Page 78 of Coach Me
He tucks a loose strand behind my ear, and his voice comes out calm and even. “I can see I’ve hit a nerve. Lucie, you’re not spoiled. I think you are the furthest from spoiled, actually. For two weeks, you’ve traveled with me and Miles. You’ve eaten nothing but shitty hotel food and bad concession hotdogs. You haven’t gotten to visit a single place we’ve been to because you take care of Miles nearly twenty-four fucking seven just like me, without a single complaint.”
“I like the concession hotdogs,” I grumble. “They’re underrated. And I still want to pay for the classes.”
“Too fucking bad, Luce.” Dex chuckles. “You can stop taking your brother’s money all you want, but ifIwant to spoil you, then I’m going to.”
An argument doesn’t even start in my head. “Okay, Coach.”
Chapter 27
Dex
“Miles, slow down. You have to chew your food, not inhale it.” Lucie laughs from where she’s sitting on the barstool next to Miles.
They’ve had breakfast together here for the past three days, and each morning the dam is closer to breaking. I like Lucie, there’s no denying it to myself—or even to her. And I think she might feel this attraction to me too.
I know it doesn’t mean we should date. Every morning as I watch them together over breakfast, I tell myself, “I can’t break today for my son.” I can’t put Miles through another loss, and losing Lucie would devastate him. Hell, the thought even devastates me.
Although it might be unfair to both of us, I can’t seem to stop seeking her out. I don’t want to stop. I like watching her with Miles. I like talking to her and finding out all of her hidden talents. Hell, I feel like I’m in fucking high school again. I like her a lot.
I’m not entirely sure how this weekend alone with her is going to go.
“All done.” Miles slides his empty bowl of cereal forward.
I especially like how, since Lucie started, Miles is eating normally again.
I grab his bowl to take it to the sink. “Okay, Miles, why don’t you go grab some of the stuff you want to take to your mom’s.”
Miles’s eyebrows raise, and this mischievous smile appears on his face. “Can I bring Pip and Pop?”
Lucie gives me a thin-lipped smile. Miles has asked me every single day to take these damn turtles somewhere.
“Do you like having the turtles?”
“Yes.” Miles’s smile hasn’t completely depleted yet.
“Then they stay here.”
Miles’s shoulders sink. “But I’ll be gone for two whole sleeps, and then we get on a plane again. They’re going to miss me like I miss them.”
Lucie looks at me again with a sweet pout—that was cute, I get it, but I’m not strong enough to tell them both no if they push me on this.
“No,” I point at her, “not you too.”
Lucie’s jaw drops with a scoff. “I didn’t say anything.”
“You’re both pouting over turtles staying in the place that keeps them alive. Mind you, I didn't want them to begin with.”
“What!?” Miles’s voice goes up at least five octaves.
Lucie laughs and ruffles Miles’s head. “Don’t listen to him, he was so excited about the idea of Pip and Pop. But he is right, they do need to stay where they are. While I totally understand them missing you, they are happiest here.”
“Okay, I guess so,” Miles grumbles as he hops off thebarstool. “Lucie, can I take one of the new coloring books you got me?”
“Go for it. They’re in the bags in our soon-to-be classroom. I’ll be there in just a minute to help.”
Miles shoots off like a rocket. “I can find it first.”
I shake my head with a sigh. “You know he’s going to take those damn things somewhere one day.”
