Pair a biology teacher with a coach and a struggling student athlete for one explosive game of chemistry.
Gina Tellis is happy with her single life. She loves her job as a high school biology teacher in the Catskills town of Abbeydon and doesn’t need a man telling her what to do. Her routine gets turned on its head when the school hires a new coach who is too hot for words, but she’s content to admire from afar. She’s got zero interest in some former sports star.
Brandon Waters is trying to rebuild his life after an injury took him out of hockey forever. He came to Abbeydon to escape the constant pressure and attention, but small-town life has its own challenges—like everybody knowing your business. He didn’t count on meeting a woman who pushes all of his happy buttons. He sure as hell didn’t count on falling for her.
Then Gina notices the school’s star quarterback is struggling with his classes and she pits herself against the typical academics versus sports power struggle to help her student. She finds a surprising ally in Brandon, and chemistry simmers as the two work together to help the young player. Their budding relationship gets sidelined by her biases against sports and his fears of his continued struggles to deal with the lasting impact of his injuries.
Brandon will need to open up and let Gina help him, but first, she needs to accept the teacher and the jock can work together.
Reader advisory: This book features a character dealing with PTSD.
General Release Date: 19th September 2023
The big round wall clock clicked as Gina Tellis slid past the empty front office. She picked up her pace, despite being five minutes early. She was a fully grown adult on her way to see her boss, not some troubled teen who’d been sent to the principal’s office. Still, in the otherwise silent room, the low hum of the clock caused her stomach to knot. It was about time they replaced that antique with something digital. Or at least from this century.
“Gina! Come on back.” Principal Kerr’s broad face wore a bright smile that told Gina she was not going to be thrilled with whatever he had to say. The knot twisted tighter, and she tried to will it away. She had no reason to be nervous. She was a good teacher coming into her sixth year at Abbeydon Academy. Her students consistently performed well, and her parent reviews were always top-notch.
Principal Kerr waved her to a seat in front of his desk, and for a moment, she saw herself sitting there as a high school freshman—bleached blonde hair and too much eye makeup, trying to hide her uncertainty behind a tough look and even tougher attitude. Gabriel Kerr wasn’t the principal back then. A woman had just taken over the job, and she had looked at the rebellious young teen in front of her with a kindness and warmth Gina wasn’t used to.
The laugh Principal Kerr gave as he sat yanked her back to the present. “Thank you for coming in. Teacher days don’t officially start for another week, so I appreciate you giving up some of your free time.”
Gina plastered a smile on her face to match his. “It’s not a problem. I just got back from vacation yesterday and your message seemed a bit urgent. What’s this about?”
She’d asked for a new set of microscopes for her classroom last year and been put off. Maybe that was it. Though she couldn’t imagine Kerr calling her in for that. No, he’d save that for unveiling when the parents were here in a big ‘look what we got’ gesture.
“We finally hired a new coach,” Principal Kerr said, as if this were not only great news but something that she should be excited about. His eyebrows raised, and he leaned forward, clearly expecting some response from her.
“That’s terrific,” she replied. She wasn’t sure she understood the ‘finally’ part. Coach Doyle had broken his hip in late July and had decided to retire a year early. No surprise. The man was pushing seventy. “A month feels like a short time to me.”
The words were out before she could think twice. Fortunately, Principal Kerr chose for once to ignore her smart-ass remarks.
“Coach Waters will be taking on boys’ sports, as well as four physical education classes and a study hall,” the principal said. Well, that was new. Franklin Doyle had taught two PE classes—both filled with students in the athletics program—and two health classes, also usually filled with athletes.
“No academics?” Gina replied.
The principal shook his head. “He feels it’s important to focus on his strength—physical education. And I agree.” He leaned back and sighed, running a hand through thinning dark brown curls. “Between the two of us, Coach Doyle should have given up teaching those health classes ages ago.”
Gina managed to stifle her laughter. Barely. The state mandated health education and that usually fell to science teachers or PE teachers. She’d been offering to take it on for years, but…
“Wait, is that why you called me in today?” Two weeks before school started was nowhere near enough time to prepare a decent curriculum.
“In part,” Kerr said, and the bright smile was back. The twisting feeling in her gut returned. “We’ve had to make some schedule changes since we can’t have science and health classes overlapping now.”
She braced herself. Whatever he was about to say couldn’t be too bad. On the bright side, she was getting the health classes she’d been asking for. Maybe the new coach would be less of an old-school locker-room jock than Doyle. Maybe, just maybe, he’d rein in Gerald.
Gina suppressed a shudder. She’d come very close to quitting when he’d come on as an athletic assistant during her second year of teaching. She wasn’t sure what drove her more nuts, the damn toothpick he always had in his mouth or that he acted like the sports programs were all that mattered.
Yeah, and maybe pigs will fly. Gerald hadn’t changed since high school. He sure as shit wouldn’t change now.
Principal Kerr slid a piece of paper across the desk. Her schedule. She already had it programmed into her phone. She taught five classes, and her first started at nine in the morning. She took the second lunch period and had lucked into having no class scheduled during the last period. As far as she was concerned, it was perfect.
