Present
“Will somebody find out where in the hell our quarterback is?” Bill’s voice boomed in the giant team room.
Jamal jumped up and left the room to do exactly that. I looked at my phone. I hesitated but pulled up Parker’s number and shot her a text.
Hi. It’s Sutton. Grayson isn’t here for the team meeting. Do you know where he is?
I didn’t want to scare her, but I wanted her to know that we were concerned. He didn’t strike me as a player who would disrespect his job or his teammates, but today was a big day and our biggest player wasn’t here. I saw bubbles pop up and then disappear. At least she saw my message. I didn’t want to let my imagination run wild, so I waited and listened to Bill talk about yesterday’s game. Eventually, we’d get to review plays on screen, but right now we were just reviewing what the team did well and areas we needed to improve. Grayson was in both categories and was missing it.
I’m so sorry. He’s on his way. Give him twenty minutes.
That was it. No explanation. Nothing. I texted Jamal and told him. Thirty seconds later, he returned to the room.
“He’ll be here in twenty.” Jamal looked at me and nodded thanks.
Winning the first game was great, but missing practice the day after was inexcusable. Hopefully, Grayson had a good reason. I didn’t want him to miss my film discussion, so Marcus and the defensive coaches went first. I almost missed Grayson slipping into a seat in the back row. I gave a general impression of the offense and let my individual coaches talk about improvements they wanted to see. We threw in clips of great plays and every score to boost morale. It was important to improve, but we wanted the team to know they did a good job overall.
“Let’s break for lunch. This afternoon we’ll review Miami’s game. Moats, stick around,” Bill said.
Jamal and I hung out because we needed to find out what was going on with Grayson. He moved from the back of the room to the front.
“Why weren’t you here on time, Moats?”
Grayson ran his hands over his face. “Coach, I’m sorry. I ate bad food last night and wasn’t feeling well.” He held up a bottle of Gatorade as though that explained everything.
“Let’s get the rules down. If you have a tummy ache, let us know. You call in just like you would if you had any other job,” Bill said, emphasizing tummy ache with a whiny voice.
“I’m really sorry. It won’t happen again, I promise.”
Jamal pointed at him. “I expect this from a rookie, not a veteran. You have everyone’s number so there’s no excuse for not letting us know. In the future, text or call me first, and if I don’t respond, text or call Coach McCoy, and if she doesn’t respond, then you text or call Coach Trust. Are we clear?”
“Yes. I’m sorry.” Grayson nodded humbly.
“Go try to eat something,” Jamal said.
We watched him walk out of the room. Bill stomped away. I turned to Jamal. “That wasn’t on my bingo card today.”
“Let’s hope it’s a one-time deal. The last thing we need is a flighty quarterback.”
“I’m sure this was a slip up. He looks fine though,” I said.
“This was his freebie.”
“Come on. Let’s grab something to eat. I feel like I’ve been here longer than five hours.”
I was exhausted, but not from this morning’s meeting. Last night was a complete disaster. I got home to Lexi pulling out of the driveway in a U-Haul. She was bitter and accusatory, which confirmed that splitting was the right thing to do. I felt nothing. That’s not true. I felt relieved. She wasn’t wrong about me not being available, and it was a relief to stop pretending I was ever going to make that space for her. I removed her access to the house security system, changed the passwords to all my online accounts, and finally crashed about one. I got five hours of restless sleep. Even Crowbar wasn’t in the mood to go to work. Yesterday was a lot for both of us.
“How did you celebrate last night?” Jamal asked on our way to the cafeteria.
“I had dinner with my father and his new girlfriend.”
“That sounds nice. What about your girlfriend? I didn’t see her at the game.”
I never wanted my personal life and professional life to collide, but that went out the door when we signed Grayson. “We broke up. She moved out last night when I was at dinner.”
He stopped and put his hand on my shoulder. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah.” I waved him off. “I don’t know why she moved here with me. We were on the rocks anyway. I’m fine with it. Really.” I was angry last night, but I woke up and felt such peace. This was a fresh start for me. I could focus my energy on football and making sure I was doing everything in my power to take this new team to the playoffs. We just needed to make sure Grayson was feeling better. I grabbed a salad, fruit, and a chicken breast and went back to my office. Crowbar probably needed to go out and I needed the world to go quiet.
Did Grayson make it?
I leaned against the open side door to enjoy the sun and answer Parker’s text. He did. Said you tried to poison him last night, but he survived anyway. I quickly followed up with a wink emoji because I didn’t know her humor anymore.
Ha ha. I’m glad he made it.
It was weird that she would ask and not know herself. I wondered if Grayson had a habit of saying he was going to work and going elsewhere instead. Or maybe this was her way of reaching out to me since she now had my number. I was too emotionally exhausted to try to figure it out.
Crowbar trotted past me and went straight to my office. I found him sitting and staring down the chicken breast I had on my plate. “Of course, you’re getting a bite.” He gave a low woof and gently took the piece from my hand.
