Page 48 of Wanting Happily Ever After

But why?

She knew exactly why Audrey had done it. Or, in this case, hadn’t done it. Because she knew how Sarah would react. It didn’t even matter if she’d done it maliciously. Which, for her own sanity, Sarah couldn’t let herself believe. They may have a little feud, but not even Audrey would stoop to that. She had to believe it.

But malicious or not, there was no way Sarah was going to the lake. Not after what happened the week before.

No. Way.

Sarah’s face grew hot, but she refused to let her emotions show. Not there. Not in the middle of the game.

Instead, she refocused on the action on the field as the Glacier Falls Grizzlies stole the ball from one of the Cedar Springs Cougars and started to run down the field. “Go, Grizzlies!”

But the other parents were screaming, too. And not in encouragement.

“The other way!” Byron yelled next to her. “Go the other way.” He looked at her with such a look of despair that Sarah couldn’t help but burst out laughing. Byron’s eyes opened wide and then he, too, burst out laughing, while his daughter ran straight for the wrong goal.

From the sidelines, Brody turned around and when he saw them laughing, he shook his head in a “what can you do” gesture and grinned broadly. It was such a small thing, but it took her off guard and she looked away, the laughter dying on her lips.

She’d been worried about seeing Brody at the soccer game. She’d been so terrible at the photo shoot on Friday night and although she knew she should apologize, she couldn’t bring herself to do it. After all, it wasn’t her fault that she’d been taken off guard and pretty much hijacked into the whole situation. How did he expect her to react?

Fortunately, Annie figured out she was running in the wrong direction, turned and headed down the field toward the proper goal. She didn’t score, but the Grizzlies went on to play a strong game and ultimately won over the Cougars by one goal. The crowd erupted in screams and cheering as the parents ran onto the field to hug their daughters.

“That was an awesome game, kiddo!”

“We won! I can’t believe we won!”

“Believe it, Rory,” Ed, who’d been watching from the sidelines, said as he wrapped his granddaughter in a hug. “You girls worked hard and you did it. You should be proud.”

“We get cupcakes!”

Both Sarah and Ed laughed. At six years old, that was all that was really important. Maybe the kids had it right.

“You sure do. Now go cheer with your team.” Sarah didn’t bother pointing out that win or lose, there would have been cupcakes. It didn’t matter. Instead, as Rory ran off to join her team, Sarah turned to her father. “Can you take Rory to the wind-up party?”

Ed gave her a curious look.

“There’s something I need to do,” she said as a way of explanation. Uncomfortable with the lie, she added, “It’s at the lake.”

“Ah.” Ed nodded in understanding. But then he quickly shook his head. “But I can’t.”

“You can’t?” She did her best not to look stressed, but she was pretty sure she’d failed at the effort. “Why not? What are you doing?”

Ed laughed. “I have plans, Sarah. And, no. Before you ask. I cannot cancel them.” His expression softened. “Besides, you should go. It’ll be fun and—”

“It’s at thelake, Dad.” She hadn’t told her dad about the last time she’d been at the lake, but no doubt her daughter had filled him in on all the embarrassing details. “I don’t know if I—”

“You can,” he said firmly. “And you will.” He looked over her shoulder toward the field. “You’re stronger than you think. It’s all okay.”

Sarah turned to see where he was looking, but could only see the group of kids and…Brody. She whipped her head around to look at her dad again, but he was only smiling.

“Trust yourself, Sarah. It’s time.”

When Brody had offered months ago to volunteer as coach for the Glacier Falls Grizzlies, he’d never expected to fall in love the way he had. But as he stood on the wooden table in the picnic area of Cedar Springs Lake where the wind-up party had been set up, and looked around at all the little faces of his championship athletes, he realized with a smile that falling in love was exactly what had happened.

“I can’t tell you how proud I am of every single one of you,” he said. “You’ve all worked so hard. Coming to every practice and putting in your best effort every single time. You’ve all come so far and really improved your soccer skills. But most importantly, you’ve had so much fun doing it, and it shows. A team that has fun together and plays like a unit is what’s most important. And you all have demonstrated that so perfectly. The friendships you’ve made here will last a lifetime, and I hope to see you all back next season. Thank you so much for letting me be your coach.”

A cheer went up among the athletes and their parents, followed by someone yelling out, “Three cheers for Coach Brody.”

“Hip hip hooray!”

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