The schedule sitting on Kerr’s desk was not perfect. “I have classes periods one and eight?”
“But no students during period four,” he replied.
True. She had office hours during period four. Which would have been annoying but fine if he’d also moved her to the first lunch slot during period five, but no. She was still set for the second lunch during period six.
“You realize this is a choppy schedule that messes up the organizational plan I’d already made?” Gina didn’t see any reason to be nice about it. She wasn’t a new teacher. She’d been here long enough to have paid her dues. “And now I have six classes to teach. Six!”
“Well, we needed to give you both of Coach Doyle’s health classes,” Kerr replied, his voice rising in defense. “You’ve been asking for those.”
“Yes, I have,” she said. “I’ve also been asking for environmental science as an elective. I have two biology classes. What’s up with that? What happened to Stephen?”
She glared across the desk at the principal. If he wanted to hire a new coach who refused to take on academic classes, fine, she was happy to take over the health classes, but she wasn’t the only science teacher at the school. Stephen Schubert taught the same classes she did. His wife, Christie, taught math and only math—four periods of it every semester. A prospect that made Gina cringe.
“He’s picking up the Earth science and physics classes,” the principal responded. “And Micha Lewis doesn’t teach anything except chemistry. Look, I know this isn’t ideal, but no one expected Franklin to get injured and retire.”
“Seriously?” Gina bit her tongue. One of these days, she’d learn to keep her mouth shut. Oh well, may as well go with it. “It’s terrible that he was injured but come on. Really?”
Kerr spread his hands in a ‘what-can-you-do?’ gesture. “We thought we’d have this academic year to find a replacement and plan.” He looked down at his desk. “We had to cobble this together in a hurry. Stephen isn’t comfortable teaching health classes to…ah…well…”
A lightbulb went off in Gina’s head. “More like Christie isn’t comfortable with him teaching health classes to girls.”
Principal Kerr had the decency to blush. Stephen had never done anything inappropriate, but he was young and good-looking. Every year, at least one student developed a major crush on him. Come to think of it, Gina couldn’t blame the principal for not asking him to teach a health class. Sam Becker, the head of the girls’ athletics department, was already teaching two health classes, so she couldn’t take on more.
“Fine.” Gina allowed a sigh to escape. “You know me. I’ll always do what needs doing.”
The principal visibly relaxed and sat back with the first genuine smile she’d seen in this meeting. “Thank you.”
The note of sheer relief in his tone almost made Gina feel guilty about getting pissy. Almost.
“Have you sent out the updates to parents and students yet?” Safe bet he hadn’t. The office staff were slowly trickling in, but they wouldn’t be up to a complete full-time staff until next week. Cutting things a bit tight.
Kerr scanned his calendar as if he didn’t already have everything memorized. Gina knew better. “That’ll go out right before the meet-and-greet.”
Oh boy. She didn’t envy the office staff when that news went out to parents.
After she left, she had the realization she hadn’t asked about Coach Waters. Who was he? What was his background? Where did he come from? Since he was replacing Franklin Doyle, it was almost guaranteed he coached football and lacrosse—two sports that were practically a religion in the area. There was no way the school would be without them.
She checked her watch—before lunchtime. No one would be at the coffee shop yet. She could still stop by. Grab a cuppa and maybe see if anyone at Juan’s had heard anything.
* * * *
A group of older men sat gathered on the porch in front of the general store as Gina pulled up. Two were hunched over a checkerboard, while Grant Bishop and Lyle Redmond sat in rocking chairs. She crossed her fingers Grant was in a talkative mood.
“Gorgeous day,” she greeted as she climbed the steps.
A series of grunts came from the men at the checkerboard. She hadn’t expected much from them.
“Ayuh.” That was Lyle. He was tamping tobacco into his pipe. Not that he’d ever light it up. He’d given up smoking years ago. He just liked the familiarity of the process.
“I’m guessing you just heard ’bout your new colleague.” Grant folded his hands across his chest and leaned back in the rocker. His dark eyes staring out from under steely eyebrows. Ever the grump.
“I was kind of on vacation,” Gina said, as if she needed to explain her lack of knowledge. Asking Grant direct questions was an uncertain prospect. He’d either talk your ear off or clam up. He nodded at an empty chair and waited for Gina to sit.
“Cat was in getting supplies for Nate’s old place,” Grant said once she’d settled. “Said she hasn’t met him yet. They worked with some rental agent. All she knew is he’s moving from San Antonio. Couldn’t even recall his name.”
Hell, Gina didn’t even know his first name. “It’s Waters,” Gina said. “That’s all I know.”
“The hockey player?” One of the men at the checkerboard turned around. “Betting it’s him. Took a bad injury a while back. Right at the height of his career.”
“Yeah, but which one?”
“The one that got hit on the ice. Some fight.”
“It’s hockey. There’s always some fight.”
Gina tuned out the bickering. Sports. Whatever. She went inside to get a coffee and sent fresh cups out to the men. It paid to be nice.
Maybe she should call Cat. She might’ve heard something new.
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