Taking a Shot at Love Page 20

  Lisa shook their hands and greeted them with her best smile. She’d been practicing all afternoon in front of the mirror until she had it right.

  “Mr. Bouchard, Mrs. Bouchard, I’m so pleased to meet you.”

  “Please, call us Claude and Marie. It is so nice to meet you. Celeste has been telling us all about you.” Claude took her hand in his and covered it, making her feel welcomed by him. Marie, on the other hand, seemed like she’d be a tougher egg to crack. By her body language, standing stiffly with her hands clasped together in front of her, Marie didn’t seem as welcoming. Although Marie was a little standoffish, she was an elegant, beautiful woman, and Lisa knew where Celeste got her looks from. Lisa had some work to do to get Marie to loosen up toward her. The thaw started when Celeste showed her parents the flowers Lisa gave her. Ah, Marie was making sure Lisa was respectful of her daughter. Thankfully, her father raised Lisa and her brother to respect women, hold open the door, pull out the chair. Lisa definitely knew how to be a gentlewoman, and it looked like she would be tested.

  “It smells amazing in here. Is there anything I can help with?”

  “No, sweetie, the sauce is on simmer and will be ready in a little while. Why don’t we go sit for a while and we can all get to know each other? We all have something to drink. What can I get you?”

  “I’m fine for now, but thank you.”

  Once they were seated, Lisa started the conversation by asking how their flight was. After Claude answered, Marie’s interrogation began. Lisa had been sitting relaxed in an armchair but moved to the edge when Marie started her questioning.

  “My Celeste told me you work at the same university. What kind of education do you have?”

  “Well, I have my undergraduate degree in psychology and my master’s in education.”

  “But you are a coach, yes?”

  “Yes, ma’am. I played basketball in college and at the professional level in Europe, but I was forced to give up that level of playing due to some serious injuries. My college coach hired me as an assistant, at which time I got my master’s degree. I’ve been coaching ever since then.”

  “Do you teach, as well?”

  “Yes, sir. I teach self-defense at the university.” Lisa felt Claude might ask her the easy questions.

  Celeste spoke up. “Lisa felt it was important for students, particularly women, to know how to defend themselves. It seems there are so many reports of campus attacks and rapes, it really is a great class to offer. She also started a healthy living initiative that is free for students and faculty. Once a week, we have a different exercise class or nutrition class. It seems the classes grow a little more each week.”

  “We? Are you involved, Celeste?” Her mother’s look of surprise almost made Lisa laugh.

  “No, I take the classes, Mama. I’m not always able to make it, but I try.”

  “I thought it would be a good idea to offer ideas for a healthy lifestyle. Our university’s president was very excited about it, and we have coaches and nutrition professors volunteer each week so there’s a good variety.” Lisa could see Marie’s ice begin to melt.

  “Dinner should be ready. Lisa, would you help me, please? Mama, Papa, you can take a seat at the table.”

  Lisa was grateful for the short reprieve and followed Celeste into the kitchen. She was taken by surprise when Celeste turned on her, pushed Lisa up against the counter, and kissed her breathless. Lisa welcomed Celeste’s tongue into her mouth and sucked on the tip. She felt her body heat up until she remembered Celeste’s parents were in the other room. She placed her hands on Celeste’s shoulders and gently pushed her away.

  “Are you crazy? Your parents are in the other room.”

  Celeste wiped the edge of her lips with her fingertip to erase any smudge of lipstick. “It was your fault. You didn’t even kiss me when you arrived.” Celeste pouted her lips and Lisa tapped them with her finger.

  “I did too kiss you.”

  “It was barely a peck.”

  “Because I didn’t know if your parents would be all right with it. I was trying to be respectful.”

  “You’re so cute. And sweet. Thanks for thinking of them.” Celeste rewarded her with another kiss with a little less heat. They carried out the food to the dining table and Lisa held out the chair for Celeste to sit down. Wait. Was that a small smile that Marie gave Lisa? She did a little mental fist pump. She took her seat and waited for Celeste to take the lead.

