Coach Maddie and the Marine (4 page)

As soon as he’d gotten home from Maddie’s house, he’d hit the shower, turning the water past freezing all the way to January in Alaska, hoping he could shake the intensity of the physical attraction he felt for her.

It was overwhelming. Like nothing he’d ever felt.

He tried not to imagine her wearing one of his old football jerseys. He shivered at the thought.

The more he tried not to focus on the image, the clearer it became.

There would be plenty of time for love in his life. Time to settle down with a beautiful wife and have a family. In Mississippi. Far from the military. Far from his memories of war and loss, sand and guns.

A new life as a civilian.

With a groan, he turned over onto his side and tried to think about anything other than Maddie Westerfield.

...

She dreaded the meeting. The parents had already had a full twenty-four hours to call each other and discuss her incompetence. They would come well-prepared. It was especially galling that they were all willing to complain about her as a coach, but unwilling to help.

She also dreaded seeing David.

It was so strange, after all these years, to meet someone who’d known Frank. Someone who had lived and worked with him, day in and day out. Been there when he’d died.

David was doing this for Frank and Andrew. Not for her.

She breathed a sigh of relief. It wouldn’t be easy to be this close to the marine for the whole season but it would be good for the boys and it might ease his guilt a little. She hoped it would. There was nothing for him to feel guilty about. He’d been following orders. No one could have anticipated the ambush.

Least of all Lieutenant Sterling.

Football. Only a few short weeks of practice and games and then she never had to see him again.

Dressed in shorts and a cotton button-down for the meeting, Maddie realized she had an hour before it was time to pick up Andrew. She headed toward the elementary school. It would be nice to be the first car in the carpool line for once.

When Andrew got into the car, he looked like he dreaded the meeting as much as she did.

Trying to keep her voice light, Maddie said, “Hey, kiddo, how was school?”

“Okay, I guess.”

“Are you ready for the football meeting?” She snuck a glance in the rearview mirror. Andrew chewed on his lip.

“I guess. I’m a little worried.” The last two words were only a murmur.

“It’ll all work out fine. I promise.”

“Is Lieutenant Sterling going to be our coach?” He asked.

“Nope, I’m still the coach, but he’s agreed to be my assistant and teach me everything I need to know about football.”

“We have a game a week from Saturday. I really don’t want to lose our first game, especially since we were the champions last year. We didn’t lose a single game.”

“We’re not going to lose our first game. As a matter of fact, Lieutenant Sterling is coming over tonight for my first real football lesson.”

Andrew sighed loudly in the backseat.

So much for inspiring confidence.

For the second day in a row, they were the first to reach the field. Maddie sat down on the bleachers and hoped David would arrive before the other parents came and started screaming again. Something about the way he’d handled things yesterday made her feel like he could tackle anything, or anyone, and come out on top. He made her feel safe. From the moment he’d walked into the group of angry parents and taken her whistle, the situation was under control. Everyone else realized it, too.

There was nothing sexier than a man who knew how to take charge. All of her psychology training hadn’t erased the primal craving for an alpha-male.

Parents and kids arrived. One by one they walked past, snuck glances at her and took seats far up into the bleachers. No one said a word, although a few of the kids gave Andrew sympathetic nods and pats on the shoulder.

A few minutes later, David pulled into the parking lot. He walked toward the field. Confident. Self-assured. A wave of relief washed over her. He stood in front of the bleachers, looked directly at the players and the parents, and took control of the meeting immediately.

“Last night, Coach Maddie and I came up with a plan. I’m Lieutenant David Sterling. I’m stationed here at Camp Wilson and I’ve agreed to help with the team this year. She and I will coach the team together, but she will remain the head coach.” He paced in front of the bleachers, hands on hips. “I find it very interesting that all of you were ready to tar and feather her yesterday, yet not a single one of you offered to help out when she called you over the weekend. She’s trying to do a good thing and help the boys out so they can play this year.” He stopped at the midpoint of the bleachers. “Rule One: all of you will respect her. Rule Two: you will recognize her authority as the coach of this team. Rule Three: if you don’t follow rules one and two, your kid won’t be playing. Any questions?”

