Page 3 of Dibs
I shook my head slightly. “Don’t think so. My ex said the coach seems good.”
“They might want you to be an assistant coach since you’reTheChase Matthewson.” Aron beamed.
“Or they’ll think I’m old and washed up.” I chuckled.
Jolene took that moment to run off, her sister Reese on her tail, followed by Drew.
“For me, I can’t wait to coach these girls. It’s going to be epic.” Aron rushed off to help his husband before I could respond. I smiled remembering how only a few years ago, the two men were at each other’s throats.
* * *
My retirement partyhad been a blast, and I drank more than I should have, but my family had a plane to catch so I couldn’t sleep in like I longed to do.
After leaving my car key with the front desk for the shipping company that would be delivering my vehicle to California, the four of us took a rideshare to the airport.
“Dylan said they’ll be at the pool when we get there. Can we go to the pool?” Jase asked as we stood in line at security.
“Who’s Dylan?” I asked.
“Coach Stat’s son and my best friend.”
“Best friend already?” I teased. “It’s only been a few months.”
My son rolled his blue eyes. “Yeah, my best friend.”
“Then I guess I need to get extra friendly with your coach.” Jamie had failed to mention Jase and the coach’s son were friends.
“Why?” Jase furrowed his brow.
“Don’t you spend a lot of time with Dylan?”
“Yeah.”
I smiled warmly. “Then I can’t show up his father.”
Jamie tsked. “You better be nice.”
“I am nice,” I argued.
“Don’t be one ofthoseparents.” She rolled her eyes.
“I’ll try not to, but you know I know more about the game than any coach.” I grinned and placed my shoes into a bin.
“Coach Stat knows you’re coming,” Jase chimed in. “And he said he was looking forward to meeting you.”
“Then I’ll be on my best behavior.”
I didn’t think I would be one ofthoseparents—the ones that had an opinion about every little thing—but the more we talked about Coach Stat, the more worked up I became. Maybe I was jealous because I would love to coach my son but hadn’t thought much about it since I had only been looking forward to seeing Jase play. Aron had mentioned it, and deep down, I wanted to teach my kid everything I knew.
I supposed there was always spring ball.
* * *
A few hours later,the plane touched down in Phoenix and after we got our bags, we took a car to the hotel where the team was staying.
“Dylan is at the pool. Can we go, huh? Can we go?” Jase asked.
The heat felt nice on my skin and chilling in the pool sounded like fun. I couldn’t remember the last time I had been swimming with my children since my off time had been during the brutal winters in Colorado.
