If it were possible, Quinn’s face grew even whiter as he whipped his head around to look between me and my father. “No, uh…”
“Ignore him,” I grumbled and shot Hampton a pointed look. “He’s just jealous because he hasn’t been humped in a while.”
“Georgia Rose!” Daddy thundered.
I laughed and waved a hand in his direction. “Oh, please. You don’t have to act offended in front of my boyfriend.”
I liked the way it sounded, calling Quinn my boyfriend to my family. I glanced around the room to see everyone looking at us and then tugged on his hand, settling us into our spots at the table. “Where’s Mama?”
“In the kitchen cooking. Where she’s been all damn day,” Daddy grumbled. “I told her we didn’t need all this food, but she never listens to me.”
Almost right on cue, Mama came through the doorway, a platter with a roast on it in her hands. “Nonsense, Walt! This is a big day. We need to celebrate.”
He made some noncommittal noise in his throat and then mumbled, “Just have a seat already, honey bear.” I smiled at the affectionate nickname he had always called my mama. Daddy may grumble like an old bear constantly, but he was never happier than when his family was together, Mom cooking a big meal. They’d been together since the beginning of time, Mama would say, and even after all these years, they both still clearly adored each other. Their marriage wasn’t perfect. We’d faced tragedy, Daddy had spent years on the road, leaving Mama to handle everything on her own a lot. But through it all, the two of them had been the example that we Reed kids had looked up to. It was why I was convinced that despite my previous failed relationships, I’d meet someone and be just as happy as they were. And maybe, if I didn’t royally screw it up, Quinn could be the one who would be calling me cute pet names in forty years.
I squeezed my eyes shut. It was too soon to think like that. But wasn’t that always my problem? Putting the cart before the horse. That’s what Mama had always said about me.
She put the dish down and then turned her attention to Quinn and me. “Georgia!” she exclaimed, coming around the table and wrapping me up in a big hug. “I didn’t hear you come in.”
“Don’t know how you missed Dad’s shouting at Hampton,” Lawson said dryly.
“You know I tune him out most of the time,” Mama replied and then beamed at Quinn. “And who might you be?”
Like a gentleman, Quinn pushed out of his chair and put his hand out. Mama waved him off before throwing her arms around him. “We hug in this family.”
“Speak for yourself,” Lawson grumbled, pulling a roll out of the basket that was on the table and taking a bite of it. Piper popped his hand. “Be patient,” she hissed. Lawson rolled his eyes but dropped the roll on the plate.
My stomach fluttered as I watched the interaction between my mother and Quinn. He squeezed her back, and then she stepped away and he said, “I’m Quinn Miller. It’s nice to meet you, Mrs. Reed.”
“Please, call me Peg. You are quite good looking,” she told him and then looked over her shoulder at me and winked. “What are you doin’ here with my wild child?”
“Apparently, he’s humping her.”
Quinn’s eyes nearly bugged out of his head, and Daddy’s cheeks turned a shade of red that rivaled a fire engine.
“Oh my god, Hampton!” I shouted around the table at him. “You’re such an ass.”
Hampton didn’t even have the decency to look repentant; he just winked at me and then took a swig of his beer. “What? Best way to learn to swim is to jump in the deep end. Just making sure Quinn’s got what it takes to survive an evening with the Reeds.”
“No, you’re just being a jerk,” Piper told him before trying to offer a measure of comfort to Quinn. “Ignore him. He can’t help that he’s an idiot.”
“I can help it, but what fun would that be? Aren’t older brothers supposed to look out for their kid sisters?” He shrugged and then clapped Quinn on the shoulder. “Looks to me like he can take it though. Now, can we eat? I’m starving.”
Quinn sat back down beside me, and I leaned over and whispered, “I’d apologize for my brother, but honestly, he’s kind of right. This is a typical Reed family dinner. I’d tell you that if you wanted to leave, I wouldn’t be upset, but that would be a lie.”
Quinn’s throat worked as he swallowed hard. “Your dad looks like he wants to stab me with his fork. Not sure that me coming was such a good idea.”
