Silas didn’t miss a beat. “You’re right. But you need both.” He paused and pressed his lip to his fingers. “Have you ever played on a see-saw?”
Most of the kids answered that they had.
“It’s like that. You can’t play by yourself. You need two people to balance it out. It’s the same with the Storm. You need the players and you need the office staff. When they come together, it makes for something really amazing.”
A girl in the front spoke without raising her hand. “Until one stops playing and gets off. Then you fall hard on your butt, and it really hurts.”
“You’re right,” Miriam said to the girl before turning her gaze to Silas. “It really hurts when someone leaves without giving you a chance to brace yourself. Then it’s really hard to trust that person not to do it again.”
Even little girls knew how painful it was to have someone drop you without warning, and she hoped that the girl in the front row with the bright, rosy cheeks never knew a heartache like Miriam.
An uncomfortable silence that even the kids picked up on filled the room. The class stared at Silas and Miriam waiting for them to say something else—to do something else.
Silas quickly held up the stack of books that he’d brought in. “Here, why don’t we start reading.”
Miriam walked over to the side of the class and leaned against the wall as Silas sat down in a small chair in front of the children. He didn’t ask if she wanted to read with him, somehow knowing that she wouldn’t be able to after the turn that the conversation had taken.
Silas set all the books but one beside him and lifted the first one. “This story is about a girl who wants to be an astronaut.”
“Girls can’t be astronauts,” a boy in the back said.
Silas laughed. “Of course they can. Girls can do anything. Besides, we already have female astronauts in space. This girl dreams of being just like them.”
He opened the book and used a high-pitch voice for the main character causing a bunch of the kids to giggle. When Silas finished reading the first page, he stopped and made sure to let every kid look at the illustrations.
The kids all leaned forward eager to hear more as Silas flipped the book so it faced him once more and started reading the next page. He continued to use the same voice for the little girl throughout and added different voices with every new character that was introduced in the story.
Sure, Miriam had seen him talk to kids after games on multiple occasions, but he was in his element when he was talking about soccer. She’d never thought anything of it. Seeing him now, she realized he was a natural. The thought of Silas being great with children did weird things to her stomach.
She smiled as he finished the first book and grabbed another. The kids were equally engaged as he read through it and then two more after.
When he was done, he looked over to Miriam.
That was her cue. She walked over to the carpet and stood in front of the kids. “Who loved listening to Mr. Silas read today?”
All their hands went straight up. “Me!”
“And who would like to see him play with the Storm for free?”
Miriam could see the eyes of those children in the front go wide. She started passing out cards with a link that would give all the kids in the class a free ticket to the game with the purchase of an adult ticket.
After every child got one, Miriam let the teacher know they were done. Silas and Miriam gave the class a final goodbye and walked out into the hall. Miriam was ready to go, but Silas grabbed her arm and stopped her in the empty hall.
She turned to look at Silas. The intensity of his stare made her look away, but she didn’t try to free herself from his gentle hold on her arm. His fingers uncurled and slowly rubbed up and down her arm.
It was all too much.
Miriam kept her eyes trained on the square linoleum tiles on the floor. “You, uh, did really great in there. The kids liked you a lot.”
“Miriam.”
She kept going. “You’re so good with them. I bet you have a lot of new fans at the next home game.”
“Stop.”
She pressed her lips together and looked up at Silas.
His eyes were stormy as they bore into hers. “I was the child on the see-saw.”
Obviously. She bit her bottom lip and nodded.
His fingers ran all the way up her arm until they reached her face. He cupped her cheek in his hand. Miriam didn’t pull away as he wiped away a tear that she hadn’t realized had fallen. “I didn’t want to hurt you.”
She closed her eyes. “But you did hurt me, Silas. You left Waterfront so fast, I didn’t even get a chance to argue.”
“I know.” He rested his forehead against hers. “And I’m so sorry.”
She kept her eyes closed and leaned into him. Her breathing sounded unnaturally loud to her ears as it came in short bursts, and she could feel Silas’ coming equally as fast. Warm air touched her lips with his every exhale.
It would be so easy to temporarily forget the pain that he’d caused her—to close the small distance between them and press her lips against his. She realized that she wanted to kiss Silas. With every second they continued touching like this, the voice in the back of her mind telling her all the reasons she shouldn’t do it got softer and softer.
Until it sounded like someone clearing their throat. When the noise repeated, the fog caused by being so close to Silas lifted. Miriam realized it wasn’t the voice in her head telling her this was a bad idea. It was the actual voice of someone standing next to them.
Her face burned as she jerked back from Silas, who looked as dazed as she felt, and turned toward the person who’d caught them in this intimate moment.
It was a teacher they hadn’t met during today’s visit, and she had a disapproving frown on her face. “This is an elementary school, not a brothel.”
Miriam took a shaky breath and wiped her hands on the front of her dress. While she didn’t like being compared to a prostitute, she and Silas had been way out of line. “Of course. I’m so sorry.”
