Chapter 8
Chapter
Eight
Sawyer had suggested doing something wild and crazy to keep Paisley’s mind off not being on the Team USA plane to Osaka.
He couldn’t think of a thing that fit that description within the city limits of Hawthorne, so he had looked further afield.
He had a good idea and ran with it, booking reservations.
He would need to sound her out now, however, to see if she was up for something of that magnitude.
If not, he had a Plan B and even a Plan C waiting in the wings.
He couldn’t imagine what was going through her head on today of all days, the day she would have left to compete in her fourth Olympics, a rare feat for any athlete.
He knew how squirrely he’d been early on in college, and thought, too, how she’d had so much maturity by her first Olympic experience.
Paisley had been a cornerstone of the women’s basketball team for three Olympiads.
But teams moved on. Players were injured or simply aged out and could no longer perform at their previous levels.
He wondered if anyone had bothered to reach out to her from Team USA since her career-ending injury or if she would even want to watch her former teammates play any of their games on TV.
If she did, he would be more than happy to watch with her.
He didn’t want to make comparisons between her and Elizabeth, but some were occurring naturally.
Of course, they didn’t physically resemble one another in the slightest, which was probably better.
What they did have in common, though, was that they made him feel at ease around both of them.
Talking to both Paisley and Elizabeth was incredibly easy.
Sawyer thought back to his first day of law school.
It was in Constitutional Law class that he’d first laid eyes on Elizabeth.
He’d noticed her right away. She was beautiful.
And obviously bright. Their law professor had asked a question, which appeared to stump the entire class.
Elizabeth was the only one to raise her hand.
Though Sawyer had waited for her to be skewered, having already heard about the professor’s reputation, the answer she provided was insightful and inspiring.
It set the bar for the class. It definitely made Sawyer want to be a better student and a better lawyer.
Within a few days, they had joined the same study group and remained in it all three years of law school. From the beginning, they had an easy camaraderie between them, as well as a healthy competition over grades. She had teased him, calling him Sawyer the Future Lawyer.
Then things changed. When they weren’t looking, friendship blossomed into love.
He was offering Paisley friendship now—and a part of him hoped that he could finally put the past behind him and that he could find romance again.
And love.
Paisley was her own woman, however. Sawyer determined not to constantly compare the two women.
If friendship was all that ever occurred between them, he would take that as a blessing.
Sawyer had enjoyed their dinner together last week.
Paisley had seemed a bit guarded at first. Then again, he was a total stranger to her, while he knew something about her.
Since then, he had done his usual lawyerly thing, a deep dive into the internet, scouring for information about her.
She’d had a storied career. One of the best in women’s sports.
Paisley had been on good teams and great ones, contributing so that they became better.
She had great basketball smarts, and that kind of thing couldn’t be taught.
It was innate. Her ball handling skills were incredible.
He watched a few videos of her bringing the ball down the court, and Sawyer could almost see the wheels turning in her head, mapping out the offensive options available to her, deciding which play to call.
She had the skills necessary to be a good coach.
And heaven knew the Hawthorne Lady Hawks needed her badly.
He hadn’t asked Paisley any particulars about the players she would be coaching, not knowing how much West had divulged about the team.
Knowing his cousin, West would’ve kept quiet, not wanting to influence his new coach’s perspective.
By now, though, Paisley would have contacted Hope Sewell.
If she were smart, the assistant would have placed all her cards on the table and held nothing back from her new boss.
Sawyer would ask a few general questions today of Paisley and see what she had learned about her team.
He would even offer himself up as someone she could bounce ideas off.
While a lot of people had opinions about the Lady Hawks, Sawyer at least had a ton of basketball experience under his belt.
Either Paisley would be interested in doing so—or she wouldn’t. It would be up to her.
As a courtesy, he texted that he would be at her house in ten minutes.
Sawyer had come into his law office early this morning to finish a few things.
