“Coach!” he yells, spotting me.
I drop into a crouch just in time before he launches himself at my legs like a missile.
“Oof,” I grunt, catching him and pulling him up into my arms. “What’s the play?”
He beams. “Run fast.”
“Solid strategy,” I tell him. “Just what the pros would say.”
Ethan shakes his head. “We’re doomed.”
“He just wants to be like his dad,” I say and Ethan smiles.
I set Max back down and toss the football across the lawn. He takes off after it, arms pumping, utterly convinced he’s unstoppable.
I straighten and let my gaze drift back to the patio.
Sarah stands near the table, laughing at something Emma just said. Ellie’s beside her now, glancing down at her phone with a half-smile before tucking it back into her pocket.
“Where’s your mystery man tonight?” Emma teases.
Ellie snorts. “Work thing. He promised he’d make the next one.”
She doesn’t elaborate, and no one pushes.
Sarah’s hand is wrapped around a glass of lemonade. The other rests loosely against her growing stomach, more habit than necessity, like she’s grounding herself without realizing it.
She catches me watching.
Her smile softens and she tilts her head slightly, giving me a look that says she knows exactly what I’m thinking.
This is good.
It still hits me sometimes. How uncomplicated it feels now. How much space there is inside my chest where tension used to live.
Three years ago, I would’ve been waiting for the moment something cracked. Measuring happiness like it was temporary or conditional.
Now, I just live.
That doesn’t mean I think everything is guaranteed. Life doesn’t work that way. Seasons change. Jobs get harder. People disappoint you in ways you never see coming.
But I trust myself now.
I trust that if something shifts, I won’t disappear into it. I won’t stay out of obligation or fear or momentum. I’ll meet it head-on, tell the truth, and choose again if I have to.
That kind of confidence doesn’t come from winning games or landing titles.
It comes from surviving yourself.
“You nervous about fall camp?” Ethan asks, handing me a beer.
I take it and shake my head. “Not nervous. Focused.”
Head Coach.
The words aren’t a whisper people talk about anymore. They are a reality now. I worked for this. Built it piece by piece. And whenthat offer came, I didn’t hesitate because I’d already done the work that makes a choice like that possible.
Sarah was already planning logistics before I even finished telling her. She didn’t question whether we could handle it or what we might need.
