Page 83 of Ignite

I should have stayed home.

I stood in the back of the hall with the other sponsors. Jerseys were handed out and I refused to meet Ethan’s eyes when he looked for me. He didn’t need my support to put on a jersey, although the screams from the women in the crowd when he stripped off his black shirt to put the jersey on seemed excessive.

“I’ve seen it and it’s not that good,” I murmured.

“Perhaps you should take a second look,” Grace said, nudging me. “Or a third. Or a fourth.”

“Will you stop it? Or I’ll ask Trey to come over and give you a lap dance as a thank you for your sponsorship.”

“Um, I’m only sponsoring the team because I hope it will get my submission to the top of his to-do list.”

“He still hasn’t gotten back to you?”

“Oh, I got a rejection. So I put in a new request with more information.”

“Can I have everyone’s attention.”

We all looked towards Old Man Hobbs who’d taken the microphone. I clicked my neck and mentally ran through the list of paperwork that I needed to do before the end of the month. It was the one thing I hated about running my own business. At least when daddy was alive, we shared the pain.

“On behalf of the Meringa Town Association, it gives me great pleasure in announcing two rugby league scholarships in the name of Rylee Mettner Senior.”

“What?” I squealed. No one had told me. Then two arms wrapped around me from behind and I squealed again until the familiar tickles from my brother threatened my bladder. “Would you stop it.”

“Oh, sis, you wound me.” I looked at my big brother, taking in his bleach-blonde hair and deep tan from too many days enjoying Darwin’s sun. He was a full head taller than me, but his long, lean body had always been better suited to basketball than football.

“Would the two of you stop your bickering,” Old Man Hobbs hollered. “Or I’ll come down there and bash your heads together.”

“Sorry Mr. Hobbs,” Campbell and I called out in unison while the rest of the crowd laughed.

“As I was saying, we are offering two scholarships in the name of Rylee Mettner, Senior. One each for the male and female who prove the hardest workers in the off-season. The scholarships will provide free registration fees and football boots—not for the best or most potential—but for whoever tried and worked the hardest.”

Dressed in his new Hawks jersey and fitted black jeans that should have been illegal, Ethan walked up, shook hands with Old Man Hobbs, and accepted the scholarship on behalf of the club.

“Is that the guy?” Campbell whispered. “I heard you had a thing for the new Captain-Coach.”

“Remind me to put sugar in Reece’s fuel tank,” I whispered back, knowing who’d been the snitch.

“I asked him to look out for you. Seems I can hand over the job to this Ethan Cooper fella.”

“Shhh,” Felicity said, nodding to the front where Ethan was about to speak.

“I never knew the original Rylee Mettner,” Ethan said, looking directly at me. “But I know his daughter is fierce, loyal, and puts this town first. For as long as I’m your Captain-Coach, I’ll match this scholarship with an offer of my own.”

I stopped breathing. I bit down on my lip while we all waited for Ethan to continue. I tried to brush away Grace’s arm from my shoulder. Any act of kindness and I would dissolve into a puddle of tears. My father would have wanted me to stand strong.

My father would have wanted me to be happy.

“I’ll not only pay for a year’s gym membership for the scholarship winners, I’ll give them my training schedule and they can join me—“ Ethan looked to Reece and the rest of the first-grade team, “If they can keep up, and if they can set the pace on a continual basis, then we need to talk about a different kind of playing or training contract.”

After everyone else stopped laughing but before I’d stopped crying, Reece Sinclair announced the second award.

“Summer is coming,” Reece started in his best Game of Thrones voice, “You all know how dry it’s been. The whole country is a powder keg. It’ll only take a spark and everything will explode. You also know how much we owe people like Mettner and his family. For generations, they’ve sponsored the rugby league club, RFS and surf lifesaving.”

Zoe hugged me from one side and Felicity from the other while tears flowed. Campbell hugged me from behind and I felt his shaking sobs. We both missed daddy. I missed him so badly that I thought the pain would never end, but I didn’t need to keep grieving alone.

“As captain of your RFS, it’s my honor to announce a new Meringa Lifetime Service award. It will only be awarded every five years, based on service to the whole Meringa community, with bonus points attributed to service through RFS and surf lifesaving.”

I looked up at Campbell who was looking past Reece, to the cow bell that usually hung over the bar. It had been transported to the club for the night. We knew when it would ring, and who used to ring it. After a fire, dad would sound the all clear and Old Man Hobbs would shout drinks to the firefighters.