No one said a word. And no one moved.

“Good. Last chance for questions and I’m moving on to the practice schedule.”

“Are you the same Sterling who played for Ole Miss about ten years ago?” A deep voice shouted from the back of the crowd.

“Yes, sir, I was a running back in college. So, hopefully, you’ll all realize that I have the experience to help Coach Maddie lead this team to a successful season.”

“You’re
the
David Sterling, right? The guy who turned down a huge pro contract to join the marines after your brother was killed in Afghanistan?”

“Yes, sir,” he answered, the words clipped, his jaw clenched.

Maddie’s heart went out to him. She hadn’t known about his brother dying over there.

The crowd buzzed with chatter.

“Hey,” he yelled over the crowd noise. “Have your boys here on time for the next practice. We’re playing catch-up since yesterday’s practice was such a disaster. See you then.”

He dismissed the crowd with a wave.

The meeting had lasted less than five minutes and it was a total success.

The tension began seeping out of Maddie’s neck and shoulders, and she took the first easy breath of the day. The players and parents were heading toward their cars and she hadn’t had to utter a single word.

“How did you do that?” she asked when all the cars were gone. “I went to school for all those years to understand human behavior and I have no idea what just happened.”

“How did I do what?” he asked. He twirled a whistle on the tip of his finger.

“Grab control of that meeting, make all those parents and kids happy, and get rid of them in less than five minutes?”

“Just told them how it was going to be. Cut straight to the point. No reason to waste more time than necessary on a meeting. I hate meetings.” He grinned. “Now it’s time for your first official football lesson. Meet you back at your house in a little while? I’ll stop by Jerry’s Bakery and get some snacks in case it ends up being a late night.”

“Give me time to take a quick shower,” she said. She ignored the shivery tingle that started in the depth of her gut and worked its way all the way to the top of her head.

It felt too much like hope.

...

Andrew and a group of neighborhood boys were playing football in Maddie’s front yard when David pulled into the driveway.

“Getting an early start on practice, boys?” he asked, shutting his car door.

“Yes, sir, we can’t wait for practice. My dad says you’re the best player to come out of Mississippi since Eli Manning. I can’t believe you’re my coach,” one kid said, his excitement bubbling out.

He held up a hand. “Technically, I’m only an assistant. But tell your dad I said thanks for putting me in the same category as Mr. Manning. That’s quite an honor.”

He jogged up the front steps and rang the doorbell.

Maddie took his breath away. Fresh from the shower, her coppery curls hung wet around her face. There was nothing like the smell of a woman just out of the shower. She wore a brilliantly colored, loose cotton skirt that flirted with her ankles, and her thin green T-shirt left little to his already active imagination.

How could his attraction grow when just a few hours ago he’d decided there was no way an affair with her could figure into his plans?

Screw football. He wanted to play an altogether different game with her.

But he wasn’t going to wade into those dangerous waters. There were plenty of other women in the world. He vowed to keep reminding himself of that.

Getting involved with Frank’s widow was the worst thing he could do.

“Come on in. Yum,” she said. He wished she was talking about him, but he was quite certain she was referring to the box of doughnuts he held in one hand.

“My thoughts, exactly,” he replied, looking her up and down. He didn’t mean to say it. It came out of his mouth before he realized what he was saying. He also didn’t mean to ogle her like a high school sophomore but he couldn’t help it.

“Uhh,” she stammered. “Here, just put those on the coffee table. I’ve got some iced tea in the fridge or I can make some coffee, if you prefer.”

“No, tea’s fine. It’s good to be back in the South where the girls know how to sweeten it just right.” He winked at her.

