Chapter 31
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
MAVERICK
S ix months later . . .
Stevie handed me my to-go cup of coffee. “You’re nervous, aren’t you?”
It would have been easy to deny it. To pretend I hadn’t tossed and turned all night. That my stomach wasn’t in knots and that my hands weren’t shaking so badly I’d nicked myself shaving.
Except she slept beside me and knew when I was restless. She’d watched me pick at breakfast this morning and she’d seen the cut on my jaw.
She’d let me get away with a small lie, but I’d made myself a promise this fall, after Mom had died all those months ago.
Real . No matter what, with Stevie, I’d always be real.
“So fucking nervous.” I set the cup on the counter and hauled her into my arms, breathing in her hair, letting it calm some of my anxiety. “I’m not qualified for this.”
“If that were true, they wouldn’t have hired you.” She leaned away, rising up on her toes to plant a kiss on the corner of my mouth. “You’re going to do great.”
I took her face in my hands, dropping my forehead to hers. “I love you.”
“I love you too.” Her arms snaked around my waist, and this time when she kissed me, it lingered, soft and sweet.
Part of me wanted to carry her into the bedroom. To lose myself inside her body because it was the only way to shut off the noise in my head, to quiet the doubts. But I didn’t want to be the guy who showed up late for his first day of work.
She dragged a thumb across my mouth after she broke the kiss, wiping away her lip gloss. “Call me later if you can sneak away for lunch. I have a couple meetings this morning, but I’m free the rest of the afternoon.”
“All right.”
Her schedule had been slammed for months, and she’d been spending long days at Adair, even before the snow had completely melted in the valley. Declan had fully embraced the transition plan they’d put together, and though it meant she had long days at work, she was loving the challenge.
I’d never seen a person so excited to go to work each day.
I loved how she had that.
Maybe after I got over these nerves, I would too.
“Okay. Here goes nothing.” I grabbed my cup, phone and keys from the counter, then followed her to the garage, where both our vehicles were parked.
My truck was in the stall that Jennsyn used to park in when she’d lived here.
The morning after we’d gotten back together, after we’d left the volleyball game and spent hours wrapped around each other beneath her sheets, Stevie had called the realtor and told her to come and pick up the sign.
I’d given her props for the spontaneity, then told her she’d better leave that to me from now on.
She promised to stick to overthinking for the rest of our lives.
If she wanted to move eventually, I’d gladly pack up our stuff and follow her around the world. This building wasn’t my home. Stevie was my home.
Still, I liked this house. I liked mowing the lawn on Sundays. I liked going for evening runs in the neighborhood. I liked that we had friends living next door. And I liked that this house was our beginning. That this was where we’d had so many of our big moments.
Our first kiss. Our first night together.
My graduation party. Rush and Faye’s send-off after he’d been drafted by the Cardinals.
Tonight, I hoped to add another big moment to the list.
There was a ring hidden in my toolbox inside the garage. It had been there for a week. I’d had lunch with Declan yesterday, and he’d given me permission to marry his daughter.
My nerves for today weren’t just about my new job.
“Good luck.” Stevie blew me a kiss before she climbed into the Jeep.
I winked. “Bye, honey.”
Our garage doors closed in tandem, and as she turned right at the end of the block, I took a left, driving to the Oaks.
The parking lot of my former school had been repaved recently, the lines a stark yellow against the black asphalt. I picked the middle row, then sucked in a fortifying breath as I got out of my truck .
“I’m nervous, Mom,” I whispered, then headed for the entrance. My hands were trembling so badly that I tucked them into the pockets of my gray slacks as I walked to the office.
Without question, I wasn’t qualified for this. I had no professional experience, and my degree wasn’t for sports administration or exercise science or even teaching. But when Elle had sent me the posting and Dad had told me it was at least worth a shot, I’d filled out the online application, expecting never to hear from them again.
Certainly not to get a job interview.
But apparently I’d made a name for myself with the winter soccer league. With coaching Bodhi’s various teams.
That, and no one else had applied.
I’d jumped through countless hoops since the superintendent had offered me the job, completing a certification program and getting my educator license. All to be a football coach and physical education teacher at the Oaks.
“Maverick.” Principal Davies was waiting inside the lobby, her gray hair twisted into a tight bun. “Welcome.”
“Thanks.” I shook her hand and glanced to the empty chair at the front desk.
Mom’s chair.
I could still picture her there, smiling at students as they passed. If I closed my eyes, I could hear her happy laugh echoing off the walls.
“Let me show you to your office.” Davies motioned toward the hall that took us to the gym.
I’d spent plenty of time at the Oaks in the past six months helping with the sports programs, but most of my time had been in the gym. I hadn’t ventured this way, taking the hallways I’d walked as a student, past lockers and classrooms.
It felt smaller than I remembered, but it smelled the same, wood and disinfectant wipes and a hint of dry-erase markers.
We rounded a corner to a hallway lined with huge frames, each packed with photo collages.
“These are new. They didn’t have them when I went to school here.” I slowed, taking in the frames. Each had a small, golden plaque above it with the year that must correlate to the photos.
It was like a hallway of yearbooks.
“We added this just last fall. We wanted a way for current students to connect with those who came here first.”
I took in one frame, then the next, giving the pictures a cursory glance. I was about to pick up my pace when a familiar face caught my eye, and I stopped, leaning in close.
She was seated at the front desk, a bright, white smile on her face.
“Hey, Mom,” I whispered to the glass.
This was my new favorite hallway. I’d get to say hi to Mom every day as I walked from the gym to the teachers’ lounge beside the office.
I shifted down a couple more frames, finding the one from my senior year.
Except I didn’t look for my face in the pictures. Instead, I found Stevie in a photo of the volleyball team. “There she is.”
“Who’s that?” Davies asked.
“That’s my Stevie.” I smiled at the picture, then joined my new boss as we continued to the gym.
“High school sweethearts?” Davies asked.
I grinned. “Something like that.”