“You’re lucky there weren’t any students in the hall,” the teacher said. “Can you imagine the angry phone calls we’d get?”
Miriam nodded. “You’re right.”
The teacher’s angry gaze went between Miriam and Silas, who was uncharacteristically silent. “Do I need to escort you to the office? Or will you be able to find your way off campus without shoving your tongues down each other’s throats?”
Miriam wanted to argue that they weren’t actually kissing but bit the inside of her cheek to keep the words from spilling out. They’d be lucky if the Storm didn’t end up on the school’s naughty list.
“We’re leaving right now,” Silas said. He pressed his hand to the small of Miriam’s back to escort her out. But he must have thought twice about any more contact between the two of them because he almost immediately dropped it. “Have a great day.”
The two of them raced down the hall toward the front office, and Miriam could feel the teacher’s eyes boring into her back for the entirety of their hasty retreat. They quickly checked out with the same secretary as earlier and promised to come back and read another time.
Miriam grabbed her keys from her purse as she practically ran to her car. She needed to get out of there ASAP.
Silas called her name.
She kept walking.
“Can we talk about what just happened?”
She spun around and held up her hand. “No, we can’t.”
Miriam needed some time away from Silas to think about everything before she tried to talk to him. Otherwise, they’d just end up kissing in the school parking lot. And that was the wrong course of action for a multitude of reasons. Without a look back at Silas, she got into her car and drove away.
Miriam
Miriam knew she was in trouble when Greg called her into his office the next day to talk—especially since it was the second time in less than a month.
The
first time Miriam had been called in to ‘talk’ had been after the first meet and greet at The Sports Emporium. Word of the tension between Silas and Miriam had somehow made it back to Greg, who shockingly wasn’t happy to hear that two of his employees were arguing at an event that was supposed to draw new fans in.
Greg had reminded her that she needed to be cheery when representing the team and asked if Miriam would be able to keep working. She’d promised that she would be professional from there on out.
Then she’d almost kissed Silas at an elementary school. What had she been thinking?
The scene they’d caused the day before at the school didn’t scream, “I am capable of not letting my personal life interfere with my career.”
Miriam stood with her hands behind her back as she waited for the general manager to rip her a new one, but as Greg started speaking, he was calm and collected—a much worse reaction in so many ways. “I got a call from the elementary school this morning.”
Miriam bit her bottom lip.
Greg waved at the seat in front of him, and Miriam took a seat. “I thought I was clear about what I expected from you and I’m dying to hear why you thought it was okay to make out with Silas Jenkins in front of students.”
She wiped her hands on her jeans. “First of all, we were in the hallway and there weren’t any students.”
Greg raised his brow.
Miriam’s face burned. “And, we weren’t kissing. It was just a big misunderstanding.”
Greg let out a long sigh as he leaned back in his seat and crossed his arms over his chest. “When you and Silas started dating—”
“We’re not dating.”
Greg stopped and waited for Miriam to stop talking before he patiently continued. “When you were dating, I gave you very clear guidelines. No public displays of affection. Not at events. Not at games.”
Miriam nodded.
She still remembered when Greg had sat down with her and Silas to explain what he would and would not allow from them. He couldn’t tell them to stop dating, of course, but he did expect every member of the Storm to maintain a good reputation. Airing all the details of your romantic relationships wasn’t part of that image in his eyes.
“I don’t care if you were kissing, almost kissing, or even just giving each other bedroom eyes. If someone that we’re partnering with feels like it’s too much, then it can’t happen—especially at a school.”
Miriam bit her bottom lip. “I understand.”
“I hope you do.” Greg was silent for another moment. “You’re an amazing community outreach manager, but this is a big year for us. I need to know you’re not going to give us bad publicity while we’re working so hard for The Comeback.”
The unspoken words were clear, and her mouth went dry as she realized the severity of the situation. This wasn’t just an issue of being cautious about letting Silas back into her life—which was already confusing enough on its own—but it could potentially cost Miriam her job.
Then what would she do? Go back to some type of office job that drained all the excitement from life? Working for the Storm was more than a job. Being the community outreach manager taught her that it was possible to make a living doing what you loved.
Miriam wasn’t willing to give it up so easily.
She managed to keep the tears from falling long enough to assure Greg that she understood the gravity of the situation and that she wouldn’t let arguments or anything that was even remotely similar to kissing happen again. From here on out, she was not going to let her feelings for Silas—no matter how confusing—get in the way.
The next day, Miriam resolved to get her work done without thinking about Silas and what had happened at the school. Greg had made it abundantly clear that her job was on the line and kissing the guy who broke her heart wasn’t worth losing her position with the Storm.
Not only had she gone in early that day, she brought donuts in for the rest of the office staff. Nothing put people in a good mood like the sugary goodness that came in circular form. It didn’t hurt that Greg had a soft spot for apple fritters either. Miriam made sure to put two aside just for him in an attempt to get back into his good graces before she settled into that day’s work.
