Catching Summer (Second Chances, #6)(6)
She waved me off. “You’ll do fine. It’ll be good to have your help here. It’s hard to move as fast as I used to.”
“It’s because you’re about to bust,” Cooper teased. He shook his head and turned his attention to me, his blue eyes lit with humor. “I keep telling her if she doesn’t watch it, she’s going to have that baby on the field. By how hard he kicks, I have a feeling he’ll be a football player. He’ll put Jaxon to shame.”
“Who will?” a voice behind me called out. When I looked over my shoulder, I saw Jaxon marching up to us with a sly smile on his face. He had on a red baseball cap. Underneath it, his hair was so dark it looked almost black. His eyes were the color of amber. Cooper slapped him on the shoulder and Kate giggled when he joined us.
“I believe they were saying their son is going to be a better kicker than you,” I told him.
Jaxon shook his head, grinning. “That wouldn’t surprise me. It’s a good thing I won’t have to worry about a job when that time comes. I’ll be old and decrepit before Cooper Junior takes the field.”
“Won’t we all,” Cooper said, chuckling.
Kate laughed and nodded toward the facility door. “All right, Summer, you ready? Our instructor’s name is Gary Wilford. He’s funny as hell so I know he’ll make the course interesting.”
“Are you going to be hanging out with the team?” Jaxon asked, focusing on me.
I nodded. “Just for a little while. I’m trying to keep up with my certifications so I stay up to date with my nursing. You never know when the restaurant will take a dive.”
Everyone snorted and looked at me like I’d lost my mind. I was just being realistic. “That’s not going to happen,” he said. “But it’ll be good to have you here. Hopefully, it’ll get mama over here off our backs.”
Kate rolled her eyes and grabbed my arm, pulling me toward the door. “Stop giving me reasons to bitch at you and I’ll stop,” she shouted over her shoulder. Once inside, she let me go and laughed. “I swear, they have no idea how hard it is to be pregnant.”
“I can imagine. Austin and I wanted to have kids. I prayed for a miracle to be pregnant after he was killed so I could have a piece of him here with me. Of course, it didn’t work out that way.” In all honesty, it would’ve been difficult to raise a baby on my own, but I would’ve given anything to have a part of Austin with me.
“I know you miss him,” she murmured. The halls were so quiet that her voice echoed off the walls. “I can’t say that I’ve exactly been in your shoes, but I know how you feel. Years ago when I lost Scott, my world crashed in all around me. It’s never easy when you lose someone you love. The hardest part is letting your heart move on without feeling guilty. I’m sure Austin wouldn’t want you to be alone for the rest of your life.”
A tear slid down my cheek. She lost her Scott because he was sick with cancer and had overdosed on medication, but I lost Austin in a horrific game for someone’s viewing pleasure. No, Austin wouldn’t want me alone for the rest of my life, but it was hard to want happiness when he had been ripped out of this world in such a gruesome way.
“How did you move on without feeling guilty? I’m not interested in that kind of relationship right now, but just the thought scares me. It doesn’t seem right,” I cried.
She stopped and a sad smile played across her lips when she looked at me. “I wasn’t interested in anyone else for a long time after Scott died. I blamed myself for his death. Austin was ripped away from you, and that pain will always be in your heart. You don’t have to forget him or stop loving him. When you finally open yourself up to someone, that’s when the void will start to close. The hardest part is allowing yourself to do that. You’ll get there.”
“What if I don’t?” The thought of being alone for the rest of my life terrified me. I just needed the courage to open up my heart again.
“You will,” she murmured. “I have faith in you. Now brace yourself, my dear. Things are about to get interesting.” She turned us down another hallway, and suddenly there were other voices echoing off the walls. We stopped by the doorway to the locker room and I immediately got an eyeful. The blood rushed to my cheeks, but I couldn’t look away. Evan was in there, along with a dozen other guys, but none of them mattered to me. I couldn’t take my eyes off his bare backside and thick thighs. His muscles rippled and tensed with his movements, and as soon as he turned around I hastily averted my gaze.
“Okay, are we done here?” I asked hurriedly. Good lord, what was she thinking? Heck, what was I thinking working with these guys?…Oh crap, I was in trouble. My cheeks flamed and all I wanted to do was run out of the room. Who was I kidding? I wanted to lift my gaze and stare. Biting my lip, I tried to keep my focus on the floor, but my eyes fought me every step of the way.
“Nope, you’re coming with me.” Taking my hand, she pulled me into the locker room, and there was no way I could keep the embarrassment from showing on my face. Whistles and shouts erupted in the room, but thankfully we got out of there fast and disappeared behind a door where the team coach sat at his desk. “Summer, I’d like you to formally meet our coach, Joel Harris.”
Joel stood up and held out his hand. He was dressed in a pair of track pants and a Cougars T-shirt and had combed-over salt-and-pepper hair. He was Cooper’s uncle, and I could definitely see the family resemblance. “Summer, it’s nice to meet you. I hear you’re going to be with us for a couple of weeks.”