One thing before coffee.
I wait.
I know you’ve been weird the last few days. I’m not asking you to explain it. But I’m also not going to pretend I haven’t noticed.
I stare at the screen.
You don’t have to be okay. But you do need to show up.
I type:That’s very generous.
Three dots. Then:It’s not generous. It’s practical. I like you. I want to see where this goes. But I can’t do that if you’re somewhere else every time we’re together.
My thumb hovers.
I’m here,I type.Sorry. Just a lot on my mind.
I know,he says.See you at 11.
I set the phone down.
He’s not wrong. Ihavebeen somewhere else. He’s not asking for much. Only that I’m actually there when I’m there.
That shouldn’t feel like a lot.
But today, for some reason, it does.
He finds me in the corridor at half 11, and we walk to his car and drive to the place on Route 9 he’d suggested. We sit in the car in the drive-through parking lot after we’ve collected our coffees.
“Good meeting?”
“Scheduling stuff. Calloway’s thorough.” He grins. “In a good way.”
“He is.”
It feels easy. That’s the word for Jake, always easy, and I let myself settle into it.
“How was the away game?” he asks. “The guys had a good win.”
“They did.” I sip my coffee. “The skating held up when it mattered. They’re cleaner than they’ve been all season.”
He nods. “You should be proud of that.”
“I am.”
“How are the girls getting on?”
“Really well actually. There’s a freshman - Dani - she’s got something special. The kind of natural awareness you can’t teach, you either have it or you don’t. She doesn’t know how good she could be.”
Jake smiles. “You light up when you talk about them.”
I open my mouth to say something modest and deflecting, and he holds up a hand.
“I mean it as a compliment. Not everyone finds the thing they’re meant to do. You clearly have.”
He means coaching. He’s looking at me with that straightforward certainty.
But I hear Mateo’s voice.
