Page 82 of Courtside

At some point those things had started to matter just as much. Maybe even more.

* * *

The next morning, Sage showed up at David’s apartment after her workout armed with coffee and a blueberry muffin. She knew that he had a weakness for the streusel topping.

The gesture was enough to bring them right back into their pattern of companionship — spending time together in the evenings after practice, sharing meals, and, occasionally, taking Daisy for walks through their neighborhood.

And the team kept winning. They’d more than earned their spot in the conference tournament at that point, and Sage worked with the athletic office to book flights and hotel rooms for the team to go to Tampa, where the tournament would take place.

When she’d texted Brinley the news that they’d advanced, her sister had replied with an email confirmation for two plane tickets to Tampa for her and their mom. Sage couldn’t tell if she was more excited or nervous that they were coming. She wasn’t even playing, but it still felt like she was right there with the team as they approached the end of the season.

The notebook she’d started scribbling in was now almost completely full, and she kept it on hand in her bag in case ideas struck. She’d started categorizing her notes to include player development for each of the guys on the team and drill recommendations based on position.

They closed out the regular season with a record of 15-12. In their conference, they were 13-3, a record that no one had expected. They were the dark horse going into the tournament, and while Sage knew that they were lucky to be there at all, there was still that tiny glimmer of hope that, maybe, they could pull off a few miraculous wins and go to nationals.

The night before flying out for the conference tournament, David was over at her apartment. He sat on one end of her couch, long legs stretched out in front of him. Daisy was curled up between his thighs, watching Sage where she lay sprawled out on the carpet, double checking the travel itinerary for the next day.

“Sage.”

“Hm?” She scrolled down her screen, triple checking they’d gotten all of the player names spelled correctly on their tickets.

“This is incredible.”

She glanced up to find David thumbing through the pages of her notebook. She’d forgotten that she’d left it open on her couch.

David’s eyes stayed focused on the paper in front of him as a slow smile spread on his face.

It really was a fuckinglovelysmile.

“What you’ve done here,” David said, finally looking up at her. “It’s incredible, Sage.”

She felt her cheeks warm. “You already said that,” she said, unsure of how to respond.

“So I take it that you’re thinking about coaching?”

“I,” she began, but trailed off as she looked over at the pages and pages of notes that David held in his hands. She thought about how, in the past few months, she’d started to see the game from the outside looking in. She’d started to see it like a coach.

“David,” she said, looking wide-eyed up at him. “Coaching is a job.”

David laughed, shaking his head. “Believe it or not, one of us in this room is actuallyemployedas a coach.”

Sage rolled her eyes, but then flopped onto her back, staring up at the stark white of the ceiling as all of her thoughts of what came next shifted, clicking into place in a new pattern that she hadn’t fully considered was a possibility.

She could be a coach.

She could coachbasketball.

CHAPTER22

TONIGHT IS FOR YOU

DAVID

They won their first game on Thursday night against College of Conway handily — 70 to 52. Friday morning they were up in the stands watching other teams play, and knew by noon that their next opponent would be Harding University. Evan White’s team.

David kept a close eye on Sage throughout the day, but saw nothing but easy smiles from her, even when Evan stood on the sidelines below them.

His stomach still heaved when he thought about what Sage had told him. The fact that her athletic career had been ruined by a coach made him see red. A coach was supposed to protect, nurture, and inspire. They were in a position to have an incredible impact on the lives of their players. It was a pressure that David felt on an almost daily basis, and he never stopped trying to figure out how to be better. How to be better forthem.

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