I looked over to where Daddy was in fact glaring at the two of us and blew him a kiss before saying loudly, “Daddy’s just a big ole teddy bear. Don’t let him fool you.”
Mama clucked her tongue and narrowed her eyes at Hampton. “Quit giving your sister a hard time. It’ll be your turn to bring a new guy around soon, and I’m sure she won’t forget this.”
I stuck my tongue out at him the way I used to when I was a kid and then put my hand on Quinn’s strong thigh under the table. “You’ve just made it through the worst of it. It won’t get any more uncomfortable than this, I promise.” I squeezed his leg and then turned my attention to the table that was covered in food. “Gah, Mama, this all looks amazing.”
She beamed at me from her spot beside Daddy and then said to Quinn, “Hope you like meat and potatoes.” She patted Daddy’s arm. “Walt here’s a meat and potatoes guy, always has been. Lucky for him, that’s pretty much all I knew how to make when we met.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Quinn said hesitantly. “I brought my—” He paused and looked at me expectantly as though I could read his mind before finishing, “hunger feeling.”
My brows knit together, and I had to bite the inside of my cheek to keep the laughter from spilling out. Quinn’s face was a mask of panic as he realized that the words that had come out of his mouth weren’t the ones he was looking for, and as much as I felt bad for his obvious embarrassment, I couldn’t keep the amusement out of my voice as I said, “Did you mean appetite?”
The thick cords of his neck worked overtime as he swallowed hard once, twice, three times before simply nodding his head and then grabbing the glass of water from the table.
Lawson made a choking noise, and I looked away from Quinn just in time to see Piper smack him on the arm, his red face covered by his hands.
Never one to let the opportunity to give someone hell pass him by, Hampton grabbed the spoon that was in the dish of mashed potatoes, and while he piled them on his plate said, “Yep, I brought my hunger feeling today too.” When he finished, he held the spoon out to Quinn. “Here ya go, man. Mom’s potatoes are the best.”
Quinn took the utensil from him silently, his face still frozen in mortified discomfort. It was going to take a lot more than Sunny D and a bathrobe to make up for this dinner that I’d forced him to come to.
I tried to break the silence that was only interrupted by the sounds of forks on plates and people chewing. I swallowed a bite of pot roast and stifled a moan over how good it was and said, “So, Daddy, what’s your big news? It must be something amazing, because I think I smell Mama’s pound cake in the kitchen.”
Pound cake was a special occasion dessert, reserved for celebrating only the most important events, like birthdays or weddings. It didn’t matter how many times I asked her to make one for me; if it wasn’t a special day, I wasn’t getting my hands on a piece of that cake.
“Yeah, Dad, what was so important that we had to all be here tonight? It’s good news, right?” The crease between Lawson’s brow deepened.
“You think Mama would make cake if Daddy was telling us something bad?” I looked at my mom. “I mean, you wouldn’t, would you?”
“Jesus, you kids know how to take the wind out of my damn sails,” Daddy grumbled. “I’m not dying, if that’s what you two are thinking. I’d just tell you that in that stupid group text you insist on torturing me with.”
“You would not!” Piper squeaked.
Daddy waved his fork in her direction. “Maybe then you’d finally take me off the li
st.”
“You aren’t fooling any of us, old man,” Hampton said with a pointed look. “How many times have you sent us that damn cat meme?”
The table erupted in laughter, everyone chattering over each other, and I took the chance to try and reassure Quinn. I squeezed his leg again and whispered, “See, told you that everything would be fine.”
Quinn looked over at me from where he’d nearly eaten everything on his plate and said, “I don’t think your definition of fine is the same as mine.”
I giggled. “They like you. I promise.”
“They like the comedic relief I’m giving them with my malfunctioning brain and your brother’s insistence on embarrassing us.”
“Well, whatever it takes, right?” I winked and then looked back to the head of the table. “Daddy, when are you going to tell us?” I whined. “Quinn and I have plans to make out later; we need to get this show on the road.”
