Page 96 of Waiting for Friday Night

Shania did a great job avoiding Quinton at school. Every time he saw her in the hall, she’d disappear in the crowd. When he tried to talk to her during the lunch period she huddled with a group of friends and rushed out of the lunchroom. She even found a way to avoid him during football practice. She stayed with the special teams coach, avoided eye contact and kept to the opposite side of the field from him.

He admired her ability to give him the cold shoulder so completely. But he was still the coach and her father. Something he hadn’t pressed before. He wasn’t about to let her go home without speaking a word to him.

“Shania.” He called her name after practice. His voice crisp and to the point.

She stopped talking, cringed and looked his way. “Yes, Coach?”

“Come to my office after you get the rest of the equipment put up.”

“But my mom will be waiting.”

He lowered his aviator shades and met her eyes. “My office.”

Shania sighed. “Yes, Coach.”

Quinton slid his shades back up and nodded. He headed back to the school. Zachariah jogged up to him. “Everything alright?”

Quinton kept walking. “Why do you ask?”

“Well, Kayla told me about what happened this morning.”

Quinton stopped in his tracks. He didn’t have to worry about the Peachtree Cove gossips; Halle’s family was going to spread the news faster than anyone else. He turned to Zachariah and said with steel in his voice, “We’re not talking about that.”

Zachariah held up his hands. “I’m just checking to make sure all is good. I mean, we’re practically family now.”

Quinton rolled his eyes behind his shades. He was inheriting all of Halle’s cousins and their boyfriends. “Everything is good.”

“So, you and Halle?”

Quinton shook his head and turned to walk away. “Mind your business.”

Zachariah took the hint and stayed behind. Quinton kept going until he got back to his office. He really hoped Kayla kept what she found out between herself and Zachariah. The last thing they needed was for everyone in the town to start talking about him and Halle getting together. He was happy to be with her. Happier than he ever would have expected and didn’t want to hide that they were together, but the gossip would splash back on Shania. He didn’t want that.

Ten minutes later, Shania knocked on his office door. Her arms crossed and lips pinched as she looked everywhere but at him. Quinton hated that she’d avoided him. He was used to being on the end of a teenager’s anger or frustration. He was a coach and teacher, so of course some kids had an automatic problem with him. But having it from Shania hit different. He didn’t want to hurt her. He only wanted to protect her.

“Have a seat, Shania,” he said, pointing to the chair across from his desk.

Shania let out a sigh but sat. “You don’t have to do this.”

“Do what? You’re a mind reader now?”

She slouched in the chair. Her arms remained crossed, and she avoided looking at him. When she didn’t speak, he continued talking.

“About this morning...”

Shania held up a hand. “Spare me the details.”

“I have no intention of giving you any details. But what I do plan to tell you is that I like your mom and that has nothing to do with you.”

She cut her eyes at him. “Yes, it does. You never would have bothered her if it wasn’t for me.”

“That’s not true. Are you saying the only thing your mom has going for her is the fact that she’s your mother? That I wouldn’t have been interested in her for any other reason?”

Shania sat up straight and glared back. “My mom has been happy by herself.”

“Does that mean you want her alone for the rest of her life?” He kept his voice calm compared to the angst in hers.

“No, but I don’t want her to think she has to be with someone just for my sake. She was into Gregory and that didn’t work out. Now we find out you’re my dad and suddenly she thinks she should be with you? I don’t want her to do that.”

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