Until We Touch by Susan Mallery Page B

then, let’s see where this all goes.”
    The teen nodded and got out of the car.
    They walked in the main entrance of the building. Jack started down the hall. Halfway to Taryn’s office, he realized he was alone and turned around.
    Percy stood in the middle of the foyer, head back, staring up at the larger-than-life pictures of Jack, Kenny and Sam in uniform during various games. Each of them had an action shot, along with several posed pictures. There was also a photo of the four partners together, with Taryn looking totally in charge.
    Percy slowly lowered his head. “That’s you,” he said, his voice disbelieving.
    “That’s me.”
    “You played football.”
    “Uh-huh. For the L.A. Stallions. I was the quarterback.”
    Percy looked between him and the pictures. “It’s cool, I guess. I’m more into basketball.”
    Jack bit back a laugh. “Of course you are. Come on. I’ll introduce you to the dragon lady. Don’t let the high heels fool you. She could take both of us without even breaking a sweat.”
    * * *
    J ACK ’ S WORK WITH coaches had always come as a player. There were coaches he’d liked and those he’d hated, but he’d never had anything to do with hiring one before. He hadn’t even been sure of the exact process. He knew there were interviews and that after a winning or losing season, coaches often moved on, but he’d never given it any thought beyond how it had affected him as a player.
    Hiring a coach would be different. He would need to look at the process from the university’s point of view. Do what was best for the organization. The switch in sides was going to take some doing, he thought as he drove out to the Cal U Fool’s Gold campus.
    The university sat on nearly a hundred acres just northeast of downtown. The buildings were a mix of old and new, as if the campus had grown over the years. It was still a few weeks before classes started, so there weren’t any students around. Jack found parking in the visitors’ lot and made his way to the main administration building.
    The stadium and practice field were closer to the mountains. By late August the team should have already started their preseason games. If there was a team playing football. Something he was going to discuss with Mayor Marsha when next he saw her. Or perhaps not. He was tough on the field, but not known for his ability to take down old ladies.
    The research he’d done on the athletic programs at Cal U Fool’s Gold had told him that the university had an excellent baseball team, a surprising number of successful programs for women’s sports, including golf, but that they’d ended their football team nearly a decade before. So why start now? Something he was going to find out.
    He walked into the conference room and greeted the other people there. The president of the college was easy to spot. She was a woman in her late forties, well dressed and confident. The athletic director, who had the unfortunate first name of Tad, was about Jack’s age, and way too cheerful. Introductions were made. A few more people came into the room, then they all took their seats around the large table.
    “Thank you all for coming,” Kristan Newham, the college president said. “We’re here to discuss the feasibility of restarting the football program here at Cal U Fool’s Gold. The students are interested, the regents are open to providing us with some of the funding, although we’d have to get the rest of it from alumni and outside donations. The questions I want us to explore are should we and what would it take?”
    Tad shrugged. “There’s no point in discussing what it would take if we’re not interested in bothering in the first place.”
    Jack bristled. “And you’re not interested?”
    “It’s going to be a lot of work. We’ll have trouble getting players. Good ones, I mean. Sure, there’s student interest, but students are fickle. Tomorrow there will be some rock band blowing through town and no one will