I bit into an apple and pulled up my email. I had over two hundred emails congratulating me on the win. Terry’s assistant’s emails were flagged to be at the top. I had three from her. One was the congratulatory email on the win, the second was a coaches’ meeting I was expected to attend at the end of the month, and the third was a reminder about the Empowered Women in the NFL group I had signed up for when I signed my contract with the Cheetahs. Members gave talks to area schools to encourage students to pursue their dreams. I groaned because that meant extra work, but I knew I had a responsibility that went above coaching. Four schools would get me for an hour every Tuesday for the next month. The event would be recorded by the NFL for a documentary on diversity in the league.
I sent the organization my approval and added the visits to my calendar. The first one was tomorrow at a private elementary school, Wellington Academy. It was in a posh neighborhood about twenty minutes away from the office. I shot an email to Terry’s assistant to see if we had any giveaways for the kids and asked that anything be brought to my office by the end of the day.
The team spent the afternoon studying the Dolphins. Even though it was our first away game, I had a feeling we’d win. Miami looked sloppy. Our defense would easily be able to break through and pressure the quarterback. I took notes, pointed out weaknesses, and worked with coaches on tweaking plays.
It was a long afternoon and all I wanted to do was go home and sleep. Since we didn’t run plays on Mondays and the players were off on Tuesdays, the coaching staff decided to break early. Crowbar and I headed home at six. After eating leftovers, I crashed on the couch and woke up hours later with a kink in my neck and a dog partially on top of me.
“Come on, buddy. Let’s go to bed.” Since Lexi was gone, Crowbar was back in the bed with me. We were both fine with that decision.
* * *
“The important thing to remember is that if you work hard enough, you can achieve your dreams.”
Of all the schools in the entire city, of course Parker’s kids would attend this one, and of course, Parker was a room volunteer. I didn’t know if the universe was punishing me, but it sure felt like it. Hopefully I masked my reaction at seeing her in the gymnasium when I met with the principal and the cameramen who were filming the event.
“Does anybody have any questions?” I had a stack of coloring books for the kids about Champ, the Cheetahs mascot, but I couldn’t pass them out until after I was done because I would lose their attention. A little girl in the front raised her hand. I pointed to her. “What’s your question?” I asked.
“You don’t look very big for a football player. Do you play football?”
Nothing like a five-year-old to knock my confidence down a few notches. “That’s a great question.” I avoided Parker’s eyes because I didn’t want a simple glance to make me fall back in a hole that took years to crawl out of. “In high school, I was a quarterback. I was tall enough to be a football player and I could throw a football a long way.”
“Can you still throw a football a long way?” She was very inquisitive.
“I can.”
“Then why aren’t you still a quarterback?” She shrugged.
“I’m too short and probably too old to play now.”
“Rose’s dad is a quarterback. Maybe you can play with him.” A small girl with short brown hair and big blue eyes spoke. She immediately covered her mouth, realizing she should’ve raised her hand first. We’d already established Grayson was a quarterback because almost every child pointed it out when I first got there.
“Yes, Mr. Moats. I work with him. He’s taller and bigger than I am.”
“Is he a good quarterback?”
This line of questioning was starting to make my eye twitch. “Yes, he is. We won our first game because of him.”
“How come the quarterback isn’t the coach?”
“Because the coach has more to do than just be a quarterback. They have to make sure the entire team does well.” I made sure no little digits were raised before I changed the subject. “I brought a friend with me today. Would you all like to meet him?”
“Yeah!”
About one hundred and fifty students in little navy polos shared their enthusiasm loudly without even knowing who was here with me.
“Champ the Cheetah, come on out and say ‘hello’ to these students.” Champ threw aside the stage curtain and did a goofy wave. “Champ, meet the great kids that attend Wellington Academy.”
He high-fived the kids in the front row. Mascots didn’t speak. They waved, did backflips, danced, and tried to get the crowd excited. The kids were thrilled. I kept the smile on my face even though Parker was fifteen feet away. We made eye contact several times and even though her smile was hesitant, it still stirred something inside me. It was the same light, fluttering joy I got when I knew somebody was interested in me.
“Students, let’s give Coach McCoy and Champ a round of applause for taking time out of their day to spend it with us.” The principal got the children to clap for our short, but fun visit.
I stood back while Champ took photos with the different classes. A young teacher with long dark hair and hazel eyes slid over to me.
“Congratulations on your accomplishments. I love football and respect what you’ve done so much.” She tilted her head and looked at me coyly. I found everything about her charming from her crooked smile to the small smattering of freckles across her nose.
“Thank you. Are you a Cheetahs fan?” It was a stupid question because we had played only one regular season game.
“Believe it or not, my family has season tickets. We were at the game so we saw your first win.”
I could tell she was not only excited about the team, but I got the feeling she was interested in me. “Where are your seats?”
“Section one forty, ten rows up,” she said.
I nodded. “Those are good seats. How do you like the team?”
“I’m so excited. Good quarterback, great coaches, especially the offensive coordinator. I mean, I can’t imagine you won’t get us to the playoffs. You’re going to slaughter Miami. They are a hot mess on the field.”
