Page 8 of Rookie Move
Once upon a time, he and Coach Worthington were tight. Karl had been a college coach then, but he’d done some development work with Leo’s high school team. The man had taught him a lot, and had always had time for Leo.
At the same time, Leo was dating his daughter, Georgia. There are some dads who hate their little girl’s boyfriend on principle. But Coach Karl hadn’t seemed like that sort of dad. And anyway, Leo had treated Georgia like a queen until the day she’d broken his heart. When Leo looked back on high school, loving Georgia was actually the one thing in his life he knew he’d done right. Maybe he wasn’t as good a big brother to his siblings as he should have been. And maybe he was a pain in the ass to his teachers. But Leo had been really good to Georgia Worthington, from the moment he asked her to the homecoming dance their sophomore year until the day of high school graduation, when she cut him loose.
It wasn’t quite as simple as puppy love running its course, though. A few months before graduation, something terrible had happened to Georgia, and Leo wasn’t around to stop it. The last part of their senior year, they’d both suffered. And sometime during those dark days, Coach Worthington stopped approving of Leo. At the time, Leo had been too worried about Georgia to wonder much about her father’s change of heart. His disapproval meant nothing to Leo—there’d been only Georgia and her pain. He’d stuck by her side, loyal to the very end.
Goddamn it, he was good to her. Then she’d pushed him away.
And now Leo was standing in front of a glass refrigerator full to the top with water and Gatorade, his fists clenched, upset all over again by the anguish he’d tried to put aside for the last six years.
“Just open ’er up and take one,” a voice said beside him. “Anytime you need.”
“Thanks,” he said gruffly. He realized he’d been staring at the row of bottles as if they’d provide the secrets of the universe. He yanked open the door and snagged a bottle of water.
“I’m Silas Kelly,” the guy beside him said, thrusting out a meaty hand. “Backup goalie.”
Leo shook. “Good to meet you. How long you been a Bruiser?” God, that sounded ridiculous.
Silas grinned. “This is my rookie year. Spent some time in Ontario on an ECHL team. Got traded in September.”
“Cool.”
“I’ve played four games. Hoping the new coach is a fan so I can get off the bench a little more often.”
The backup goalie job wasn’t an easy one. “I hear you,” Leo said. “Gotta say, if Coach Karl likes you, that’ll make one of us.”
He laughed, and it was big and loud. “Really? You two have history?”
“We have a little.”Even if I’m not quite sure what it is.
“How’d you get called up, then?”
Leo shook his head. “No clue.”
The door to the room banged open. “Gentlemen,” said a female voice.
He turned toward the doorway, his fingers freezing midtwist on the cap of the water bottle as he stared at the girl in the doorway. No—scratch that. At thewomanin the doorway. His chest seized, becauseJesus Christ. Georgia was even more beautiful than she had been six years ago.
She addressed the team. He thought so, anyway. But he didn’t hear a word she said, because he was too busy cataloging everything that was familiar about her. Adulthood had thinned her face a little, revealing cheekbones soshapely that they might have starred on the cover of a magazine. His ex had always been a pretty girl, but now she was stunning. Her blond hair had darkened somewhat, but it was still shot through with golden streaks. He knew exactly how silky it would feel under his hand if he brushed it away from her face.
There were unfamiliar parts to this picture, too—her stern expression, for one. He’d always hoped that Georgia had gone on to find her smile again, even if he wasn’t the lucky recipient. But he didn’t see any evidence of smiling now. And she was all dressed up in a suit and filmy blouse. Andheels. His Georgia never wore stilts like that. They made her legs look a mile long. They were killer. But they weren’t her.
“...We’ll begin in fifteen minutes. Coach Worthington will thank Mr. Kattenberger for the opportunity to lead the team, and he’ll say a few words about how excited he is to work with all of you. All most of you have to do is sit up straight and clap. Any questions?”
His brain was still playing catch-up. If Georgia was talking about the press conference, she must work for the team. An assistant? A publicist?
O’Doul raised his hand, a goofy smile on his face.
“What is it, captain?” Georgia asked with an edge of impatience in her voice.
“Is it a coincidence that our new coach has the same last name as you?”
“Yes and no,” she said, eyes on her clipboard. “It is a coincidence that we both work for the same team. But we have the same name because Coach Worthington is my father.”
O’Doul grinned. “Thanks for clearing that up, babe. Is he pretty, too?”
Her expression darkened. “You can decide for yourself, Mr. O’Doul,” she said coolly. “And you’ll have a good view, because I need you sitting on the dais up front. After Coach Worthington gives his remarks, you’ll say a few words of welcome. I’ve drafted something for you here.”She flipped to another page on her clipboard and extracted a sheet of paper, handing it to him. She actually had to lean down a bit, because her shoes made her so much taller than usual.
Leo was openly staring now, but he couldn’t help it. She looked both the same and different. Her legs, always shapely from playing tennis all her life, looked ten miles long in those heels. But there was something about her that was... harder. She seemed more brittle than he remembered.
