the door of my classroom wasn’t the person I expected. He was tall and built like a tank, and he wore a black T-shirt emblazoned with the words BIRCH COLLEGE FOOTBALL.
“Yes.” I wheeled back a little from my desk. “Mr. Beckworth?”
“Yeah, that’s me.” He came in and glanced around the classroom dubiously at the fifth-grade sized chairs.
“There’s a chair right in the corner, if you don’t mind dragging it over.” I pointed to it. “Sorry about that.”
“Not a problem.” He lifted the chair easily and set it across the desk from me. His forehead knit together as he looked at me. “Have we met before?”
I shrugged. “I don’t think so. Your wife’s been in for a couple of our classroom parties, but I don’t think you and I have crossed paths yet.” I flipped open a folder on my desk. “But I have to tell you, your daughter is a pleasure to have in the classroom. She’s bright, happy and well-behaved. She gets along with the other kids. We’re glad to have her here.”
“Good to hear,” Mr. Beckworth responded. “I know these transitions can be tough. Moving Ally when we did wasn’t a choice we made lightly, but we felt like it was the right move for our family.”
“You came from Ohio, didn’t you?” I remembered Ally talking about her previous school.
“Yeah. I was an assistant coach at Cromwell. It’s a small college near Dayton. But when Birch offered me the position of head coach here, I couldn’t turn it down. It’s kind of a dream job.”
“I can imagine. And Birch can definitely use some strong leadership when it comes to the football team.”
Mr. Beckworth frowned at me. “I’m going to be a rude son-of-a-bitch and ask you something personal. Have you always been in that chair?”
I shook my head. “It’s not rude. I appreciate an honest question. I had a friend once who always said that filters were a waste of time.” I thought about Nate, as I often did, and smiled. “To answer your question, no. I had an injury about six years ago that left my legs paralyzed.”
“That’s it!” Mr. Beckworth snapped his fingers and pointed at me. “That’s where I know you from. You played for . . . God, who was it? A local high school, right? Quarterback. You had some talent, boy. And all the moves. We were looking at you back then. I was involved in recruiting, and you were on our list. When we found out you’d been hurt—all of us were disappointed.”
My football playing years seemed like a lifetime ago, but as Mr. Beckworth spoke, I remembered those days as though I was in the midst of them still. I’d had some high hopes, and tied up in those were the schools I knew were going to compete to offer me scholarships and incentives to play for them. All of those calls had vanished when my back had broken.
“Are you still involved in the game at all?” He leaned back, crossing his arms.
“Uh, no.” I grimaced. “A little hard to be involved when you’re on wheels. I mean, I still watch, but I haven’t done anything else.”
“Hmmmm.” Beckworth stared at me. “Have you thought about it? Have you ever considered coaching?”
I shifted in my chair. “Not really. I didn’t think it was an option.”
“What if it was?” He smiled a little. “What if you could be back in the game? What if your years of experience had the power to make a real difference?”
A fissure of excitement ran up my body. It had occurred to me before that maybe football was one of the things my life had been missing, but I’d never thought I could have that life again. “Do you mean, like, kids? A peewee team, or maybe helping out at the high school?”
“I was thinking more of an assistant position with an up-and-coming college team.” His eyes held mine. “I know it’s a little unorthodox, but right now, we’re trying to think outside the box.”
My head spun a little. “Okay.”
“Here’s the thing.” Beckworth hunched forward, leaning his forearms on the edge of my desk. “This isn’t widely known, but the reason I was recruited to this job at Birch is because the team has issues. Problems that go beyond the field. Behavior, academic, social . . . you name it. Basically, the team is a bunch of assholes.”
I couldn’t help smiling at his blunt language. Nate would’ve loved this guy. “I have some experience with that. I knew