Page 6 of The Offside Rule
“Max!”
“There she is,” he said, setting her down but keeping an arm slung around her shoulders. “The family genius finally returns.”
She shoved him. “I saw you two months ago.”
“For like an hour. Doesn’t count.” He waved her off.
Watching them together shouldn’t have done anything to me. They were cousins or more like siblings from what I heard. Still, something sharp pressed under my ribs as Max grinned down at her and CC beamed back up at him. I took a long pull from my beer to give my hands something to do. Cole noticed. The man noticed everything.
He stepped beside me, eyes on his daughter, pride written all over his face. “Good to have her home.”
“I bet.”
It took a lot to keep my voice even. To figure out what the hell was going on with me and my hormones because I felt like a teenage boy.
“CC is living at home again. In the condo in the city,” Cole explained.
How had I not seen her around?
“Must be nice to have your kid home,” I said.
She also didn’t look like the child I remembered. She was a woman now. Close to graduating med school.
“CC, tell them your news,” Cole said.
CC rolled her eyes, but her cheeks flushed slightly. “Dad.”
“Nope. I’m bragging,” he insisted.
Holland laughed from the table. “Let him announce it, CC. He’s been holding it in all week.”
Cole turned to the group like he was announcing a championship roster. “CC declared a sports medicine elective for the summer. She’ll be working with the team doctors during preseason testing and training prep.”
Max whooped. “Doctor Davis, coming for our knees.”
“I’m not a doctor yet,” she reminded him.
“Close enough. You’re in your last year,” Max said.
Cole looked right at me. “She’ll be around the Blaze facility some. Shadowing. Observing. Learning the glamorous world of men complaining about groin pulls.”
“Hey,” Max said. “Our pain is real.”
“Your drama is real,” Cole shot back.
Everyone laughed. I did too, but it came out rough.
CC was going to be around the team. Around the facility. Around me. This was great. Exactly what I needed. One of my best friends and coach’s daughter hanging around. It wasn’t a big deal. My reaction would subside. Whatever was happening to me would fizzle out. I was sure.
The rest of the afternoon flew by with food coming off the grill. Kids cannonballed into the pool. Someone started a volleyball game in the grass. Cole cornered me near the cooler after lunch, wearing the look he got when he was about to say something I wouldn’t like.
I braced myself. “You look serious.”
“What are you talking about?” he asked.
“You have your coach face on,” I said, as if he didn’t know the mood he was giving off.
“This is my friend face,” he assured me.
