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“Yes and no. What I mean is, now you have outside influences that might distract you from doing your job. Do you think the decision to run the ball instead of kick in the second quarter might have been because you were busy thinking about something else?” Levi asks. “Or, more particularly, someone else besides your players? Is it safe to assume football isn’t your number one priority anymore?”
I smooth my palms over my thighs. I dig my fingers into my quad muscles, and I let out a breath. “I’m going to be honest with you, Levi. That’s the stupidest fucking question I’ve ever heard,” I say, and his eyes widen. The fine I’m going to get for the profanity will be worth it. “My personal life has no impact on my ability to coach a football team. The woman I’m seeing wasn’t at the game today. She wasn’t sending me messages when I was on the sidelines. You know why we lost? Because I made a bad call. A couple of bad calls. It happens. That’ssports.It’s part of being a coach. I love football more than anything else in my life, and I love my team just as much. I would never do anything to jeopardize their season, and to imply I’m becoming bad at my job just because I have a significant other is illogical. So far-fetched, I’m not even sure what possessed you to ask such an asinine question. Do not drag her into this, because she has no fault in what happened on the field. If you mention her again, you won’t like my next response. Now I’ll take another question, but if anyone else wants to talk down on the person I care about, we’re going to have a problem.”
The rest of the reporters heed my warning.
They ask what we’re looking forward to adjusting for next week, and who I think played the best game from start to finish today. How crowd noise played a factor down the stretch, and when someone asks where Dallas, a southern boy from deep in the heart of Georgia, learned to punch, I burst out laughing.
“I’m going to cut it off here,” I say. “I have a plane to catch. I’ll see some of you next week back in D.C. Get home safe.”
I slip out of the media room. I didn’t realize how tense I was until I let out a breath and my shoulders begin to relax in the hallway.
“Bus is ready to go,” Darcy says.
“Thanks. I’ll meet you out there in a second,” I say.
She nods and waves, disappearing around a corner. I pull my phone back out and my finger hovers over Lacey’s name. I call her before I can think twice.
“Hey,” she answers.
“If you read an article about me going off on a reporter, just know that I was doing it to defend your honor,” I say.
“Really?” There’s a smile behind her question, and I lean against the wall. “Tell me more.”
“This guy tried to get a rise out of me. He insinuated that because I’m dating someone, I don’t care about football anymore. It felt like he blamed the loss on my personal life, as if the two go hand in hand.” I snort and shake my head. “I gave him a piece of my mind.”
“I would’ve liked to see that.” She laughs, and the sound warms me through the phone. “Thank you for sticking up for me. Are you doing okay?”
“Yeah. It’s been a long day, and I’m ready to be home.”
Lacey is quiet for a minute, and I pull the phone away from my ear to make sure the call didn’t drop. “You can stop by my place when you land, if you want. I have beer. Or I can make you some tea if you don’t feel like being alone,” she says softly. “But, after the afternoon you’ve had, you might want to be alone.”
I don’t want to be alone. I want to see her, because I feel like Lacey could be the bright spot on this absolutely shitty day. My empty apartment doesn’t sound nearly as appealing as a warm drink with her where I can shut off my brain and not talk about anything related to football.
I can just… be.
I like that about her.
She lets me be myself.
“I’d love to come over,” I say. “It would be nice to see you. I’d like that a lot.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.”
“Okay. I’ll see you soon.”
“It’s going to be late,” I say. “Is that alright?”
“I’m off tomorrow. Just let me know when you’re on your way,” she says.
“Will do. See you soon, Lace Face.”
“Bye, Shawn Yawn.”
We hang up, and I’ve never been so excited to get on a plane and head home.
EIGHTEEN
