Page 18 of Second Chance

“Anyway, I wanted to see you,” he says, and those butterflies in my belly—they explode. The teenager inside me erupts as well.

“You did?” I sound as awkward as I feel.

“The letter, remember?”

“Oh, right.” My head nods. “Yeah, I don’t have it with me.” Of course, I don’t, and I’m wishing the gym floor would swallow me whole at this point. I’m perspiring just from speaking to him.

“No worries.” He looks down at his feet, and if we were standing outside, I expect he’d kick the dirt like he used to do as a kid.

“I also heard you’ve been visiting Magnolia, and I wanted to thank you.” His grandmother. Dolores and Denton weren’t allowed to call her grandma. It made her feel old.

“Oh, that. Well, you know how much I love her.” I do love her. She’s the grandmother I never had as my father’s parents died when I was still young, and my mother’s lived in southern Georgia until they each passed.

“I remember.” Again, his voice is rich and rolls over the -r sound like I imagine his tongue might caress something, like an ice cream cone…or a woman.

Heat, again. I’m too warm. He’s too close. He looks so good, as good as I remember, but even better. I’m so flustered by his nearness.

I don’t know what to say next and he’s staring at me, like he’s waiting for me to answer him. Did he ask me a question? Thankfully, I’m saved by one of the girls.

“Coach, we’re all cleaned up.” In the time I’ve stood and stared at Denton, the girls have put away the equipment and the gym has thinned out. I take in the emptiness, and I nod at Hannah.

“Thanks, girls. Stay out of trouble.” I blanket the statement to all the girls. I don’t ride them hard on behavior because I give them respect. I understand they’re teenagers, but I also reinforce how serious I am about the season. No funny business.

“Such a hard-ass,” Denton says, and a snarky comment rests on my tongue. Wouldn’t you like to know? “So, BPMP. You’ll be there next?”

He’s implying the pub.

“Yeah. I need to finish up a few things with Alyce, and then I’m heading out.”

Denton stands before me, hands in his jean pockets, and tips up on his toes. For a moment, we’re sixteen again. He’s come down from the stands to congratulate me and we’re making plans for an after-party somewhere.

“First drink’s on me,” he says, and I swallow a sudden lump in my throat. He used to say that all the time, and we’d laugh as most alcohol at parties was free or stolen from his daddy. I don’t have a response, so I give him a nod. How Californian of me, and I’ve never been there.

“I’ll see ya there.”

Denton nods back, and I’ve just experienced the most awkward moment of my life. Turning for the coaches’ office long before he exits the gym, my heart races as I will myself not to look back at him.

“Who was that?” my assistant coach Alyce Wright blurts. She’s nearly foaming at the mouth as she speaks. With short, subtle waves in her light blonde hair and big blue eyes, her disposition is more like a cheerleader than a volleyball coach. Thankfully, she has a competitive spirit, despite her perkiness, as the school insists I have an assistant. She’s also an English teacher here and a few years younger than me.

“Who?” I ask, my heart still pattering so hard I throw myself into a chair in the coaches’ office. We share this space with every other girls’ team and the girls’ PE teacher. It’s really nothing more than a walk-in closet where I put my purse and jacket during practice.

“That…that gorgeous hunk of sex on a stick.” Alyce speaks like she’s never seen a man before. She’s also not from Blue Ridge originally, so she doesn’t know all our history. I don’t even have to consider who she means.

“His name is Denton Chance. I went to high school with him.” It’s a bit evasive, and rather trite compared to the long-standing relationship with him.

“He looks like a rockstar.”

“He was,” I mumble and brace the armrests, waiting for Alyce’s response.

“He what?!” A shriek-screech combination reminds me again of a cheerleader.

“He was in a band called Chrome Teardrops.” Alyce falls in a chair opposite me. Her legs collapse as she clasps her hands against her chest.

“You’re kidding, right?”

“I wish I was.” Based on her reaction and the excitement of Denton’s return whispered throughout town, I wish I was kidding. There is so much enthusiasm for his success and his return. Everyone is proud of him, and the behavior irks me.

“I’d totally do him. Think he’d do me?” My head had fallen against the hard back of the office furniture, but it tilts upward, my eyes widening at Alyce’s brazen suggestion.