Page 58 of Risky Game

It wasn’t natural, it was dangerous.

She was leaving at some point to go off and chase her own dreams, meet her own needs.

I had my own list of needs to take care of. Raise Amelia. Win football games. Earn the trust and respect of not only my team, but other coaches and teams in the league.

I didn’t need to be consumed with a young woman who would eventually leave both of us. What we were doing was fun, not permanent. It’d be best if I remembered that.

We drove to Bass Pro Shops, and like she’d done before, Amelia unbuckled herself from her car seat and hopped out of the truck before I could get to her.

I took her hand and reminded her, “You need to stay with Daddy, okay? This store is big and I can’t have you running off.”

“Okay, Daddy!”

I gave her promise an entire thirty seconds.

As soon as we walked inside, Amelia’s jaw dropped and excitement relit in her eyes. “Boats! Look!” She pointed out some fishing boats. Way too big for us and probably too big for the lake we were on. “Can we go see them?”

Climbing wouldn’t help anything. I took her over and helped her climb up one of the ladders to get inside. She ran straight to the captain’s chair and pretended to steer the boat.

I pulled out my phone and took a picture and sent it to Vanessa.

Seeing her daughter smile after the tears that ended her conversation would make her feel better.

“Good afternoon. Can I help y’all?” A salesman, Steve stamped on his nametag, sauntered up to us.

“I want a boat!” Amelia cried out from her spot in the driver’s seat. Not too far off in reality.

“We’re looking. Came to get a kayak.”

“And fishing stuff! We can go fishing too, right, Daddy? Papa says he loves fishing!”

I turned back to the salesman. “We’re here for a kayak and fishing supplies, but I think we’ll wait on boats for a bit.”

“Sounds good. Let me help you get started. Name’s Steve.”

He held out his hand and I shook it. “Logan. Thanks for the help.”

His eyes flared with recognition before he stumbled back. “Happy to help, sir.”

I shouldn’t have been surprised. It hadn’t happened that often, but I wasn’t wearing a hat to hide myself and I’d been plastered all over local and national news for the last month. Critics were gearing up to tear me down. Fans were ready to build a shrine or waiting to bury me six feet deep.

“Amelia, let’s go get your kayak. Come here.” She jumped out of her chair and climbed down the ladder. I swung her down the last two rungs and held her hand.

“You’re the new coach,” Steve said, and his voice had turned shaky.

Definitely a fan of the team. “Yep. Happy to be here, too.”

“Well, shit.” He flinched. “Sorry. My bad. But this is exciting. Glad I can be the one to help you out today, Mr. Caldwell.”

“Daddy, how does the man know your name?”

I opened my mouth to explain, in the way I usually did. Daddy has a job and sometimes he’s on TV, but he helps football teams play better. At least, I tried.

Steve beat me to it. “Well, how couldn’t I, pretty little lady? Your daddy here is the best football coach Nashville’s seen. We’re going to be winning lots of games with him at the helm.”

Her blond brows furrowed. “What’s a helm?”

“It means he guides the boat safely,” Steve explained with a smile that said he was used to kids and their questions.

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