Page 63 of Full Coverage (Boys of Fall)

“Hey, Coach.”

Coach Carr turned from where he was filling a cup with coffee.“Hey, Randi.”

“How are you?” She crossed the room and lifted onto tiptoe to give him a kiss on the cheek. He was one of her favorite people and in spite of her crappy mood, she was happy to see him.

“Couldn’t be better,” Coach told her.

Randi grinned at that. Coach’s daughter, Lorelie, was in love and Coach was happy about it. That really could have gone either way and Randi had been thrilled when her friend told her that Coach liked Glen.

But, Randi had only been able to handle a few minutes of Lorelie’s glowing. Just like she’d turned down Annabelle and Jackson’s invitations to dinner, and had excused herself from the table with Lela and Charlene when their men showed up at Pitchers. She was just having a hard time not being a jealous bitch. It was better that she just keep her melancholy, lovesick crap to herself.

“So how’s the car?” Randi asked Coach.

“Good.”

She lifted an eyebrow. “Donny said you wanted me to look at it.”

“Oh, right. Yep. Need new wiper blades,” Coach said.

Now both her eyebrows went up. “You need me to replace your wiper blades?”

Coach sipped from his cup and nodded.

The man was one of the most intelligent people she knew. He crafted plays that made other coaches weep. He’d run his ranch for umpteen years. He’d raised a daughter all on his own. He’d been a father figure to dozens of young men. There was no way Nicholas Carr needed her to change his wiper blades. Something was up. And it was probably about Nolan.

Randi felt her heart squeeze at the thought of Nolan. He and Coach talked at least a couple times a month even when Nolan wasn’t visiting. She was sure Coach knew that she knew that. He was waiting for her to ask about him. She sighed. If Coach had something to say that he thought she needed to hear, she was going to hear it. But she didn’t have to encourage it.

“Okay,” she said. “Pull the truck into bay three and we’ll get you fixed up.”

“Will do.” Coach tossed his empty cup into the trash and headed for the front of the garage.

She watched him get into the truck and start it up. He was going to pretend he needed her to work on the truck rather than just getting to it?

Fine. She was going to charge him for the stupid blades.

He pulled into the bay and she grabbed the blade replacements from the store room. She climbed up on the running board and had the first one done in two minutes.

She moved to the other side to replace the second blade that was in practically perfect condition.

“Weather’s been good, huh?” Coach asked.

For God’s sake. They were going to talk about the weather? Literally?

Randi nodded. “It really has been.”

“Heard you went to New York.”

Now they were getting to it. She snapped the wiper back into place and jumped to the ground. “Yep.”

She wasn’t going to give him anything. If he wanted to know something specific, he could ask. This was Coach. He was a straight shooter. He told people what they needed to hear, whether they wanted to hear it or not. There was a reason he was working up to this. He was gauging her reactions and expressions. He was trying to read how she felt and what she was thinking. And he’d probably tell Nolan everything.

Well, she wasn’t that easy.

“Cold up there, huh?” Coach asked.

“Yep. Very.”

“Have a good time?”

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