Quinn’s fingers flexed over mine. “Seriously?” he hissed.
“Now’s not the time, Georgia,” Daddy said, his ruddy face serious.
I’d spent my entire life making my father nearly choke on his dinner. It wasn’t that I was trying to off my own father, but he just made it so easy sometimes. Okay, all the time.
“Oh, go on, Walt, and tell them,” Mama said.
Daddy tried to protest, but Mama shushed him and said, “Fine, then. I’ll steal your spotlight if you won’t.” She looked at each of us, her eyes sparkling with pride, and announced, “Your daddy just accepted the head coaching job for the Falcons.”
I didn’t know that it was possible to die from shock until I witnessed Quinn Miller’s soul leave his body as he heard the news that his new girlfriend’s father was also his new head coach.
The little bit of color that Quinn had gotten back throughout the course of the meal drained from his face and his back stiffened. Like it was playing out in slow motion in front of me, I watched as Quinn and Daddy’s eyes finally met across the table. Quinn’s ghost white face only became more astonished when my daddy grimaced and confirmed, “That’s right. I’m your new coach.”
13
Quinn
It wasn’t the first time I found myself in a sticky situation. I’d created more than my share of trouble, been caught up in stuff I shouldn’t have been, and generally just fucked up more times than I could count.
But dating the coach’s daughter?
For a guy like me, this was a set of problems I couldn’t afford.
After the total shock of Coach Reed’s announcement wore off, I managed to limp through the rest of Georgia’s family dinner and after the dishes were cleared begged out of there. She must have somehow sensed my discomfort, because she’d hadn’t protested and had made up an excuse to leave.
When we got back to her house, it was my turn to make up an excuse not to stay, and after several attempts to thwart my plans of a quick escape, she finally let me leave with the promise we’d talk tomorrow.
I’d barely pulled out of her driveway before I grabbed my cell and called Griff, letting out a sigh of relief when he answered on the second ring.
“Yo, man. What’s going on?” he’d asked casually, as though my world that was already precariously spinning hadn’t just been tilted on its axis, leaving me dizzy from how far from right my life was.
“Not much. You know, the usual. Worked out this morning with a bunch of guys who don’t like me. Ran routes with a quarterback who would rather give the ball to a donkey than me. Went over plays with an offensive coordinator who looked at me like I smelled like rotten fish.”
Griff let out a low whistle. “So, what you’re saying is, things in Atlanta are going really well.”
I huffed. “Something like that.”
“At least you’ve got something good going. I mean, at least according to your sister you do.”
I wasn’t even surprised that he’d talked to Jamie recently. She was tight with all the guys, but she and Griff had gotten along from the start. He was the big brother she’d always wished she had, the one who didn’t nag her constantly.
He was also the big brother who didn’t constantly get her out of tight spots, which she seemed to be good at finding herself in. But that was a gripe for another night.
“She call you and report my whereabouts?”
His chuckle was deep. “Something like that. How is it going with, what’s her name again? Georgia?”
“Yep. Georgia Reed. Had dinner with her family tonight.”
The sharp intake of air was sudden, and then the mouthpiece of the phone was muffled. He was talking to Brooke. “Yo, asshole. Quit gossiping to your wife. Or at least wait till you got something good to tell her.”
His voice came back across the line loud and clear. “You mean meeting the family after what? A week? That’s not something to consider good? How’d that go? You flash them a million-dollar smile and win them over?”
I wished. “I’m not fucking Aiden. Only that dude could charm a family with nothing more than a wink and a grin. No, it went horribly wrong. Start to finish, worst two hours of my life.”
I didn’t elaborate, my mind wandering to how the hell I’d gotten into this situation. I’d come to play ball, to salvage my career, and to show the league that I wasn’t the fuckup they’d labeled me as. And here I was, driving home from a woman’s house who I’d met within days of moving here, wondering how the fuck I was going to keep her and my job.
“Well, you gonna tell me what happened or make me guess?” Griff interrupted my thoughts, and in the background, I could hear Brooke’s voice, shouting at him to quit giving me a hard time.
