Nicole fell to her knees beside us and wrapped her arms around her daughter, pulling Sierra to her chest. She ran her hand down Sierra’s sweaty hair and pressed a kiss to her temple. Cupping her face, she pushed Sierra slightly away and looked into her eyes. “Are you okay? What were you thinking? Goodness, Grandma might have been right, and we can’t have that.” Tears brimmed her bright blue eyes. “You were amazing, sweetie. Simply amazing.”
“Thanks, Mom.”
Nicole looked at me for the first time. “Now, check her to make sure she doesn’t have a concussion,” she demanded.
I’d already done a mental check. Sierra had looked up to me with a steady gaze, and the floodlights were behind me, so she wasn’t sensitive to light. She’d risen on her own and had done so without any problems, so I didn’t think she had any dizziness or balance issues. She didn’t seem nauseous, dazed, or stunned.
“Nicole…” I started to reassure her.
She pinned me with a look as effective as a world wrestler pinning her opponent to the mat. “Check. Her.”
Nicole’s arms were full of Sierra. Since I couldn’t reach out and touch her, I looked at her with a caress in my gaze. “Of course.” Shifting my eyes downward, I focused on Sierra. “Any headache? Drowsiness? Does your brain feel foggy or do you feel unnaturally sleepy? Numbness or tingling anywhere?”
“No.” Sierra shook her head. “I feel fine.”
I met Nicole’s eyes. Her mouth pinched, but she seemed satisfied. She got to her feet, and Sierra and I followed suit.
“Your dad is waiting to say hi.” Nicole pointed to the sidelines. Sierra ran off. Yep, no balance issues whatsoever.
Surprise shocked me more than the contact to my upper arm. My hand went to cover the spot on reflex, though the small punch hadn’t hurt, and I doubted it was meant to. I turned back to Nicole.
“What was that for?” Hopefully I’d kept enough of the chuckle out of my voice to not earn me a second punch. It had been a while since Nicole had looked at me with her blue eyes sparking like the hottest part of a fire. Reminded me why I’d loved to goad her in the first place.
Too bad we weren’t somewhere more private…
“You put my baby in danger,” she accused.
I ran my hand over the back of my neck. “She wasn’t supposed to run the ball. She noticed her dad, and I think—”
Nicole cut me off with a raised hand. “I’m sure I can guess what she thought.”
We both watched father and daughter at the edge of the field.
“So that’s your ex.” An inane statement if ever there was one.
She shoved her hands in her pockets. “Yep.” Her dejected air did something to me. Sierra wasn’t the only one I wanted to protect, though Nicole was more than capable.
I stepped a little closer, my chin inches from her ear. “His loss is my gain.”
She smiled up at me, a little tremulous. “I should probably get over there.”
I forced myself to take a step back. “I’ll see you later.”
“But not soon enough.” She met my gaze for two beats before turning and walking back to Sierra and Greg. Two beats in which hope seeped past any doubts and uncertainties. I wasn’t alone in my feelings. Wasn’t moving faster, leaving her behind in the friend zone while I galloped to something more. We were running together, toward each other. Toward a lasting future.
Feeling light, I made my way back to the coach’s sideline and began gathering up the cones and balls we’d used to warm up before the game. Everything in the mesh bag, I slung the supplies over my shoulder and headed to the parking lot. A lone figure where the parents congregated pulled my attention to the side.
I should leave him there. Pass by without saying anything. Why, then, did my feet take me in his direction?
Greg watched me approach, a pleasant expression on his face. Stranger meeting stranger. Except we weren’t strangers. Not really. I knew him as the pain of Nicole’s past. The baggage she carried around. I knew him as the shadow in Sierra’s eyes. The one man she should always be able to count on but couldn’t.
Those two ladies had come to mean more to me in a short amount of time than was probably logical. But the heart was not always logical, and that irrational organ propelled me toward the source of so much of my ladies’ pain.
“Great game, Coach.” Greg held out his hand to shake mine in congratulations.
I stared at his limb in disgust. “Did you even see more than ten seconds of it?”
His hand fell as his brows rose. “Excuse me?”
