salt. I do my best as a coach; beyond that, nothing is certain.”
“Even your job?”
“Especially my job.”
“But…don’t you have a contract?”
There was a cynical edge to his laugh, punctuated by the steady slicing of carrots. “Con-tracts can be crumpled and burned at any time.”
“That’s awful,” she exclaimed, shaken by the instability of the picture he’d painted. “Doesn’t that bother you? Doesn’t it affect your coaching ability?”
He deftly lifted the cutting board and scraped carrots, green peppers and radishes into the salad bowl. “As I told you before, I’m realistic. I keep things in perspective. Despite what you may believe, there is more to life than basketball.”
“Oh, I believe it,” she countered quickly, cocking a skeptical eye his way. “I’m just surprised to hear that you do.”
“Don’t ever judge a book by its cover, Nia,” he drawled, seizing the head of iceberg lettuce and tossing it high into the air before slamming it flat onto the counter. With a confident twist he turned it over and wrenched off the heel that the blow had dislodged. Then, calmly, nonchalantly, he put the entire head beneath the cold water faucet.
Nia had followed the maneuver wide-eyed. “ That was quite a show,” she laughed. “Now, if you had dribbled it around, I might have worried….”
“No cause. Didn’t I tell you I made a good salad?”
“Hmmm,” was the only response she could muster. This was not the Daniel Strahan she had expected to find. With the little he was slowly divulging, she found herself more and more curious. Unfortunately, between setting the table in the dining room and broiling the sirloin to the proper rareness, serious conversation was left hanging until they sat, at last, across from one another at the bleached elm table. Looking down at her plate, Nia couldn’t restrain herself. “This is what you’d call a mixed bag.”
“Some bag! I’ll take half-steak, half-lobster any day!”
“You’re willing to foot that kind of bill?”
“If…” he lowered his voice, “I had someone to share it with. This is lovely, Antonia.” Their eyes met and held, then parted.
“It is nice,” she mused softly, reflecting on the pleasantness of companionship once in a while. Once in a while —that’s all she’d get with a man like this. He would be off and running before long. “So, what’s on tap for the team? Are you off to God-knows-where next week?”
“We are. It’s a short trip, though. New York, New Jersey and finally Pennsylvania.”
“Pennsylvania!” she exclaimed. “ I’ll be there next week, too.”
“You will?”
“Yes. I’m doing a feature story on the Amish. I’ll be spending two days driving around the countryside between Reading and Lancaster.”
“Are you driving down from here?”
“Uh-uh. That would take too long. I’d planned to fly into Philadelphia and rent a car from there. It’s just a matter of making the final reservations.”
He nodded. “I see. …You’re going alone?”
“Looks that way. The man with the money is generous when it comes to travel allowances, but he’s not about to throw it away on an unnecessary entourage.” She lifted her fork. “Actually, I prefer it that way.”
“Traveling alone?”
“Yes. I can really work; then, as soon as I’ve got what I need, I come home.” That was the advantage of traveling alone, but there were disadvantages, too, such as the lack of a familiar face in a strange place, or, more simply stated, loneliness.
“Do you travel often?”
“On and off. This is an ‘on’ period. I’m even hoping to get out to the West Coast on an assignment.”
“The West Coast? For Eastern Edge?”
With a patient smile she told him of the sister publication for which she was hoping to write a contributing article. “My family lives in San Francisco.”
“Really! Is that where you grew up?”
“Uh-huh. My parents and brothers still live there. I also have a
“Even your job?”
“Especially my job.”
“But…don’t you have a contract?”
There was a cynical edge to his laugh, punctuated by the steady slicing of carrots. “Con-tracts can be crumpled and burned at any time.”
“That’s awful,” she exclaimed, shaken by the instability of the picture he’d painted. “Doesn’t that bother you? Doesn’t it affect your coaching ability?”
He deftly lifted the cutting board and scraped carrots, green peppers and radishes into the salad bowl. “As I told you before, I’m realistic. I keep things in perspective. Despite what you may believe, there is more to life than basketball.”
“Oh, I believe it,” she countered quickly, cocking a skeptical eye his way. “I’m just surprised to hear that you do.”
“Don’t ever judge a book by its cover, Nia,” he drawled, seizing the head of iceberg lettuce and tossing it high into the air before slamming it flat onto the counter. With a confident twist he turned it over and wrenched off the heel that the blow had dislodged. Then, calmly, nonchalantly, he put the entire head beneath the cold water faucet.
Nia had followed the maneuver wide-eyed. “ That was quite a show,” she laughed. “Now, if you had dribbled it around, I might have worried….”
“No cause. Didn’t I tell you I made a good salad?”
“Hmmm,” was the only response she could muster. This was not the Daniel Strahan she had expected to find. With the little he was slowly divulging, she found herself more and more curious. Unfortunately, between setting the table in the dining room and broiling the sirloin to the proper rareness, serious conversation was left hanging until they sat, at last, across from one another at the bleached elm table. Looking down at her plate, Nia couldn’t restrain herself. “This is what you’d call a mixed bag.”
“Some bag! I’ll take half-steak, half-lobster any day!”
“You’re willing to foot that kind of bill?”
“If…” he lowered his voice, “I had someone to share it with. This is lovely, Antonia.” Their eyes met and held, then parted.
“It is nice,” she mused softly, reflecting on the pleasantness of companionship once in a while. Once in a while —that’s all she’d get with a man like this. He would be off and running before long. “So, what’s on tap for the team? Are you off to God-knows-where next week?”
“We are. It’s a short trip, though. New York, New Jersey and finally Pennsylvania.”
“Pennsylvania!” she exclaimed. “ I’ll be there next week, too.”
“You will?”
“Yes. I’m doing a feature story on the Amish. I’ll be spending two days driving around the countryside between Reading and Lancaster.”
“Are you driving down from here?”
“Uh-uh. That would take too long. I’d planned to fly into Philadelphia and rent a car from there. It’s just a matter of making the final reservations.”
He nodded. “I see. …You’re going alone?”
“Looks that way. The man with the money is generous when it comes to travel allowances, but he’s not about to throw it away on an unnecessary entourage.” She lifted her fork. “Actually, I prefer it that way.”
“Traveling alone?”
“Yes. I can really work; then, as soon as I’ve got what I need, I come home.” That was the advantage of traveling alone, but there were disadvantages, too, such as the lack of a familiar face in a strange place, or, more simply stated, loneliness.
“Do you travel often?”
“On and off. This is an ‘on’ period. I’m even hoping to get out to the West Coast on an assignment.”
“The West Coast? For Eastern Edge?”
With a patient smile she told him of the sister publication for which she was hoping to write a contributing article. “My family lives in San Francisco.”
“Really! Is that where you grew up?”
“Uh-huh. My parents and brothers still live there. I also have a
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