Page 60 of Everything's Better With You
“You need to sit. Have you had water?”
“Yeah, I’m fine.” He couldn’t help smiling as he gazed into Leslie’s worried eyes. “I’m…hi.”
“Hey,” Leslie said, grinning. “I had a few minutes before practice. I wanted to—”
He let go of Joe’s arm just as the door swung open and the cheerleaders and hopefuls began trickling in.
“Clinics,” Joe said, putting his hands on his lower back. “Tryouts are tomorrow.”
“Right. I, um. I just wanted to touch base…”
Joe sucked in a breath as all the things he needed to say to Leslie flooded his brain.
“Absolutely. I’ll have to give you a call.”
“Hey, Coach,” Terrell said as he came in. He let his bag slip to the floor. “Your team walking okay after yesterday?”
“I’ll find out soon, I guess?” he said, then he frowned, likely in confusion as Joe was doing a terrible job of playing it cool.
“Right, well, let us know. We’ll try harder next time.” Joe grinned at him but it slipped the moment hurt passed Leslie’s face.
“Sure. Sorry to keep you. We can catch up later.” Les waved to the kids and started to leave.
“Oh, uh, I’ll walk out with you. Terrell? You’ll get them started?”
Terrell nodded and strolled over to turn the music on.
Joe slipped out the door and followed Leslie.
“Hey, sorry.” He smiled, but Leslie still looked confused.
“What’s going on? I thought—”
“You thought right,” Joe said and exhaled. “I’m sorry. It’s been a day. Can I swing by later?”
“I’m going to be working late. It seems MidAmerica have a new quarterback and I have no film on him so I’ve got Sandy doing research. We’ll probably be at it all night. I can call—”
“It’s okay. I know you’re busy. We’ll catch up…sometime?” Joe laughed nervously.
Leslie turned and attempted to block the view of oncoming traffic. He started to speak and was interrupted.
“Coach Payton? We’re meeting on the soccer field?”
“Yeah, Danny. I’ll be right there.”
The kid’s eyes lit up when he saw Joe. “Thanks for the workout last night, Coach Judd.” He waved and trotted out the door.
“What’s going on?” Leslie asked. “Did something happen?”
Joe opened his mouth to speak—though he wasn’t sure whether he would have come clean—and a larger group of footballers came pounding down the steps.
“Coach!” they all yelled.
“You’re all about to be late. You better hope you beat me there.”
The kids paused for a nanosecond and then ran like hell.
“Wow, they sure move fast”
