Plus, I want to show her I can handle the ups and downs of the season without going off.
Because as much as I’ve tried to resist it, there is a life outside basketball.
When we finish up at the gym, Coach and I head outside, and I steady him as he shifts into my car.
“What’ve you not done in this league?”I prompt.“Been coaching twenty years.”
“Twenty-three.”
“Twenty-three,” I amend.
He glares at me from across the car.“You know damn well what I haven’t done.”
A championship.
“All the work.The late nights and early mornings and days and weeks and months on planes… you do it to win,” he says wistfully.
I shrug.“You got to finals.A ring’s not all that.”
“Easy for you to say—you’ve got one.”
As I pull out of the parking lot, an idea strikes me.I promised I’d take him to his favorite fast-food place after training.Once he’s established at a table with his burger and fries, I pull out my phone and make a call.
“Yeah, I need it today.This afternoon.”I listen, one eye on Coach devouring his burger.“I know.”
More words stream through the phone.
“I’d appreciate that.Thanks.”
After eating lunch, I take him to a park.He’s spent months indoors, and if I’m honest, I prefer to see him in the fresh air instead of in a hospital room or a gym for rehab.
We’re both bundled up in jackets, and people are skating outside on a public rink.We claim a bench nearby, watching.
“What time’s practice?”he prompts.
“We’re off today.”
He makes a disgruntled sound, as if the idea of rest is beneath him.But when he speaks again, I wonder if he’s thinking of something else entirely.
“You know why I’m here?”
“Because Todd wouldn’t take you to the park.”
Coach snorts.“No, I mean hereat all.I could’ve tapped out during these last months.Just drifted off.God knows the doctors probably wanted me to.”
“I don’t think they?—”
“When people talk about there being a tunnel, and a light at the end, I always thought it was bullshit.But there is a path.And there is light.”He inclines his head as if he’s picturing it.“But my work wasn’t done.”
I lean forward, my elbows on my knees.“You’ll have to retire someday.”
“Why?What will you do when you retire?”
I’ve asked myself that a lot since I got hurt but never had a satisfactory answer.“Travel with Nova and my friends.Visit my sister.Take a pottery class.”
He snorts, and I laugh too.
“You’re joking.”
