As if that wasn’t enough, she was also pretty worried about Kenny. Gabe was concerned about him, too. He was concerned about the whole team. He hadn’t wanted to believe that Blaine would take the kind of risks Mike had intimated he might be taking, but now Gabe wasn’t so sure. Kenny wasn’t typically violent. The fact that he’d hurt Sly so badly could indicate a lot of things. It could simply be a coincidence that he’d had trouble with Blaine’s nephew. It could indicate that Kenny had been approached by Sly on behalf of Blaine and reacted negatively, which was a happy thought. Or, not so happy, it could mean that he and Sly were involved in some way. Bottom line, the fight lent credence to what Dale Lindley had overheard in the locker room, what he’d told his mother. It connected Kenny and Sly. Gabe just didn’t know how.
Maybe he needed to find out. Gabe liked Kenny, didn’t want to see him get swept up in something that could hurt his chances of future success and ruin his reputation as a player. Gabe didn’t want to see that happen to any of the kids on the team. And he wouldn’t stand for having his own assistant working against him. If he couldn’t win a football game by playing on the field, he’d do it by coaching on the sidelines. No one was going to stand in his way, least of all Melvin Blaine.
When Gabe started to wheel away from the table, Lazarus assumed he was going to work out and trotted expectantly in the direction of the gym. His dog knew the routine. But Gabe couldn’t bring himself to work on his range and coordination right now. He felt as if he’d been beating his head against a wall for the past three years, chasing a dream he was never going to catch while letting other things, possibly just as important, slip right past him.
But that was a subject he’d have to contemplate later. Right now he needed to figure out what was going on with his assistant coach—which meant he had to make some phone calls.
Taking out the team roster, Gabe sat it beside him on the counter and dialed the first number. Coach Blaine.
Blaine lived alone. His wife had died nearly a decade ago, and all his children were grown and out on their own. He answered almost immediately. “’Lo?”
“It’s Holbrook.”
Blaine’s voice grew instantly leery. “What can I do for you, Gabe?”
Lazarus sat at Gabe’s feet, watching him curiously, his ears perked forward.
“You can start by telling me if we have a problem.”
“With what?”
“The team.”
There was a significant pause. “We have a lot of problems. Our defensive backs are weak, we have a young, rather inexperienced quarterback, we’re giving too much ground on the front line. Maybe you could be more specific.”
“Kenny Price got into a fight with your nephew last night.”
“I heard. My sister called me about it earlier. What does that have to do with me?”
“That’s what I’d like to know.”
“Nothing.”
Was he lying? “You don’t have any idea why there might be friction between them?”
“Absolutely none.”
Gabe was surprised by how badly he wanted to believe Blaine. As much as he disliked his assistant coach, he didn’t want to see the football program at Dundee High suffer from the actions of one overly ambitious and far too selfish man. “I’m glad to hear that,” he said. “Because if any of my boys—”
“Your boys?” Blaine interrupted.
“My boys,” Gabe repeated. “Whether you like it or not, this is my team now. And if you take advantage of your position by getting any of the players involved in something that might hurt them or the program, you’ll be a very sorry man. Do you understand?”
“You have a lot of nerve, calling me up and threatening me like this,” Blaine growled.
“If you’re screwing up, you should be grateful I’m giving you the chance to change direction.”
“We haven’t even played our first game, Gabe. Are you looking for a scapegoat already?”
Gabe chuckled and shook his head. “I’m not going to need a scapegoat, Melvin. We’re going to win. You can either help me do that or get out of my way.”
“You think your big head will be enough to pull this team through?”
“Still dealing with some residual envy?” Gabe said.
“What’s to envy?” Blaine replied. “I can walk.”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
HANNAH sat in her driveway, staring at the light gleaming through the window of her own living room. Russ’s Jeep was parked at the curb. She knew he had to be waiting for her and didn’t want to talk to him, not with Gabe’s T-shirt stuffed in her purse and her skin still sensitive and tingly from his touch.
She hoped her ex-husband would give up and leave, but as the minutes dragged by, she knew that wasn’t going to happen. Unless she was willing to drive off for a while, he’d see her the second he stepped outside, anyway.
Taking a deep breath, she dropped her keys in her purse, forced the zipper to close despite Gabe’s shirt and got out. Somehow she had to get through the next few minutes. But she knew it wasn’t going to be easy. She could still smell Gabe on her skin and clothes. Surely everyone in the room would know by the guilt on her face exactly how she’d spent her afternoon the moment she tried to explain that she’d gone out to Gabe’s cabin to wash windows.
How long had Russ and the boys been home? Maybe she could say she went for a long drive. That was sort of true. No one needed to know she’d even seen Gabe.
“There you are,” Russ said as soon as she walked through the door. He was sitting on her couch, which was pretty much where he’d spent most their married life, drinking one of the beers she kept in the fridge for Patti.
“Sorry I’m home so late,” she said. “I wasn’t sure when to expect you back.”
“We didn’t know we had to submit a schedule if we wanted to find you again. Where the hell have you been?”
“Hi, Mommy.” Brent hurried over to give her a hug as she put her purse on the small table inside the front door.
“You don’t have the right to ask me that, remember?” she said to Russ while giving her son a squeeze. “We’re not married anymore.”
“I have a right to know where you are when I’m trying to return the boys.”
“Why? Obviously, Kenny had his key to the house, or you wouldn’t be here, drinking my beer and watching my TV. He’s old enough to sit with Brent until I get home.” She glanced around, looking for her oldest son, but didn’t see him. “Where is Kenny?”