Though she was the community outreach manager, Miriam was able to do almost any of the other jobs. She also happened to know that Harris was in the middle of a big promotion. One of their corporate sponsors was giving away free tickets, and he was struggling to keep up with the demand from fans.
Miriam thought it might be nice, and distracting, to help him catch up. So, as soon as her computer finished booting up, she went through the list of ticket requests. The work was easy but required just enough brain power that she wasn’t able to let her mind wander.
Given the current circumstances, that was a very good thing.
She finished sending ticket vouchers to the last person on Harris’ list and swiveled in her chair only to see the person in question standing in front of her.
Harris had a maple glazed donut in his hand. “Did you bring these in?”
“Yep.” She stood up and stretched her arms over her head trying to undo the tightness in her back from sitting in front of her computer.
“Thanks.” He took a bite and looked at the clock on the wall. “How long have you been here?”
Well...She’d gone to the donut shop right at six when they opened and had come straight to the office after that. That meant she’d been there for almost two hours before they officially opened. Not that she wanted to admit that to Harris. “A little while.”
“Do you have some kind of project right now?”
Other than trying to stop thinking about Silas? She shook her head. “No.”
Harris’ brows lowered. “So, what have you been working on?”
“I, uh, just finished sending out your vouchers.”
His mouth fell open. “You what?”
“You sounded a little stressed out yesterday before we left. I thought it would be nice to help you out.” Though Miriam was having doubts with the way Harris was looking at her right now.
Soon his shock was replaced with a giant grin. “You. Are. Amazing. Did you know that?” Then he did something that surprised her. Harris pulled her in for a hug. Even though they’d hung out several times, she wasn’t sure that they’d ever hugged. The scent of soap and maple overwhelmed her as she hesitantly wrapped her arms around him.
They hadn’t been embracing very long when Harris groaned. “Oh, crap.”
She pulled back. “What’s the matter?”
Harris reached out and brushed his fingers over a small strand of hair. “I accidentally got frosting on you when I went in for that hug.”
That explained the strong maple smell. “That’s okay. I’ll smell like breakfast for the rest of the day. There are worse fates.”
He pulled his hand back and grabbed a tissue off Miriam’s desk to wipe the frosting off his fingers. “Seriously though. Thank you for doing the vouchers. That’s such a big help.”
“You’re welcome. I was happy to do it.”
Harris looked at Miriam’s desk and then back to her face. “Are you going to be behind because of it?”
She shook her head. “Nope. I’m good.”
He stared at Miriam for another moment like he wasn’t sure if he believed her, but he must have seen something in her expression that convinced him that everything was fine because he nodded. “Okay. Well, thanks again for that, and the donut.” He waved what remained of the treat as he walked out of her office and down the hall.
Alone again, Miriam sat back down in her chair and looked at her list of tasks for the day. Most of her day consisted of talking to sponsors and trying to dream up new ways to get the Storm out into the community. Unlike sending out vouchers, it wouldn’t occupy enough of her brain cells to keep her from thinking about Silas all day.
Maybe she could fake a cold and go home sick—not that it was going to help her relationship with Greg or
her thoughts from betraying her.
She decided that doing inventory would be helpful. Miriam needed to know how much Storm swag she had, and counting made it difficult to think about other things. She went to the storage closet, sat down on the hard-carpeted floor, and started going through boxes. She pulled out cups, bracelets, and small squishy soccer balls that were in the Storm colors. Soon, there was an explosion of green and black all over the floor of the small room.
One-hundred-eighty-seven, one-hundred-eighty-eight, one-hundred-eighty—
“Hey.”
Miriam dropped the bright green rubber bracelets she’d been counting and looked up to see Silas standing in the doorway. He leaned against the doorjamb and smiled down at where Miriam sat. She frowned back at him. Not only had he made her lose count, but just him being here made her goal of not thinking about Silas impossible.
“Greg told me he thought you were in here.”
Oh, great. Just what she needed after she specifically told Greg that Silas wouldn’t be a problem.
Miriam let out a sigh as she picked up the rubber bracelets she’d dropped and put them in the pile with the rest. Once Silas left, she would start over again.
He bent down and started helping her.
Miriam looked up, and her gaze met Silas’. His green eyes stared directly into hers. She tried to keep eye contact with him but was the first to look away. “What do you want?”
“I just want to talk.”
“Well, I don’t.”
He leaned in and lowered his voice. “It’s been two days.”
“It doesn’t matter.” She shook her head.
“So, what? You’re just going to ignore me for the rest of the season?”
“Of course not.” She twisted one of the bracelets in her hands.
“Then what?”
“We’re going to keep it strictly professional.”
“Strictly pro—” He rubbed his hands over his face. “You act like you didn’t feel something between us the other day.”
Penalty Box: A Second Chance Sports Romance (Love in the Arena Book 1) Page 9