“Is there any food, Mama?” he asks, his voice hopeful.
I laugh. “How many times have I ever picked you up from football without a snack for you?”
“Never.”
I ruffle his hair as I stand up. “There’s a protein bar and some chips in the car, on the seat next to mine.”
“YAY!” he shouts, and takes off running to the car.
I laugh, shaking my head. “He just spent a solid hour and a half running, and he’s still got more energy than I’ll ever have,” I say.
Jamie smiles, balancing the football on its end on his index finger. “Right? Boundless energy.”
“What you said about him being talented at football…” I prompt.
Jamie’s eyes lock on mine. “That was no exaggeration, Elyse. I played with guys in college who couldn’t make that catch.”
“I knew he was pretty good, but some of these kids…” I shrug, chuckling. “They’re awful pumped to be playing, and I don’t know anything about football, but even I can tell they’re not…”
Jamie flips the ball in the air. “They love the game, but probably won’t be playing past high school, if that.”
“Right.”
“When it comes to kids this age, it can be hard to tell. Some kids, they get close to puberty, and they just…bam, they discover athletic ability they didn’t know they had. Other kids, like Aiden, are just obviously born with it.”
I want to stare into his warm brown eyes for as long as possible. Instead, I twist to glance back at Aiden, who is sitting on the bumper of the car, eating his protein bar and watching a pair of grackles chase a crow away from their nest.
“You know,” I hear myself saying, “honestly, when I first met you, I wouldn’t have pegged you for the football type.”
Jamie laughs, not at all offended. “I was never the quintessential jock. In high school, I was in chamber choir and the drama club and all that. I went to practices and lifted with the team, but the crowd I hung out with wasn’t the jocks, it was the drama nerds and choir dorks.”
“I bet that went over well with the team,” I say.
He snorts. “Yeah, about as well as you’d expect. But they couldn’t ostracize me too much and risk making me quit, because I was pretty much our entire offense simply because I could put the ball right in the hands of even the worst catchers, and I was also fairly quick and not afraid of getting hit, so I could run a keep for a few yards. They knew if they alienated me too much, I’d quit and play for the rec league instead, and they’d be screwed.”
“Honestly that makes me feel a little better,” I say, laughing. “I always thought I was a pretty decent judge of character, so if I had you pegged for one thing and you turned out to be something else, I’d start questioning my judgment.”
“Nope, I think you had me just right,” he says, and I feel myself blushing at the unintended innuendo; Jamie catches on and rubs the back of his neck. “Oh, god. Um—I mean…” he trails off. “I didn’t mean it like that.”
“I should go.” I make myself say, before I say anything I’ll regret.
“Yeah, me too. There’s a board meeting and I probably shouldn’t show up wearing this.”
My eyes flick over him—tanned, muscular calves, strong arms, a five o’clock shadow. “Oh, I wouldn’t mind, if I was on the board.” Isodidn’t mean to say that.
“Areyou on the board?”
I laugh derisively. “God, no! I don’t even go to PTO meetings.”
“Too bad. I’d enjoy seeing more of you.”
My heart thumps, twists; I feel the same way. But Aiden’s already getting attached to Jamie as coach and principal. I can’t add another layer of complexity to that, not for something with no substance or basis beyond a night of hot sex and a little chemistry.
“Jamie…” I sigh, unsure what to say.
He holds up his hands, leaning back against the fence that stands between us. “I’m sorry, Elyse. I know you’ve said more than once now that it’s best we’re just friends or whatever, but I just…” He shrugs. “I don’t know. We had an amazing night, and I like you a lot.”
“I like you too, Jamie, but I can’t complicate things with Aiden. His father leaving us was very hard on him, and he’s just now starting to really find his equilibrium, you know?”
