7. Nathan

Islept awfully all weekend. The boys kept me out way too late on Saturday, and I worked around the farm from sunrise to sunset on Sunday. No one talked about how much work it took to run a farm as large as my family’s. We had a solid crew of employees, but I still felt as if it was never enough.

Mom told me I was a workaholic, but I liked being busy. The more I kept my mind occupied with other things, the less time I had to overthink things. Or to overthink people. People like Avery.

Still, even while I worked all Sunday, thoughts of her would slice through my brain. I couldn’t stop thinking about the way I’d made such an ass of myself in front of her on Saturday night. Not only did I jeopardize her job by following her outside and getting us locked out but I also looked damn near like a stalker.

Not exactly the vibe I was going for.

I just wanted her to know I wasn’t trying to ruin her life. In my attempt, though, I almost proceeded to ruin her life.

When Monday afternoon came and it was time to meet the team at practice, I felt a heaviness sitting against my chest. As I approached Avery’s office, I knocked against her open door.

“Knock, knock,” I said.

She sat at her desk, looking down at her paperwork. “You don’t have to say knock, knock if you’re going to actually knock, Nathaniel.”

Nathaniel.

A telltale sign that she still, indeed, hated me.

I crossed my arms over my chest and stepped into her office. My eyes danced around the space, taking it in for the first time. When I chased her into her office last Friday, I didn’t get a chance to see her space. I was too focused on trying to get her not to hate me.

The space wasn’t huge, but it was a decent size. Much bigger than the office I was given down the hall. Framed photographs of past teams and motivational quotes covered the walls. One was a sign with the word “heart” written over the word “head.” A reminder to lead with one’s heart on the field, more than one’s head. She was the one who taught me that lesson when we were young. I was nervous about my baseball career, and she told me that if I led with my heart, I’d end up at home plate every single time. Heart over head was the saying that changed my confidence, which in turn changed my game.

It was clear she still believed in that technique, which was odd to me, seeing how she seemed to live a lot more in her head than her heart from what I’d noticed.

Her large and well-worn desk sat in the middle of the space. It was covered with lineup sheets, player stats, and a few too many coffee mugs that needed a good washing. In a fancy case was an autographed baseball. I couldn’t help but wonder who signed that thing, but I knew I couldn’t approach it or ask her about it. I was probably already crossing her boundaries by even breathing the same air as her.

A whiteboard filled with practice schedules and game strategies was on the right wall. The number of scribbles over her work showed how much she changed her mind once she found a better game plan. The markings looked like a beautiful disaster, something that probably only made sense to Avery’s brain. I wished I could learn how her thoughts worked in that day and age. How she figured things out and pieced together her strategies.

In the left corner of her office was a bookshelf with a collection of baseball books. Everything from manuals and inspirational memoirs to…was that a baseball romance novel?

That’s slightly shocking, Coach.

I arched an eyebrow, wanting to know more about said book, but Avery cut my curiosity in half as she snapped my way. “What do you want?” she barked. “Or let me guess, you’re here to tell me you’re taking my office space, too.”

Her harsh personality wouldn’t go away anytime soon, so I had to learn to deal with it. I wasn’t afraid of a hard Avery Kingsley. She was hard when I first met her all those years ago on the farm. It took her a little while to warm up to me, let alone fall in love.

I figured it would take some time for her to warm up to my grown-up version, too. Though, I didn’t need her to fall in love with me this time. I just needed her to dip her toe into “like” territory. Because if we were going to make this team the best it could be, there had to be at least some kind of mutual respect between us coaches.

“I was going to head out to meet the guys. I figured it might be good to have you out there with me.”

She glanced down at her watch and muttered something under her breath. She pushed herself away from her desk and grabbed her clipboard. As she walked over to me, she said, “Fine. Let’s get this over with.”

“Sounds good.”

“Can you do me a favor, though?”

“Sure. What’s that?”

A flash of sadness raced through her brown eyes as they fell on mine. “Don’t make me seem too much like a loser when you tell them that you’re the new head coach.”

I swallowed hard as I slid my hands into my pockets. “I’ll do my best, Coach.”

She nodded and walked away. “And don’t call me Coach. I hate that.”

We headed out to the indoor gym facility, which was pretty impressive. When I went to school at Honey Creek High, we did not have the next-level equipment that the school now had. It would make our late-winter, early-spring workouts much more enjoyable. The space was equipped with batting cages, pitching machines, and a huge area for fielding practices.

It was no wonder the school didn’t want to ditch the whole baseball program. They’d clearly invested a lot of money in it.

Not only did they have all this inside but they also had a beautiful outdoor field and a batting cage along with a gigantic gym for strength and conditioning. I knew we would have amazing weightlifting, plyometrics, and other fitness routines in that space.

“This place still blows my mind,” I remarked as we entered the indoor space.

“Get a student who goes off to win two World Series, and the school makes it their whole personality,” Avery mumbled. “They call it the Nathan Pierce effect.”

