Page 82 of Her Coach

“Bry!” she exclaimed, mocking my tone of voice. “See? I can do it, too.”

I shook my head and smiled. “You’re relentless.”

“And you sound very happy.”

I paused. “I am happy.”

“Good, because I never did agree with your move to head home and take care of your mother. She’s a grown ass adult.”

“You and Colton would get along in that department.”

“What? He thinks you’re a crutch for your mother, too? Oh, goodie! I like him already.”

I rolled my eyes. “Is this the part of the conversation where I try to get you to talk about your life, but you always divert back to mine?”

“Girl, I haven’t been laid in almost a year. Let me live vicariously through you. Is he a good kisser?”

“Yep.”

“Is he tall?”

I smiled softly. “Oh yeah. Built like a brick shithouse, too. Big, burly, a bit of softness where it counts.”

“Dad bod!”

I scoffed. “It’s not a dad bod. He’s not even a dad.”

“Doesn’t mean he can’t have a dad bod. And hey, I’m not complaining. That softness is primo market meat, if you catch my drift.”

“Dani!”

She giggled with delight. “Hey, that’s the hot thing now, even in books. You’d be astounded at the kinds of main male characters I get nowadays.”

I sank back into my pillows as the straw in my drink started bubbling air with my sips. “How’s work going, by the way?”

“Meh,” she said as I heard her flop down onto something, “it’s going. Same old schedule, same old routine.”

“You sound like it’s not doing it for you any longer.”

“Oh, don’t get me wrong, I love the routine. Much better than the shit we dealt with in college with our schedules. Remember our last senior semester? How you had to rework your schedule four fucking times?”

I groaned and rolled my eyes. “Don’t remind me. I swear, the student center was tired of seeing my face after all was said and done.”

“Exactly. This place runs a tight ship, and it’s a tight ship that I can jive with. So, no complaining, even though sometimes it gets monotonous.”

I rolled over onto my stomach. “Which is why you should take a trip down here so that I can take you to a game. Help get you out of your rut.”

She giggled. “Maybe you could set me up with one of those hockey players of yours that you and this coach man of yours are hoarding over there.”

“Come on down and I’ll introduce you to all of them.”

“Man,” she said, “who are you and what have you done with Bry?”

I blew air through my lips. “Pshhhh. The hell you talkin’ ‘bout?”

“I’m serious now,” she said as the playfulness left her voice. “I haven’t heard you like this, well, ever. Whoever this coach guy is, he’s clearly doing you some good. I’m happy for you.”

I smiled. “Thanks, Dani.”