. “He’s as bad as the wicked witch in your fairy tale books.”
    “Troy is not a woman. A witch must be a woman.”
    “Who told you? There are men witches as well.”
    “I never saw one.”
    “Don’t listen to her, sweetheart,” Troy interrupted. “You’re smarter than him. All witches are women.”
    “Wait ‘til you meet her mother,” Logan said. “She’s one hell of a witch.”
    Troy glanced at Logan. “She is?”
    “I’m warning you, she growls.”
    “A witch does not growl,” Bessie argued. “A witch laughs like hi-hi-hi.”
    Troy grinned. No wonder his parents were so fond of this girl. “Does your mom laugh like that?”
    “Sometimes, but Zoey is not my mom. Not really, but I like her to be my mom.”
    He frowned. “She is not? Then why are you with her?”
    “She got me from the big house.”
    “Big house?”
    “A house where children with no parents stay.”
    Troy recalled the police officer telling him that Zoey Graham was a legal guardian. “Where is your real mother?”
    “I don’t know. We used to stay in Zoey’s apartment. But she ran away with Brent.”
    “Who’s Brent?”
    “Brent is Zoey’s boyfriend.”
    Troy’s jaw dropped. Did he get this right? Bessie’s mother eloped with Zoey’s boyfriend? “And your mother left you with Zoey?”
    “Yes.”
    “That’s a bitch of a mother you have, kid,” Logan said.
    Troy agreed.
    “Is it true you’re Zoey’s new boyfriend?” Bessie asked, which left Troy speechless.
    “Yes, he is,” Logan replied. “And he is taking you to the mall to buy dolls and toys. You want that, don’t you?”
    Bessie’s eyes widened, her big blue eyes glowed brighter. “Really?”
    “You bet.”
    “I want a Barbie doll, and a Barbie house.”
    “You’ll have ten of those.”
    “Wow! Let’s go! Let’s go!” Bessie was jumping in her seat.
    Troy nudged his uncle. “We don’t have time for this. I’ll just leave the money with my mom so they can go shopping.”
    “No, you’re not,” Logan said. “We’ll use that kid to make you look good in Miss Graham’s eyes. She might change her mind.”
    “You don’t run out of tricks, do you?”
    “A coach must never run out of tricks. I didn’t become a two-time best coach for nothing.”
    Troy had to agree, but meeting his victim face to face for the first time really unnerved him. “Did you say she was a Jets fan?” he asked.
    “Fanatic. Just like your father.”
    Troy sighed. That just made things even more difficult.
     
    *****
     
    “Zoey!”
    Zoey leaned forward to take Bessie in her arms. The girl seemed very excited to see her, and she was wearing a pretty dress, and a flower