Page 111 of Coach Me
“I think I need to sit down.”
He nods and holds his hand out to the nearby bench. When his hand touches the back of my arm, I jump. “I got it.”
“Right, sorry.” He tucks his lips in a thin line. “I can walk away if you need me to, Lucie. I promise I’m not here to cause trouble. I just came to watch Will pitch.”
Sitting down, I rest my elbows on my knees and rub my temples. “You’re here to watch Will? You’ve watched him before?”
He sighs. “Every game I can make it to for the past few years.”
“Well, he has no idea you do, I can assure you of that.” Oh my gosh, Will. He’s…he—I don’t know what he would do if he found out. I don’t know what I’m doing. I shoot back up to pace in front of the bench.
“I’m sorry. This is just a lot to process. I should really get back to Miles.” My nervous laughter comes out involuntarily. “I just—you watch Will play?”
“I know this is a lot. I’m sorry. I don’t expect anything from you guys, especially from Will, but I’ve been sober for nearly five years. I just want to watch him play—that’s it.”
I pause in front of him. “You’re sober?”
“I swear.” His response is immediate.
My heart swells a bit because I can see that he means it.
“Lucie, I get that I walked out. I’m not expecting anything from any of you. I promise. I’ll go to my seat now and not get up for the rest of the night.”
My shoulders finally fall down from being pinned up to my ears with tension. “I?—”
But I don’t get to finish my sentence because Kate’s running up to me. “Lucie, I can’t find Miles.”
“Wh-what?” My heart falls into my stomach. “What do you mean you can’t find Miles?”
“He was there one second, then he was gone.” Kate scratches at her face as she squeezes her eyes shut before shooting them back open with a muffled shriek. “Lucie, what do we do?”
Chapter 37
Miles
I don’t know who that man is talking to Lucie, but he knocked over our hotdogs. That really wasn’t very nice.
Mommy’s phone starts to ring loudly. It does that a lot. When she pulls it out, she makes this really excited face. “Miles, sweetie, this is a really important phone call. Can you let me have a minute?”
“Okay, Mommy.” I nod.
Looking back at Lucie, she’s sitting on a bench now. I hope she’s feeling okay. Maybe I should go check on her? Oh, I think I need to go pee first.
Jumping, I turn around and tap on Mommy’s hip. “Mommy, Mommy.”
Her hand swats around in the air, then she holds up one of her fingers.
“Mommy, Mommy.” I tug again.
This time, she turns to me, but she puts her finger on her mouth, then turns back around.
But I really have to go. Maybe Lucie can take me? But if she’s sick maybe she can’t either. Spinning around, I look forLucie again, but then I hear the sound of a flush coming from the open door next to me.
Hey, it’s just right here. Looking back at Mommy, she’s still talking on her phone. She usually talks a long time. I can be super fast. She’ll be really impressed.
And I am. In and out like a flash, but I don’t see Mommy anymore.
“Mommy,” I call. Walking a little further, I start to worry, but then I see Callie’s red hair. I bet she knows where my mommy is!
