Chapter 29

When Katy showsup at my apartment, I'm a little nervous she's going to be mad that I asked her to leave her brother behind, but thankfully she isn't.

"How pissed is he?" I ask when she sits on the couch.

I have myself situated in a recliner with my foot on a few pillows to keep it elevated, according to the instructions I received from the nurse.

"Not pissed, more like kicking himself for being an idiot," she states.

I sigh, then give my head a shake. "Okay, no more talk of your brother. This is our time, and I refuse to spend it being upset," I tell her.

She giggles. "Sounds like a plan. What did you want to do?"

"Do you like Mario Party?" I question, and her face lights up, which is the only answer I need. "The controllers are under the TV." She quickly moves to grab them so we can start a game.

"Are you playing Mario Party without me?" Rio asks as we're getting things set up.

"It's not too late to join us."

That's all I needed to offer because he grabs a controller and plops down beside Katy.

"Should we invite Bronny too? Don't need him being all mopey because we forgot about him."

Rio shakes his head. "He has a wrestling match this afternoon. He's already at the campus getting ready with his team."

"Oh, right, I completely forgot about that." I normally like to support my friends and watch their sports, but Bronny has a weird superstition about his friends being at his events, so we never attend out of respect for him. But his one coach always takes high-quality footage, and Bronny shows us after each match.

"Perfect, let's get this party started then," I announce, hitting the button to start the game.

We spend the next hour battling in mini-games and talking smack every chance we get. Katy shows us she has a mouth I wasn't expecting from such a pretty woman. She's the queen of talking shit, and it makes me like her even more.

By the time Katy has to leave, my stomach hurts from laughing ridiculously hard, and I feel a lot lighter than I was before she came over.

"Did you want me to drive you to my brother's house on my way out of town?" she asks, causing my stomach to knot with anxiety.

I should take her up on the offer, but I find myself shaking my head instead. "I'm sorry. I still need a little bit more time," I murmur.

"I get it, but don't take too long. Just like in physical therapy, sometimes you have to work through the pain to get the results you want," she reminds me before leaving.

Rio leaves not long after Katy to go hang out with Sasha, telling me to call him whenever I need a ride. I wanted to be alone, but now the apartment is too quiet. So, I shoot a text off to Coach, asking him to come over for a visit.

"I'm surprised you aren't at Ian's," he says when I open the door for him, which is awkward on crutches.

"We kind of got into an argument after you left last night," I explain, slowly returning to my chair.

"What about?" he asks, making himself comfortable on the couch.

"Ian told me he was going to take a week off work to look after me," I tell him, and when I say the words out loud, it sounds stupid that it made me so angry.

"And it made you feel like you didn't have a say, didn't it?" he guesses, and it still boggles my brain at times that he knows me as well as he does. I'm happy he's working at GSU now, and we can have chats like this in person.

"That's exactly how I felt. Maybe I shouldn't have gotten that upset, but it was like his words hit a detonation button, and it completely fired me up."

"It actually makes complete sense that you lost your cool," Coach responds. "You never had a say in any big decisions made in your life when you were growing up. You were just told what was going to happen, whether you liked it or not. You had no control over anything, and when Ian told you his plan, you felt like that little child with no choice again. But you aren't a child, and you do have a choice. You snapped because you didn't want to feel powerless again." My eyes go wide as he nails it on the head. "But Ian most likely wasn't thinking about that when he was talking to you last night. He was thinking about the man he loves who was injured and needs someone to care for him. Yes, he should have gone about it differently, but the underlying meaning was good. He didn't want to take away your power… he just wanted to help you."

My heart hurts as I nod. "You're right," I whisper. "And now I feel like even more of a fool."

"Don't. You reacted to a trigger from a trauma that runs a lot deeper than you knew. Don't fault yourself for that. Now you just have to explain that to Ian and discuss what you're going to do as a team."

"Ian wants to take care of me. It's a huge part of who he is, but I'm worried that by taking time off work, he'll put his career in jeopardy," I voice. "He's worked extremely hard to get to where he is, and I won't let him put that on the line. I'm afraid that he's blinded by love right now, and one day, he isn't going to feel the same way, and if this does affect his job, he'll resent me for it."

"Not everyone is going to leave you," Coach says. "I'm still here, and it's not because I'm some sort of unicorn. The people who raised you in the foster system were idiots for not seeing how amazing you are. They were foolish for not wanting to keep you. If they had spent the time to get to know you, they wouldn't have let you go. The people in your life now are aware of the treasure of a person you are and are willing to put in the hard work to keep you."

Emotion bubbles in my throat, and I blink back tears. I wasn't expecting Coach to become all sentimental like this, but his words are like a balm to my broken heart.

"Would you mind driving me to Ian's?" I ask when the frog in my throat has disappeared, and my voice is no longer raspy from all the emotions.

"That I can do, son," he says, and a tear breaks loose at his words.

I always wanted a dad growing up, but now that I think about it, I kind of had one. Even though it was never on paper, Coach Appleton was my father, and I'm so fucking lucky I have him in my life. Maybe one day I'll ask him if I can call him Dad because Coach is starting not to feel right anymore.