“They did this because of me?”

She rolled her eyes. “Don’t be so shocked. It’s like when Taylor Swift wins a Grammy and acts like it’s such a surprise.”

She was so snappy, and I didn’t know if she knew it, but it made me oddly more intrigued to break through that wall she had built up. The ruder she grew, the kinder I’d become. Though I was almost certain that made her angry, too.

As we approached the guys, who were all talking to each other, laughing and joking around, Avery clapped her hands together as she held her clipboard under her arm. “All right, boys, listen up. We have some changes coming on. I want to introduce you to Coach Pierce. He’s going to be helping us out a bit.” Avery gestured toward me, giving me the sign to take it from there.

I cleared my throat and slid my hands into the pockets of my black joggers. “Hey there. I’m Nathan Pierce, and I’m excited to join the team as the assistant coach to Coach K. You can call me Coach P. I’m excited to be back at Honey Creek to help take this already strong team to a stronger level under Coach Kingsley’s leadership. If I’m honest, I learned my best baseball traits from her back when we were young, and it’s an honor to be able to work beside her again.”

I saw the somberness on Avery’s face as I spoke, but I tried not to take it in too much. The surprise on her face from the announcement that I was taking the assistant coach as opposed to the head coach seemed to lift a weight off her shoulders.

“So before we get started, I want you all to know this first week, I’m just here to observe. I want to see how you all move, how you all work, and I want to get to know you each on a personal level. Don’t be afraid to reach out and ask me any questions. A coach is only as strong as the safe place that they make for their team, and I want you all to feel comfortable coming to me with anything and everything. Does anyone have any questions off the bat? Nothing’s off-limits.”

“You’re going to regret saying that,” Avery muttered.

I arched an eyebrow at her, but before I could ask why, a bunch of hands shot up.

I gestured to one of the guys. “Yeah? What’s your name and question?”

“Yeah, hi, Coach P. I’m Ryan. I’m a right fielder. I was wondering, is it true you were found on the Vegas Strip wasted out of your mind and on drugs?”

Well.

They sure didn’t pull any punches.

I looked back over at Avery, searching for a bit of help.

She didn’t look as if she felt bad for me at all as she shrugged. “You should never say to teenage boys that nothing is off-limits.”

Fair enough.

I cleared my throat and crossed my arms. “Being in the spotlight as a famous figure brought me a lot of highs. It also brought some low moments. Yet I like to think we aren’t our best or worst moments. We are the moments in-between.”

Another player raised his hand. I called on him.

“Hey, Coach. I’m Caleb. Third baseman.”

“Nice to meet you, Caleb,” I said. “And your question?”

“So yeah, uh, is that a yes to Ryan’s question?” he asked.

I cleared my throat and looked around. “Any more questions?”

More hands shot back up.

Avery stepped forward and slid her hands into the pockets of her joggers. “Any questions that aren’t about Coach P being famous, about his past partying behavior, about who he may or may not have dated, about how much money is in his account, or about his injury?”

All the hands slowly went down.

Avery smirked a little. It was clear she knew the guys inside and out. It would take me a little time to catch up to her level of knowledge, but I was ready to take it all in and play catch-up.

“All right, then. Let’s get to work. We’re going to split up into teams.” She used her hand to split the guys down the middle. “Caleb, you’re leading your team on hitting drills. I want to see pepper work, soft toss, and tee work. Cameron, you’re team leader for pitching drills. Start with bullpen sessions, then toss in some towel drills. Let’s go! Move, move, move.”

The guys responded to Avery’s orders with haste.

One thing was clear—the team respected her. That was a good thing. A coach with no respect from their team was no coach at all.

“What was that?”Avery whisper-shouted after practice as she followed me into my office. “Why did you tell them you were the assistant coach after Ray said you were the head coach?”

“I turned down the position. He told me you knew and agreed to the first arrangement, and when it became achingly clear that that wasn’t the truth, I told him I’d only be the assistant coach or I’d walk. So”—I slightly bowed—“I’m here to assist, Coach.”

She rolled her eyes. Leave it to Avery Kingsley to somehow make eye-rolling attractive. “You’re so annoying.”

I arched an eyebrow. “I’m annoying for letting you keep your head coach position?”

“You didn’t let me keep it.”

“Technically, yeah, I did.”

“Technically, piss off,” she replied.

I smirked.

She rolled her eyes again. “Stop smirking, Nathaniel. Your smugness is annoying.”

“I get the feeling you think everything about me is annoying.”

“That’s because it is. You, as a whole human being, are annoying.”

“I missed you, too, Coach.”

The rage that shot through her system erupted into a burst of shouting and hand gestures. “You are a pain in my ass, Nathaniel, and I cannot stand you.” She sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. “But if we are forced to work together, we have to have some ground rules.”

“I’m more of a rule breaker.”

“Trust me, I know. I saw your baseball stats.”

I smiled slyly. “So you’ve followed my stats?”