She really did get it, and as much as I wanted to relax and talk football with her, I knew better than to open up quickly. Besides, I was working and a cameraman was lurking about ready to pick up anything interesting, not to mention the teachers with their iPhones out recording everything.
“We certainly hope to bring home another win.”
She touched my arm lightly. “We’re rooting for you, Coach. My friends and family are going to be watching on the big screen.” She bit her bottom lip and smiled at me.
“Our first official fan. It’s nice to meet you. I’m Sutton.” I held out my hand and she shook it.
“I’m Ruby. I teach kindergarten.”
“Do you have children that go to school here?” When she laughed at my question, I automatically looked around hoping we weren’t being loud. I locked eyes with Parker. She didn’t look amused. I quickly looked away, guilt pricking my conscience.
“I’m twenty-five and very single. No kids, no girlfriend. One day, maybe, but right now I just want to have fun and watch football and teach these little goofballs fun things,” Ruby said.
There was so much in that delivery. If we were at a bar and my girlfriend hadn’t just moved out forty-eight hours ago, I would’ve asked her out. But we were both at work and the weight of my dreams was on my shoulders. I didn’t have time for her. Right then, Champ waved me over. I excused myself but turned to Ruby. “I’ll see you at the games.”
“I’ll look for you,” she said.
We took photos with the students, and I wrapped up our visit by passing out coloring books about Champ’s journey from tiny cheetah cub to NFL mascot. We waved to the children and followed the principal back to the front of the school. Champ excused himself to slip out of the costume. I sat in a conference room by the principal’s office and smiled, remembering how many times I sat outside my dad’s office waiting for him when practice was over and I needed a ride home.
“Thanks for coming out to the school.”
I stood, knowing that voice. “Parker. How are you?” Right in the middle of Wellington Academy, Parker gave me a slow up and down and was obvious about it. I took a step back at her forwardness and stumbled over the chair I just vacated.
“I’m doing well. I was surprised to find out that you were going to be here,” she said. She looked sexy as hell in a cream-colored accordion skirt that grazed her knees and a black, thin sweater. Her hair was pulled back in a low, messy bun and she was wearing glasses. If I could have dreamed up the perfect sexy librarian, today’s Parker would have been it. She made my mouth water.
“I completely forgot about it until yesterday. Hopefully we kept the kids entertained,” I said.
She touched my arm and gave me a sweet smile. “You did a great job. The kids loved you.”
I looked at her hand on my forearm. “I get to do this three more times at other schools. Any suggestions for improvement?”
“I think you’re perfect just the way you are,” she said.
She squeezed my arm twice which was probably innocuous, but I tensed as I waited for that third squeeze. It never came. She dropped her hand but didn’t move out of my space. I looked around to see if anyone else witnessed her flirting through the glass wall. We were still alone. My shoulders dropped in relief. “It’s been fun, but I need to get back. We have our first away game and we have so much to cover.”
“I know. Grayson’s pretty excited about it.”
His name on her lips splashed over me like cold water and I took a step back and almost fell over the chair again. “I should probably find Champ.”
Her hand was back on my arm. “Listen, Sutton. I know things were bad between us years ago and I’m to blame for that, but we’re going to be sharing so much space in the future. Can we try to get along? You were always so important to me.” There was warmth in her voice that suggested more than a friendship. How she could stand in front of me with our history swirling in the space between us and flirt was confusing. She was married to one of my players. I was dumbfounded. “For whatever reason, we are back in each other’s lives. I know Grayson thinks so highly of you and your coaching abilities,” she said.
I stared at her. It had been fifteen years. Why was this so hard for me? “I have peace in my life, Parker.”
She waved her hands at me. “And I’m not here to disrupt it. I genuinely miss you in my life. Coffee the other day was great and I’d really like for us to be friends. Do you think we can do that?”
Before I could answer, Brad busted into the room. “Hey, you ready?” His eyes darted between us until they lit up with recognition. “Hey, you’re Grayson Moats’s wife. I’m Brad, you know me as Champ.”
Even though he was sweaty and smelled like wet carpet, Parker shook his hand and gave him the warmest smile. “It’s nice to meet you, Brad. I’m Parker.”
“It’s an honor. I think your husband is great and I’m so glad he’s on the team.”
“I’m glad he’s a Cheetah, too. You look like you love your job,” she said.
I had to agree. Brad didn’t skimp on energy while in the suit.
“Those who can’t either coach or become giant, hairy animals who run around football fields.” He grabbed his bag and looked at me expectantly.
“I guess we’re out of here.” I looked at Parker. “We’ll talk soon.”
“I’ll hold you to that, Sutton.” Her voice was low and laced with promise.
It took everything to not turn around and look back at her. When Ruby stopped me in the doorway of the school to ask me out, I immediately looked for Parker, but she was already gone. Ruby was nice, pretty, into me, and available. Even though my breakup was new, maybe in a few weeks or months, I might be ready to date again. I handed her my phone to add her contact information. She didn’t send herself a text from my phone. She was leaving it in my hands and my respect for her grew.