want you to meet.”
Everyone looked over and saw Cal standing at my side, and slowly, all of their gazes shifted to the back of the pack where Lila was standing. “That’s the man-hater I take it?” Cal huffed at me.
“Correct.” I smiled at him. “Sorry.”
He chuckled. “I’ve dealt with trouble before, Q. Give me more credit.”
“I’ve seen you deal with trouble,” I replied. “That is a whole lot more than trouble.”
The team gathered around, apart from Lila, who stayed standing about thirty feet back. When they were all situated, I held a hand out to Cal. “Guys, this is our new coach, Cal Carter. He was my coach back in high school, and he quit that job to be here with us. They wanted him for the Baltimore Ravens at one point, but he’s a Montpelier man and stayed here. He had a stint at the U until he was ready to settle down, and then he got a job at Mont High and has been there ever since.”
“Had,” Cal corrected me with a smile. “Black Widows, it’s a high honor. We’ve got a lot of work to do, but I’m impressed by what I’ve seen and what I’ve heard from Quinn. Now, don’t worry, I know you guys have done things a certain way before me, and I’m not going to run in here and start changing shit willy-nilly, but if you give me the reins, you can trust that I’ll lead you to even more victories.”
Jansen chuckled. “We have a coach.”
“Nice to meet you,” Kris said with a grin. “Honestly, I’m happy it’s someone else’s responsibility to keep these people in check.” She nodded at me. “And maybe you can lasso that one.”
I smiled broadly. “Yeah, hopefully, he won’t have to do too much lassoing. I promise I’m done being crazy.”
“Sure,” Hollie grumbled back before grinning at Cal. “Nice to meet you. I’m Hollie.”
“Trust me, Quinn got me with her recklessness. She put my name on the application before she asked me to coach.”
Kris looked at me with a disappointing stare. “Of course she did.”
“I had to put a name down!” I whined before waving my hand. “Look, we don’t have time for this. We have a team and a coach, and this is our first qualifying game for semi-pro status. Let’s focus on the goal, please.” I looked over at Lila, who was still glaring at us from thirty feet back. “Lila.”
“No,” she responded simply. “I won’t do it.”
“Lila, he’s a good coach—”
“He’s a man.” She crossed her arms. “Men don’t think we belong in this sport.”
Cal held up a hand. “Whoa. I think women are just as suited for football if not better.” He put a hand on my shoulder. “The first time I saw Quinn make a guy eat dirt, my whole world changed. You can trust me on this one, I have no—”
Lila glowered at Cal. “Enough. I wasn’t talking to you.”
“Lila, he is the coach of our team now. He quit a paid, daytime job to be here. Please just try?” Lila didn’t respond. She took her helmet and mouth guard, slid them on, and then walked out toward the field. I let out a sigh of relief and looked at Cal. “That’s as much of an acceptance as we’re gonna get for now.”
“I’ll wear her down.” He clapped. “All right, Widows. I’ll have some notes for you at halftime, but for now, get out there and show me what you got!”
The team was energized by Cal’s presence, which made me happy. They were even treating me better. For the first time, I’d made good on a promise to them instead of throwing them into more chaos, and that appeared to have earned me at least a modicum of restored respect. I was still sore, overly so, and Cal mentioned it at halftime. Despite my promise not to keep things from my team anymore, I told a small fib and said I’d just gone a little too hard on a personal workout. They didn’t need to know that I was half-distracted by a night of aggressive football playing with Zeke, a night that I couldn’t quite fit into a box of understanding in my mind.
Lila was tough to deal with but seemed to at least be giving it half a shot, or maybe she just wanted to work out her aggression by putting everyone she came into contact with six-feet under. As long as the Widows stayed out of her way, she was