Total pages in book: 65
Estimated words: 60933 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 305(@200wpm)___ 244(@250wpm)___ 203(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 60933 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 305(@200wpm)___ 244(@250wpm)___ 203(@300wpm)
“A girlfriend. I don’t have one of those,” he replied.
Unable to help myself, I smiled.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
ASA
Walking out of the front door of Lawton High School, I saw Nash headed in my direction. He was grinning. How the hell did he know already? I had just walked out of the meeting with Ms. Campbell. There was no possible way he knew.
“Welcome home,” he said when he reached me.
I glanced back at the door as it closed. “How the hell?” I asked him.
“Ms. Campbell texted Rich the moment you took the position,” he replied. “The old man was beaming, he was so damn happy. I swear he let out a fucking hoot and punched his fist into the air.”
It felt right. All of it. Nash was right. No matter what had happened with my dad, Lawton was home. That field at the bottom of the hill was home. I belonged here.
“I don’t even care that you took it for a woman. I’m just glad you took it,” he said and slapped my back.
“You think I took the job because of Ezmita?” I asked him.
“I know you did,” he shot back at me, then laughed. “The moment you found out she was going to be teaching here, it was in your eyes. You were coming home.”
I started to argue but stopped. He was right. There was no use denying it. I had tried life without her in it, and I didn’t like it.
A familiar truck pulled up behind Nash and after it a Tahoe I also recognized. “Did you call everyone?” I asked him.
“Nah, I just sent a text to the ones that mattered,” he replied.
West climbed out of the truck, followed by Ryker and Brady in the Tahoe. A Range Rover then came pulling in too fast and slammed on the brakes. The driver door swung open, and Gunner climbed out grinning like the cocky son of a bitch he was. They were all here.
“I got the beer,” Gunner said and reached inside his Range Rover to pull out a six-pack. “Ready?”
“When did you get in town?” I asked him.
“About thirty minutes ago,” he replied. “Then you had to go and steal the damn show.”
We all began walking down the hill toward the field house.
“So I hear you said yes because of a girl,” Gunner said.
“Of course he did,” West replied for me. “His ass could be anywhere. He came back to Lawton.”
“Nothing wrong with that,” Nash told him.
“Didn’t say there was, but Asa has reasons to hate this place. More so than I do,” Gunner said.
He was right. I did have reasons to hate Lawton. Memories that would always be attached to this town. But I had more good memories than I had bad. “That field is where I grew up, where I made some of the best memories of my life,” I reminded all of them. It was true for them as much as it was me. “If I’m going to coach the game I love, then why do it on a field that means nothing to me when I can do it on the field that made me?”
Ryker grinned and shook his head. “Damn. Now you got me getting all sentimental. Hand me a beer, Gunner.”
Coach Rich walked out of the locker room to find us sitting in the middle of the field drinking beer. “I should’ve expected to see the whole lot of you. Just clean that shit up when you’re done, and Asa, welcome home, son,” he called out before walking toward his truck.
“Where you gonna live?” Brady asked me.
“With me,” Nash replied before I could.
I shrugged and took a drink. “I guess with Nash for now. Haven’t thought that far.”
“He ain’t thought about nothing but Ezmita Ramos since getting back in town,” Ryker said.
I couldn’t argue with him. He was right; I had thought of little else.
CHAPTER TWELVE
EZMITA
My sister’s graduation was in two hours, and since I had spent another day working in the house, I was just getting out of the shower when the doorbell rang. I quickly wrapped my hair in a towel and pulled on a T-shirt dress that covered enough of my body before rushing to the door. The electrician said he would be here tomorrow between nine and twelve to fix the two outlets that weren’t working. Unless he was a day early, then I wasn’t expecting anyone.
I didn’t stop to check out the window and opened the door.
Once again, there stood Asa surprising me with his presence. I paused, leaving the screen door closed between us. His coming around like this was going to make it harder when he left town again. As much as I enjoyed seeing him standing on my front porch, I also didn’t want that memory haunting me once he was gone. I had already mourned the loss of Asa in my life. I didn’t want to go through that another time.