older man through the gym and down the hallway leading to the locker rooms and the nearly empty equipment area in the back.
The place was abandoned except for a few managers and assistants that greeted them with nods before they lugged their equipment from the room and shut the door behind them. Ryder felt sticky and exhausted, but still managed to smile at the coach when the old man walked into the room, slipping the door shut behind him.
Ryder felt his insides start to bubble. At one time, this man had meant everything to him. He’d been a mentor and coach, a father and friend, and Ryder had done to him, to his whole family, what he’d accused Reese of doing a few weeks ago—he’d left them all behind without a single word of goodbye.
It had been ten years since Ryder and Coach Noble had been close enough to speak. Ryder guessed there were words the man wanted to say, and he dared the quarterback with one sharp look to stop him. The looming lecture was a long time in the making.
“I can find you something to drink,” Ryder tried, feeling awkward and useless as he stood across a small, oblong table filled with duffle bags and plastic bottles with the Steamers’ logos across the front.
Coach’s reply was a low grunt and a simple head shake before he moved in front of Ryder. “You made me a promise,” he told the quarterback, his face unreadable, but then, it always had been. Coach Noble had the best poker face of anyone Ryder had ever known.
He waited, wondering if his former coach would continue, but then nodded, hurrying to explain himself when nothing else was spoken. “Yes, sir,” he told him, fanning his fingers through his wet hair. “I did.”
Noble nodded, standing tall and strong, his still-wide and muscular frame seeming a little imposing to Ryder as it always had been. The coach might be older, he might be nearing retirement from his position at Duke, but that didn’t mean he was weak in the least.
“I taught you everything I knew back then.” Ryder nodded, agreeing, but didn’t interrupt as the coach walked further in, standing in front of the quarterback, feet apart, and his arms crossed. “But maybe I forgot something.”
Ryder frowned, wondering what had the coach doubting how he’d trained Ryder. “What did you leave out?”
Coach waited a half second, pausing just enough that Ryder couldn’t keep holding his breath. When the old man spoke, his voice was deep, and those three syllables rattled something inside the quarterback. “Loyalty.”
That one stung, the single word wounding like a bat straight to the gut. “Coach…”
“You and your parents, you were all lost.” His tone softened like just the mention of how Ryder’s family had been when Rhiannon died gave them all some leeway in the coach’s eyes. He shook his head, as though bringing back the memories Ryder fought so hard to keep buried deep. “Anyone would be if that happened to their family. But you three were like boats drifting in a hurricane with no one to anchor you. If you’d have let her, my daughter could have anchored all of you. Hell, me and Roni could have. But you, son, you just walked away.” He moved his head, as though he still couldn’t believe how everything had ended. “You didn’t look back. Gotta be honest. That burned me. It burned me for a long time.”
“Coach…”
Noble waved his hand, a quick gesture that could have been a demand for silence but his slow nod told Ryder he only wanted to be heard. “I understand loss, Glenn. I’ve felt it deep down, but I’ll never understand walking away from people you love. No matter what happens, nothing should kill that.”
Ryder didn’t like how this felt—the memories, the fact that Coach had come to finally call him out on how badly he’d hurt the man and his family. He didn’t want the guilt that burned inside his stomach now as Reese’s father stepped back, leaning against the table. Ryder didn’t back down from the old man’s stare but couldn’t keep his expression even. Coach just knew him too well.
“It was a long time ago, and I was a hurt kid,” he tried, knowing the excuse sounded as stupid and useless to Coach as it had to Ryder’s own ears.
He didn’t miss a beat. “You still a hurt kid?”
“No, sir. I don’t think so.”
“Right.” One quick nod and Coach motioned for Ryder to sit