“Your dad.”
She stopped and stared at him. “You don’t have to say that just because it’s me.”
“I’m not saying it just because it’s you, Haven. Bill Briscoe saved my ass—more than once—and made it possible for me to have a pro sports career.”
She felt the twinge in the vicinity of her heart, but pushed it aside and typed the quote into her laptop. “Okay. Tell me about . . . Bill.”
“He took everyone under his wing. He was more than just our dorm parent. He genuinely cared about all of us guys. It made a difference to him that we were educated and also excelled at the sports we played. You know how hard college was for me. I wasn’t much into the academic part of it. But Bill pushed me to always do better. He said I wasn’t going to play sports the rest of my life, so it mattered that I graduated.”
She looked up from her laptop. “And you did.”
He laughed. “Yeah. Barely. Thanks to you. And to your—to Bill. Education was always important to him. He always wanted the guys to see a future beyond just a sports career. We talked a lot about what I saw myself doing after I was done with football and baseball.”
“Really. And what did you see in your future?”
“Nothing. Sports was always it for me. I don’t want to own some car dealership or do sportscasting. It’s always been and always will be sports for me. Bill suggested coaching.”
“At the pro level?”
“I don’t think so. Maybe working with kids somewhere down the road. I want to mold them when they’re younger.”
She leaned back in the chair and studied him. “I could see that. Kids would look up to you. You could become a teacher, then do coaching.”
He laughed. “Yeah, that’s not gonna happen.”
“Why not?”
“It’s just not gonna happen. I’m not teacher material.”
“Why would you even think that? You totally could be. All you have to do is go back to school and get the right degree, then you could teach and coach.”
“No.” He stood and left the room.
Haven looked at the empty doorway, sensing she’d just said something terribly wrong. Trevor had been upset. Or angry. Or something.
But she had no idea what she’d said.
She set her laptop aside and went to find him.
TWELVE
TREVOR LOOKED OUT OVER THE POOL, TRYING TO GET his emotions under control.
It had been stupid to walk out on Haven like that. She’d made a simple suggestion. She didn’t know about him, so he could have just nodded and said maybe and left it at that.
Instead, the old insecurities had rushed to the surface. The impatience, the frustration at all the things he couldn’t do—would never be able to do—had gotten a stranglehold on him and had taken over, blotting out all his common sense.
He closed his eyes and focused on the things he could do well.
Like play baseball and football.
He was going to have to be very careful in this interview. Haven had a knack for opening him up, bringing out the past, making him answer questions about things he hadn’t thought about in a long time. Like hopes and ambitions he thought he’d buried deep.
She was good at her job, probably better than she gave herself credit for. Or maybe it was because the two of them had a natural ability to get into each other’s heads. He enjoyed talking to her about anything, and not just himself and his career. He wanted to know what she thought about a lot of things. He wanted to get to know her better. She was so smart.
The exact opposite of him.
He shook his head and stared into the water of the pool, sucking in a deep breath.
Forget it. Let it go.
He heard the back door open and straightened, forcing those thoughts out of his head. It was time to put the mask on again, so Haven wouldn’t see, wouldn’t know what he was thinking about.
She came up beside him and laid her hand on his arm. “Something I said upset you.”
He turned to face her, planting a smile on his face. “No, you didn’t. I’m sorry I got up and left. I just needed a break.”
He knew from the look on her face that she didn’t believe him, but she nodded.
“Okay.”
“I don’t know about you, but I’m feeling closed in spending the day at the house. Let’s take a trip out.”
“Sure. Where would you like to go?”
“I’ll take you around St. Louis. Show you some of my favorite places.”
“That sounds like a plan. I’ll bring my camera and we can take some stills.”
“Okay.”
Their first stop was at the zoo. When they went inside, Haven grinned. “I haven’t been to a zoo in years.”