Page 48 of Falling into Place
“Linda said she saw you on one of her morning shows.”
Brooks set down his coffee mug and scratched his jaw. “What did she think?”
It was early on a Saturday morning, and Brooks had stopped by Coach’s place on his way home from the gym. He’d missed the last two weeks—the first because he’d been on service at the hospital, and then again last week because of Carly. She’d driven to Tulsa to check out a few stores that didn’t have OKC locations and was so excited to give him first dibs on some items she’d bought that would work well for both him and another one of her clients that she invited herself over on her way back into town. She hadn’t arrived until after nine, and as they often did, they’d started talking. She hadn’t left until after midnight.
Instead of their usual spot in the kitchen, Coach had set up the chessboard on the back patio. Brooks never stopped trying to best the old man, even if he rarely succeeded.
Coach moved a pawn, then rested one hand on his belly, which had grown significantly rounder since his retirement. “She said you did great. I think the word she used was ‘charming.’”
“Really?” Linda McKee was a no-bullshit kind of woman, so that was high praise, indeed. “I thought I came off awkward as hell.”
“Well, she said you were that, too.”
Brooks barked out a laugh. “I’ll take what I can get.” They both fell silent for a moment while Brooks regarded the board, and Coach only spoke again after Brooks made his move.
“So how’s that whole thing going?”
“Honestly? It’s not that bad,” Brooks admitted. “I’m kind of enjoying it.”
“You did have a little pep in your step this morning. I think I see a little spark coming back to your eyes. Have you met a special lady? Is that why you bailed last week?”
Brooks didn’t miss thecoming backpart of Coach’s comment, further broadening the number of people who’d noticed his antisocial tendencies over the last several years. “Nah, nothing like that. I’m just having fun right now.”
Coach frowned, pausing with his hand on his rook. “You can have funandmeet someone special, you know.”
“Easy. I’m just getting back out there, alright? I don’t need that kind of pressure.”
After making his decision—playing his bishop, not his rook—Coach sat back, palms out like,Fine. “I just don’t want to see you open yourself up only to close yourself off again.”
Brooks made a face. “You sound like Carly.”
“Carly?”
“Porter, remember? The stylist Sasha’s making me meet with?”
Coach’s expression cleared and he nodded.
“She said something similar the other day. Last Friday night, actually, which is why I didn’t come last week. We stayed up talking way too late, and since you only want to be social at the ass crack of dawn, I couldn’t drag myself out of bed.”
Coach cocked a brow. “Fashion people make house calls?”
“If they need to, I guess. I think I might be getting special treatment with this one, though, since she’s Sasha’s friend.” Brooks cracked a small grin. “She’s sort of become my dating guide, too. She let me practice small talk since I hadn’t done that in forever. Honestly, I was more nervous about that part than anything else, but at one point, I was telling her about the work I do and how it’s one of the only places I feel confident and in my element, and I realized I sort of felt like that sitting there with her, too. It made me think maybe I can do this, you know?”
“Well, it’s good you have her around. You definitely needed all the help you can get.”
“Just for that ...” Brooks started, and made his move.
Coach blinked. “Shit.” He sat for a long moment, staring at the board.
He had several options to get out of the trap Brooks set, but it was anyone’s guess which one he’d take. Things could get pretty quiet when they played chess, depending on how intense the game got. The two times Brooks had beat Coach, he’d been uncharacteristically talkative. Hoping to keep his opponent distracted, Brooks kept going. “She’s helping me with my garden, too.”
“Who is?” Coach said to the board.
“Carly.”
“She’s a gardener, too?”
“Her mom is. She sends her mom all my questions and pictures of my plants.”
