Page 80 of The Coach

But I wish a part of him could own up to it, to deal with it head on and allow this to happen.

I think of Mick’s tears when he wouldn’t pick up the phone for her last night. She sat on the couch, hope brewing in her eyes that he would pick up, and I watched as she crumbled when she was sent to voicemail. Her sadness quickly dissolved into anger, and I listened to her rant for a good hour before she finally passed out.

I want to march right up to Lincoln and pummel him for hurting his sister. Hell, that’s not the only time I’ve wanted to do that. He’s been a dick during practice all week, and I’ve let it slide. But I was no longer interested in letting him rule whatever this was. I was the adult here. I was in a consensual relationship with the woman who would be my wife one day. This twenty-year-old punk was not going to stop any of it from happening.

He steps back, allowing me room to enter my office, and I have a moment of hesitation when I realize I have a handful of times left where I will have my own office here. It pisses me off again that he’s here, ruining this time for me. I step in, taking off my bag and setting it on my desk before rounding it and settling into my chair. I place my hands behind my head, interlocking my fingers and pretending that nothing is affecting me.

“I’m leaving.” The words taste like sawdust leaving my mouth. I never thought in my entire career that those would be words I’d say. I’ve transferred, been let go, graduated, gotten promoted, but I’ve never ever quit a job.

“What?” His stunned question gives me a momentary glimpse of happiness at surprising him, at knocking that hateful look off of his face, before my reality returns.

“I’m leaving. I’ve already put in my resignation, and after tomorrow’s game, I will no longer be the head coach of the Vapors.” The words burn, the anger that I’ve felt over the last two weeks since Lincoln found out about Mick and me roars in my gut.

“You… are leaving.” For once, Lincoln is stunned, so much so that he slumps into the seat across from my desk. “Where are you going?”

I shrug. “I don’t know. Right now, we’re thinking Florida.”

His head snaps up, his eyes connecting with mine. “Florida? Who’s ‘we’?”

“You know damn well who ‘we’ is,” I reply blandly. “Florida has some job options for both of us. Now that Colorado no longer does, we’re going where we can both live and work.”

“But… you can’t move Mickey away. You can’t just swoop in, and—”

“I’m not swooping anything, dammit.” I growl out the words, leaning forward and resting my forearms on the desk. “Your sister is a grown woman, Lincoln. Her decision to be with me is her own. No one is forcing her.”

He scoffs, bravely, might I add, and slouches in his chair. “You’re not good enough for her.”

“I agree. But I’m in love with your sister, and by some God-given miracle, she returns that.”

He frowns. “So what? You’re giving up your dream job to move to Florida with your girlfriend.”

Hating that I’m about to sound like his father, I stand up from my chair and pace in the small space between it and the wall. “You’d do damn well to show some respect,” I shake my head. “You have no fucking clue how good you have it,” I say, crossing a boundary I never intended to. But with my job already lost, there was nothing left to lose. “Your sister is so fucking proud of you.” I watch his eyes fall to the floor. “She talks about you like you’re some kind of saint when you and I both know you’re not.”

He snaps his eyes back to mine; I watch his jaw clench. Yeah, he knows exactly what I’m talking about.

“I’ve had to watch the woman I love agonize over your relationship because you can’t pull your head out of your ass and realize how badly you’re hurting her. She needs you, Lincoln. She needs you to forgive her for lying to you. She never wanted to do that, but what we have…” I shake my head, shrugging my shoulders. “It’s a once-in-a-lifetime thing that we can’t pass up.”

I mean every word. I intended on marrying Mick as soon as I could. As soon as she crossed that stage at graduation, I was going to have the ring waiting. She was everything to me, and if that meant giving up my dream job, I would do it ten times over to be with her.

“So yes, I’m quitting.” I shrug. “I wish you and this team the best of luck. I’m not allowing my work to take away the one thing in my life that matters.” I nod to the door behind him, knowing that he won’t be able to say anything that won’t end up with me giving him a black eye. “You’re excused.”

Lincoln watches me for a long moment, his mouth opens and closes. To his credit, he does look torn.

But it doesn’t matter. He hurt Mick. He hurled accusation after accusation at her, he made her cry.

As far as I was concerned, he had a lot to make up for, and nothing he could say to me would fix a damn thing.

thirty-four

MICK

There was something absolutely heartbreaking about quitting a job you had fallen in love with. As I gave Erik my notice, letting him know I wouldn’t be here after May to work on the new veteran program with him, I couldn’t hold back the tears.

I think there were some coworkers who thought I was being dramatic. They knew I was going to be moving to be with my boyfriend. They didn’t know all the details, like who he was, but they knew I was giving up my dream job to be with him and thought I was stupid.

There were moments when the thought crossed my mind, when I thought about the fact that I was going to give up what I was working toward here to be with Tanner. Then, I thought about him leaving, packing up his apartment and moving all the way across the country and trying to do the long-distance thing, and I would cry again.

I was really sick of crying. I wasn’t a crier. Growing up, I never cried. I didn’t cry when I got hurt. I didn’t cry if I had trouble with bullies or grades or anything that came my way. I wasn’t a crier.

---