“Deflate your big head, Mr. Ego. I study all the top baseball players’ stats.”

I smiled wider. “So you think I’m one of the best?”

She crossed her arms over her chest and narrowed her eyes. “Rule number one,” she scolded. “You’ll respect my decisions around the boys. If you disagree, you discuss it with me in private.”

“Does that go both ways?”

“Of course. I don’t need the boys thinking there’s an issue between us coaches. Coach Erikson didn’t adhere to that rule. It made the past few years of my life hell. We don’t need to showcase a disconnect.”

“Even though there is a clear disconnect, based on the room”s energy right now.”

“We are as disconnected as two people could ever be.”

“I’d like to take an opportunity to plug us back together.”

“That sounds highly inappropriate, which brings me to the next rule. No inappropriate comments toward me.”

I arched an eyebrow and dramatically slammed my hand over my heart. “When have I ever been inappropriate?”

She cocked an “are you shitting me right now” eyebrow.

I chuckled. “Okay, no inappropriate commentary.”

“Rule number three?—”

“How many rules are there?”

“A lot. There are a lot of rules.” She smoothed her hands over her hoodie and rolled her shoulders back. “No talk about us.”

“I can’t talk about us?”

“No. Not the old us, at least. Not like…what we once were.”

“You mean how we were in love?” I questioned.

Avery’s cheeks flushed as she moved over to my door and shut it. She continued to whisper-shout as she looked my way. “Exactly that! No talk about any of that. No one even knows about that whole situation.”

“I’m sure Yara and Willow do. Didn’t you tell your sisters?”

She pointed a stern finger my way. “I would answer that, but that’s breaking rule number three, and we will not break these rules.”

“Whatever you say, Coach.”

She rolled her eyes—again. It was as if whenever I spoke, she displayed a heavy level of disgust. I’d never had someone react so intensely to my mere existence. It was as if whenever I spoke, Avery got a damn hairball stuck in her throat that she wanted to hack up.

Most women had the complete opposite reaction to me. Not to sound cocky, but Avery made me feel like a slimy alien that she loved to belittle.

Oddly enough, that only made me want to be closer to her.

Call it a shame kink, if you will.

I took a seat in my office chair and spun around. “Any more rules?”

She narrowed her eyes and shrugged. “Don’t baby these boys. They need a tough love training.”

“They need a bit of soft love, too. How about you play bad cop, and I’ll be good cop?”

“Why would I be the bad cop?”

“Because you said tough love. That’s not very good cop of you.”

Another eye roll!

I should’ve gotten a cookie every time I got her to roll those beautiful brown eyes.

“Just don’t take it easy on them, Nathan. We’re here to coach them, not to change their diapers.”

I didn’t argue with her because I got lost in those eyes of hers. Avery Kingsley was the kind of beauty that people wrote songs about. She’d only gotten better with age, too. I’d been back in Honey Creek for a while and watched her from afar. Mainly because she did everything in her power to avoid me.

It was clear as day that she was determined not to interact with me. When we were on the same sidewalk, she’d always cross the street. She’d dip into stores, too, if she saw me coming. Once, we were in the grocery store at the same time, and she’d abandoned her cart just to avoid meeting me by the grated cheese.

Clearly, some closure was needed between us, yet I wasn’t allowed to even bring that up due to rule number three.

But since I returned to Honey Creek, I noticed her. I noticed her so much that I’d find myself dreaming about her some nights simply based on the small times I’d crossed her during the daylight. Avery had the kind of smile that made others want to smile, too, though most of the time, her smile was reserved for a select few. When one unlocked her smiles, it felt like finally making it to Narnia. A gift that kept giving. Yet when she wasn’t smiling, she was grimacing. Still, her grimaces were oddly attractive to me. She made resting bitch face seem sexy.

Her deep brown skin was smooth and always moisturized. She wasn’t one to wear makeup, and if you looked closely enough, you could see the two small birthmarks resting against her left cheek. I, myself, always looked closely enough.

Her black natural hair sat slightly below her shoulders when she let it down, but she usually had it tossed up in a messy bun on top of her head. She was also a professional at wearing oversized clothes that didn’t show off her body, but a few months ago, I saw her at her sister’s wedding. She wore a tight black gown that reminded me of how remarkable each curve on her body had been.

“Nathaniel?! Hello?! Earth to Nathaniel,” Avery said, waving her hands in front of me.

I snapped out of the trance I had found myself in as I fell into her eyes. “Uh, sorry, repeat that?”

“I said rule number five is to learn about who these kids are. They’re good kids, and I don’t want them to feel overlooked. Having you here will help them get the attention they deserve in a way I couldn’t do alone.”

“Did you just say you’re happy I’m here, Coach?”

“Oh, shut it, Nathaniel. See you tomorrow afternoon. We’ll go over the details before practice. I’ll meet you in my office at three.”

“Looking forward to it, Coach.”

“Don’t,” she said before marching out of my office.