Page 49 of The No Try Zone
I’m not remotely okay. But it won’t do any good to tell any of them. Kari will roll her eyes and try to shut it down, Allyson will stay surface level because she doesn’t want to be involved, and Elodie will simply try to find any way possible to turn the situation into a happily ever after, no matter what type of shenanigans she has to pull off to get there.
So I steel myself and force all the negative thoughts away. “I’m great,” I tell her, willing myself to believe it as well.
She studies me. “Okay,” she finally says. “You’re lying. But okay.”
It has to be enough.
Chapter17
Colin
COLD WATER SLUICES down my body as I attempt, once again, to force thoughts of Sam out of my head. I’m fucking freezing.
It doesn’t work. Teeth chattering, I shut off the shower and step out to dry off. This can’t continue. The incessant thoughts, the way I can’t think about anything but her. I need to focus on the team. Focus on the strategy that my assistant coaches and I have come up with for the season opener in just under two months. Hell, I’ll take being distracted by the panic of not knowing what to get my mom for Christmas over the hamster wheel currently in my mind.
I dress on autopilot, trying – and utterly failing – to wonder what Sam’s reaction would be if she saw my wardrobe. If we were a regular couple. She’d probably laugh, a twinkle of affection in her eyes that she’d try to hide even as she was giving me shit about it.
“You are the worst dresser in the world,” she’d say. And then she’d let me pull her into my arms for a kiss, and one thing would turn into another, until I had her legs spread and my face between them.
Fuck.
Outside, the weather is finally acting like winter. Nothing like the New England winters I’m used to, of course, but the morning temps have finally dipped into the thirties. Still not worth a heavy coat, but enough to make sure I walk quickly between the car and the coffee shop when I get there.
Chris, the barista from my first visit here, offers me a friendly grin as he turns to pour the regular black coffee I order like clockwork. Even if the line is long, like it is today, I never have to wait for my order once I’ve paid. I shove a five into the tip jar as he rings me up.
“Ready for Christmas, Coach?”
I shake my head. “Not even a little. You?”
He chuckles. “Of course. My boyfriend wouldn’t have it any other way. The man is a Christmas elf at heart and swears I’m the Grinch.” His grin widens. “But really, I just like making him mad. Makes him get all hot and bothered, and it’s adorable, you know?”
I laugh. “I know exactly what you mean, actually.”
His eyes light up. “Yeah? You got someone you’re irritating on the regular?”
I sigh. “Something like that.” I’m not getting into my love life, or severe lack thereof, with my neighborhood barista. Although he might know me better than anyone else in this town.
Wow, that’s depressing.
I raise the cup in salute. “See you tomorrow.”
I dodge a Nissan Altima in the parking lot, nearly getting clipped by the oblivious driver as they look down at their phone. I reach for my lucky quarter out of habit, even if it seems to be as far from lucky as possible.
Today’s going to be a good day, I tell myself as I pull into the parking lot and jog inside. The sun is shining; I have a plan for incorporating the new strategy I spent last night coming up with; and everything is under control.
Exactly how I like it.
Lucky quarter or not, I’ve got this.
I trip over the last stair as I hit the top, but I shake it off. It’s a universal truth that the top stair is always higher than the rest.
I find my assistant coaches in my office, precisely where I asked them to be. With a grin, I explain my idea.
Ryan’s dubious smile morphs into excitement as I reach the end. “That’s…fucking brilliant.”
I beam. “Right? It plays on our backs’ strengths –”
“But gives them an edge that no other team will expect,” finishes Elliott.
