Page 632 of Cold Case, Warm Hearts

“I hear you’re quite the football player.”

Reginald shifted uncomfortably under the praise, and that made Sydney like him even more. He looked at his mother. “I see Mama’s been talkin’ to you.”

“I’ve just been tellin’ the truth.” Jarilyn pulled her jacket together and jutted out her chin.

“I’m gonna go to the field house and get my stuff, Mama.”

“Hurry, Son. I’m sure you’ve got lots of homework.”

He waved at Sydney before trotting off. “Nice meetin’ you, Miss Lassiter.”

Sydney looked at Jarilyn. “You have a fine son.”

“Thank you. It’s been hard raising Reginald without a father. Coach Fletcher’s been a real blessing to him—a father figure for Reginald to look up to.”

Sydney’s heart glowed warm. Just when she thought she had Kendall figured out, there seemed to be another facet to his personality.

“I’m real glad Coach Fletcher has you. It’s about time he started going with someone nice for a change.”

The words broadsided Sydney, leaving her speechless. She would replay them a hundred times in her mind and would berate herself for not asking Jarilyn to explain what she meant. But at that moment, no words came. She just stood there.

“Can I give you a ride to the field house?” Jarilyn asked. The practice field and field house were at opposite ends of the school. Even so, it was a short walk between the two because the players could take the path between the cafeteria and agricultural building, but cars had to drive all the way around.

“No, thank you. I’ll just wait here for Kendall.”

“You might as well get comfortable. It looks like he’s gonna be a while.”

Sydney looked at the field. Kendall was walking away from her to the field house. A tight cluster of men surrounded him.

“You sure you don’t want a ride?”

Sydney shook her head. “I parked my jeep on the side of the road. I need to go get it, and then I’ll just drive down to the field house.” She forced a smile. “See you next time.”

Sydney couldn’t help but feel hurt. Kendall had asked her to come but hadn’t bothered to see if she was waiting for him. Why would he go to the trouble of calling to make sure she was coming if he wasn’t even going to notice?

It tookKendall a while to get rid of what he called the “Monday morning quarterbacks”—the well-meaning but intrusive townsfolk who thought they knew more about coaching than he did. In Stoney Creek, pacifying the town was such an integral part of coaching that it should have been included in his job description. He followed the last stragglers into the field house and scanned the room. “Josh, Dave, Sam, y’all come over here.”

“What’s up coach?” Josh wiped the sweat from his forehead with the back of his arm.

Kendall gave him a dark look. “You’re going back to the field.”

The player’s eyes grew round and he pointed to himself. “Me?”

“Yeah, you and you and you,” he said, motioning to the other players who, by this time, were standing still like wide-eyed deer caught in headlights. “Let’s go.”

“What’re we doing?” one of the players asked. They quickened their pace to catch up to Kendall. Rather than answering, he marched full speed to the practice field. The boys had no other choice but to follow.

Kendall halted when they reached their destination. “Take a good look. What do you see?” By this time, all of the spectators had left, leaving an empty field.

The boys’ faces looked as blank as a sheet of new paper. “Huh?”

Kendall’s eyes narrowed a fraction and he repeated the question. “What do you see?”

Dave kicked at the ground. “A field?”

Kendall’s hand went to his hip and he glared at the boys. “What else?”

Josh looked down. “Grass?”

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