Page 82 of Ready to Score

“Fifty-one, even.”

Landry cackled, and she did too. She knew they must have looked wild as hell. Looking possible defeat in the eyes and making jokes all the while. But shit, it felt too good to be back.

They’d had a quick break moments before, enough for the boys to gulp down some water and for Jade to tell them how they were going to finish the game.

A flea flicker. The type of trick play that wasn’t at all uncommon but would hopefully still work to their advantage. Greenbelt was tired, but West Beaufort was too. They hadn’t expected to work as hard as they’d had to to get this far and not even be ahead. Sluggish and slower than they’d been when they started, Jade figured that getting tricky with them in the final play during the final seconds would work to Greenbelt’s advantage in a major way. A winning way.

The snap happened quickly; Greenbelt’s quarterback handed off the ball to the running back behind him, who took off fast and furious down the line of scrimmage.

On the sidelines, the Greenbelt coaches stood in a tight row, acting almost like a wall of excitement and anticipation. Jade’s eyes were glued to the field, but in her peripheral, she could practically see them suck in a collective breath of air and hold it in their chests as their running back gained yard after yard. It would have been hilarious if it weren’t so tense.

She eyed the clock, watching as the seconds ticked by faster than seemed possible.

Ten seconds left.

Their running back stopped suddenly, only to pass the ball back into the hands of their quarterback, who immediately threw it downfield to a wide-open receiver. West Beaufort’s actions stuttered for just a moment, but it was long enough for Greenbelt to get a good lead after their little trick.

Suddenly, all the coaches on both sides were yelling. Red-faced, veins popping, Jade screamed as her wide receiver got closer to West Beaufort’s end zone. The seconds ticked as his legs worked hard and fast. His body twisting and spinning as he evaded their players trying to tackle him.

When it happened, it was too quick to elicit a real reaction. One second left, the crowd and the coaches screaming their lungs out, and their wide receiver was taken down by a defensive tackle. The kid caught him right around the waist, wrapping his arms around tightly and bringing him to the ground so suddenly and hard that he fumbled the ball. It bounced once, then landed right there on the turf a few feet away from the boys on the ground.

The players scrambled to dive for possession of it, but before they could even formulate a plan of action, the clock reached zero, loud buzzers sounding throughout the stadium and signaling the end of the game.

There would be no overtime. There would be nothing to bring them back from the edge. They’d lost. It had been the first game of the season, and they’d lost.

But damn if it didn’t feel the way a loss usually felt. On the field, their boys looked downtrodden. Shoulders dropped, limbs heavy, faces to the ground. They’d fought hard—anyone watching couldsee that. But it still hadn’t been enough to earn them their win. Jade knew they were crushed. Her position along the sidelines had allowed her to see that they’d played a hell of a game and had nothing to be ashamed of. But they were still deep in it.

She turned to Landry, who was standing at her side, clapping. She wasn’t sure what she’d expected to see, but the look on his face was a pleasant surprise. He wasn’t smiling, but his expression was awash with pure pride. His eyes were damn near glistening, shining brightly as he looked over his team.

It put things into perspective even more. This wasn’t a win, but it wasn’t quite a loss either, not truly.

The boys started to make their way off the field as the crowd in the stands slowly filed out. All the coaches stood in a line, slapping them on the backs as they made their way toward the locker rooms. They’d go in after them, letting them get a few minutes to themselves before they did their duty and came in with a pep talk. Any focus on what could have been done better would be saved for another day. On this day, they’d be celebrated.

Once the last kid was off the field, Jade put a hand on Landry’s shoulder. “Well, look at that, Coach. You’ve done your boys good.”

His eyes were still shining when he glanced down at her. The look in them felt like a bottle rocket taking off. It felt like kissing Francesca square on the lips once they got in the car together every afternoon. It felt like when her daddy had given over the keys to Gladys that fall morning.

It felt like winning.

His big hand reached out to squeeze her shoulder. “Just make sure you keep doing right by them, yeah, Coach?”

Something welled in the middle of her throat, and she had to wrap a hand around her own waist to keep from falling over. She’d come to realize over the past few months that this moment hadn’tactually been everything she’d ever wanted. There were other things too. A full, happy life. A lightness in her body. Mostly, right now, what she wanted was to run up to the woman a couple of yards away pretending not to snoop on the conversation they were having.

Still, she couldn’t discount that this felt fucking incredible. Her heart was racing, and she was shuffling her feet. Sweat started beading on her forehead. Her body didn’t seem to know whether it wanted to throw up the contents of her dinner or do a bunch of backflips until her legs followed suit.

In lieu of making a mess all over Landry’s pristine windbreaker or taking off down the field screaming bloody murder, she pushed every ounce of reactive energy down into her chest until a slow smile stretched its way across her face.

“You know I will.”

27

Lim, can I get a word with you in my office?”

Franny looked up from her notebook to see Coach Landry standing at the doorway of the classroom they used for team debriefings and indoor practice days. The game had ended over an hour ago, and every player had been patted on the back and sent home to mourn their loss with their folks. Most of the coaches had already split too. But she’d come with Jade, and well, Jade Dunn was not known for being the first out of anything. The woman had flitted off somewhere fifteen minutes ago, muttering something about game scheduling. So Franny had made herself as comfortable as she could in one of the old wooden desks and started making O-line notes.

Landry’s sudden request both thrilled and terrified her. She could think of only two things the man could possibly want to say to her. One of which would crush her and the other of which could make her goddamn life.

“Sure, Coach,” she said. She wiped her sweaty hands on her pants and stood up. Taking an awkward second to waffle between bringing or leaving her notebook, she decided at the last minute to tuck it into her arms before falling into step beside him. At the very least, it would give her something to clutch on to if he told her to fuck off.

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