by Peggy Webb
She waited, not knowing what to expect, half hoping he would suggest some outrageous proposition that would continue their game, half hoping he wouldn’t.
“Something very important to me.” He paused, looking deep into her eyes. “Doc, will you go with me to the soccer game Thursday night?”
“Your team?”
“Yes. The Eagles. We’ll be playing our archrivals from West Point, The Mastiffs. Can you come, Janet?”
“What time?”
“Six o’clock. Junior-high games always start early.”
“I’ll be there... unless I have an emergency.”
“Wear comfortable clothing and be prepared to do a lot of yelling.”
“Why is that?”
He chucked her under the chin. “Doc, I see I have a lot to teach you about ball.”
“It has to be easier than baking cookies.”
From somewhere in Dan’s enormous house, a grandfather clock struck the hour. Eleven o’clock. Time for a working physician to be in bed.
Dan helped her on with her coat and walked her to her car. After he had tucked her inside, he leaned down, took her hand and pressed a warm kiss into her palm.
She felt the pleasure all the way to her toes. Still, she was wary. “A game tactic, Coach?” she asked after he had released her.
“No. A simple kiss between friends.” He closed her car door and waved. “Good night, Doc.” Then he stood in his driveway watching until her taillight was merely a tiny flicker of red in the distance.
It wasn’t until Janet got home that she spotted Dan’s sweatshirt in the backseat of her car. She snatched it up, went inside, and wore it to bed. That night she dreamed she was walking down the aisle in bridal white while Molly and Joanna sang Someone to Watch Over Me.
o0o
Thursday took forever to come. Or so it seemed to Dan. Fortunately he had been too busy with teaching his classes and getting his team ready for the soccer game to have much time for worrying about Janet.
That evening, standing on the sidelines of the soccer field, he finished giving his team their pregame pep talk and looked up into the bleachers. She wasn’t there. That much was certain. The fields at Sportsplex weren’t enormous, and with the bright electric lights flooding the area, it wouldn’t be that hard to spot one gorgeous auburn-haired female doctor. He scanned the crowd again. Two minutes to game time and Janet was not there. To top it all off, it had started to rain—just a light drizzle, but enough to make the field soggy and the air damp and miserable.
Dan turned back to his team. It wouldn’t do to let them see his disappointment. Psychology was an important factor in winning. A positive we-can-win attitude was vital.
“All right, Eagles. Who is going to win this game?”
“We are, Coach.” The chorus of excited, enthusiastic voices made him temporarily forget Janet. The game was about to begin. His game. His team. The teenagers in their navy-and-gold uniforms were depending on him for leadership and guidance. He would not let them down.
“Then let’s get out there and play.”
In the first five minutes of play, The Eagles’ goalie slipped in the wet grass and West Point scored. From the sideline, Dan cheered his team on.
“That’s all right, boys. The game’s young. We can do it.”
Revitalized by the pep talk, two of his forwards did some dazzling footwork, dribbling the ball toward their goal. Then little Shoeshine Rogers took a headshot, and the ball slammed past West Point’s goalie.
The crowd stood up and cheered for the hometown boys. Dan was grateful for the support, and he smiled up into the stands. That’s when he spotted her, Dr. Janet Hall, hurrying toward a top-row seat, her green coat open and flapping, revealing a smart blue wool suit. He couldn’t tell about her shoes, but judging from the way she was moving she was wearing high heels. Her head was bare, and her dark red hair shone under the stadium lights.
She came, Dan thought. And then, She’s not dressed for the game. She’ll catch her death of cold.
“Coach. Coach.” Suddenly he became aware of the voice. Embarrassed, he turned his attention to the young player sitting on the bench. He had been standing in the drizzle staring like some lovesick fool, right in the middle of a game.
“Yes, Bobby?”
“Do you want me to sub for Shoeshine? It looks like he’s hurt his foot.”
“Yes. And watch out for West Point’s Number Three. He’s a tough guard.”
