Page 84 of Coastal Rewind

We filed out of the away team dugout in silence and walked back to the locker room. Our winning streak ended a few games ago and we’d been struggling to gain our momentum back. We’d lost tonight against Philadelphia; a win we desperately needed to stay on top of our division.

“Can we please drink tonight?” Mack asked as he dropped onto the bench in front of his locker.

“I’m down. I want to forget this night ever happened.” Zane threw his uniform shirt down and grabbed a towel to head for the showers.

“Yeah, I’m in.” I wasn’t one to normally drink away my sorrows, but I needed some stress relief. Between the losses and the tension at home, I was ready to explode.

Ever since Owen and Ryleigh came to blows in my front yard last week, she’d been off. She put on a smile for MJ, but at night she wasn’t her normal fun-loving self. She had a cold edge that was scaring me.

I was waiting in the living room for her to come home when I heard the screaming. I was on my feet and heading outside without even thinking about what I would be walking into. I only caught the end of their fight, but whatever Owen had said rattled her.

I was surprised when I found the man screaming at my girl to be Owen. Ryleigh always talked about how great their relationship was. She went on and on about how the distance never mattered and they remained close all these years. Apparently that wasn’t the complete truth.

Ryleigh and I still hadn’t talked about what was next for us, but the longer we went without the conversation, the more I itched to bring it up. I wanted her to stay. I wanted her in my life, and I was going to fight like hell to make sure she knew it.

Nolan, Mack, Tucker, Zane and I filed into the dive bar near our hotel and walked up to the bar. I slid onto a stool and ordered a draft as Nolan sank onto the one next to me.

I was sliding my glass from hand to hand when Nolan clapped my shoulder.

“Okay, enough with the long face. Tell Daddy Nolan your problems.”

I winced. “Don’t call yourself that.”

“What’s got you down?”

I sighed and took a sip of my beer. “Things have been off and I don’t know how to fix it.”

“Ah.” Nolan nodded his head. “Trouble in paradise?”

“No,” I said quickly then paused. “Maybe? I don’t know. We were good. We are good, but something just feels different.”

“Owen told me about the fight.” He took a long pull from his drink and turned toward me. “They just need to work it out themselves. It’s years of shit that has been buried because Ryleigh was gone. Now that she’s here it’s all coming to the surface.”

I couldn’t look Nolan in the eyes as I asked the burning question in my mind.

“What if that scares her and she disappears again?”

He let out a big breath. “I don’t know, man. I can’t even tell you the answer because Ryleigh has been gone for so long that I’m not sure what her normal is. We all hope she stays, but it’s her choice.”

I took a sip from my drink. “Yeah, I know.”

“I will say, you’re damn good for her. You brought something to life in her we haven’t seen in a really long time. Hell, I’m not sure we’ve ever seen it. That isn’t unnoticed.”

I looked over at him. “She brought something to life in me, too.”

“Don’t let her go. If she runs, chase her. Shit like that doesn’t happen twice in a lifetime.”

“Women are making you guys soft.” Mack laughed as he popped up between us.

“It’s not our fault you’re going to die alone.” Nolan scoffed and rolled his eyes.

I laughed and chugged the rest of my drink before turning to my friend.

“You’ve never had a girl who’s made you lose your mind?”

Something passed over Mack’s eyes but he blinked it away and shook his head. “I had my eye on a girl once, sure, but that shit is unrealistic.”

“What happened?” Nolan asked.