Page 7 of His Hungry Wolf

“I don’t know if you know this, but my father became the head coach with the Cougars.”

“I didn’t know that,” he said in a way that told me that he also didn’t care.

“Okay. He did. And I became his assistant.”

“Like at university?”

“Sure. Although the pros are really different. If I told you some of the things…” I looked up and paused at the sight of his uncaring eyes. I looked down. “Not the point.”

“What is your point?” He asked coldly.

“My point is that he got that head coaching position, in part, because of you.”

“I see.”

“You aren’t surprised by that?”

“We had a good season.”

“We had three good seasons. And all of them were thanks to you.”

“I still don’t know what you’re doing here.”

With the moment at hand, I struggled to breathe. “I’m here because I’m inviting you to a workout.”

“A what?” Claude said caught off guard.

“You know, a tryout for the team.”

Claude’s tension dropped.

“For the Cougars?” He asked confused.

“Yeah,” I said excitedly. “Papa knows that he owes a lot of his success to you, and he thinks you have what it takes to play in the pros.”

“Merri, I haven’t touched a football since…” he looked away to remember.

“Since you won us our third division title?”

“Yeah.”

“You just put it down and never picked it back up, huh?”

“What was the point?”

“Don’t you miss it? You were so good out there. The way you could find a pocket and wait until the perfect moment to throw the pass…? It was amazing.”

“It’s a part of my past.”

“But, it doesn’t have to be. I’m here telling you that if you want it, you could have it again. I’m offering you an invitation back into it. I know you loved it. I’m sure you would love it again,” I said wondering if I was still talking about football.

Claude stared at me not expressing much. I could feel my confident persona melting under the heat of his gaze. He always had a way of seeing through me. I wasn’t sure how he did it.

“Look, Claude,” I said looking everywhere but in his eyes, “I know I don’t have the right to ask anything from you, especially because of the way things ended between us. But, it would mean a lot to me if you considered this. I’m really not in a good position right now with the team…”

“So, this is about you?”

“This is about us… I mean, what we had. We had a good thing going back then, right? I was your quarterback coach and trainer. You were the star player. You shined and everyone loved you.”