  Once everyone had their plates filled, they continued their conversation. Lisa asked the Bouchards about art and museums. She didn’t know a lot about art so her questions were about finding out more about certain artists and periods. Lisa had a feeling that Marie might have thought of her as just a dumb jock and unworthy of dating her sophisticated daughter. Lisa was holding her own though, and every once in a while, she would catch an affectionate glance from Celeste. All in all, Lisa felt the meeting of the parents was an overall success. Marie’s ice had melted, and she even laughed at a few things Lisa had said. Lisa could honestly say that she liked the Bouchards. When it came time to say good night, she got hugs and cheek kisses from both Claude and Marie, and it nearly brought tears to her eyes. They liked her. They really liked her.

  “I’m going to walk Lisa to her car.”

  “Good night, Claude and Marie. I really enjoyed talking with you tonight.”

  “The pleasure was ours, chéri. We will see you at the game next week.” Marie kissed Lisa on the cheek once more before letting her go.

  Celeste walked Lisa to her car and wrapped her arms around her neck. “My parents like you.”

  Lisa placed her hands on Celeste’s hips and pulled her closer.

  “Yeah? Good. I like them too. You look just like your mom, you know.”

  “That’s a wonderful compliment. Thank you.”

  “No, thank you. I had a really great time tonight getting to know your folks. And dinner was delicious.”

  Lisa leaned in to kiss Celeste and wrapped her arms tight around her. She was really falling for Glassell University’s most popular and prettiest English professor. She hoped Celeste was falling for her too.

  “Sweet dreams, baby.” That was the first time she called Celeste “baby” since they’d started dating, but it felt so natural.

  “Good night, sweetheart.”

  Lisa stayed put until Celeste walked through her front door. She finally drove away, but instead of leaving, she felt her life was finally coming home.

  Chapter Twenty-three

  The whole school started rallying around the women’s basketball team. They had finished the conference undefeated, they had cruised through their conference tournament, and they were getting ready to leave for the national tournament in Chicago. Getting this far was beyond what Lisa was expecting. Hoping for? Sure. But not expecting. It was nearly unheard of for a coach to turn around a team that used to be so bad into a title contender in a short amount of time. It was a little more difficult to prepare her team for their first opponent. First, there would be nerves. It didn’t matter how good a player someone was, when they got on a stage of this caliber, the jitters kicked in. Also, Lisa didn’t know anything about the team they would face first so she had to work her magic to find some game film to study.

  It was pretty impressive to see the rally put on in the center of campus. The quad had cement benches all around and a huge fountain in the center. There was a podium set up on the steps of the library, the school’s band was playing, and the cheerleaders were waving their pom-poms. Her players were all matching in their GU travel sweats. The president gave a good luck speech, followed by Lisa thanking the students and faculty for their support over the season. She reminded them they could watch the games on the GU athletics website since the games would be streamed.

  The crowd dispersed after Lisa introduced the team and thanked them once again. She saw Olivia and Celeste off to the side and waved. They waved back, then turned to head to their respective classes. Lisa
and Celeste already had plans to meet later that night for a private farewell. Athena and Lisa were standing around and collecting congratulations and good lucks from students and faculty. Her day had been so awesome until Jackie Stone came walking up.

  “So, you’re off to Chicago for your little basketball tournament. That’s great, Coach. That’s really great.”

  Lisa remained quiet, not trusting herself to say anything civil to Celeste’s ex.

  “Will Celeste be joining you?”

  “How is that your business?”

  “Well, I was thinking I could use the time you two are apart to convince her that we should get back together. After all, she’s too high class for a jock. She’s rooting around the gutter with you.”

  “Who the hell do you think you are?” Athena started to come at Jackie until Lisa held her back.

  “Stay out of it, little girl.”

  Lisa saw the vein pop out on Athena’s temple and knew that if she let go, Athena would attack Jackie in front of all of these people and quite possibly put Jackie in the hospital, and most likely get arrested herself. Lisa really needed Athena on the bench with her so she told Athena to stand down.

