Nowadays, he wasn’t sure he wanted any kind of involvement with women. Just handling all the problems that went along with raising an eighteen-year-old boy was enough to keep him hopping. Dillon sighed, thinking of his nephew, Aidan. Aidan’s father, a career marine who had been Dillon’s oldest brother, had been killed in Afghanistan five years ago, and his mother had died of colon cancer in January. Since then, Aidan had been Dillon’s responsibility.
Under normal circumstances, everything might have worked out fine, because Aidan—recent evidence to the contrary—was a good kid. But the trauma of losing his last parent and having to move from everything familiar to a town thousands of miles from the only home he’d ever known right before his senior year, and having to get used to an uncle he had barely seen in the past ten years, had proved to be Aidan’s undoing.
In fact, Dillon wasn’t sure the two of them were going to make it. No matter what rules Dillon laid down, Aidan simply ignored them. If he was told to be in no later than midnight on the weekends, he would show up at one...or later.
Punishment seemed to have no effect. Dillon had tried withholding spending money, taking away the car keys, grounding Aidan completely—nothing worked. Aidan seemed determined to push the boundaries to the limit, and nothing Dillon did or said made any difference to him.
Intellectually, Dillon knew that Aidan was acting out because it was the only way he could feel in control of at least some part of his life. But knowing what was causing the bad behavior didn’t make it any easier to deal with.
If only Dillon had someone to talk to. He’d actually considered confiding in Sophie. After all, she was the guidance counselor at Crandall Lake High School. Who better to talk to? But every time he had considered approaching her, he got cold feet. Getting cold feet over talking to a woman was a new experience for Dillon. And it wasn’t a feeling he liked.
By now Dillon had reached his own office, down the hall from the gym and across from the boys’ locker room. Inside he saw his assistant coach, Brian Penner, waiting. Time to stop thinking about Aidan and start thinking about Friday night’s game.
“Hey, Dillon, we need to talk,” Brian said, his affable face sporting a worried frown.
“What’s up?” Dillon said, dropping the load of files he’d carried from the main office onto his already-littered desk.
“It’s Jimmy.”
Crap. Jimmy Ferguson was the Cougars’ quarterback. Right now he was sidelined with a knee injury, and even though the knee was healing nicely and Jimmy should be able to play again by the end of the month, the kid wasn’t handling his inactivity well. He’d caused one problem after another in the past few weeks, and Dillon was seriously considering banishing him from the locker room as well as the field.
“You know what the problem is,” Brian said.
“Yeah.” If the team hadn’t been doing well during Ferguson’s forced absence, things would probably be fine—at least as far as Jimmy was concerned. However, the team was doing well. In fact, they’d won their last two games, mostly because their backup quarterback, Devon Washington, had performed spectacularly. Dillon knew Jimmy was worried he’d lose his starting spot if things continued to go well while he was sidelined.
“We need to do something,” Brian said, plopping down on a corner of Dillon’s desk.
Dillon sank into his leather armchair and sighed. “I know. I just hate to make an example of him. It’s hard enough for the kid right now.”
“Yeah, but if the other guys see him getting away with this crap, that’s not good, either.”
“I know.” Jeez, Dillon was beginning to wonder if he was cut out for this coaching gig. Or for the fatherhood gig he’d found himself in. And yet what choice did he have? It was important to establish a stable home for Aidan and it was just as important to establish some kind of stable career for himself. He was damned if he wanted to become one of those ex-jocks who tried to become actors or spent their days pitching products nobody needed. And he had no interest in spending his days in a monkey suit and tie, either. He sighed again. “I’ll talk to him, Brian. I’ll make it clear he’s on notice, and if he keeps causing trouble, he’ll be kicked off the team for good.”
Brian nodded. His still-worried expression mirrored Dillon’s own misgivings. Because Dillon knew removing Jimmy Ferguson—the cosseted and spoiled only son of Crandall Lake’s mayor—from the varsity football squad in his senior year would cause a huge uproar in the community. And Dillon had enough strife in his life right now.
* * *
Joy Ferrelli yawned, then glanced longingly out the window. If only she’d been able to skip school today the way Aidan had wanted her to. Any one of her friends could’ve gotten away with it, but they didn’t have older sisters teaching here as she did. No way Joy could skip school without Sophie finding out about it.
Sophie would have a cow if she knew about Joy and Aidan. That was the biggest reason for keeping their relationship a secret, but it wasn’t the only one. Truth was, Joy didn’t want to share what she had with Aidan. She didn’t want her girlfriends teasing her about him or asking her questions or giving her advice.
She especially didn’t want them guessing, although she was afraid they probably had guessed. Megan, her BFF, had hinted as much the other day, but Joy had managed to squirm out of a direct answer. That probably wouldn’t be the case much longer, especially because it was getting harder and harder to disguise the way Joy felt about Aidan.
She thought about last night. The way she’d sneaked out of her room after Sophie went to bed. The way Aidan was waiting for her at the corner of the street. The way they could barely wait to get to the lake before making love. And it was making love. Joy refused to even think of their relationship and the sex between them any other way. What they did was romantic and wonderful...and, and...beautiful. She guessed that was why she didn’t want anyone else to know. Because even Megan might snicker and give her sly looks and say something that would belittle what she had with Aidan. No, Joy couldn’t bear that.
Joy sighed, remembering how Aidan always made her feel. And how much she loved him.
“Miss Ferrelli, would it be too much to ask you to answer my question?”
Joy blinked. “Huh?”
“That’s what I thought,” Mr. Gardner said, frowning. “You didn’t even hear the question.” He shook his head, obviously disgusted. “If this class is that boring, maybe you’d like to drop it and take something more to your liking.”
Joy swallowed. American history was a required subject for sophomores. She couldn’t drop it, and old sour-face Gardner knew it. “Sorry, Mr. Gardner. I—I didn’t sleep well last night. I promise it won’t happen again.”
“Hmmph. See that it doesn’t.” He gave her his fish-eyed stare. “Or you’ll find yourself in detention.”
For a while, Joy forced herself to pay attention, even though she’d much rather have relived the night before. Where was Aiden now? she wondered. Had he skipped out? Had he gone out to the lake? Was he sitting in the sun, smoking a little weed?
That was another thing that would cause Sophie to have a fit, Joy thought, squirming inside. If her sister’d had any clue Joy was smoking pot once in a while, she’d... Joy didn’t know what she’d do. Probably ground Joy for the rest of her life. Plus, she’d be so disappointed. Joy could imagine the look Sophie would get on her face. And even though Joy was totally in love with Aiden and didn’t really see anything wrong with having some weed now and then—after all, what was the big deal, anyway?—she loved Sophie, and she didn’t want her to get upset.
So quit, then. Tell Aiden the truth. That you don’t like him smoking weed and you’re not going to do it with him anymore.
“Miss Ferrelli! I told you earlier if you were bored,