Page 104 of Against the Clock

“COACH KELSEY IS HAVING A BABY!” a third screams.

I moan and bury my face in my hands.

“Coach Kelsey is not pregnant, oh ye agents of chaos,” Daniel tells them. “And that’s not how we talk to our coaches, right, kids?”

“You shouldn’t kiss your assistant coach,” one of the cherub-faced devils says.

I bite my cheeks, but a snort comes out anyway.

“Don’t encourage them, Kels,” Daniel tells me out of the side of his mouth.

I turn back around and stare at the ceiling some more, trying my hardest not to lose it completely and laugh.

A little hand tugs on my shirt, and I look down to see the pigtailed girl again.

“Coach Kelsey,” she says, her eyes huge in her face. “Can I have a hug?”

“Sure,” I say, and she holds her arms up. I bend down to pat her shoulders, and she launches at me like a spider monkey.

“Unf,” I say, stepping backwards in surprise as she clambers up, gluing herself to my hip, her hands, inexplicably sticky, gluing themselves around my neck.

“I love hugs,” she yells, and I wince.

“Okay,” I say, supporting her weight with one arm. “I think you should go get some more water.”

“No,” she says. “I don’t want to. I want a hug.” She draws the word out like a threat.

Daniel’s staring at me, that massive grin on his face, like he’s never seen anything better.

It makes my heart flutter.

“How about we play a game of defense-defense-offense?”

“Yeah!” the kids chorus.

I have no idea what that is, but if it keeps the kids happy, I’m game.

“Who here has played duck-duck-goose?” he asks, and ten of our twenty kids launch into the air, their little bodies unable to contain their excitement. “Right,” he continues, cutting me another amused look. “Let’s get in a circle.”

He pats the ground, and to my surprise, the kids listen to him, falling over themselves in their hurry to sit next to him.

“No, a circle, guys, you know what a circle is…” He pauses and they scooch out from the clump they’ve made around him. “Good job. A good athlete always listens to their coach. Now make room for Coach Kelsey.”

A little boy holds up his hand. “Can you sit next to me, Coach Kelsey?”

“Sure,” I manage, suddenly overcome with unexpected emotion. I must be PMSing because my hormones are raging. Despite all the chaos of this morning—and there was a lot of chaos—Daniel is… so good with these kids, so warm and sweet and patient, that I swear, it’s making me think twice about all the times he’s mentioned wanting them.

He would be an amazing father.

He would be an amazing husband.

He’s an amazing guy.

A lump forms in my throat and I sit down quickly, the little girl shuffling so that she’s in my lap instead of glued to my hip.

Daniel’s staring at me and I grin at him, swallowing down the tight knot.

“Are you married?” the little boy on my left asks, a serious expression on his sweet face.

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