Chapter 13 #2
“I mean, I haven’t really coached anything,” she tells me with a laugh. “But it’s been a blast hanging out with the kids. Honestly, I’d happily do this every weekend.”
And now I need to figure out how to get rid of my human friend Austin. I like him, don’t get me wrong. But I’d be a fool to pass up on the opportunity to spend one-on-one time with Lark every week.
“I’ll see what I can do. Maybe you could be our assistant, assistant coach.” That could work. Usually there are only two coaches, but I don’t think any of the kids will complain about me having two assistants.
She laughs, assuming I’m joking instead of dead serious. “I’m sure you totally need another unqualified coach to be getting in your way.”
I huff at her putting herself down like that. She’s clearly qualified to work with the kids and understands baseball. There’s really not much else needed.
Letting it go, I instead lean back and cross my arms as I watch her out of the corner of my eye. “You close with your family?”
She lets out a bitter laugh and avoids looking at me. “No, definitely not. What about you?”
That wasn’t the answer I was expecting with how fondly she spoke about her sister. While I feel like I fucked up bringing it up, I’m too curious to drop the subject entirely. “Yeah, I’m close with my siblings and dads. You’re not close even with your sister?”
She closes her eyes and slumps like she has the weight of the world on her shoulders. “It’s complicated,” she whispers, evading my question. “You’re not close with your mom?”
Sensing that I’m not going to get any more info from her right now, I sigh. “I was, but she died when Colt and I were eleven.”
It’s something everyone on the team knows, so I don’t mind sharing it where they can hear me. There’s a reason I volunteer with this team. I wish I’d had more adults in my life when it happened who understood what I was going through.
Lark whips around to look at me in shock before her face softens in empathy. “I’m so sorry, Colt.”
She places her delicate hand on my arm to comfort me. I grit my teeth as I try to convince my beast that her touching me isn’t an invitation. He wants to grab her around the waist and plop her onto my lap, showing everyone here just who she belongs to.
Scrubbing a hand over my face, I focus back on our conversation. “Thank you, but it’s been a long time. We’ve all come to terms with it.”
At least, my siblings and I have. I don’t think my dads ever will. That’s just how it is when you lose your fated mate. There’s nothing in this or any other world that can heal the gaping hole left by their absence.
My dads are doing better than most, though. A lot of people die soon after losing their mate, but my dads had me and my siblings to consider. They couldn’t make us orphans, so they figured out how to go on without my mom.
Her eyes bounce around my face like she’s trying to figure something out. Eventually, she contemplatively looks back out at the field. “I’ve heard time heals all wounds. Not sure how true that is, though.”
I stare at her for a beat longer before shrugging. “Time helps. It makes it hurt less in some ways, but it never erases it completely.”
“Yeah, I’m starting to get that,” she mutters to herself.
Before I can ask about it, the inning ends, and I have to go back out to the field. The rest of the game passes far too quickly for my liking, and I don’t have a whole lot of time to talk to the woman consuming all of my attention.
Lark has the kids laughing the entire game, and I’ve never seen the team have this much fun before. Even though her smiles don’t reach her eyes and her face is lined with sorrow when she thinks no one is looking, Lark has a way of lifting others up.
It’s almost impossible not to smile in her presence, and I can already tell the kids will be begging me to bring her back.
When Jones yells “Out! Game over!” in the last inning, our dugout and the field erupt in cheers and hollers, the kids ecstatic about winning. We won by five runs, which is a pretty big margin for our team.
Lark’s jumping up and down in excitement with Maeve and a couple of the younger kids, and it’s one of the cutest things I’ve ever seen. I can’t wipe the stupid grin off my face as I watch her celebrating and high-fiving the kids.
After Oscar finishes giving his friends bro hugs, he plops down next to me, watching me watch Lark. “I never would’ve pegged you for a softie at heart, Coach Colt. You must really like her.”
She’s not paying attention to our conversation, so I answer honestly. “Yeah, I do. I’ve never met anyone like her.”
He throws his hands up. “Well, then, make it official! If you wait around too long, someone’s gonna snatch your girl. Bet you’re not the only one interested. Coach Lark is pretty, funny, kind, easy to talk to, and great with kids.”
He’s right. Lark’s every man’s dream. She’s fucking stunning, with her long reddish-brown hair, striking emerald eyes, and legs that seem to go on for days. She has similar interests with riding and baseball. Plus she’s smart, cool, funny, kind, and seems too good for this world.
I roll my eyes and ruffle his hair. “Thanks for the advice, kid.”
He huffs and pushes my hand away but can’t wipe the grin off his face. “Anytime, Coach.”
Unfortunately, things are complicated between us, for many reasons. Including a huge one that she doesn’t even know about.
But there’s nothing I can do about it right now. I’ll just have to keep trying to wear down Azrael while finding excuses to spend time with her. And I’ll have to hope when we can finally come clean, it won’t be too late.