While the substitution was being made, he risked one more glance into the stands. He thought Janet smiled at him, but at this distance he couldn’t be sure.
In the bleachers, Janet was smiling at Dan. He looked so right in his baseball cap and his navy jacket that said Coach Albany —as much a part of the soccer field as the goalposts and the stadium lights and the bleachers and the hot-dog stand. She couldn’t keep her eyes off him. Vitality simply oozed from his pores. She could feel it all the way across the field. And his hair! It was adorably mussed, more so than usual, as if he hadn’t had time to do more than run his hands through his dark curls for at least three days. She was so enchanted she forgot how cold she was. And how wet.
Around her, the crowd stood up and cheered at intervals. She had no earthly idea what it was all about. The scrambling on the soccer field was totally incomprehensible to her. Still, she was seeing Dan at his work, and that made the rushing and last-minute juggling of her schedule worthwhile.
Suddenly a referee blew a whistle, and most of the crowd made a mad dash for the hot-dog stand. With the buffer against the wind gone, Janet shivered.
“You should be wearing a warmer coat and a hat, and I’ll bet you haven’t had a thing to eat.”
She looked up into the bright blue eyes of Coach Dan Albany. In the confusion she hadn’t even been aware of his approach.
“I didn’t have time for any of that.”
“That’s what I thought.” He sat down on the bleacher beside her. “Here. Hold this.” He handed her a soggy hot dog and began to button her coat.
She laughed. “What is all this?”
“Food and pampering. I call it taking care of the doctor.”
“Shouldn’t you be with your team or something?”
“My assistant is with them. And we’re two points ahead. Or haven’t you noticed?”
“I can read the scoreboard.”
He laughed. “Someday I’m going to teach you this game. But right now...” He fastened the last button on her coat, then took the hot dog from her hand and peeled back the wrapper. “Eat up, Doc.”
“Do you know what those things are made of?”
“I never ask. Come on, Doc. Be a good girl and eat something, so I won’t feel guilty about dragging you out in the rain with no supper.’’
“My body will never forgive me for this.” She took a big bite, then smiled. “Actually it’s not so bad... when you’re starving.”
Dan grinned. “I’m liable to corrupt you yet.” He pulled his baseball cap off and put it on her head, carefully arranging her damp hair away from her face. “When the game is over, Doc, you’re supposed to stand up and yell and throw this cap into the air. But be sure you catch it. It’s a favorite standby of mine.”
“Why am I supposed to do all that?”
“It will be a victory celebration.”
“You’re that sure of winning?”
He chucked her under the chin. “I always win, Doc.”
He left her there in the stands and hurried back to his team.
o0o
True to his word, he won the game. By only two points, if she were reading the scoreboard correctly, but nonetheless it was a victory for The Eagles. She stood up with the rest of the crowd and cheered. She even risked throwing Dan’s hat in the air, but not very far. She didn’t want to lose it. Carefully, she stuffed it into her coat pocket.
Dan came back to her in the thinning crowd.
“How about a private celebration, Doc?”
“Hot chocolate at my house?”<
br />
“It’s a start.” He took her arm and helped her down the bleachers. “Those little pumps you’re wearing are impractical. You should keep an old pair of tennis shoes in your car so that at least your feet can be comfortable.”
“Is there any special reason I should have tennis shoes in the car... other than comfort?”
“For ball games. You ought to throw in an old hooded parka, as well. Weather this time of year can be nasty.”
“You sound very certain that I’ll be coming to more soccer games.”
They were at the bottom of the bleachers now, tagging behind the rest of the fans now rushing toward their cars. He stopped and lifted her chin with one hand. “I plan to make sure you will, Doc.”
Dan looked so appealingly innocent standing there with his tousled curls and shining eyes, that for an instant she wanted to be an ordinary woman out on a Thursday night date with her favorite man.
Chapter Seven
Janet drove home in the drizzle, and Dan followed close behind in his pickup truck. When she reached her apartment she hurried inside and waited for Dan with the door held wide.
