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“And Five’s a professional football player.”
“Well, that is the pinnacle of perfection. You can never compete with that.” Maggie crumpled up the paper napkin and tossed it at him, laughing when it bounced off his forehead.
“Some football player you are. You should have caught that.”
“I didn’t try,” he said as he smoothed out the napkin. “Try, Maggie. You won’t know unless you ask.”
Chapter 15
“Fine, I’ll think about it,” Maggie huffed. It wasn’t the win he’d hoped for, but getting her to think about it was a step in the right direction. A baby step. A frustratingly tiny step, but he knew she had to be the one to make it. He could support and nudge, but it was up to her to do it.
A soft chime rang through the speakers, and Maggie relaxed. “Time to make the rounds and let everyone know we’re closing in ten minutes. But you can stay,” she said over her shoulder as he watched her sashay away. He didn’t know which he enjoyed more, the enticing sway of her hips or that she wanted him to stay.
He sipped his tea and felt his problems fade into the background, or at least seem manageable. The offensive line, or his line since being named a captain, still collapsed like a cheap paper bag, leaving holes for the defense and Bash unprotected. If this Sunday’s game was as bad as last week’s, he didn’t know how Bash would recover mentally or physically. Other than the incredible pass to Cal in the last three seconds of the game, he’d thrown either incomplete passes or interceptions, or he was on his back after being sacked by the defense. Sacks which Lucas’s line should have prevented. Everyone on the line seemed to like and respect Bash, so he didn’t think Bash’s reserved personality was a problem anymore.
Maggie slipped into her seat, but he didn’t notice until she touched his wrist. “You don’t need to stay. Go home and sleep.”
“Not tired. Just trying to figure out why we can’t hold the pocket for Bash.”
Maggie winced. “What does everyone think?”
“Not sure. We haven’t really talked about it. Just running endless drills.”
“Wouldn’t it be better to work together on this? It’s a team sport for a reason.”
“What are you proposing? We sit in a circle, hold hands, and sing Kumbaya until a solution comes?” She might be on to something, but a feel-good meeting wasn’t it.
“I don’t know, but whatever you’re doing now isn’t working, so try something new. Maybe have them over for dinner tomorrow and a bonfire? Get everyone to relax and think outside the box. Food could be easy, like different soups and breads, maybe? I could throw some things together.” Soup-a-thon! I need to tell her.
“You’d do that?”
“I’d rather do that than watch Bash get repeatedly trampled on Sunday.”
“Trampled is an exaggeration,” he corrected. He could admit it was bad, but he didn’t want to hear it come out of her mouth.
“Says the guy who isn’t holding the line,” she teased.
“Fine. I’ll order soups and bread from the deli near us and bars and cookies, unless you’re really offering to make those.”
“Yes, I’m offering. I’ll have all morning to bake them, and I can run them out to the house before my shift.”
“Thank you,” he said as another chime rang.
“Quittin’ time.” She stood, but Lucas knew she wasn’t done. From their conversations, he knew she had about an hour’s more work to do, what with closing the register and balancing the cash drawer, setting the chairs up on the tables and mopping the floor. Maggie followed the last customer to the door and locked it behind them.
Lucas wanted to stay, but they were both dead on their feet and now he was throwing a team meeting tomorrow and she’d agreed to help. For both their sakes, he needed to go. He plodded to the door and Maggie’s hand dropped from the lock. Maybe she didn’t want him to leave either. “I should go,” he said when they were toe-to-toe, but she didn’t move back.
“Here, let me toss this.” She reached for his paper cup, but he pulled it back.
“No way. There’s still some left in this cup, and I intend to enjoy it on the way home.”
“Okay,” she said, touching the cup, and mumbling something quietly. “Be safe.” They stared at each other. Maggie’s light-brown eyes darkened, and he caught her looking at his lips, which wasn’t hard to do since he couldn’t tear his eyes away from her lovely face. He wanted nothing more than to count the freckles across her nose, but future him wouldn’t thank current him. Leaving was the best thing to do. Now. Before he started kissing her. Because just like chips, he knew he wouldn’t stop at one.
Lucas nodded and reached for the lock. “Hey, I almost forgot.” His hand dropped. “I signed up to volunteer with the Soup-a-thon to help get businesses involved.”
“But that’s in March.”
“I know. I’m not going anywhere.”
