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“Can we sit at the counter?” Layla asked.
Charli frowned. “Will you two behave?”
“We will,” Layla said. “Right, Pey?”
Peyton nodded, then went with Layla to look at the ice cream options. Charli and Misha followed them, while Janessa and Will went to a booth that was big enough for the adults but was also close to the counter.
Once the kids were settled, and Misha and Charli had chosen their ice cream and returned to the booth, Will and Janessa headed to the counter to order.
“I’m going to get a brownie sundae,” Will said. “With rocky road ice cream, chocolate syrup, marshmallows, and walnuts.”
Janessa laughed. “Your sweet tooth is in fine form tonight.”
“What are you going to get?”
“I think I’ll get a brownie sundae too, but I want it with peanut butter ice cream and chocolate syrup.”
The woman behind the counter smiled at them, then began to make their sundaes. Jay walked in just as they were sitting down at the booth. Janessa slid in next to Charli, then Will sat down beside her.
After he got his order, Jay set his banana split on the table as he settled into the booth next to Misha. He leaned over and gave her a kiss.
“Good game,” Will said as he scooped up a piece of brownie with some ice scream in his spoon.
Jay sighed. “I was pleased with how most of the team played. However, we could have done without the parental interference.”
“I was ready to go down there and give him a piece of my mind,” Janessa said.
“Yeah. Will had to stop her,” Charli told him with a laugh.
Jay’s gaze moved from Janessa to Will, then back again. “As much as I appreciate the sentiment, I think that would have just made the situation worse.”
“What are you going to do about Donny and his dad?” Will asked.
“I’m not sure just yet. Coach and I need to have a conversation, I think.”
“It’s not fair to the other boys who are working so hard,” Misha said.
“No, it’s not,” Jay agreed. “If we’re going to have a chance at the championship this year, I need to be able to focus on training and coaching. These battles with Donny and his dad are a distraction we don’t need.”
“I would imagine the unity of the team would be negatively affected,” Charli said. “Is Donny well-liked?”
“Nope,” Jay replied without hesitation. “He came in bragging about how great he was and how his dad had been willing to uproot their lives to move to Serenity so that he could play on my team. The guys haven’t been too keen to befriend him because of his brash attitude.”
“Is he a good player?” Janessa asked. “Does he deserve to be on the team?”
“He has talent,” Jay said. “And he actually works hard when he puts his mind to it. However, he’s a one-man show, which never works on a team.”
The depth of care that Jay had for the boys he coached was evident in his troubled expression. Janessa felt for him as he tried to figure out how to make this situation work.
“You have more patience than me,” Charli said. “I’d ban the dad from games, and if that didn’t work, I’d kick the kid off the team.”
“That’s what I’d do too,” Janessa agreed.
“I’m tempted,” Jay confessed. “But I want to try to see if we can resolve this in another way before taking those steps. If I’d realized someone was moving here just for their son to be on the team, I would have told them not to do that.”
“I was surprised to see Daphne at the game,” Charli said, taking the conversation in a whole new direction. “I didn’t realize she was a basketball fan.”
“She’s not really,” Will responded without hesitation. “But her friends like to go to the games, so it wasn’t too surprising she was there.”