“Tell your woman to be on the lookout for a thank-you gift from me later.” I chuckled. The two of them were a match made in heaven, or Vegas as it were, and despite the amount of time it took for them to figure it out, they were happier than ever now.
“I tell her that, and she will hound you every day until she gets it. Now, tell me what happened so I can tell you how epically you fucked up.”
“Who the hell said it was me who fucked up?” I feigned indifference, but the truth was that I had screwed the pooch all the way around. Only, I hadn’t actually screwed anyone. And it didn’t look like that was going to ever happen at this rate.
“You tellin’ me it wasn’t you?” He knew good and well it was.
I groaned and pushed a hand through my hair. “Let’s start at the beginning. I introduced myself as her boyfriend—”
“Woah!” he interrupted. “Had you two talked about this beforehand?”
“No, we hadn’t talked about it. We aren’t in fucking grade school, dude. You don’t have to discuss whether or not you’re someone’s boyfriend.”
“Yes, you do!” Brooke’s voice was suddenly loud and clear in my ear.
“Dude, am I on speaker?”
They both laughed when their daughter, Allie, piped up, “Yep. Hey, Uncle Quinn! I didn’t know you had a girlfriend!”
“Well, I don’t think I do for much longer,” I mumbled. “Look, I’ll skip over some of the parts that aren’t suitable for young ears, but just know that one of her brothers didn’t say more than two words to me, and the other one, that doctor, kept making comments that would make your mama blush.”
“I’m sure it wasn’t bad enough for her to stop seeing you.” Brooke’s attempt to make me feel better about the night fell flat, but I thanked her anyway.
“No. It wasn’t.”
“This girl, Georgia, she’s the one from Aiden’s party?” Brooke asked.
I answered and she said, “She was really into you that night. And from what Griff’s told me, she seems to still be. So, I doubt that you messed up that bad. Besides, she’d be the one missing out on you.”
Brooke had a good heart. She always saw the positive in people and believed that good things happened to good people. It wasn’t necessarily a sentiment that I could share, but I tried to see things her way most of the time. It wasn’t going to wo
rk in this situation though.
“It’s not her, it’s me. Well, rather, it’s her dad.”
“Explain,” Griff ordered.
I sucked in a breath and turned into the apartment complex parking lot, putting the truck in Park before I finally told him. “Dude. Her dad’s Walter Reed.”
When I didn’t say anything more, he grumbled, “Would you just get to the damn point already? We were in the middle of Zombies on Disney Channel.”
“Yeah, Uncle Quinn!” Allie piped up. “She’s about to show everyone her real hair! It’s the best part of the whole movie.”
I didn’t have a clue what the hell they were referring to, but from the sounds of it, this wasn’t the first time they’d watched the movie.
“Guess the news hasn’t come out yet. Walter Reed, Georgia’s father, announced at dinner tonight that he’s the new head coach for the Falcons.”
There was silence across the line for a split second as the words I’d just said registered, and it was eerily like the moment after Georgia’s mom had uttered the same words. Then Griff burst out laughing.
“Are you fucking laughing?” I all but seethed.
Brooke’s voice was loud over her husband’s laughter. “I don’t understand what the problem is.”
“Brooke,” Griff managed to get out between chuckles, “honey, his girlfriend’s dad is now his fucking head coach.” The laughter resumed, louder than before, and I sat there and stared at the phone in my hand, waiting for him to get his shit together. When the deep rumblings finally died down, I grumbled, “You done now?”
“Only you, Quinn,” he barked. “Only fucking you would get involved with the coach’s daughter.”
“He wasn’t the coach when we started seeing each other! Hell, he wasn’t the coach at practice this morning.” The odds of it all had to be one in a trillion. As a matter of fact, I thought about pulling out of the parking spot I was in and going to the nearest gas station to pick up a lottery ticket. My odds for hitting the jackpot were better than these odds, and yet somehow, my stupid luck had wound up dating the coach’s daughter.
The Hardest Play Page 9