“Just trying to be perfect when I come back, sir.”
“Sometimes when we chase perfection, we don’t see the damage we do as a result. Trust me.”
His eyes saw way too fucking much.
Lily gave him a quiet smile, wrapping her hand around his arm. But when she turned her sharp-eyed attention back to me, a chill coiled around my spine.
“You know my stepdaughter, Maggie.”
Everyone on the team did. Coach’s kids were always running around the facilities, but Maggie had ingrained herself in part of the Storm’s team culture—she regularly made cookies for practices and hosted a popular social media show where she interviewed players.
“Of course,” I answered. “I haven’t seen her much lately.”
Lily hummed. “The other night at dinner, she asked about interviewing you forMidfield with Maggie.”
Apprehension twisted my gut. Knowing that kid—smarter than she had any right to be—she’d sit me down in her infamous yellow chair and grill me like a cross-examiner. “She’s a good kid. But I don’t know if I’d be the best guest right now.”
Coach regarded me steadily from under the brim of his hat while his wife tilted her head in consideration. She was fucking terrifying.
“How’s your community service been?” she asked.
I swallowed. “Fine, ma’am. Lily,” I corrected. “It’s fine.”
“Hopefully, it’s successful in teaching you something.”
Coach glanced down at the ground but didn’t interrupt.
“I think it will.”
She arched an eyebrow again. “Did you know that over twelve thousand people died from alcohol-related car crashes last year?”
I kept my face even. “No, ma’am. I didn’t.”
“I lost people I love very much to someone who drank too much and got behind the wheel, which is why my husband and I support charities related to education and awareness of this issue. It’s avoidable. Entirely, completely avoidable.”
Shame tried to claw up my throat, a thick wedge of icy emotion that wouldn’t budge when I tried to swallow. “Yes, ma’am.”
“I hope you’re willing to learn and make different choices when this is over. My husband said you have amazing potential to lead this team.”
My eyes darted over to Coach. He’d lifted his head to stare at his wife but turned to me when she said it. He held my gaze and didn’t say anything.
How was he still giving me chances? It didn’t make sense, no matter how many times I turned it over and over in my head.
I exhaled slowly, shifting my attention back to her. “Yes, ma’am. I’m going to try.”
Her features thawed slightly. “That’s all any of us can do. We’re rooting for you, Archer.”
Coach leaned in and kissed her temple, and I stayed frozen in place as they said their goodbyes and walked away, still hand in hand.
When they turned a corner, I leaned my back against the wall and sank down to the floor, my head in my hands while I tried to breathe through the wave of prickling anxiety that crashed through my body.
I wasn’t sure how long I sat there waiting for my hands and feet to stop tingling, for my heart rate to even out, but an alarm went off on my phone, and I was stunned to see that it was already time to head back to Remi’s.
As I stood, I scrubbed my hands over my face. Eventually, this would all be over.
Eventually.
Chapter Thirteen