Page 23 of The Problem with Players

In the left corner of her office was a bookshelf with a collection of baseball books. Everything from manuals and inspirational memoirs to…was that a baseball romance novel?

That’s slightly shocking, Coach.

I arched an eyebrow, wanting to know more about said book, but Avery cut my curiosity in half as she snapped my way. “What do you want?” she barked. “Or let me guess, you’re here to tell me you’re taking my office space, too.”

Her harsh personality wouldn’t go away anytime soon, so I had to learn to deal with it. I wasn’t afraid of a hard Avery Kingsley. She was hard when I first met her all those years ago on the farm. It took her a little while to warm up to me, let alone fall in love.

I figured it would take some time for her to warm up to my grown-up version, too. Though, I didn’t need her to fall in love with me this time. I just needed her to dip her toe into “like” territory. Because if we were going to make this team the best it could be, there had to be at least some kind of mutual respect between us coaches.

“I was going to head out to meet the guys. I figured it might be good to have you out there with me.”

She glanced down at her watch and muttered something under her breath. She pushed herself away from her desk and grabbed her clipboard. As she walked over to me, she said, “Fine. Let’s get this over with.”

“Sounds good.”

“Can you do me a favor, though?”

“Sure. What’s that?”

A flash of sadness raced through her brown eyes as they fell on mine. “Don’t make me seem too much like a loser when you tell them that you’re the new head coach.”

I swallowed hard as I slid my hands into my pockets. “I’ll do my best, Coach.”

She nodded and walked away. “And don’t call me Coach. I hate that.”

We headed out to the indoor gym facility, which was pretty impressive. When I went to school at Honey Creek High, we did not have the next-level equipment that the school now had. It would make our late-winter, early-spring workouts much more enjoyable. The space was equipped with batting cages, pitching machines, and a huge area for fielding practices.

It was no wonder the school didn’t want to ditch the whole baseball program. They’d clearly invested a lot of money in it.

Not only did they have all this inside but they also had a beautiful outdoor field and a batting cage along with a gigantic gym for strength and conditioning. I knew we would have amazing weightlifting, plyometrics, and other fitness routines in that space.

“This place still blows my mind,” I remarked as we entered the indoor space.

“Get a student who goes off to win two World Series, and the school makes it their whole personality,” Avery mumbled. “They call it the Nathan Pierce effect.”

“They did this because of me?”

She rolled her eyes. “Don’t be so shocked. It’s like when Taylor Swift wins a Grammy and acts like it’s such a surprise.”

She was so snappy, and I didn’t know if she knew it, but it made me oddly more intrigued to break through that wall she had built up. The ruder she grew, the kinder I’d become. Though I was almost certain that made her angry, too.

As we approached the guys, who were all talking to eachother, laughing and joking around, Avery clapped her hands together as she held her clipboard under her arm. “All right, boys, listen up. We have some changes coming on. I want to introduce you to Coach Pierce. He’s going to be helping us out a bit.” Avery gestured toward me, giving me the sign to take it from there.

I cleared my throat and slid my hands into the pockets of my black joggers. “Hey there. I’m Nathan Pierce, and I’m excited to join the team as the assistant coach to Coach K. You can call me Coach P. I’m excited to be back at Honey Creek to help take this already strong team to a stronger level under Coach Kingsley’s leadership. If I’m honest, I learned my best baseball traits from her back when we were young, and it’s an honor to be able to work beside her again.”

I saw the somberness on Avery’s face as I spoke, but I tried not to take it in too much. The surprise on her face from the announcement that I was taking the assistant coach as opposed to the head coach seemed to lift a weight off her shoulders.

“So before we get started, I want you all to know this first week, I’m just here to observe. I want to see how you all move, how you all work, and I want to get to know you each on a personal level. Don’t be afraid to reach out and ask me any questions. A coach is only as strong as the safe place that they make for their team, and I want you all to feel comfortable coming to me with anything and everything. Does anyone have any questions off the bat? Nothing’s off-limits.”

“You’re going to regret saying that,” Avery muttered.

I arched an eyebrow at her, but before I could ask why, a bunch of hands shot up.

I gestured to one of the guys. “Yeah? What’s your name and question?”

“Yeah, hi, Coach P. I’m Ryan. I’m a right fielder. I was wondering, is it true you were found on the Vegas Strip wasted out of your mind and on drugs?”

Well.

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