Working for himself, he had come to enjoy setting his own schedule.
Nothing pressing was on his calendar, which was why he had been able to take off all of today.
He took a last glance at his email and then flipped the sign on the door from open to closed.
Locking up, he went out the back door. He always parked in the alley in order to give potential clients more parking options in front of his office.
He drove the few short blocks to Jen’s rental.
Before he could get out of his car, Paisley came bounding down the porch stairs, her long legs going on endlessly in the biker shorts she wore.
He had suggested she wear them, as well as a form-fitting shirt.
She came toward the car, and he noticed the swing of her ponytail. Sawyer got out of the car and came around to open the passenger door for her.
“Service with a smile,” he quipped as she climbed inside his car.
He returned to the driver’s seat and asked, “Did you hydrate as I told you to?”
“I’m always good about doing that, but I did down an extra bottle of water after I showered this morning. So, what are we actually going to do today, Sawyer?”
As he pulled away from the curb, he asked, “Are you afraid of anything? Spiders? Heights?”
She hesitated a moment and then said, “Snakes. I don’t do snakes.
I got in trouble on a school field trip to the zoo in third grade.
The teacher tried to get me to go into the reptile house, and I wasn’t having any of that.
She took my hand and yanked me into the darkened building, and I howled like a banshee.
Broke away from her and ran as fast as I could.
A parent chaperone chased after me and stayed with me while the rest of the class toured the place. ”
“Any particular reason why you don’t like snakes? Or do they just creep you out in general?” he asked lightly.
He glanced over and saw Paisley swallow hard.
“It goes back to my first foster home,” she said quietly.
“I was barely four and had just been taken away from my mom. Didn’t have a dad named on my birth certificate.
Mom was a drug addict. I’d already been in and out of foster care for weeks at a time before that, but this was different.
My mom’s parental rights were terminated, and so the state was looking for a more permanent placement.
Or at least as permanent a placement as you can get. ”
Sawyer focused on the road ahead of him as he said, “Something bad happened there. You don’t have to tell me. It can stay in the past.”
“No. I think I want to talk about it.” Paisley shifted in her seat.
“The foster dad had a snake in a long glass case in his bedroom. The couple had a son. I think he was maybe eleven or twelve. Then three foster kids. Two boys older than I was and me. At the time, I didn’t understand much of anything, but looking back?
I realize they were the kind of people who liked to draw the extra income the system pays to people who become foster parents.
Some of those people actually do spend that money on the kid they’re fostering.
Buy them new clothes. A toy. Pick up extra groceries. ”
“And this couple wasn’t like that?”
“Not by a long shot. They didn’t pay a whole lot of attention to me. I think they were mad that a girl had been placed with them. I got the impression they wanted another boy. That I was an inconvenience.”
For a four-year-old to pick up on something like that, Sawyer figured the foster parents were sending a pretty strong message. He tamped down the anger that rose in him, thinking how helpless Paisley had been. How alone she must have felt.
“Their boy was cruel to me. Said nasty things. Pinched me. Kicked me.”
He glanced at her. “That’s horrible, Paisley.”
Her face was set in stone. “Actually, it’s pretty common.
If a foster couple has their own kids, they naturally come first in the parents’ eyes.
They can be really mean to foster kids. Even jealous of them.
And then there’s a pecking order among foster kids.
Who’s been in the home the longest. Or sometimes who’s the oldest foster kid.
A lot of abuse goes on in these homes, Sawyer,” she said, that last sentence barely a whisper.
Instinctively, he reached out for her hand. Even though the July day was warm, her hand felt like ice.
“How badly were you hurt, Paisley?”
“No sexual abuse, thank goodness. Although two guys tried. You should’ve seen them after I was done with them.”
He squeezed her fingers and then released her hand, regretting that he couldn’t hold it longer. But Sawyer knew this woman was fragile and probably sharing something which she hadn’t spoke of in a long time.
If ever.