Page 49 of Courtside

The question had been heavy on his mind. With every game they played, it looked like the senior’s game slipped farther and farther out of his grasp. Jordan looked lost out there, and yet it seemed like the worse he played the harder he tried to force his shot. In addition to his teammates losing faith in him, he was losing faith in himself.

Tim frowned. “You’ve got to get through to him, Coach. He’s got to trust you, and he’s probably going to need a hell of a lot of reassurance that you believe in him, especially after he’s been struggling. We both know he’s got it in there. He’s just got to get out of his own way and show up and play ball.”

“I’ll set up a meeting with him this week.”

David looked back as he heard the locker room door open behind him. Monty gave him a tight smile, dressed in team sweats and obviously fresh from the shower. He held something out to David, who held his hand out in reflex.

“Miss Fogerty asked me to give you one of these after the game.” Monty dropped something small into his hand. With a lazy wave, he took off down the hall. “Later, coaches,” he called.

David looked down. In the palm of his hand was the familiar green and yellow paper wrapper of a throat lozenge.

A breath huffed from his chest as he unwrapped and popped the lozenge into his mouth. He balled the wrapper up and stuffed it into his pocket.

When he looked up, Tim was watching him with a curious expression on his face.

“She’s a damn good team manager,” was all he could think of to say.

* * *

How r u feeling?

David typed out the text to Sage as he flopped down onto his couch. As soon as he’d gotten home, he’d taken off his suit and changed into sweats and a hoodie, and now that he was comfortable he flipped on the TV to watch something mindless. Daisy jumped up to join him, curling up on his lap like she knew he needed the affection.

There was a loud ping from his phone, and he picked it up to see Sage’s response.

Not great, but okay.

David frowned. She’d looked pretty rough earlier, and he wasn’t sure he bought the casual brush off.

Do u need anything?

Nope.

…Is this u being stubborn?

No.

Also, use real words, Coach. You’re a grown up.

A loud laugh burst from him, startling Daisy, who gave him a disgruntled growl before settling back in. He knew he was lazy over text, but what was a guy who grew up with AIM supposed to do?

He grinned as he typed out his response.

K.

Her reply came immediately.

Stop it.

He laughed again, but paused as he thought about her, sick and alone in her apartment. He wished he could…

Picking Daisy up with him, David ran over to the kitchen, opening a couple of cabinets until he found what he was looking for. Grinning and feeling inexplicably better, he gathered his findings up in a plastic bag and ran back to the couch for his phone.

C u soon with soup.

David was already out the door with Daisy under his arm when she replied.

What? No.

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