He shook the rain from his hair before stepping inside.
“Now that’s the kind of welcome home a man likes—a smiling woman, a clean house, and...” He stopped talking and pretended to sniff the air. “What? No aroma of home-baked cookies?”
“I’m smiling because my mouth is permanently frozen in this position, and the cookies are in the pantry in a white baker’s bag.” Smiling, she held out her hand. “Let me hang your jacket in the closet.”
“Not yet. First I have to get you out of your wet clothes.” He caught her shoulders and pulled her forward.
She closed her eyes and everything that was Dan swept over her—the smell of wet leather, the unexpected gentleness of his big hands, the joyful exuberance that seemed bound in his large body. He appealed to the innocent, romantic part of her that had huddled in a rustic cabin with six other little girls in pigtails and made a pact that they would all grow up to walk down the aisle in white dresses with the man of their dreams.
“Your skin is cold—” his fingers traced a line from her chin to the point where her skin disappeared into the top of her coat. Slowly he undid the top button “—and much too irresistible.” Bending over her he carefully kissed away the raindrops that clung to her throat.
She shivered.
“I’m sorry, Janet. I’m being selfish.” Quickly he unbuttoned her wet coat and slid it from her shoulders. Underneath, her wool suit was heavy and damp with rain. “You’re soaked.”
She chuckled. “You needn’t make it sound like I did it deliberately. The rain helped.”
He hung her coat in the closet and started to peel off her jacket. The rain had soaked her silk blouse. For a moment he stood foolishly in the hallway, holding her wool suit jacket halfway off her shoulders, staring down at her as if he had never seen a woman before.
“You tempt me almost beyond endurance.”
She put her hands on his face. “And you, me.”
He pulled her hard against his chest for a kiss that got so far out of control, he was going to scoring the goal before the starting whistle ever blew. He backed off to give both of them some breathing room.
“I shouldn’t have come here tonight, Doc.”
“I invited you.”
“Then you shouldn’t have.”
“Why not?”
“Because I can’t seem to play this game anymore.”
“Was it ever a game, Dan?’’
“I’m not sure.” He reached to twine one of her damp curls around his finger. “All I know is that I’ve got you under my skin, and I can’t seem to do anything about it.”
“Do you want me to prescribe a cure?”
“Can you?”
“No. I’m not good at matters of the heart.”
“I’m not sure that I am, either.” He released the curl and smoothed her hair back from her face. “I used to think I was. I used to believe in myself as a Saturday afternoon matinee idol, some bigger-than-life hero who knew exactly what he wanted in a woman.”
“And now?”
“And now...” His hands slowly memorized her face. “I think I’m falling in love with you.”
She waited for him to say more, waited for her own emotions to become sane and ordered.
“Dan...”
“Shhh.” He pressed his index finger over her lips. “You don’t have to say anything. I know you’re too sensible to ever fall for a man whose life is measured by points on a scoreboard.”
His words hurt. She didn’t take the time to analyze the reasons; she acted on instinct.
“And of course you’re far too smart to become seriously involved with a woman whose career might preempt a game or two.”
He was stung by her vehemence. “Janet, is that what you think of me? That I’m so shallow I put sports ahead of friends and family?”
“Why shouldn’t I make that judgment? You’ve already decided I’m too narrow to make room for anything in my life except medicine.”
They stepped back from each other, as tense as two boxers on opposite sides of the ring. Bright spots of color rode high on Janet’s cheeks. Dan felt a small muscle twitch in his own stubborn jaw. He longed to reach for her, to bridge the gap with one passionate, all-consuming kiss.
“I think you’d better go, Coach.”
“I can’t leave you like this.”
“Like what?”
Hurt, he wanted to say. Angry. Instead, he chose an easier way out.
“Wet.”
“Wet?”
“Yes. You’re liable to take a cold and I’ll feel responsible.”
