Page 105 of Courtside

Rebecca reached over with her bare foot and nudged David’s thigh. “I like her.”

“Sage?”

She smiled. “Mhm. She’s everything you need: confident, vibrant, and independent.”

“You think so?”

Darius chuckled. “She’s got this thing about her. Like she’s not afraid of the world, or maybe even like she’s daring the world to mess with her. You could use a little bit of that in your life.”

David frowned, thinking of Sage’s confidence. Her strength. Thinking of how much he’d come to count on her proximity; even when she was at the far end of the bench, it was enough for him to know that she was there. Something about her inspired him to trust his gut. To stand up a little taller.

There was no question that she made him better.

“Fuck,” Chuck groaned, flopping down on the deck next to them. “That felt good.”

Sage followed, dropping down right next to David. He pressed a quick kiss to her temple, tasting the salt on her skin. “Here.” He handed her the mug of tea, grateful it was still warm.

Her lips curved into that crooked smile. “You made me tea.”

“Of course I made you tea.”

She shook her head. “You’re too much.”

“So Sage,” Keaton asked, settling down in an old fashioned folding lawn chair, completing the lounging group on the wide dock. “What are your plans after graduation?”

David stilled.

It wasn’t that he’d been avoiding asking Sage that exact question. He’d wanted to, but he hadn’t wanted her to feel pressured to answer before she was ready. Becausewhat ifshe was planning on moving away? He wasn’t sure that he was ready to hear her response.

Sage leaned back, tilting her face up toward the sun that now shone directly down on them. He watched the way the light hit the hairs that had escaped her ponytail, glowing the color of honey.

“I’m thinking about coaching,” she said, and David could hear the little bit of hesitation in her voice. “Ideally at the high school level.”

David opened his mouth to respond, but Chuck jumped in. “That’ll be great, Sage.”

“Well,” she continued. “Even if I find a coaching job, it probably won’t be enough to live off of. So I’ll need to do something else while I get my feet under me.”

“There’s pretty good money in private coaching,” Keaton added. “I did some training the summer after college before starting law school. If you get the serious athletes it’s decent enough.”

“Would you ever go back to California?”

What the fuck, Chuck?David fought an overwhelming urge to drop kick his best friend into the lake.

Sage shrugged. “Probably not. But if I don’t find something, I’ll at least have to think about it.”

A relieved exhale punched through him.She wasn’t leaving, she wasn’t leaving, she wasn’t leaving.

Or, she wasn’t leaving as long as she found a job.

David reached over and gently squeezed the warm skin of her thigh. “You’re going to be an incredible coach, Lefty. Not a doubt in my mind about that.”

Sage leaned down, nudging his shoulder with her forehead. He knew her well enough to recognize the gesture for what it was. Silent gratitude.

A sudden shadow passed over his head.

Before he could second-guess his reaction, David had dropped his coffee, leapt to his feet and, without hesitating, dove headfirst into the lake.

The water was still chilled from the night, and as soon as he surfaced he was sucking in lung-fulls of air as he tried to shake the water from his hair. He heard the familiar laughter of his friends, but his eyes went straight to Sage, who was staring at him with an expression of shocked confusion.

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