Page 120 of The Sweetest Return

I wanted another kid to put it on and make it his.

Standing in front of him now, I was glad I had.

We took a picture.

Before he walked away, I touched his shoulder. “Take care of it.”

His smile faded into something serious. “I will.”

When I turned, Imani was watching me.

There was pride in her face.

Tenderness too.

The kind of look a man wanted to keep deserving.

She came toward me and slipped her hand into mine.

We had barely started moving again when I heard a voice I knew.

“Jones.”

Coach Wallace stood near the field-level club entrance with more gray in his beard and the same expression that used to tell me he knew I was about to bounce a run outside before I decided to do it.

“Coach.”

He pulled me into a hard hug and asked after my parents before his attention shifted toward the tunnel twenty-two had disappeared through.

“Good thing you left that number for somebody else.”

“Means more this way.”

“It does.”

Then he saw Imani.

His whole face changed.

“Well, now.”

Imani smiled. “Coach Wallace.”

“Imani Bennett.” He opened his arms. “Look at you.”

She hugged him, laughing when he reminded her she had been the only woman on campus capable of making me remember I had homework.

“I did not have that kind of power.”

Coach looked at me. “Had more than anybody else.”

“Here you go.”

Imani enjoyed that entirely too much.

Coach asked about Saint Aurelia and accepted her correction when he called it a jewelry company.

“Luxury house,” she said.