  “Well, you could try, but I think you already know how Celeste feels about you.” Lisa remained quiet after that comment, but she kept looking into Jackie’s eyes, silently letting her know she wasn’t going to get her way. Lisa grinned, then she winked at Jackie.

  Lisa didn’t expect the closed fist to connect with her face, but her cheek felt like it caught fire before exploding. She covered the area with her hand as tears welled in her eyes. Motherfucker, that hurt! She looked up to find campus police restraining Jackie and a male faculty member holding back Athena.

  “Officer, I’d like to press charges against that woman for assault.”

  The campus police took Jackie Stone away while most of the students had their cell phones out and recording what was going to be the next video sensation on YouTube. Just great. I better text Celeste to let her know what happened. Gerald came over to Lisa and Athena.

  “Coach Tobias, Coach Chang. What the hell just happened?”

  Lisa could feel the pressure building in her cheek and winced when she lightly touched it. One of the campus officers was standing next to Gerald, taking notes for his report.

  “I’m sorry, Gerald. Jackie Stone said some nasty things about a fellow colleague, and I felt I should defend her honor.”

  “Who are you talking about?”

  Shit. There was no getting out of this one. She looked at Athena who looked like she pitied Lisa for getting caught up in this. She didn’t want to betray Celeste, but she didn’t see any other way.

  “I’d appreciate it if you could keep this as quiet as possible for my colleague’s sake. She’d already had rumors spread about her because of Jackie.”

  Gerald stayed quiet and waited for Lisa to continue. She took a deep breath.

  “Celeste Bouchard is my colleague. Apparently, Jackie has been harassing Professor Bouchard despite her telling her to leave her alone. I don’t feel right saying any more because it’s not my story to tell. If you want to know the whole story, you’ll have to talk to Professor Bouchard. For the record, she doesn’t know about this confrontation.”

  “I see.”

  “Are you going to fire me?”

  “No. I witnessed the whole thing and Ms. Stone was the one who assaulted you. But there will be an investigation. We’ll see what the outcome brings.” He pointed at Lisa’s eye. “You better get some ice on that.” He walked away, and Lisa turned to Athena. “I need to get to Celeste before she hears this from anyone else.”

  “Right. I’ll meet you back at the office. I’ll run over to the training room and get you a bag of ice.”

  “Thanks, buddy. Oh, and, hey. Thanks for having my back with Jackie.”

  “Always, buddy. And you’re right—she makes you want to throat punch her.”

  Lisa laughed and slapped Athena on the back. “No lie. See you soon.”

  Lisa started to run, but the pounding made her eye feel like it would pop out of the socket. Instead, she walked quickly to Celeste’s office to find the door locked. Lisa forgot she was in class. She went to the desk of the administrative assistant to the English department.

  “Hi, I’m Coach Tobias. I’m looking for Celeste Bouchard.”

  “Yes, Coach. Professor Bouchard is teaching a class right now.”

  Lisa could feel her patience wearing thin, but it wasn’t the assistant’s fault. She wasn’t aware of the urgency Lisa felt.

  “Could you tell me what room that’s in?”

  “Certainly, let me pull it up. Here we are. Reeves Hall, room 204.”

  “Thanks.” Lisa resumed her speed walking to the west side of campus. It would have to be the building farthest from her office. She quietly opened the door and all heads turned to her, including Celeste’s. So much for trying to be discreet. Celeste excused herself from class, telling the students she would be back in a minute. She stepped outside and closed the door behind her.

  “Baby! What on earth happened to your face?”

  “Jackie Stone happened.”

  “Jackie? What?”

  “After the rally, she came up to me and indicated that she would use my time away from you to win you back. We had some words. She threw a punch. I had her arrested.” Lisa shrugged like it was no big deal.

  The flabbergasted look on Celeste’s face indicated it might be a little bit of a big deal.

  “Hey, Jackie is just lucky I held Athena back. Athena was ready to cut her at her knees.”

  Celeste stood there speechless, just staring at Lisa in disbelief.

