Page 13 of Coach Me
I’ve never understood the Everyone Loves Lucie bit when it comes to anywhere outside of the classroom. Outside of these four walls, I feel like the most boring person in the world.
I can’t think of any hobbies that I have to help distract me from this. I have zero dating life because I chronically get ghosted. The things that define me are my siblings and being a teacher.
Christ, I really felt like a failure telling Reagan…but telling Will…I think I’m going to have a panic attack.
“How am I supposed to tell Will?” I whisper on a shaky breath.
Reagan’s eyebrows crease. “What do you mean?”
“How am I supposed to tell him, after all that money he paid for my degree, that I just got fired! Reagan, Willpays for so much of my stuff already. All I had to do was keep my job, but now I’ve let him down!”
Reagan places her hands on my shoulders again with a small shake this time. “Okay, I know you’re feeling a lot of emotions right now, but that one is just wrong. Lucie, I know this is a lot to process and, fuck, being fired sucks?—”
“How would you know?” I yell and immediately regret it. “I’m sorry. I just?—”
Reagan chuckles lightly. “Don’t be, I liked it. You almost sounded like me for a minute there. I didn’t realize your voice could sound so angry.”
I huff, only a quarter tempted to smile at her attempt to make me feel better.
“I do know for a fact that Will won’t be angry when you tell him. The disappointed father act isn’t his stitch either. He may try to help fix the situation by making a donation to the school's budget because he’s also a millionaire!”
She has a good point there. Not that I’ll allow him to, even if the idea does sound appealing.
Reagan forces me back in my chair. “Sit back down for a minute and breathe. I may not know what it’s like to be fired, but I’ve accepted Will’s money just the same as you. So, have your pity party. Be sad about losing the job you loved, but then let’s pull it together. I’m not trying to rub salt in your wound, but better things are out there for you, Luce. Maybe this is your opportunity to find them. You have time to find a new job too. It sucks, yes, but you have some time to figure it out at least.”
I let my sister’s words fully process in my head. I know she’s right, even if the only real feeling I want to feel right now is sadness.
I let out an exasperated breath. “I know you’re right, butI want to wallow for a bit. We have until Friday to clean out my stuff. Can we just get the turtles and go home?”
Reagan scrunches her nose. “Right…the turtles. No chance they’ll bring back sad memories and you choose to re-home them?”
The laugh sputters out of me. “Don’t even start with me. You tell me you’re moving an hour away from me, and now I’ve been fired from my lifelong dream job. We’re taking the turtles, and if you’re not careful, I’ll guilt trip you into holding one.”
Reagan blinks her eyes with her nose still scrunched. “Okay, the emotions are okay to feel, but now you’re being dramatic. That’s not fucking happening.”
I let out ahmph. “Touché.”
“So, is it okay now for me to ask whose number is on your coffee cup?”
I shake my head. “A barista’s, but before you get too excited, I swapped coffee cups with Dex Larsen.”
Reagan’s mouth gapes as she hits my shoulder. “I know, in light of the new development, I can see why that took the backseat. But, as your sister, you mean you didn’t immediately tell me about a run-in with the extremely yummy pitcher, Dex Larsen?!”
“It’s Coach now, remember. Ya know, our brother’s coach?” The extremely yummy part doesn’t need correcting because that’s an absolute fact. With his deep brown skin and espresso-colored eyes, I knew I had to keep my glances at him under control or I might have started blushing at every word out of his mouth.
Reagan cocks her eyebrow. “You mean your total baseball dream guy?”
Sure, I find him attractive, but “dream guy” soundsa tad dramatic coming out of Reagan’s mouth. In the family-first of it all, Will will always be my favorite baseball player, but it’s also kind of a lie and Reagan knows that.
I’ve always been a fan of the Blues in general, but everyone’s got a favorite player on their team and Dex was mine. He was their best pitcher by far, and again was super yummy to watch as he would strike people out consistently.
“I mean, a player I enjoyed watching. Don’t make it weird. He didn’t even realize who I was.” Even if I deep down kind of wish he did.
Reagan gives me a small nod. “Probably for the best. His retirement was why Will got traded, right?”
I shrug. “Pretty much. Not to mention newly divorced.”
I don’t know the full details of the divorce; it seemed to be so non-problematic that the tabloids only ran one story about it, and then it was just over. The only other information I have is the snippets I get from Callie when she talks about Miles hanging out with her during the games.
