Ethan gave me a small smile. “Thanks.”
Danny stood and walked toward me, eyes glued to the tablet.
“Whoa!” Jacob grabbed his shoulders before he tripped down the stairs. “Better keep your eyes on the prize. Which, in this case, is not falling down the stairs.” He grinned, and Danny peeked at him as Jacob jogged around the corner to the girls.
“Jenny!” He pulled her in for a hug, lifted her in the air, and her face lit up with joy.
Watching Jacob with his girlfriend was hitting a little too closeto home. High school sports star and his head cheerleader girlfriend. I could see my younger self and Cassie in them, like looking into a mirror of the past. I hoped Jacob knew who he was and what he wanted in life. I was so confused at that age. So many people asking about what you wanted “to be,” scholarship offers for basketball at different schools, and the entire world felt like it was staring and demanding answers.
Danny clipped his ankle on the last step of the bleachers and almost fell. I caught him and grabbed his tablet. “How about I hold on to this until we are sitting?”
I didn’t regret all of my decisions though. I’d do it all again to have Danny. We walked out of the gym, through the hall, and toward my office. Through one last double doors, I rounded the corner and saw Brandy, the cheerleaders’ coach, waiting in front of my door.
Crap.
The doors closed behind me, along with my escape. She’d asked me several times to help with the different fundraisers throughout the year. I might have hinted I could help with the next one, hoping she would forget.I turned on instinct, hoping she wouldn’t recognize me…
“Coach Peters,” she called in a singsong voice. “You are a hard man to track down. It’s no wonder no one has caught you yet.” She smirked, proud she had trapped me.
“Sorry, Brandy, but—” I turned back around to face her.
“It’s not happening.” She placed her hands on her hips. “This fundraiser is for the entire sports program, not just the cheerleaders. You really need to help. Since you won’t sell tickets or participate in the PTO bake sale or anything else I’ve suggested, I signed you up to chaperone the upcoming dance.”
What?
No.
My hands were sweating. “Come on, the dance? There has to be another option. What am I going to do at the dance?”
Danny started rocking and bumping his shoulder into me over and over while clearing his throat.
Brandy eyed him curiously. “You literally just stand there.” She waved her hand. “It’s easy! Keep people from getting too rowdy. Should be right up your alley; most of the mischief makers in this school are on your team, and they’ll be on their best behavior if you’re there.”
I glared. They weren’t troublemakers. Granted, the one who stole Ms. Bates’s gnomes, and the group that threw rotten pumpkins at cars are still running extra laps, but they were good kids.
Danny kept up with his fidgeting, and I handed him his tablet. “Fine. I’ll chaperone the dance.”
“I’m so glad! Thanks.” She spun on her high heels. “Oh, you need to bring a date.”
“Whoa! Wait, no way.” I held my hands up between us.
She turned back around. “Yes way, or else the other mom chaperones will spend the night trying to dance with you and not actually do their jobs.” She rolled her eyes.
“Not interested.” I folded my arms.
“I don’t care.” She grinned. “I’m sure yourfriendJessica could come.” She turned and left.
Jessicawasjust a friend, regardless of what everyone in this town assumed. She had wanted to be more than that when I first came back to Hillsdale, but I wasn’t ready for a relationship then, not that I am now.
I don’t know if I could ever trust anyone like that again. For relationships to work, you have to be vulnerable and open. You have to believe the other person cares about your happiness.
I learned the hard way that that isn’t always the case. Sometimes people just want to manipulate and control.
People will change. They hide parts of themselves until it’s too late. After I married Cassie, everything changed. I could no longer make her happy. I had tried for ten years to be who she wanted. Giving every piece of who I was into hoping she would accept meand be happy. I went to the college she chose and studied the degree she thought would get us the most money.
Money that she spent before I could earn. The credit card debt clung to me every step I took, even now.
Danny shrugged as he headed toward my office. He reached under the couch and grabbed a blanket, took off his shoes, and wrapped the blanket around himself.
