Simon studied her.
“What?”
“You don’t like him, do you?”
“Who?”
He gave her a patient look. “Coach Flash.”
“I don’tnotlike him.”Great, now I sound like my fourteen-year-old.“I just think he’s a little full of himself.”
“You know, he’s actually not.” Simon looked thoughtful. “I thought he was too, but he’s a nice guy.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah. We talked about me being less of a jerk to the team. He made some sense.” Simon grinned, and she saw a hint of the adorable toddler she’d once held in the young man he’d become. “Said I reminded him of himself.”
“Is that a good thing or a bad thing?”
Simon chuckled. “The old guy isn’t too bad on the field. He’s still got it.”
“A grown man playing football for a living. I just don’t get it.”
“Yes, it’s so sad he’s got millions in the bank and is famous,” Simon added with a dose of fresh sarcasm. “Mom, it’s such a cool sport.” He gave her detailed descriptions of their new defense, some offensive drills they’d incorporated, and then a play-by-play of practice. Again.
She tuned out after the fifth instance ofFlash is awesomeand mentally reviewed a new cookie recipe she wanted to add to their menu. Except as her son spoke, Mitch Flashman’s face kept popping into her thoughts.
He’d kept his word and spoken to her son. Yeah, he had that going for him. The superficial appeal of his killer good looks and solid body should mean little to her. So why did she feel breathless when she remembered his smile? Or his dark-gray eyes? Or his large hands and feet and…?
“Mom, are you listening to me?”
“Sure, sure.” She swallowed a large sip of water and stood to collect their plates. “Football, blah, blah, blah, Coach Flash, blah, blah. Got it.”
He rolled his eyes. “Thanks for the pizza, at least. I can use the carbs.”
Becca watched him leave the kitchen and stared sadly down at her belly.Shedidn’t need the carbs, but she hadn’t wanted to go grocery shopping, so it was pizza to the rescue. Except now that they’d both eaten, she realized they had nothing in the house for breakfast either.
With a sigh, she yelled out to Simon that she was leaving to shop. The good thing about having a teenager in the house was that she could legally leave him behind and not worry about child services knocking on her door. Well, not with Nora no longer babysitting.
But then, that was a story for another time.
