Page 52 of Coach Me
That realization hits me harder than it probably needs to. That’s what I need out of Lucie anyway. Her focus and attention on Miles—even if she has mine.
“It’s okay, letting me know when you can is all I ask.”
Lucie manages a half smile. “I can do that. I still feel bad, though. His sad is making me sad.”
Me fucking too. Her being upset isn’t helping me either.
I sigh.Fucking hell.“I’m going to get his stuff and call you the shuttle to get back to the hotel.”
Lucie nods as she runs her hands up and down her arms. Yeah, her being cold also isn’t helping.
“Actually, come with me.” I don’t give her any time to respond as I step to the locker room door and hold it open for her. I don’t want to give myself time to change my mind either, so when she walks in, I head straight for my duffle bag and pull out my T-shirt from earlier. It may not be warm, but at least it’s dry.
“Here. Bathroom’s over there, go put this on.”
“Dex, I’m fine, really.”
Yeah, “fine” isn’t going to work for me right now. I’ve got a sad kid and chills on my sunny nanny. Tossing it at her probably isn’t my smoothest of moves, but she’s cold, and I need her to not be.
Miles giggles when Lucie lets out a yelp in surprise. Well, at least I got a laugh out of him.
“Your shirt’s on backward,” I say to Miles, not wanting to look back to make sure Lucie is actually doing what I told her to do.
He looks down at his shirt and giggles again. “Oops.”
Someone’s recovery is going well.
After helping him turn his shirt around and calling the shuttle, Lucie makes her way out of the bathroom. My shirtis practically down to her knees, and she’s pulled her damp hair back in a braid.
“Better?” I grunt. Fuck, this was a horrible idea. We’re getting real close to getting out of the semi territory to full on hard.
“Better, thank you.” Lucie’s cheeks still have some redness to them from her sunburn, and it intensifies just a little.
“Are we ready to go now?” Miles jumps in between where Lucie and I are standing.
“Yeah, the shuttle said they can take you back.” I kneel in front of Miles. “I’ll be back as soon as I can, okay?”
Miles launches to wrap his arms around my neck. “Okay, Daddy. I’ll miss you.”
I chuckle at the surprise attack of a hug, but the ache is still there. “I’ll miss you too.”
“I’ll send proof of life when we get there.” Lucie looks down at Miles with a smile, and I already know I’m going to get a picture of Miles in about twenty minutes.
Chapter 18
Dex
“So, is Miles okay?” Beck asks as he falls back into the seat next to me on our shuttle ride back to the hotel.
I check my phone for the fifth time in the past half hour. “I think so. Lucie sent a picture of him wrapped up in some blankets on the couch, but I haven’t heard from her since the game ended.”
I angle my phone toward Beck to show him some of the best pictures of Miles I’ve gotten in a long time.
She sent me so many incredible pictures of Miles today that I find it hard to believe she would be ignoring me. Although I will admit the thought to call in a wellness check to our hotel did cross my mind a couple of times.
What’s crossed my mind more is the memory of her in my shirt. I know it isn’t a good idea, but seeing the chills on her arms was too much for me to handle.
There are a lot of things that seem too much for me to handle with her, and if I’m honest with myself it scares the shit out of me.
