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“Me either.”
Ultimately, we have no choice, so when he parks at my house, Ben opens his door, and I go out his side instead of the passenger side. He holds my hand on the walk up to the porch, and I press the keycode into the lock.
“Welcome home.” Clayton sits on the chair with the remote in his hand.
Brooks is on the couch, fast asleep, with a half-eaten donut rising and falling on his chest.
“Nice babysitter you got me.” He stands and saunters down the hallway.
“Baby steps,” I say to Ben.
But we need to be taking big steps. I’m going to have to put on my big girl panties and talk to my son, no matter how much he doesn’t want to.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Ben
My phone rings with an unknown number. I slide my thumb, answering it. “Hello?”
“Ben Noughton?”
My hand clenches the phone at the sound of a female voice. I haven’t changed my number since coming home, and there are a certain number of women in San Francisco who may still have it. I would never want Gillian thinking I’m talking to them. “This is he.”
“My name is Blythe Chen. I’m with Sportsverse. We heard that you were coaching a football team in your hometown now.”
I look at the field where all the players are currently doing their drills. “I am. Filling in for my previous coach.”
“We’d love to do a piece on you. We actually have cameras already at the University of Nebraska for a story and would love to send them down to film a short piece on you this week.”
“This week?” How the hell am I supposed to prepare for this week?
“We understand it’s short notice, but we’re doing something fun with some of the players who have retired recently. Sort of a ‘what are they doing now?’ thing.”
“Okay…”
“We’re not going to do anything in-depth. Don’t worry.” She laughs. “So, are you in?”
It would be a great way for me to get this town some notoriety and hopefully boost tourism. Kind of repaying them for getting me where I got. “Sure.”
“Great. Let me get all the dates and times sorted and I’ll call you back. We appreciate the opportunity.”
“Yeah. No problem.”
She hangs up, and I pocket my phone.
“Coach Reyes. Coach Smith.” I call them over because we’re going to have to get our shit together to look good for this thing. “Sportsverse is coming down this week to do a piece on us.”
“What?” Coach Reyes’s eyes light up. This is clearly a dream for him.
“It’s a small piece, kind of like, ‘is Ben Noughton sitting on his ass after retirement? Oh no, he’s coaching high school football.’”
“Cool.” Coach Smith nods, apparently uncaring either way.
“She’ll get back to me on a date. I’m not sure how extensive it will be, but we need to be prepared.”
Coach Reyes runs his hands over his hair. “I should get a haircut.”
Coach Smith stares at him and sighs.
