Page 66 of The Coach

Immediately, I feel that spike of guilt again. I wring my hands together. “Oh, don’t do that. Just don’t mention kids, it should be alright.”

“No, I know myself. It’s alright. I can afford to miss a week or two.”

“Son, doesn’t their boy play hockey at Northridge?” Sonny asks, looking Tanner over.

I deflate again. The secrets just keep piling out, don’t they?

“Yeah, Dad, he does. It’s… another reason we’re not telling her family.” He looks over at me, an apology in his eyes, and I reach for his hand, interlocking our fingers.

“I see,” his dad says. “That’s going to get sticky. Dating your player’s sister.”

His dad doesn’t say it meanly, not at all. Simply a man stating a fact we already know, which is probably why it grates so hard.

“We know,” I answer and take a deep breath. “My brother is sensitive when it comes to who I date. I haven’t had a lot of luck in relationships, and the last guy I dated didn’t… treat me well. So, he doesn’t take kindly to newcomers.”

Tanner turns his head, and I can feel him staring a hole into the side of my head, this new information clearly putting his guard up. “Didn’t treat you well?” His voice is barely a whisper, and I know he wants to know more, but I will not get into details with his parents right here. I reach over and grasp his hand in reassurance, hoping he can understand by my expression that I don’t really want to open that particular discussion up.

“I understand, and you know what? It’s not our business.” Deb waves her hand at us, then lifts her wineglass, instructing me to do the same. We clink our glasses, and I take a much-needed sip. “Hey, you know what I just remembered?” Deb points her finger at Tanner. “You used to babysit a little girl on Elm. Right before college. Do you remember that?”

Tanner frowns, his attention refocusing on his mom. “Uh, vaguely.”

She snaps her fingers. “I can’t remember her name, but I used to make Tanner babysit when he was a teen.” She looks over at me, rolling her eyes. “Get his hands dirty and learn a lesson or two on what it was like to have his own baby.”

I smile at her. “That’s a smart tactic, especially to learn right before college.”

She waves her finger. “Exactly.”

“That backfired, from what I recall,” Sonny says, his eyes closed as he remembers. “He came home, completely smitten with the kids he was babysitting.”

Deb smacks his knee playfully. “That’s right!” She laughs and turns her attention back to me. “He came home telling us all about them, the little girl who was probably three or so, and then another neighbor boy who came over, too. He was basically gushing, saying that he wanted kids just like that when he was older.”

Tanner’s brow is furrowed, his hand rubbing against his jaw in thought, our fingers still interlocked.

I smile at Deb. “That’s sweet. Plus, he didn’t have kids in college, so it didn’t backfire.”

“True. That was an absolute win for me!” She laughs and clinks her glass to Sonny’s beer. He clinks his glass to hers slowly, like he’s afraid she’ll spill.

“What was her name?” Tanner asks aloud, but his eyes are unfocused, as if he’s thinking back to when he was a teen.

“Who? The little girl?”

“Yeah,” he replies, his eyes roaming the room as if looking for the answer. “I remember babysitting her now, but I can’t remember what her name was.”

“Oh, it was a ‘K’ name, Katie or Kelly.” Deb waves her hand. “Something like that.”

“Kayla,” he says, snapping his fingers, “Her name was Kayla.”

I freeze, my mind suddenly spitting out a memory of a boy older than me, playing dolls on the floor. “Oh my gosh.”

Tanner looks over at me and blinks. “What?”

“You were him. The older boy.” I think I called him the Big Boy Babysitter when I was little, but I don’t mention that now.

Oh my hell… was this actually happening?

“No way.” Tanner shakes his head.

“What’s happening?” Deb asks, her brows furrowed.

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