Cole clapped him on the shoulder. “And I’m glad you are.” He held out his hand to Luca. “Good to see you again, Luca.”
“You too.”
“Ready for the rush, Miss Marian?” Cole asked, turning to the woman at the table.
“Of course, my dear,” she said. “But I’ve enjoyed chatting with these young men. Did you know they are both single?”
Cole chuckled. “Yes. I did, in fact, know that. However, I’m not sure that Suzanne will be happy that you’re once again trying to line up a boyfriend for her.”
Marion waved her hand dismissively. “She clearly needs my help. That last man she picked was terrible! I’m relieved they broke up. Now I need to find a replacement, and I figured if you asked these two men to work alongside you, they must be good.”
“They are good,” Cole agreed with a nod. “But I don’t think either is in the market for a girlfriend.”
“So why did you ask about Amelia?” Marian asked as she looked at Ben.
He glanced at Cole, then back to Marian. “I just wanted to make sure I said hi to her since we were friends in high school.”
“She’ll be here this afternoon,” Cole said. “She’s taking the afternoon shifts at the table.”
“We’re splitting the days. Amelia does better in the afternoons, and I prefer mornings, so it works out well.”
Her statement about Amelia was… odd. She did better in the afternoons? The Amelia he remembered had always been a morning person. Up super early to train.
The sound of energetic conversation drew their attention as three middle-school-aged boys and a woman appeared.
“Well, we’ll leave you to deal with the kids,” Cole said, then motioned for Ben and Luca to follow him.
As they walked through the large doors of the gym, Ben looped his lanyard around his neck, then looked down at it. The plastic sleeve contained a white card with the name of the organization running the clinic in small print at the top, along with its logo, and Ben’s name was there in large bold print.
Cole led them across the gym floor to where a handful of other men waited. Ben recognized a few of them as retired professional basketball players and one current one. Cole made introductions, then had them gather around for a quick time of prayer, committing the clinic and its participants to God.
Soon, the kids who had registered for the clinic began to trickle into the gym. The morning clinic was set aside for kids who were in middle school, while the afternoon one was devoted to high schoolers.
Though most of the kids who showed up were boys, there were a few girls in the mix. But regardless of gender, their excitement levels were high.
Cole approached the kids, interacting with them with an ease that spoke of his years of fatherhood. Ben held as much admiration for Cole as an adult as he had when he’d been a teen. But as much as he appreciated him as a basketball player, he appreciated him even more as a brother-in-law.
Though Julian had changed a lot over the years and they had a better relationship now than they’d ever had when Ben was a teen, Ben was still closer to Cole.
Once all the kids who had registered were there, Cole had them gather around and introduced all the men who were there to help with the clinic.
The morning was spent going through some exercises, and then they were split into smaller groups, each of which was assigned two of the adults. He and Luca had six kids in their group. Five boys and a girl. Cole gave some general instructions to all of them, then they carried them out in the smaller groups.
Ben’s interest in basketball had begun in early middle school, and memories of those days came flooding back as he worked with the kids in his group. He remembered the times when the basketball hoop seemed so far away, and he’d wondered if he’d ever grow tall enough to reach it when he jumped.
The kids were full of energy, and sometimes they lost focus and wanted to just throw the ball wherever. Thankfully, Luca was super patient, and with his help, Ben was able to corral the kids back on track.
When the morning session ended, Ben found that he was more tired than he’d thought he’d be.
“I have lunch catered for us,” Cole said once all the kids were gone. “So we can go to the cafeteria to eat.”
When the group walked into the cafeteria a few minutes later, Ben’s stomach rumbled in anticipation of the food he smelled. They found seats at the long rectangle tables set up for them, and after Cole said a prayer of thanks for the lunch, a couple of people brought plates of food from the kitchen.
Ben had thought they’d just have a simple meal of sandwiches or burgers, but his plate had a couple of pieces of roast chicken, a generous serving of seasoned rice, a mixture of vegetables, and a helping of salad. It looked delicious, and he dove right in, grateful for the sustenance after a physically demanding morning.
As they ate, Cole asked each of them how the morning had gone, in their opinion. Ben had never been part of something like the clinic before, but it was clear the others at the table had. Cole had been running the clinics for a few years now, and he had figured out what worked best for the things he wanted to accomplish with each clinic.
The conversation briefly touched on the afternoon clinic, and once everyone was done eating, they had some time to unwind. Ben made a trip to the bathroom, then he and Luca headed back to the gym.
