Page 21 of Falling into Place
Brooks, what the hell was that? Get your head out of your ass, son.
—Coach McKee during the Freemont High state championship basketball game
“You won’t believe what I’ve gotten myself into, Coach.”
Coach McKee, or just Coach to Brooks, crossed one ankle over his opposite knee. He wore the same thing he always did—track pants, sneakers, and a T-shirt emblazoned with some rendition of Brooks’s old high school basketball team. Coach retired three years ago, but Brooks knew for a fact he still attended every single game.
They’d just settled in at Coach’s kitchen table, which was where they sat every time Brooks came over. His old coach (both in basketball and life, though Coach probably never meant to sign up for the latter) took his time stirring a spoonful of sugar into his coffee, then offered Brooks a bland expression that meantGo on.
“Sasha and Macy talked me into joining an online dating service and letting them tell the whole damn town about it.”
“Online dating service?” Coach echoed, scratching his balding head. “What happened to meeting women the old-fashioned way?”
“Soda fountains aren’t what they used to be.”
“Watch yourself,” Coach said. “I’m notthatold.”
“Where’d you meet Linda?”
“The picture show,” Coach muttered.
Brooks laughed. “I might be able to meet someone at the movies, too, if I ever went.”
“That right there’s the problem with you kids these days,” Coach said before taking a long sip of coffee. Brooks opted not to point out that as a thirty-three-year-old man, he was hardly a kid anymore. “Everyone’s too busy looking at their phones to go places and talk to people’s faces.”
“Don’t act like I didn’t see that new reel you posted yesterday.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Anyway,” Brooks said, his brief smile fading. “It’s not the digital part I mind. In some ways it makes things easier for people like me.”
“What do you mean, people like you?”
“I just mean I’m not really out on the town where I might strike up a random conversation with a woman. I haven’t done that sort of thing since ...” He trailed off. “Well, you know.”
Coach’s sharp gaze gentled. “You could, though. You’re not the same person you were back then.”
True, Brooks wasn’t the same reckless kid he once was. But after years of buckling down to stay out of trouble and focus on school and his career, he didn’t know how to get back out there. “I’m just not sure I’m any good at this anymore. Dating hasn’t really been on my radar for a while, and I figured I still had plenty of time to wade back out there at some point. But Macy and Sasha make it sound like every second I’m at home, I’m wasting precious time and missing my chance to find someone.”
“Nah. Everyone has their own timing for this stuff.” Coach leaned back and rubbed the top of his head. “But if you’re not ready, why did you agree to do it?”
Brooks slumped in his chair, the same one he always sat in. Coach liked to sit with his back against the wall—a habit he said held over from his years in the military—which put Brooks smack-dab in the middle of the kitchen. He had a nice view through the back window, though, where Linda had several bird feeders hanging from the eave. “It’s not that I’m not ready, per se. I just hadn’t even been thinking about it, I guess. Now that it’s on my mind, I’m not completely opposed to it, even if the method for going about it wouldn’t have been my first choice. But this whole thing is supposed to help boostLiveOKC, too. My mom’s magazine, remember?”
“Sure. Sasha runs it now, right?”
“Yeah. I guess it’s not doing so hot, and they cooked up this idea to showcase someone going through the dating scene in Oklahoma City.” Brooks rubbed his eyes. “That’s what I meant by telling everyone about it—there’ll be pictures of me and articles about where I take people on dates and stuff.”
“Well, hell,” Coach said. “That does sound awful.”
“Why anyone would care about someone else’s dating life is beyond me, but apparently people love this stuff. Sasha and Macy seemed so convinced this could save the magazine from going under, so how could I say no?”
“‘No.’ Just like that.”
“Helpful as always.”
Coach just shrugged and rested his forearm on the table, the picture of ease. He might as well have said,You got yourself into this mess, and I’m not swooping in to save you this time.
Brooks didn’t expect him to, but he wanted to complain about it to someone. Sasha and Macy were out for obvious reasons, and his buddy James still wouldn’t have stopped laughing.