While Maddie was in the kitchen, David looked at the collection of photographs scattered among the built-in bookshelves on either side of the fireplace. Most were candid shots of Andrew, Maddie, and a woman who looked so much like her she had to be her sister, Callie. He could tell by their expressions how close they were. He could see now—using the photos as a frame of reference—just how stressed Maddie was. There was no trace of the easygoing smile that had shone in earlier photos. That smile had been replaced with dark circles and slumped shoulders.

When he heard her coming toward the living room, he slid back into his seat on the sofa.

“We’re all set,” Maddie said, placing the tray on the coffee table beside the treats. “Do you need any paper or pens or anything to begin the lesson?”

“Nope. Do you still have those games recorded?”

“Want me to play one?”

He nodded. “Any game is fine.”

She turned on the television and cued up a college game. She handed the remote to him, picked up her binder and sat down on the couch beside him.

“All right, let’s start at the beginning. If you have any questions, just speak up and we’ll stop the game and discuss it. We’ll do the defense tonight.”

As the announcers named each player, he paused the recording and explained the position. She wrote the name of each position and beside it she noted the primary responsibilities of the player.

“Any questions before I start the game?” he asked.

She shook her head. “No, I think I understand the positions on the defensive side of the ball. You’re a pretty good teacher.”

“Thanks. Football was my life all through high school and college, so it’s second nature to me.”

“Did you really have a chance to play professional football?”

He nodded. “I was drafted in the second round. I would’ve played for the St. Louis Rams.” Bile rose in his throat, and his heart beat faster, the blood rushing through his veins. It was a familiar feeling: part red-hot anger, part bitter regret, part paralyzing sadness at the twists and turns his life had taken since the day of the draft. The rush of his boyhood dream realized. The terrifying free fall two days later.

The bone-crushing grief that followed him like it was his own shadow.

Just as he’d been packing his things to move to St. Louis, the phone rang and for the second time in less than a week, the voice on the other end had changed the whole trajectory of his life.

The sounds of the boys’ laughter outside in the front yard floated into the room, filling the awkward silence.

“But then my brother, Robert, who was a chaplain in the Corps, an unarmed chaplain, for God’s sake, was kidnapped by some militants in northwestern Afghanistan, up near the Pakistan border. At first we thought they’d try to get guns and money in exchange for his release but they didn’t. They killed him less than forty-eight hours after they took him. They tied his body to a jeep and drove him through the village. They captured it all on video, sent it to news organizations all over the world. Made my parents witness it.”

“I’m so sorry.” She reached across the couch and put her hand on his arm. “You must have been devastated.”

“One minute I was a twenty-two-year-old athlete on track to make hundreds of thousands of dollars fulfilling my boyhood dream, and the next minute I was standing in a recruiter’s office swearing loyalty to the United States and the Marine Corps.”

“Why did you decide to join if your brother had already been killed? It seems like that would’ve been the last thing you wanted to do.”

He glanced up at her soft words, noted the compassion in her eyes.

“My brother and I were very close. Even though he was two years older than me, we did everything together. He had my back; I had his. The day we buried him I promised myself I would make sure the men responsible for his death would pay. I gave my word that I would put my life on hold until I made things right.”

“Do you have other siblings?”

“No, it was just the two of us. Robert’s death devastated my parents. They’ve never been the same.”

She shook her head. “I can’t imagine their pain. Did you seek counseling as a family?”

“My parents saw someone in Jackson for a while. But I didn’t. I knew exactly what I needed to do to move past his death. Only, revenge isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.”

She squeezed his hand. “No, we can’t get past the pain by inflicting the same punishment on the person responsible.”

“It was damn sure worth a try, though.”

He wanted…no,
needed
…to see the son of a bitch who’d killed Robert begging for his life, pleading for mercy. He wanted to watch the life leave his eyes slowly, wanted him to suffer. Instead, he’d never even gotten close to the bastard and he’d gotten a good soldier killed in his blind attempt to exact vengeance.

“If there’s ever anything I can do, if you ever need to talk to someone, I’d love to listen. Or if you’re not comfortable talking to me, I can certainly refer you to someone else.”