into minute stretches of time and she felt like the fragile threads of her life were at snapping point.
She needed coffee and she needed it now.
“Really,” Cat affirmed. She raised her chin as a small group of people walked in the door. “Time to get to work. It’s hard to worry when your mind’s filled with salad dressing choices and the evening specials.”
“Thanks, Cat.”
“Don’t mention it. And think about what I said. Let go and let God.”
Cat’s commonsense directive seemed too easy. Her trusted confidante wasn’t stymied with layers of guilt on top of a generous serving of self-loathing. On top of that, Alyssa had been raised in a strong, caring family. Sure her dad was tough, but never mean or deliberately hurtful. He was just a dad with high expectations, a goal setter who’d taken a hillside hamburger joint and turned it into one of the area’s most sought-out dining spots.
She’d let him down, and instead of learning from her mistakes, she’d repeated them until they cost her more than she cared to admit.
Shame slashed deep.
She believed in God. Always had. But it was hard to imagine the wealth of grace and forgiveness Cat alluded to when Alyssa recognized her role in a host of bad choices.
He’s there. He knows. He loves.
Cat’s words swirled within her and for just a moment Alyssa wondered if it could really be that sweet, that attainable. Then the image of Trent’s face reappeared, lined with anger and disappointment, her betrayal darkening his features. That thought laid to rest any notion of slates swept clean. Penance was part and parcel to life and she obviously hadn’t paid up quite yet.
Trent thought it would be simple to walk up to the kid and the coach, reach out a hand and say, “Hey. My name’s Trent and I’m here to help.”
But to do that he’d have to be able to move his feet forward and for the life of him, Trent stood trapped alongside his car, watching his son dodge and move under Chris Russo’s guidance.
The boy’s grace was notable. Sure his height added advantage for a junior high player, but more than that Jaden had an inner ability that shone through. Shoulders back, head high, the boy was clearly invested in the coach’s advice, nodding agreement all the while.
Trent hesitated.
Should he interrupt this?
He’d been so sure of himself last night, so downright eager to push his presence on the boy, but now he second-guessed himself.
Was he pushing in to punish Lyssa or build rapport with his son?
Jaden.
The name slipped off his tongue like butter on warm bread.
Chris turned, noted him and waved. “Trent. I heard you were stopping by. Come and meet my friend Jaden.”
No backing out now. Trent eased forward, keeping his pace even and his face neutral, not an easy task when what he wanted to do was examine everything about the boy, top to bottom. Talk to him, get to know him.
Give him time.
Lyssa’s breathy voice came back to him, a woman pleading for her son.
He shoved that aside as he drew near and stuck out his hand. “Jaden, hey. I’m Trent.”
The boy nodded amiably. “Good to meet you, sir.”
Polite. Straightforward. Nice, good qualities. Lyssa had done well.
“Trent, Jaden and I were just working on the three Ps,” Chris offered.
Trent ticked off his fingers, remembering. “Pressure, push, pull.”
“Yeah.” The boy’s smile stabbed through him, because part of Trent wanted the smile to be aimed just at him. Deep down, he hated that he was standing alongside his son, his boy, and the kid had no clue he was shoulder-to-shoulder with his very own father.
But the smile soothed as well, the boy’s obvious well-being and good adjustment a huge balm to Trent’s tattered soul.
“I’ll take center,” he offered. Trent exchanged a look with Chris. “I’ll snap to Jaden and then you can give him the lowdown on what to do next. What to watch for.”
“Good deal,” Chris said.
“Hey, guys! Can we work with you?”
Two boys roughly Jaden’s age straddled worn bicycles at the field’s edge, their looks hopeful. Chris arched an eyebrow toward Trent. “You mind?”
“The more the merrier.”
A smile eased the tension he’d noted in Chris’s jaw, just enough to tell Trent the other man knew the score, and that raised a question in his mind. Did Chris know because it was that obvious or had Alyssa told him?
The former, Trent decided. He was pretty sure that Alyssa would keep this under wraps as long as she could, but with the striking resemblance between father and son, people would know. That thought was confirmed the first time he saw Jaden lob a spiral that hit his targeted receiver dead-center, the ball’s spin textbook-perfect.
“You played before moving here?”
Jaden shrugged. “Not like on a team or anything.”
“No?” The boy’s reluctant admission raised Trent’s ire. “Really?”
“I just practiced a lot.”
“Well.” Trent mentally chalked the boy’s response on his check-this-out-later list and nodded. “It worked. You’re solid. Try this, though, when you fade right.” Easing back, scanning down field, Trent appeared to be heading right but ended up to the left.
Jaden laughed appreciation for the move. “Do it again. I was too busy watching you to see what your feet were doing.”
Trent demonstrated again, noting how Jaden studied his foot moves as if committing them to memory. “That totally jukes the other team.”
“Until they figure it out,” Trent admitted. “But it’s a good move to have in your arsenal.”
Jaden nodded. “I’ll practice it at home. I like learning new things.”
That statement said a lot about the boy’s nature. Open. Eager. So much like him. Another knife stabbed Trent, regret twisting within. How he would have loved to guide the boy’s first step, his first pass, his first no-training-wheels two-wheeler ride.
But it hadn’t happened, and there was no recouping time. Trent’s childhood made him understand that better than most.
Three more middle school boys came along and joined the impromptu drills. Studying Jaden’s moves, seeing his easy leadership among the other boys, Trent shoved regret aside more than once. Chris left the group with a quick nod of understanding to Trent about an hour later, just minutes before Alyssa pulled
