Chapter 19 - Coach Miller Returns Once
Coach Miller came back to Ridgeway for one reason.
To testify at a district hearing.
He did not enter the gym.
Elias saw him in the parking lot afterward.
Coach stopped.
“You look stronger.”
Elias looked at his knee.
“Getting there.”
Silence.
“I’m coaching middle-school rec now.”
Elias raised an eyebrow.
“They let you?”
“I disclosed everything.”
“Why middle school?”
“Because I needed to decide whether I liked coaching or liked winning.”
Elias absorbed that.
“And?”
“I like coaching.”
Maybe true.
Maybe something Coach was still proving.
Elias nodded.
Coach looked toward the school.
“I heard Harper’s doing well.”
“She is.”
“Good.”
Then Coach asked,
“Do you hate me?”
Elias almost smiled.
“Why does every adult want a verdict?”
Coach laughed sadly.
“Fair.”
Elias thought.
“I don’t trust you.”
Coach nodded.
“That’s clearer.”
“But I don’t think about you every day.”
That hurt and relieved Coach simultaneously.
“Probably healthy.”
Elias moved toward the entrance.
Coach called,
“I’m glad you’re back.”
Elias turned.
“I’m not back yet.”
Coach understood.
Recovery wasn’t a dramatic return.
It was a process.
“Then I hope you get where you want.”
Elias nodded.
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That was enough.
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