Page 27 of Why We Break

“Chill, yes, I’ve got it. Give me just a sec,” I tell him, turning back to walk to my desk. He follows me over, and the quiet click of the door locking behind him is deafening in the small room. I try not to let my nerves show, reminding myself that he’s just here because he’s the athletic director in addition to his coaching responsibilities, but the fact that we haven’t been alone together since that summer has me feeling more on edge than normal.

I grab a pen off my desk and make quick work of signing the paperwork, pushing them toward him when I’m finished. He takes them from me, but he doesn’t say anything as he waits for me to pull up my school laptop and print the waivers we keep on file for the girls. I send them to print and lean over when I grab them, growling as my printer jams for the third time this week.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” I groan, flipping the lid and hoping to see the paper causing the problem sticking out so I can get this man out of my room, but since the universe obviously hates me, that’s not in the cards today.

“What’s the matter?” Will asks, leaning over to follow my gaze to the printer that’s obviously out to ruin my life.

“The damn thing’s jammed again. I swear this thing is such a piece of junk,” I answer, opening the back panel and looking for the problem.

“Here, watch out, let me look,” he says, rising, and I feel him move behind me as he examines the printer over my head. My arm grazes his, and I feel my heart start to beat erratically. Sis, what the hell? I chide myself, frustrated at my body’s response to him.

I move away, desperate to get away from him to get hold on where my thoughts definitely shouldn’t be going. Will fiddles with the machine for a few minutes until it finally starts to spit out the paperwork he needs, and I don’t know if I want to sigh in relief or mourn the fact that he’s about to leave.

“Thanks,” I murmur, shuffling my feet and stacking the papers as they shoot out, trying to look busy as we stand in awkward silence. God, I hate this. When it comes to anyone else, I feel confident and sure of myself, but there’s something about being around Will that makes me feel like my world isn’t sitting quite right on its axis.

After a few moments of standing in silence, all the paperwork he asked for is done printing, and I reach out, holding it up to him. Our fingers graze lightly as he grabs them, and I feel the familiar jolt of electricity run through my body whenever he’s close. Afraid he’ll realize how he’s affecting me, I turn my back to him, planning to ignore his presence until he leaves.

“Han, I—” he starts, and the sincerity in those two words causes my breath to catch in my throat. It’s been years since I heard anything except anger and annoyance in his tone, but the way he just said my name wasn’t that at all. I’m anxious to hear what he was about to say, waiting for him to continue when the bell signaling the end of my planning period rings. The abrupt sound breaks me out of the trance I was in, and I hear kids start to move through the hallways. Thankful for the distraction, I jump up and run to the door, flinging it open and hoping he’ll take the hint that I can’t do this right now.

“Good afternoon. Come on in and grab your journals for the bell-ringer,” I call out as a group of students make their way into my room.

From my spot at the door I hear one of the boys yell, “Coach Will! What are you doing here?”

Will chuckles before responding, “You do remember I work here right?”

“Yeah, but you don’t ever leave the field house,” one of his players responds.

“I’ll have you know I have to do things other than create plays and watch film, okay? The whole athletic director job does take up some of my time every now and again,” he responds sarcastically.

From my spot at the door, I can’t hear exactly what the boys say back, but it makes Will laugh, and I strain my ears to listen to whatever they say next. They murmur back and forth before I hear Will say, “And not that it’s any of your business, but since the cheerleaders are advancing to State, I needed some paperwork from Miss Hannah.”

“Oh, bummer,” one girl chimes in. “I thought maybe you had a crush on Miss Hannah and came by to say hi.”

“Susie, I know you’re new here, but Miss Hannah and Coach Will fight like cats and dogs. Even we know that. They basically hate each other. There’s no way they’d ever end up together,” one of the boys responds, and several of the other students laugh at that.

The bell rings and I move back into the room, and Will and I make eye contact as he moves toward the door, his usual detached look back on his face. And as he shuts the door behind him, all I can think is I wish that I could hate him as much as everyone else thinks I do.

CHAPTER 21

WILL

“Iknow, Huey, you’re right,” I say, pressing my phone against my ear as I look down at the mess of wires from the old fence I just cut down at Falling Oaks Farm. “I’m sorry, but since we’re in the playoffs, I haven’t had a single damn moment… You’re right… Okay, yeah… Okay, see you then.”

I shake my head as I hang up, rolling my eyes at Huey’s insistence on making sure that I’m taking care of myself. We normally grab a beer a couple times a month, but over the last few weeks, pretty much every moment has been spent in my office or on the football field. I know I need to chill, but I really think we’ve got a shot at state this year, and I’ve become pretty focused on that.

But here you are working on Hannah’s fence in the damn dark instead of watching film or doing any of the shit I need to do around the apartment I share with Seth, my subconscious reminds me, and as much as I want to ignore it, I know it’s true. Ever since I found that stack of bills a few weeks ago, she’s been on my mind even more than normal. I’ve told myself it’s just because I care about the farm and her grandfather, but I know that’s not the truth. It’s really not about the money at all. It just makes me angry to think of her struggling with all of that on her own.

Which is how I’d ended up on the phone with the billing department for the nursing home and covering the costs of Arthur’s stay for the next two months. Part of me still wondered what I’d been thinking, but I pushed it aside, knowing it was the right decision, despite making the nurse promise not to tell anyone what I’d done.

Turning back to the fence, I blow out a breath as I grimace at the mess I managed to make before my phone rang. Seth and Theo both had other plans tonight, so I came by myself, telling myself that I needed to help get some of the project knocked out. But if I’m honest, I think I came here because I haven’t been able to stop thinking about Hannah. Since that summer, she hasn’t been far from my mind, but over the last few weeks, this shit’s gotten out of control, and I feel like a man obsessed. But really, the joke’s on me because when I went to grab the materials from the barn, I realized she wasn’t even home, and now I feel like an even bigger idiot than before.

Shaking my head to remind myself to get back to work, I grab the new fencing and hold it up, trying to maneuver the heavy wire roll by myself.Fuck, I did not think this shit through at all.After a few minutes, I’m cursing and ready to say fuck it, but I know I can’t leave this huge damn hole in the fence so I’ve got to figure something out.

I’m debating calling Huey back to see if he can ride over and help me when I see a pair of headlights pull down the driveway. Between the glow of my headlights I’m using to give me enough light to fix the fence and the ones coming down the drive, I can’t see the car, but I know no one else should be coming this way, so I throw my arm up, waving Hannah down. Her car slows to a stop, and she steps out of the car, squinting in my direction.

“Will? What the heck are you doing?” she asks, walking toward me and reaching out to help me hold the awkward roll of wire.

“Um, did you forget we’re redoing your entire fence, Han?” I ask, leaning down and attaching the new wire to the post.

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