Page 8 of Racing Heat

“Nah, goalies don’t run,” I tease her.

“I think some of them do,” she teases me right back.

“Come on, Coach, run with us,” Hendrix says, hopefully missing the flirting that I think I’m picking up on from Cassie.

“Nope, I’m not running, Hendrix. But you are.” I walk over to where the rest of the coaches are talking about what’s coming up for the girls during practice.

“Think we’ll be ready for the Angel FC?” Andie asks me. Andie Chapman is the “token female coach,” as August likes to say, who was brought in to help make our offense explosive.

Andie is joined on the coaching staff by head coach Nate Watts, the former men’s coach who can be hard as nails. Coach Kerry Morgan works mostly with the defense. His wife recently had a baby, so he’s been off on paternity leave.

“Yeah, I’m going to prepare Hendrix for the high balls,” I tell them. “I’d also like to borrow Cassie and Mac to help fire some big shots at the goal. I think they have the range from the eighteen that we’re looking for.”

Nate just nods in response, and I follow his gaze to where the girls are continuing their run. Everyone looks exhausted; I almost feel bad for them. Almost. I remember how much my lungs would burn during Manchester’s version of properties.

“Unless you can think of another girl who would be helpful to work her out,” I add.

“You can have them for the last fifteen minutes of practice, if that works.”

I feel more relief at having Cassie help in my drill than I should. “Thanks. I appreciate it.”

“No problem. Fuck, I hate early practices just as much as they do,” Nate quips. “I like it better when I get more sleep and more time with my girls.”

“I get it,” I say. He has his hands full. “How are the girls? The twins are almost eighteen months now?”

Nate smiles like the proud father he is. “Yeah, they’ll be eighteen months next week. And Kristie is already planning their second birthday party.”

We all chuckle. I heard that their first birthday party was really something. I’ve only seen pictures of it. Andie was there, so she knows what he’s talking about. It was quite the show. Kristie threw the one-year-olds a circus-themed party, complete with live animals. It was beautiful and chaotic, and apparently the girls, even though they were only one, had a blast.

“What is she thinking the theme will be this time?” Andie asks Nate.

He shrugs. “Hell, if I know. She’s talking about a different one each day. But she’s excited and the girls will have some wonderful pictures and memories of that day.”

“They sure will,” I agree.

“You’ll get to come to this one, Jase,” he tells me.

“Thanks, I’d really like that.”

“Do you want kids?” Nate asks. He knows I was married before. That piece came up during the interview as one of the reasons I wanted to leave Manchester. The divorce had been rough and long. I’d just wanted to get away.

“I’m not sure,” I reply. “We never got that far.”

“Sorry, I shouldn’t have brought that up,” Nate replies.

“No problem, mate.”

The conversation goes back to soccer. Andie is showing Nate some clips she found of the San Diego team. She wants to review the information with the girls during film sessions.

“I have some film on the goalie, so I would like to add that into the session,” I tell them.

Nate smiles. “Great. If everyone can send over the film to the techies, they’ll splice it all together so that we have a complete package to review.”

It’s surreal to me that we have a tech department that splices film together. When I played soccer in college, there wasn’t spliced film. We watched pieces of video tapes. When I got older, it was streaming. But the Cromwell’s have spared no expense in building this team. They want to ensure that the girls have the best, and Cromwell sure has the money to allow it. So, the girls get spliced film, and we have watch parties where they get fed while we watch.

It’s fine. I like where I work, and I like the job. It’s just odd the amount of money that’s thrown toward this program. It’s in its infancy, so who knows how long this team will last. I feel guilty thinking that way, because August is my friend. But the city isn’t always kind. Florida is the only state that has two NWSL teams, and there are plenty of states without, which makes me question their decision to put one here. Georgia might have been a better option.

The girls return from their run, and we coaches start to separate to our stations. Hendrix will have to run some footwork drills with the girls before heading over with me and the backup goalies, Miranda and Kate.