Winning the Right Brother(16)
He grinned suddenly. “Or maybe I was just tired of getting beaten into the ground every Sunday. Either way, it was time to leave and I left.”
Holly was looking at him thoughtfully. “I’m glad you left the NFL,” she said after a moment. “I’m glad you came back here to Weston. I’m glad you’re Will’s coach.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Well…thanks, Holly.”
“Can I ask you another question?”
“Sure.”
“Why were you such a jerk in high school?”
Now he raised both eyebrows. “Hey, who said I was a jerk?” He waited a beat, then shook his head. “Okay, even I don’t buy that one. Yeah, I was a jerk. Most teenage boys are, you know. I hope you don’t think Will is typical.”
“No, I know he’s not typical. But you weren’t, either. I mean…I suppose most teenage boys are obnoxious, but you were…”
“More obnoxious than most? Maybe I was. Well—I hated my family, for one thing. One of the original excuses for teenage rebellion.”
“Why did you hate them?”
“I never knew my real father—he took off before I was born. My mom died when I was eight and that left me with my stepfather. He and Brian never had much use for me, and I had even less for them. I wasn’t related to them by blood, and they’re the kind of people that matters to. I left home as soon as I could.”
“So…you didn’t really have a family. After your mom died, anyway.”
He shrugged. “You don’t have to sound so sad about it. I got over it a long time ago. And I’ve worked with kids who’ve gone through a lot worse.” He glanced at her. “You went through worse.”
She looked at him in surprise. “How did I go through worse?”
“Well…you always thought you had your parents’ love. Didn’t you? And they turned you away when you needed them most.”
Holly ducked her head, and he wondered if he’d ventured onto forbidden ground. She had the excuse of alcohol for asking personal questions, while he had no excuse at all.
“How hard was it?” he asked gently.
She looked up again. “How hard was what?”
“Being on your own. In the beginning, I mean.”
“Hard,” she said, leaning back against the headrest. “But I got to watch myself getting stronger. It felt good to stand on my own two feet, to take care of myself and Will without owing anything to anybody.” She turned her head to look at him. “Does that make sense?”
“Yeah,” he said. “That makes a lot of sense.” He hesitated. “You know, Holly…I never told you this, but I’ve always admired you like hell for what you did. For making a life for yourself and Will like that, out of nothing.”
She tilted her head to the side and started to smile. “Wait a second. Was that a compliment?”
“Don’t let it go to your head. I still think you’re too stubborn and that you make things hard for yourself when you don’t have to. But I do admire you, even when you’re frustrating my chivalrous instincts.”
“The man calls me stubborn,” she said as if to herself, shaking her head. But when Alex shot a glance at her, he saw that she was smiling.
She reached a hand out into the night wind again. “It’s my turn to ask another question now.”
“Fire away.”
“Why did you carry me out of that bar?”
He made a left turn onto Holly’s street. “I’ve known Rich a long time,” he said after a moment. “He’s an okay guy, but he’s not right for you. I’ve seen him go through hundreds of women.”
“Well, so do you,” Holly pointed out. “Don’t you?”
“Not hundreds,” he said evasively. “And I don’t go around breaking hearts. I’m always clear up front that I don’t want to get serious.”
“And that makes it okay?” She shook her head. “Admit it, you’re just as bad as Rich. But I don’t care if he plays the field. I don’t want to pick out china patterns or anything—I just want to go on a date. I could use the practice.”
“You can go on all the dates you want. Just not with Rich.”
She folded her arms and lifted her chin in the air. “You can’t tell me what to do.”
“Maybe not,” he conceded as he pulled into her driveway, “but I can call up my old pal and warn him that if he goes near you again I’ll beat him to a pulp.”
“Alex! You wouldn’t do that.”
“You bet I would. And I will, too.” He turned off the ignition. “As adorable as you look with your nose stuck in the air like that, it’s my duty to tell you that you are now home.”