Page 16 of Third and Ten

“Fine,” I concede. “Do I have to wear something special?” I pour myself a glass of tea from the fridge.

“I had a shirt made for you. It’s hanging in your closet. Be there at six. Oh, you’ll probably want to bring my cowbell for the game. And Tenley?” She turns to face me.

“Yes, ma’am?”

“Try not to spend too much time staring at Ethan’s coach and pay attention to the game. I know JD Bourgeois and his brother are both easy on the eyes, but you’ve got to at least pretend to watch the boys play ball for a bit.”

I choke on a sip of iced tea. “Okay, first of all, you shouldn’t believe anything Ethan tells you.”

She raises an eyebrow at me expectantly. “So, you and JD haven’t been flirting and making sweet eyes at each other for the past couple of weeks?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. But for the record, I have no intention of dating anyone in Camellia,” I declare as I walk off to change. I laugh to myself when she grumbles a sarcastic response that I’m sure I’m not meant to overhear.

The truth is that while I’ve been too blind to recognize my mom’s attempts to bring up Ethan’s guardianship, I have inadvertently noticed JD’s lingering gaze each time I pick up Ethan from practice. I simply refuse to flatter myself by thinking he’s interested in me since he must have his pick of the available women around here. I figure his attention is more likely out of concern for Ethan’s well-being, and he’s only watching to ensure I’m taking good care of one of his favorite students. Either way, I don’t think it’s wise to read too much into JD’s flirting or his “sweet eyes.”

Back in my bedroom, I find the shirt my mom commissioned for me. I click my tongue in disgust once I realize that it’s at least two sizes too small. Surely, she’s done it on purpose, hoping to advertise my assets for me. I trade my scrub top for the T-shirt, anyway. The collar dips entirely too low, which means the girls are getting some screen time tonight, like it or not. I tug on the fabric, attempting to stretch out the shirt, then try readjusting my boobs, all without success. Eventually, I give up on any chance of modesty or propriety and can only hope I don’t embarrass Ethan in front of his friends with his football number stretched out so awkwardly across my chest. I groan in frustration and stomp out of my room.

“Seriously, Mom?” I ask back in the kitchen, gesturing to the disaster of a neckline. “You’re about as subtle as a billboard, or a fake dating-app profile.”

“I don’t know what you mean, cher. I think that shirt is quite flattering,” she replies, pressing her lips together and trying not to laugh.

“I’m calling Mrs. Sandy and getting her to make me another shirt in an actual adult size next week.”

She shrugs. “Suit yourself. In the meantime, I think Coach might have a hard time concentrating on the game while you’re wearing that shirt. You’d better sit up high in the bleachers, so he’s not tempted to stare at you all night.”

CHAPTER 6

JD

I stand on the sidelines, supposedly concentrating on my playbook. But I can’t stop my eyes from wandering, and the game hasn’t even started yet.

Earlier, I watched Ethan escort Tenley down the field for parent night. It’s the first time she’s worn something other than scrubs around me, and if I thought I liked her curves before, it’s only because I hadn’t seen her in jeans and a fitted V-neck tee until tonight. I’m even more sprung on her than I care to admit at this point.

And now I’m pretending to study a route that none of my players even understand while I observe Tenley’s interactions with an old classmate. They’re talking near the entrance to the bleachers while Shaliene, my homecoming date from junior year and another former athletic trainer, hands over her fresh-from-the-oven baby. Tenley expertly tucks the blue swaddle into arms, and the baby immediately nestles up to her very plush chest, looking cozy and comfortable within seconds. I continue to stare as she gazes down at the baby fondly, her lips moving as if she’s murmuring something to him.

I never thought I could be so envious of an infant. I realize after a minute that I’ve closed my playbook, and I’m just standing there, gaping at her like a creep again. But I can’t stop myself. I’m midway through compiling a list of Tenley’s qualifications for making and nourishing babies when, suddenly, my angelic view is blocked by something much more offensive.

“Yeah. That’s a big fat NO, Coach Thirsty,” Blake says sternly with both of his hands on my shoulders. He physically turns my body to face the field, despite my protests.

“What? There was a baby. Am I not allowed to look at the baby?”

“We all know that’s not what you were staring at, big boy. In fact, you were probably creeping out all the other mothers and children in the stadium with that look on your face,” he grumbles, his eyes darting around nervously.

“What look?” I ask incredulously.

“You have a problem, bro. You’re starting to scare me,” he says quietly, his tone more serious.

I open my mouth to defend myself, but I’m not even sure how to explain that watching your crush hold a baby and fantasizing about making one of your own isn’t creepy but actually nice and wholesome. Well, it started out wholesome, anyway.

“I know. You’re right. I just…I can’t stop thinking about her, but I also can’t get close to her.”

“You need to get her out of your system,” he suggests. “Man up and ask her out, once and for all. And if she says no, go out with someone else until you forget about her.”

That isn’t how I’m wired, and Blake knows it. And somehow, nothing about the way I’m wired even matters with Tenley around, anyway.

“Or, you know, keep stalker-staring at her from afar and pestering Ethan for little tidbits of information, making yourself look sketchy and desperate, losing your edge, and damaging your reputation with the other women in town…”

“I don’t care about the other women in town,” I reply, pouting like a child.

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