I limped into the kitchen, aching and weary from the extra workout time I'd put in earlier. All I wanted was to eat a quick, healthy snack, climb into the bathtub and soak for a while, and then crawl into bed. The last thing I wanted to think about was what I'd been told at the finance office earlier.
Hell, I was struggling enough with everything else, including covering my half of the rent on the apartment I shared with Leena. If I didn't make the starting lineup…well, I didn't even want to consider the consequences.
Just as I began rifling through the contents of the fridge, my phone rang. Annoyed, I took it out. Couldn't I have just a moment of peace?
My annoyance faded though when I saw who it was: my mom. “Hi, Mom,” I said.
“Hey, sweetie. How did the practice go with the new coach today? What's his name again?”
“Wade Vinson.”
“Ah, yeah, Wade Vinson, that celebrity from out west. Is he as much of a hunk in real life as he looks like in all the pictures?”
“Mom!”
“Come on, I’m old. Not dead. I just wanna know!”
I chuckled. As tired as she often was, my mom always found ways to make me smile and laugh. “He's very good looking, all right? Not that it matters. The point is, it seems like he’s going to be a really good coach.”
“I sure hope he comes to his senses and puts you in as a starter. It's long overdue.”
“I hope so, too, Mom. I do have a good feeling about this season, though. I really think it'll be my year.”
I hoped that the cheerfulness of my tone was adequately hiding the anxiety in my voice. I definitely didn't want her to know anything about what the finance office had told me earlier. She had too much on her plate already.
“I'm praying for you, my dear. You've worked so hard for this; you really deserve your shot at the big time.”
“Thanks, Mom. Say, do you want me to come over and make you dinner again tomorrow night?”
“You don't have to do that, sweetie.”
“Come on, Mom, just let me help out. I know you've got another twelve-hour shift tomorrow. Really, it's no problem.”
“Well…if it's not a hassle, I always love to see my girl.”
“I'll see you around seven. Goodnight, love you.”
“Love you, too, sweetie. Have a good night.”
“Night, Mom.”
I put my phone back in my pocket and sighed. Things had to turn around this year. They just had to. Otherwise, I had no idea what I would do. No idea whatsoever.
Feeling weary, I managed to whip up a simple salad from some greens and veggies we had sitting in the fridge and ate it almost mechanically at the kitchen table while watching some mindless reality show.
Then, all of a sudden, the image of Coach Vinson popped into my head – a vision that had nothing to do with volleyball. I tried to shake it loose. I didn't want to think about him. Why was my mind suddenly wandering in this direction?
I forced the thoughts of him out of my head, finished off my salad, and trudged off to the bathroom for a nice, hot, relaxing bath. Tomorrow was another day, and all I could do was the same thing I'd been doing up to this point: face it with my head held high and work my ass off.
Chapter Four
Wade
I felt like the first practice had gone pretty well. I'd gotten a feel for how good the team was as a whole and was beginning to get a feel for how talented the individual players were.
Chief among these was Eryn Barnett. The woman was as perplexing as she was beautiful. But with that aside, I couldn't believe she had been excluded from the star
ting lineup for so long. Then again, I couldn’t believe a lot of how things had been run on this team before.