AllFreeNovel
Share Us
And then I force myself to focus on this week’s game plan. I went down to practice and saw, much to my surprise, that both Mike and Andy were handling things. I sat in on a few different position meetings and found my coaching staff to be surprisingly competent.
I should never have doubted them, but I didn’t get to be the head coach of an NFL team by relying on other people. I’ve always been of the mindset that if I want something done right, I need to do it myself.
But maybe the right thing in this situation was putting the right people in the right places.
After the team goes home, I head back to my office to study our upcoming opponent. And that’s when Mike appears in my office door. He knocks on the frame, and I find myself already clenching my jaw just at the sight of him. I’m not sure why he induces such feelings of rage in me, but he does. We’ve done nothing but butt heads since we first met, and I just don’t have the energy to go another round with him right now.
“What?” I mutter.
“Can we talk?” he asks.
I raise a brow and nod toward the seat across from me.
“You were right,” he begins.
Now that is how you start a conversation with a rival.
“About?” I ask rather than saying that.
“Taking risks. I’ve always played it safe, and it worked for us last year. But these kids this year are a different crop, and they’re young and excited and ready to push themselves to the next level. I guess I just wanted to let you know I’m on board. I trust you. You’re experienced, and it took me a minute to check my ego about being passed over for the head coaching position, but Jack knew what the fuck he was doing when he hired you.”
I stare at him for a few beats as I try to find the ulterior motive here.
There has to be one. Or maybe I’m just that jaded now that I’ve lost all trust in everyone.
“Thanks,” I murmur. “Why are you telling me this?”
“I guess I’ve been thinking it since Sunday when I saw you in action, and I don’t want there to be bad blood between us.”
When he frames it that way, I wish I would’ve been the one to start this conversation. “I, uh…I’m going through some personal things, but I’m figuring it out. When I told you to do your job earlier, I want you to know it was because I trusted you would. And you did. You’re my right-hand man, Mike, and the more I think about it, the more I realize that I appreciate you challenging me every step of the way. It only shows me we’re both going after the same goddamn thing.”
“Victory?” he correctly guesses.
“Victory,” I confirm. “Let’s fucking go.”
“Let’s fucking go,” he echoes, and we’re both quiet a beat. “You okay, Coach?”
I blow out a long breath. “I will be. Thanks for checking in on me.”
He nods, and he stands. “Have a good night.”
“You too,” I say as he heads out, and for as shitty as everything else has gone lately, it feels good to finally be on the same page as Mike. Hopefully it’s the start of a trend where everything else starts looking up, too.
It’s a nice sentiment, but we lose on Sunday.
That means we have practice Monday, and I still haven’t heard from Jolene despite my best efforts to try to reach her multiple times every day. I think about going over to her place, but I don’t want to upset Jonah even though I miss him as much as I miss his mother.
I finally hear from her on Monday evening, and when my phone starts ringing way too loudly next to me on my desk as I’m deep into studying what went wrong in our game against the Packers, I nearly jump out of my chair.
I pick up the call immediately. “Jolene,” I answer, my voice low and gritty, and I’m certain I sound like I’m panting, and maybe I am because my phone scared the shit out of me. I must’ve been deep in concentration.
She pauses a beat, and then she clears her throat. “Hi.”
“How are you?” I ask. I sound like I’m begging for any scrap she’ll throw me, but that’s how I feel right now.
“Been better. You?”
“Same. It’s good to hear your voice.”
