According to state rules, I wasn’t allowed to run any sort of 'mandatory drill or practice' until well after the school year started. However, voluntary non-skill based conditioning workouts were just fine. So, while there was a rack of basketballs the guys could use after my conditioning session was finished, first they had to get through me.
Most of the kids, the ones who'd worked with me the year before or heard about me coming up from the junior high school, jogged to the line, regardless of if they were tired or not. While these summer sessions weren't done in a blood n' guts style, they did have an element of pushing, developing as much of the mental strength necessary for making it in our small school environment. It was a smaller group than what I wanted, but I understood. Football practice was in session as well, and we had a good half dozen players who tried to do both sports, including the starting center on the varsity team. Small schools like ours had to make do with the players we had. Most of my players understood that and replaced talent and personnel with hard work.
The door to the gym opened, and all sound stopped as heads turned to see who’d come in.
"You're late, practice began . . .” I started to say before the words cut off in my throat. Ignoring the looks from the players, I crossed the court and pulled the woman who had entered into an embrace before kissing her tenderly. There were a few hoots from the players, but I didn't care. "Melina."
"Cam," my she said, smiling. "I went by your place, but it was locked up. Your neighbor said you'd be here, and the front office was nice enough to let me go through the school to watch. My car's out front."
"Where do you want to go?" I asked, still stunned. Sure, we'd talked on the phone since I got back, she'd been the first person I'd called once my phone had reception again. But to see her now, just a few days after getting back? I was, as the British say, gobsmacked. I turned to the players. "All right guys, practice . . .”
"Is going to continue," she said next to me quietly, jabbing her elbow into my side.
I grinned sheepishly and nodded. "Thanks," I whispered, then took my arm off her shoulders. "Practice will continue in two minutes. Grab some water, and get to the baseline. We're starting with side shuffles, baseline to baseline, three-quarters speed."
With the players turned away, she gave me another peck on the cheek and patted my cheek. "Go do your thing, Coach. I'll sit in the stands and watch, we’ll talk afterward."
I went back into practice, focusing but at the same time feeling the constant presence of Melina behind me. All of the players worked hard, and by the end, not a single one of them wasn’t tired out. I called everyone around and led final stretches myself. "All right guys, good work. Tomorrow we're doing strength work, so make sure you guys come ready to lift. See you tomorrow.”
I couldn't hold it back any longer as I went over to Melina. Reaching out, I took her hands and pulled her closer. The step allowed her to easily wrap her arms around my neck and I spun her around, her legs bent as I swung her in circles. I carried her that way all the way to the door of the gym before setting her down. "Can't carry you through the whole school, that wouldn’t be professional."
Melina laughed and let me set her on her feet, the two of us holding hands as we walked through the empty halls that would soon be filled with students. "I didn't expect you until this evening," I said as we turned the corner and headed towards the main office. It was school policy, if Melina had checked in through the front office she needed to check out that way too. "How'd you shave so much time off?"
She blushed and looked down. She looked cute when she did that. "I kind of threw everything into my car as soon as I could when I got back to Lima and left the very next day. I took care of a lot of the stuff I had to do by phone on the way back to Lima from the airport. Just had to sign some paperwork and be willing to give up getting back my damage deposit on my rental. It was only two hundred bucks anyway. So I was able to leave Lima that night, and got a hundred and fifty miles down before I went to sleep at a truck stop on I-40."
"Don't tell me you slept in truck stops the whole time," I said. I took a sniff of her. “You definitely don’t smell like it.”
"Why thank you, I guess, but no, I didn't. Just that first night, and that was actually because none of the motels in the area had a vacancy for less than eighty bucks. I was able to find cheap places on the rest of the trip, and limited my costs to just gas and two trips to the grocery store."
"Well then, when we get home I'm going to let you shower up, change clothes if you want, and then when you're ready, I'm taking you out for dinner."
Melina's blush deepened. "It should sound weird, but it doesn't."
"What's that?"
"Home."
Chapter 13
Melina