The One & Only(82)
Coach flipped back to the other game as I started chewing on my bottom lip, a nervous habit, and said, “What do you think of Ryan’s parents?”
“His mother is nice but very meek. As for Sherwood …” Coach shook his head. “Brash, arrogant son-of-a-bitch. The do-you-know-who-I-am? kind of guy … Ryan’s actually turned out pretty good in spite of him.”
I nodded, trying to analyze his choice of words. Pretty good wasn’t exactly a ringing endorsement, but it could have been just the understated way Coach spoke.
“How are things going with Ryan, anyway?” he asked, just like he had at the track, as if maybe the update would have changed in a few weeks.
“Fine,” I said, shrugging.
“Getting serious?”
“No,” I said so reflexively that it surprised me, and I found myself wondering whether I’d told the truth. Then again, if I were disclaiming my relationship so effortlessly, didn’t that mean, by definition, that Ryan and I weren’t serious? My head suddenly hurt as I put the ball back in his court. “What about you?”
“What about me?” Coach finished his taco, folded his napkin twice, then deposited it over his plate.
My palms sweaty, I said, as nonchalantly as possible, “Do you think you’re going to date anyone … anytime soon? … Or are you … not ready?”
“I might be … just a little bit … ready,” he said, staring into my eyes as my heart really began to race. “But only for the right woman.”
“Of course,” I whispered.
“Someone who would always respect what I had with Connie. My past …”
“Right,” I said, nodding.
“Even better if this woman actually knew Connie,” he said, leaning toward me, his voice lowered. “She has to be intelligent. Strong. With some gumption.”
“Of course,” I said, wondering if I had gumption. At this moment, I wasn’t so sure.
“And she definitely has to understand this coaching thing … the game of football … She has to love football. Has to.”
“Right,” I said, hypnotized by his words and his eyes and the sound of his voice. “What about physically? Do you have a type?”
“Not really,” he said. “But I like brown hair. Reddish brown is nice. What do they call that—auburn?” He looked right at my hair as my vision blurred.
“But the hair is just a bonus. A two-point conversion if you will.”
I tried to speak, but couldn’t.
He stared right into my eyes and said, “You know anyone who fits the bill?”
“I might,” I managed to whisper.
“Oh?” he said with as much charm as a man could possibly have without being too charming. “You might?”
“Maybe,” I said.
“Well, let me know … Because short of that woman, the one I just described … I’d rather be alone … Just sitting here, alone, watching football.”
He gave me a slow smile, staring even deeper into my eyes. So deep that I suddenly knew. Almost for sure. I held his gaze, paralyzed with fear, excitement, utter shock. Never in a million years had I seen this coming.
“Shea?”
“Yes?” I said, finally breathing, wondering if I’d heard him wrong. If it were only wishful thinking.
“Are you okay?”
I nodded, took a breath, and said, “So … what do you think Lucy and Lawton would say? If you found this … woman?”
Waiting for his answer, I pushed Ryan from my mind, telling myself that I hadn’t crossed any lines. This was a theoretical conversation. That’s all.
“Lawton would be okay … I think … But Lucy? … I don’t know. That might be a problem … Then again, she wants me to be happy.”
“Of course she does,” I said. “Do you think … you can be? Happy again?”
“I think so … I hope so.”
“I hope so, too, Coach,” I said, wondering if you could faint from attraction.
I could hear in the background that someone had just scored, but neither of us looked toward the television. “But you know what, Shea?”
He rarely used my name, and it caught me off guard. “What, Coach?”
“I’m already happy. Right here. Right now.”
I smiled and said, “Well, guess what?”
“What’s that?”
“I am, too,” I said.
“Well, good,” he said as we both turned back to watch the game.
The rest of the night was all about football, both of us pretending that we hadn’t had the conversation in which he told me, more or less, that my crush was not one-sided after all.