Telluride

Football and Family

Tim's POV

I watch as Faith sits with Karla and Russel just to make sure she okay, then I turn back to my sandwich. I've been thinking about the whole Christine situation all day. I don't love her. And clearly, she doesn't love me. Mama always said, anyone who truly loves you would never put themselves in a position to lose you. And that's exactly what she did. I don't want to move to New York with someone I don't love. That's exactly what I'm going to tell her when she gets back from Japan in a week. I feel almost relieved that I've made that decision. As I take my sandwich out of the toaster I hear the unmistakable sound of my coaching buddy's entering the staffroom, they're loud but they keep this place interesting.

"Timbo!" my friend Jason says walking towards in the kitchen while the rest of them take a seat by the window. He hushes his voice once he gets closer to me. "So, I heard we got a new nurse and she is almost as hot as old Miss Gracie." He laughs.

"Jase, easy boy. She's new to town and still trying to find her feet. It's probably not even permanent." I tell him trying to deter him from Faith. I love the guy but he can be a real ass sometimes, especially towards woman.

"Basically, what I heard is this apparently gorgeous woman is just gonna be round for an informal fling." He says. I don't know why but I feel the need to protect faith. She my friend and I care about her.

"Jason, I swear to God if you make any advances towards her I will fire your ass from the coaching staff, do you understand me." I make it sound like I'm joking but serious enough to make him leave her alone.

"Fine Mr Head Coach. At least let me look at her, where is she?"

"Sitting in the corner facing us by Russel and Karla," I tell him so that he can look without making it obvious were talking about her. He turns around and then turns back towards me with eyes.

"I heard she was hot but lord I was not expecting that." he says as he walks back towards the rest of the PE guys. I like to mingle with the rest of the staff but these guys are closer to my age and just a bit more entertaining.

"Tim since you're a Bachelor this week are we gonna paint the ton the town red?" one of the guys asks me. I decide now is as good a chance as any to tell them where Christine and I are at. They're my best friends and I would've told them at some point.

"I'm going to be bachelor for a little longer than that. Christine and I are done, or at least we will be once she gets back." I can tell there are going to be follow up questions so I decide to fill them in on my thought process. They all agree, as good buddies should, and say that there is no way I could leave them before football season.

After lunch, I do some more office work before heading down to the football pitch to get ready for try-outs. I get out of my work clothes and into some sweats and a white LSU shirt. By the time I've laid down my cones for the first drill I see some of the guys making their way to the changing shed. As they sit on the nearby bleacher I overhear their conversation about some new blonde girl, with an I quote "curves moulded by our lord and saviour himself" and legs "for days" whatever the hell that means. I know we had a few new admissions this semester so I hope their being kind to their new class mate. I decide to have my two cents by yelling "I hope you boys are respecting this young lady!" to which I get a series of "yes Mr McGraw". Once all the coaches are here I send the boys out to do a warm up run that serves as a fitness test. Our fitness coach Davis is observing them with most as the other staff as I watch from atop the bleachers. All of a sudden, I notice all the boys heads turn to the path from the office down to the field and I suddenly become all too aware who the blonde with the crazy curves is. Faith. Of course Faith would manage to get the whole school talking about her by walking 20 meters down the hall way. She is stunning, so it makes sense. If I were a 17 year old boy I would probably feel the same. She walks towards me and smiles "sorry I'm late, some junior got a nose bleed and duty calls" she tells me.

"You're fine, they've just been running laps so no danger. Except some of them might've sprained their necks trying to look at you while you walked down the path." I tell her laughing. She ducks her head and tucks her hair behind her ear. "Don't worry Faith, they're just little boys. I'll protect you." I tell her hoping to ease her mind.

"Well thank you. It means a lot, you helping me out and all." She says smiling at me. She takes the seat next to me on the bleachers, while I explain what the process will be for today.

"We are gonna run some drills after the fitness and tonight Jason and Tony will work out teams after seeing their individual skills, then tomorrow we are gonna run some plays. Hopefully a team will be named on Thursday and training will start Friday morning." I tell her as the boys finish their test and the coaches write their scores down. Altogether we have 5 coaches. There's me, Jason, Davis, Tony and Mike, but I will introduce them to Faith after training. As the boys walk over towards me and Faith I hear a few whistles and whispers but Faith doesn't seem to register. I wonder if she knows how attractive she is? "Boys meet your new team medic and school nurse Miss Perry. She is as official of a member of staff as myself and we expect you to treat her as such. Any issues regarding health or injury see her. She specialises in physiotherapy so if you tweak a muscle see her, I do not want any avoidable injuries. Do you understand?"

"Sir, yes sir!" they all yell at me.

"Good. Now follow Tony and Mike who will do some skill assessments with you till the end of try-outs." I tell them. I love coaching, it gives me a chance to interact with some of the kids who need as much positive reinforcement as they can get, and now I get to spend time with Faith as well. I mean she is a very nice person. And she is pretty and smart...

"Aren't you gonna watch them?" Faith disrupts me from my thoughts.

"I am, during the selection I like to observe the boys and how they are with each other. A team with skill can be good, but a team with honour is unbeatable." I tell her. And its true it means more to me that they are good people than good players. "take the kid in the yellow shirt, Joey"

"I met him today" Faith says.

"right, so Joey seems like your typical ball player jock right, but watch he won't hit the smaller junior players to hard and he always helps them up again. He scored 94th percentile for sensitivity on his career aptitude test." I tell her. "He's the kind of kid that can go as far as he lets himself go."

"They mean a lot to you, don't they?" Faith asks.

"They're basically family, just like everyone else in Start." I tell her.