Page 39 of Wrangling a Texas Hometown Hero

She lifted an eyebrow. “And our strengths?”

“I’ve yet to find them.”

She puffed out her breath. “That’s brutal.”

“You’re telling me.” He took a seat on the couch, not realizing how small it was until his knee bumped Hallie’s. While he felt like he’d been electrocuted, she didn’t seem to notice. She was totally focused on stroking Jelly Roll’s ratty fur and looking at the television.

“So what do you think the problem is?”

He scooted as far away from her as he could get without ending up straddling the arm of the couch. “Mrs. Stokes and the school board blame Coach Denny. And I agree that the coach is ultimately responsible for his team’s performance. I get the feeling Denny has grown a little jaded about coaching high school football—probably because most kids nowadays would rather be home playing video games or coming up with a dance routine for social media than putting in the hard work it takes to be a good athlete.”

She toed off her boots and propped her stocking feet on the coffee table. “So let’s see this pathetic team.”

He wasn’t sure that was a good idea. Especially when he couldn’t take his eyes off her legs. But unless he wanted to throw her out, he had no choice. Thankfully, once they started watching the game, his libido simmered down.

He’d forgotten how much Hallie loved football. She pumped her fists when the Wildcats scored and groaned when they made a bad play. She yelled at the refs and any player who wasn’t doing their job the way she thought it should be done. Ironically, Jace always agreed with her opinions.

He was surprised by how well their thoughts meshed until memories trickled out of the recesses of his mind. Memories of Hallie tagging behind him on the ranch and wanting to talk about every single moment of every single high school football game he played—what he thought had gone well and what he’d thought had gone wrong. What calls the refs had screwed up and what calls they’d gotten right.

No wonder they thought alike.

He was the one who had taught her football.

The realization left him feeling a little stunned . . . and a lot proud. When the game was over, he turned it off and looked at her.

“So what do you think? They suck, right?”

“If I remember correctly, you sucked your first year of Pee Wee football.”

“How do you know? You weren’t more than five or six when I started playing.”

“I’ve gotten to listen to the highlights of your football career from everyone in town.”

He couldn’t help the hurt that stabbed him. “Everyone in town thought I sucked?”

“Aww, is your ego bruised, Jace the Ace? Can’t stand the thought of anyone thinking you aren’t the best quarterback to ever throw a ball?”

“I was just a kid!”

Her eyes grew serious. “Right. You were just a kid, Jace. You didn’t need to be the best quarterback on the field.” She nodded at the television. “These kids don’t need to be the best either. They just need to have fun and enjoy learning the game from a coach who loves it as much as you do.”

She was right. He needed to stop doing what the townsfolk had done to him and placing too high of expectations on kids who just wanted to enjoy playing a game they loved. Coach Denny might be a good coach and love the game of football, but he’d always put too much emphasis on winning. And sometimes that pressure could break a kid rather than motivate them.

Jace knew that firsthand. His senior year, he’d cracked under the pressure of winning another state championship game and impressing all the top-ten college scouts who had come to see him play. The townsfolk had wanted him to be a professional football player and he’d wanted so badly to give them that dream. But now he had to wonder if that had been his dream or theirs. Maybe he’d just wanted to have fun and play a game he loved. Maybe somewhere in the mix of him not wanting to disappoint the people who loved him, he’d gotten on the wrong track.

He sighed and rested his head on the back of the couch. “I wish I’d listened to you more when we were growing up.”

She laughed. “You should have. Lord knows where you’d be now.”

He turned his head to look at her. “Maybe I’d be right here coaching football. I just wouldn’t have had all the crap between.”

“Was it that bad?”

He looked up at the ceiling and thought about the question. “The football was fun, but the traveling and constant working out and watching what I ate wasn’t.”

“Oh, come on. You can’t tell me you didn’t have fun in the off season with all those Junkies.”

He glanced at her. “Are you asking about my dating history, Hal?”

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