Page 11 of The Problem with Players

“Nathan,” I said.

“Nathan who?”

“What do you mean, Nathan who? My Nathan. Well, not my Nathan, butthatNathan. Nathan Pierce.”

Her eyes widened as her jaw dropped. “You interacted with Nathan Pierce?”

“Yes.” My pits sweated just thinking about it.

“After working so hard to avoid him?”

“Yup. It’s even worse than that. Ray hired Nathan to be a coach for the baseball team with me.”

“No!” she exclaimed, shocked like no other. I was thankful she was as flabbergasted as I’d been. If it wasn’t for her animated reactions, I might’ve thought I overreacted.

“Yes!” I said, tossing my hands up in the air. “And! Not just to be a coach. Theheadcoach!”

“Nooo!” she shouted. She then began wiggling her hips as she crossed her legs. “Oh my gosh, I just peed a little.”

“Yeah, I pretty much shit myself when I heard the news, too.”

“No, I mean, I actually just peed a little. It’s been happening on and off all day.”

An alarm shot through me. “Uh, do you have to go to the bathroom or something?”

She waved it off. “No. I’m wearing a pad. It’s fine. Keep going.”

Pregnant Yara was wild. Yet I didn’t want to stop my freak-out over the fact that Nathan somehow weaseled his way into my job and took my position. Like the little snake he’d been.

“I’m so mad.” I sighed. “Ray told me either I step down toassistant coach and let Nathan run the team for this season or he’d have to let me go from the team altogether.”

“Can he do that?”

“Yup. That isn’t in my teaching contract. He could cut me from the team without a second thought. He also told me I was being childish, so I told him to suck a cock.”

“Avery, you didn’t!”

“No,” I groaned. “But I wanted to. I can’t believe this is happening. These kids and this game mean everything to me, and to have Mr. Major League sweep in and take it without a moment of hesitation just seems so wrong.”

“Well, look at it this way. His knowledge will benefit everyone. It is about the kids, right?”

I narrowed my eyes at her with a disgusted look. “Whose side are you on?”

“Yours, obviously. Always yours. Screw Nathan Pierce. Sorry. Pregnancy brain has me saying bizarre things sometimes,” she joked.

“Right. Okay. Good. Because if I’m going to be delusional with my anger, I need you to be on the same page.”

“Yeah, of course, but…”

“But?!”

“But,” she continued, “last week, you did say that you wished something would give with the team. So you could make them the best they could ever be. This could be your gift from the universe.”

“Nathan Pierce? A gift?Psh.” I waved in dismissal. “You’re sounding a little too hippie-like. Have you been hanging out with Willow?”

“She did bring me a special tea blend this morning,” she mentioned, speaking of our free-spirited little sister. Willow Kingsley was the opposite of me. Where I walked on solid ground, Willow floated high in the clouds. The perks of beingthe youngest child. They seemed to have a lot more freedom with life than the eldest.

“But I do stand by what I said about the gift from the universe,” Yara said.

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