Page 47 of Undeniable

“Were you one of those awful finance bros in college?”

He chuckled, but the sound was quiet. I didn’t have to look too hard to still recognize the sadness in his expression.

“God, no. I hated those guys. I did everything I could to be the opposite.”

“Good. They were the worst.”

“How did you end up coaching?”

“During the off-season, I coached volleyball camps and did private lessons at a club volleyball program near campus. That’s when I realized I enjoyed coaching, possibly more than I did playing. And I was good enough to get a full-time job at that club after graduation.”

“But you moved back?”

“Yeah, I liked Wisconsin, but I’m a Texas girl. When the head coaching job at Willowwood opened up, I couldn’t not take it. They didn’t have many people vying for the job anyway.”

The school was smaller than small and was technically a step backward for my career, but it was worth being near my family again. I missed my parents and my brother. I even missed the slower pace of small-town life.

From there, our conversation continued in the same direction. We talked about what we’d missed over the past thirteen years. We covered everything, from how James got lost on his way to his first job interview in the city to how I moved into our old history teacher’s house when she divorced her cheating husband and quickly left town.

Then we moved on to more serious topics like James’s grandmother passing away after years of battling Alzheimer’s and my knee injury my junior year of college that the doctors said could have been career-ending.

It wasn’t until we passed the Willowwood city limits sign that I realized we’d been talking for an hour without arguing. And although we’d been talking about the past, I hadn’t once thought aboutourpast.

I’d almost enjoyed his company until we somehow landed in territory I thought we’d both want to avoid.

“Okay, but what about you?” What a loaded freaking question. He’d quickly told me about the three serious girlfriends he’d had since high school, and apparently, he wanted the same information from me.

That was another feeling to add to the list of ones I hated: the dryness in my mouth and throbbing of my heart when James talked about his previous girlfriends, even if he spared me the gorier details.

I’d hoped we’d get to his house before he shifted the topic to me.

“What about me?”

He rolled his eyes and popped another sour candy in his mouth. I was so focused on our drive ahead that morning that I hadn’t noticed the small bag of snacks he’d brought until he offered me a Twizzler with a soft smile.

They were my favorite, which he knew. He probably bought them to try to further ingratiate himself with me and make our drive less miserable. It had kind of worked.

“Have you had any serious relationships?”

I contemplated my answer for a moment and settled on a noncommittal shrug and “eh” to which James rolled his eyes.

“That’s not an answer.”

I sighed and felt only a small bit of relief when we drove through the middle of town. It was midafternoon on a Thursday so the streets were quiet, but it meant that we were only ten minutes from our parents’ houses.

“Why do you want to know?”

He shrugged. “I thought we were trying to catch up. Seems like that would’ve been an important part of your life unless you haven’t had any serious relationships. Which I find hard to believe.”

“Why would that be hard to believe?” I asked, a hint of annoyance at his statement filtering through my words.

He raised his hands in surrender before handing me another Twizzler. Begrudgingly, I took it.

“You were always the relationship type. That’s all I meant. So, I’d be surprised if you didn’t have one single serious relationship.”

When I realized he wasn’t going to let it go, I decided the truth—or at least a version of it—was my safest bet.

“Yes, I’ve had two serious relationships.”

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