“I called the board member off the record.” He ran Sam through the conversation.
Cormack Daly did have big ideas, just like April had warned him, and Blake wouldn’t have been surprised if someone told him the guy collected sharks as a hobby. Blake had dealt with his kind before. He wasn’t sure he could be trusted, and the last thing he wanted was for word of their conversation to leak out. Natalie would be upset if she heard he was thinking about staying in town permanently. They were not in a place where he could even bring it up yet.
“I told him I didn’t have my long-term plans set, that I was just getting settled in Dare Valley and focusing on my upcoming football camp.” Of course, Cormack hadn’t liked the delay and had proceeded to sell him harder.
“Just because the guy’s a prick doesn’t mean the offer’s no good,” Sam told him.
“I know. They’ll need to hire a new coach soon though. They’ve already put one candidate on the back burner because of me.”
Sam sat on a bar stool as Blake juiced the fruit. He poured the juice into two glasses when he was finished and dug out spoons. They both dished some maca powder and chia seeds into their drinks, stirring in the companionable quiet.
“Do you want to do it?” Sam finally asked, standing up to put his spoon in the dishwasher. “I’m sure you’ve gotten plenty of other offers.” One thing he didn’t worry about with Sam was cleanliness. Now with some of the other guys…
“I’m still not sure I’m coaching material. And I…want a better idea of where things are going with Natalie before I make a commitment like that.”
“That’s understandable,” Sam told him as they headed out onto the deck.
Touchdown followed them, and then ran off to chase a couple squirrels leaping from tree to tree.
“I’m not sure when I’ll know…about Natalie. As for the coaching thing…I feel like I’ll have the answer after camp.”
Sam rested his hand on his shoulder when they both sat down. “It’s okay to spin your wheels for a bit and see where it takes you. What did Coach always say about plans?”
Leave it to Sam to be level-headed. “You’ll have to help me. Coach said a lot of things.”
“Never react to life. Be the determiner of your own fate. If Cormack presses you again, tell him you can’t make a decision yet. If he decides to wait, and you decide you want it, then it’s meant to be. If not, something else will come along to make you happy. Or you can fashion your own opportunity, just like you’ve done with the camp.”
His mouth tipped up in a smile. “I could pretty much kiss you right now.”
“Good Lord! You have gone crackers out here in the woods.” He jostled Blake’s shoulder playfully. “Drink your juice.”
The temperature was in the mid-eighties, and there were no clouds to mar the beautiful sunshine streaming down on the deck. He’d taken to spending most of his days out back, either reading up on coaching kids with intellectual disabilities or running through the progress on the camp with his assistant. And he’d been poring over the materials Special Olympics had sent him, making notations in the margins.
“How’s the camp shaping up?” Sam asked. “I told Coach I’d be helping you this year.”
“I called him to talk about the camp.” Coach had told Blake that he had a lot to offer the world and that he had every faith he’d figure out the next step, even suggesting he’d be a great coach if he decided to go that route. “He was supportive, but I could tell he wasn’t exactly thrilled I’d be stealing some of you guys. He told me you’d bowed out of Once Upon A Dare this year.”
Sam shrugged. “I found a replacement—like all of the other guys did. We weren’t about to leave Coach in a lurch. He needs to get over it.”
But Coach didn’t like last-minute changes. “You don’t have to help,” Blake made himself say.
“Like hell I don’t.” Sam kicked off his shoes and wiggled his toes in the sun. “Besides, I can help him next year—and you. Just couldn’t manage both this summer.”
“Thanks, man,” he said, kicking his shoes off too as he sipped his drink. Whoever said fruit juice was for sissies had never enjoyed the real thing.
“You know we have your back. So, how many applications have you received for the camp so far?”
“In less than a day, we received more than four hundred.”
Sam tilted his head to the side. “But I thought you were going to limit it to forty.”
“Exactly. I knew the need was great, but I wasn’t expecting this.” And he was still a bit shocked. He’d thought about trying to expand the camp, but this was the first one. It was on a tight timeline and he wanted to get it right. Next year, he could look at expanding.