“First, I want to show you an app I use—”
I falter mid-sentence when I see a text from Kendra on my screen.
Kendra
Kendra:Can we push it back 30min? My meeting with my agent ran long.
I start to respond before I remember I’m in the middle of a conversation. Carter looks amused.
“Hot date?” he asks. I feel my cheeks go red.
“No. Just grabbing dinner with a friend,” I lie.
“Right,” he replies, grinning. “I blush when I go out with my friends, too. Mygirlfriends,” he teases.
I rush to put my phone away.
“It’s getting late. We can pick this up before practice tom—”
“Ah, c’mon, Coach. I told you my personal sh—” He stops himself from cussing, and I bite down on my smile. “Stuff. Tit for tat, and all that.”
This kid doesn’t quit!Hedidactually share with me, though. What could it hurt?
“Alright,” I relent with a sigh. “Yes. I have a date. We’ve been talking for a while, but tonight is the first official date.”
“And you really like her,” he reasons, “seeing as how you almost forgot I was here when she texted.”
He’s smiling earnestly now, much more eager to talk about my love life than his mental health. He’s a student, though, so I need to nip this in the bud.
“OK, OK. You’re right. I like her a lot.” I stand and shoo him towards the locker room. “Now go get cleaned up, and we can pick up where we left off tomorrow afternoon.”
“Ahh,” he whines, but still grabs his things to go. “This was just getting good.”
I smile and shoo him again.
“Out, Carter. Unless you’re offering to stay late to analyze game tape with me and Coach?”
He rolls his eyes.
“Fine. See you tomorrow,” he grumbles, but he’s still grinning. Things are finally starting to look up.
When I take a seat in Paulson’s office, he has a knowing look on his face.
“I take it you had a talk with Hayes?” he asks. I nod, and I swear I see his lip quirk up. “‘Bout time. Just because you’re not head coach, doesn’t mean you need to let these kids walk all over you. You’re the right man for this job, and you have my support.”
With that, he turns to put on the game tape. Like he didn’t just surprise the shit out of me. I came into this job fully ready to claw tooth and nail to earn my place on this team. There’s a special dynamic between head and assistant coaches, and sometimes, it gets ugly. But here I am, working my first job after officially retiring, and I end up with a boss who just…respects me. No questions asked. It’s unheard of, and I’m unusually quiet for the rest of our meeting.
All this time, I’ve been feeling like I was coming home in defeat. Like there was some truth in Carter’s many insults, no matter how much I pretended they didn’t bother me. But maybe Coach is right.Again.
I practically skip home, lighter than I’ve felt in months. I’m the right man for Centerpoint High. Maybe I could be the right man for Kendra, too.
Chapter eleven
Kendra
What am I doing?
I look at myself in the mirror and notice a faint sheen of perspiration on my upper lip.Shit.I grab some loose powder and a blending brush to cover the evidence of my nerves.
