Page 29 of Sometimes You Fall

“What do you mean?”Does he know about the baby? How could he know? I haven’t told anyone yet, not even my mom.

“Your son said that these boys are on the baseball team?” he asks.

“Yes…”

“Well, I’m one of the new coaches.”

My stomach drops. “Oh.”

“Yeah.” Leaning back in the recliner now, he begins to rock. “The new coach reached out to me back in December, right before…”

Our night together. I nod, but don’t say anything.

“I wasn’t even entertaining the idea, but then you suggested it, and I…”

“I’m glad you decided to coach, Grady,” I tell him, offering a small smile. “It’ll be good for you. And the boys. They’ll learn so much fromyou.”

Silence stretches between us and then he finally asks, “Why didn’t you tell me you were moving back, Scottie?”

I sigh and lean back into the couch. “Because I didn’t know I was until about three weeks ago.” His brow furrows, but he doesn’t say anything. “Carrington Cove Elementary was looking for a new assistant principal and my mom called me about the job. It’s not uncommon for administrators to change schools mid-year, and life down in Georgia has been taxing lately, so…” I rub my palms on my jeans. “My son and I needed a fresh start. Then, not even a few days in…”

“He went and got himself in trouble,” he finishes for me.

“Yeah.” Sitting up again, I stare right into his eyes. “Can Chase work off the damages, Grady? Please? I don’t want to just write you a check. I want my son to learn something from this. He needs to think long and hard about the consequences of his actions so he never thinks about doing something like this ever again.”

Grady clears his throat. “Yeah, I think that could work. The yard needs some help. He can pull weeds, organize scraps, stuff like that. Maybe I can make him scrub engine parts, get some grease under his fingernails.”

I glance at his hands, remembering how they felt on me, callused from hard work. I’d never been touched possessively like that. He ran his hands over my curves like he was tracing the lines of a classic car—and I felt every ounce of appreciation of my body in his touch.

“Perfect.” Relief rushes through me. “And he’ll be working off his debt at my house as well.”

“But at practice...”

“Don’t take it easy on him there, either. Make him run, do push-ups. I don’t care if he throws up.”

The corner of his mouth tips up. “You’d like that, wouldn’t you?”

I shrug. “Like I said, I want him to regret every second of his choice.”

His smile falls. “This means we’re going to be seeing a lot more of each other,” he says, as if the words pain him.

Staring down at my lap, I nod. “Yeah, we will.” Lifting my gaze, I see him staring at me. “But, there’s something else I need to talk to you about.”

“Now you want to talk? You usually just disappear without a thought,” he spits out, and the anger he’s been reining in finally comes out. I could see it in the tick of his jaw, but Grady has always been good at keeping his composure.

“That’s not fair, Grady,” I whisper.

He stands from his chair, placing his hands on his hips. “Really? You’re going to talk to me about fair?”

I launch myself from the couch so I’m standing now too, facing him. “What do you want from me?”

“I want to know why you left without saying goodbye, damn it!” His voice booms through the room.

It startles me, but I hold my ground. “Because it was just supposed to be one night.”

“You really only wanted one night with me, Scottie?”

Shaking my head, I look off to the side. “I didn’t expect to see you again, Grady. And when I did, I just…”

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