A few more minutes pass before she leans back in her chair again.
“Alright,” she says. “But seriously.”
“What?”
“I’ve never seen him like this.”
“Like what?”
She tilts her head slightly.
“Gone,” she says. “He’s like a lovesick fool. It’s honestly kind of gross.” She smirks.
I shake my head.
“I’m serious,” she continues. “He’s always been kind of intense. With hockey, protecting people, all of that. But this?” She gestures back and forth between us. “This is different. He’s different with you. In a good way.”
I glance down at my napkin.
“He talks about you all the time,” she adds. “He told me he was falling for you,” she says, quieter now. She’s practically beaming.
My chest warms, and I meet her eyes. “I love him too.”
She watches my face for a second, like she’s checking for hesitation, before a grin breaks out across her lips.
“Good,” she says. “Because I don’t think he’d survive pretending he doesn’t.”
I laugh under my breath.
For the longest time, everything in my life felt temporary. Like I was passing through but never actually found where I belonged.
Atlee reaches across the table and squeezes my hand.
“Anyway,” she says lightly. “Welcome to the chaos that is the Rowdys.” She laughs, but it’s cut off when her phone vibrates on the table.
She glances down and is distracted at first. Her whole expression changes.
“Oh shit.”
“What?” I ask, already reaching for my water.
“There’s a news article that just dropped,” she says, eyes scanning her screen. “Cooper’s coach… um, I mean, your father,” Atlee corrects herself. “It says he just… quit?”
My stomach bottoms out.
“Are you serious?”
She turns her phone toward me, showing me an ESPN article. “It’s all over the news. Pull it up.”
She nods toward my phone. I fumble while trying to unlock it and open the web browser, then type in my father’s name. The headline pops up, right there, front and center.
Rixton Head Coach Andrew Dawson Resigns Midseason.
The article doesn’t say much beyond that. It claims the decision was personal. The assistant coach, Tom Glasgow, has already been named the new head coach. The reporter mentions they reached out to Rixton University for a comment, but no one has responded yet.
“They’re already making roster changes too,” Atlee says quietly.
I keep reading, my eyes scanning the rest of the article.