“You can leave with a clear conscience, Coach. I plan to drink two glasses of orange juice. Vitamin C.”
His smile was tinged with sadness. “I would have prescribed a warm brandy, a cozy fire and lots of cuddling.”
“That just goes to show you how unsuitable we are for each other. We don’t see eye to eye on anything.”
“You’re right.” Instinctively he reached out to touch her, then changed his mind. Endings were best done quickly. “Good night, Doc. Thanks for coming to my game.”
She almost said, Any time. But all that was behind them now, the easy camaraderie, the fun and games, the quick, bright passions.
“You’re welcome.” Clipped. To the point. No welcome in that statement.
“Dan stood uncertainly a moment longer; then he turned and walked out, taking care to close the door softly.
She almost called him back.
“It’s best this way,” she whispered.
Outside, Dan placed his hand on the doorknob. He almost turned and went back inside.
“It would never have worked,” he muttered to himself. As pep talks went, it rated as his worst. He climbed into his pickup truck and drove to his big, rambling house on Church Street.
Janet grabbed her books, then marched to her bedroom and plopped into the middle of the bed to study. But she kept seeing Dan. The image was so strong, she felt as if he were standing in the room. She imagined she could even smell his aftershave and that particular scent like wind and rain.
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, as if she could inhale him. Suddenly her eyes popped open and she jerked her pillow off the bed. There wadded underneath where she’d left it was Dan’s sweatshirt.
She hung the culprit in the closet, where it continued to wreck her study. Janet got up and flung it into a dresser drawer. But just as she was getting back into her studies, she thought how everyone of her panties would smell like the coach’s aftershave.
Marching into her den, she buried his sweatshirt under the sofa cushion.
“Unsuitable, my ass,” she said, and then she stormed back into her bedroom and powered up her laptop.
From: Janet
To: Molly, Joanna, Belinda, Clemmie, Bea, Catherine
Re: BAD advice
I don’t know why I th
ought my friends could figure out how to handle a man like Dan Albany! For God’s sake, the only one with experience is Belinda! I love every one of you dearly, but I’m through taking bad advice. First I returned his sweatshirt, only I got so caught up in the man I forgot to give it to him! Then I completely lost my mind and agreed to go to soccer game, for God’s sake! As if I have time for sports! It was pouring, and I got soaked and showed my utter lack of appreciation for the game, and he told me in no uncertain terms that I am unsuitable.
Granted, Dan Albany is big and handsome and charming, but I’ve had it with dating and hot dogs and soccer games and especially coaches!
Janet
From: Belinda
To: Janet, Molly, Joanna, Bea, Clementine, Catherine
Re: A Good Sign
The louder you protest, the deeper your feelings. You sound exactly like I did when I was trying to convince myself I wasn’t falling in love with Reeve. Do let’s have lunch and talk about it. Clemmie, can you come, too? Next week?
Belinda
From: Clemmie
To: Janet, Molly, Joanna, Bea, Catherine, Belinda
Re: When Harry Met Sally
This is so exciting! Janet, you and Dan remind me of Harry and Sally. You know, in that fabulous film with Meg Ryan. The harder fought, the harder they fell. I adore that movie! Every now and then when I’m feeling like Peppertown is the jumping off place of the world and nothing exciting will ever happen to me, I watch it on DVD and it just restores hope! Someday I’ll be eating a piece of pie and making these sounds while I sit across the table from a fabulous man, but you can bet your boots I won’t be faking it!
Yes, Belinda, I can have lunch! What fun!
Clemmie
From: Joanna
To: Janet, Clemmie, Bea, Catherine, Belinda, Molly
Re: The Nuns
Janet, you’re right about me not knowing a thing about love. And at the rate I’m going, I never will. The nuns won’t even let us watch When Harry Met Sally. They’d probably faint if they heard somebody having an orgasm, even is it was fake. UGH! I’ll be SO GLAD when my education is finished and I can start LIVING!!!