  “The thing is, Gerald was there and asked what happened. I didn’t want to tell him, but I felt I had to.”

  “Tell him what, exactly?”

  Lisa still couldn’t tell if Celeste was angry with her or not. Her next statement might seal the angry deal.

  “That she’d been harassing you, and I was defending your honor.”

  Celeste looked at her classroom door then back to Lisa. “I have to get back to my class. We’ll talk about this tonight.”

  “Okay. Just one more thing. A lot of people had their cell phones out recording it. It might make it to YouTube.”

  Celeste rolled her eyes and went back into her classroom. Lisa headed back to her office. Well, that went well.

  * * *

  “Come in and tell me what happened.”

  Celeste had been reeling all day since Lisa told her about the confrontation between her and Jackie. It was all she could do to put it in the back of her mind so she could finish her lecture. By the time she got back to her office, she had an email waiting for her from Gerald. She was scheduled to meet with him the next morning. She probably could have greeted Lisa a little nicer at her door, but she was off-kilter from her relationship with Jackie coming back to haunt her.

  Lisa sat on the couch with her hands folded in her lap, looking like she was about to be reprimanded. Celeste was torn between sitting in a chair away from Lisa and sitting next to her on the couch. Celeste realized that she tended to jump to conclusions with Lisa and she was trying to change her behavior. She chose sitting next to Lisa on the couch.

  “Baby, your eye looks terrible. Does it hurt?”

  “Only when I have facial expressions.” Lisa tried to smile but winced instead. “I know you’re probably mad, but I can really explain.”

  “Lisa, I am angry, but not with you. I just don’t understand what she wants from me and why she won’t leave me alone.”

  “I didn’t want to tell Gerald that you were involved with Jackie, and I was very vague about it. I told him to talk to you about it.”

  “I got an email from him and I’m meeting with him in the morning.”

  “What time? Maybe I could drive myself to the airport and meet the team there.”

  “No, you need to be with the team and concentrate on your game. Now, tell me what
happened.”

  Lisa went through the whole story of her confrontation with Jackie from her first words to speaking with Gerald. Celeste actually laughed when Lisa told her how fired up Athena was and that she’d defended both her and Celeste.

  “I was proud of myself for not saying what I really wanted to say, but I thought better of it when I noticed how many people were watching.”

  “What did you want to say to Jackie?”

  “I wanted to ask her what made her think you wanted her back because she was apparently awful in bed and needed to do some research on how to please a woman.”

  Celeste covered her mouth with her hand to stop the laughter from bubbling out.

  “Instead, I kept quiet and let her anger build up. When I winked at her, she came unglued and hit me.”

  “I’m glad you didn’t say anything. Now it’s all on her.”

  “Well, Gerald said there would be an investigation, and if I happen to get in trouble, it’ll be worth it if Jackie gets what’s coming to her.” Lisa took Celeste’s hand and held it in her lap. “Are you sure you’re not upset with me?”

  Celeste scooted closer and cupped her non-injured cheek. “I’m sure. Now, let’s not talk about this anymore and just enjoy our night. I won’t see you for five whole days.”

  They spent the rest of the night cuddling on the couch rather than having sex. Celeste needed a different type of intimacy from Lisa that night and Lisa gave it to her. Celeste felt really good about the direction the relationship was heading.

  Chapter Twenty-four

  The team arrived in Chicago two days before the tournament started, and they spent the first night in a ballroom at the hotel walking through plays against the type of defenses and offenses their opponent tended to play. After a long flight and changing two time zones, this idea was what Lisa and Athena came up with to shake off the travel fatigue and keep their minds focused on basketball instead of Lisa’s black eye or their nerves. Early in the morning, when the team met at Lisa’s office before their trip to the airport, her players showed genuine concern for her. A couple of them started speculating a little too loudly about why the black eye happened, but Lisa and Athena both shut them down quickly by saying Professor Stone, for some reason, had an ax to grind with Lisa but now it was over. Once those players had their tails tucked between their legs, a few of the other players who were starters, including Emily Logan, started teasing Lisa good-naturedly about it.