Free Playing For Keeps by Kathryn Shay Page B

of muscles, he’d
played college soccer and had been on a semi-pro team for a while.
“Hi, Jacelyn.” He entered the office and scanned the room. “You had
this painted.”
    “Yeah. Since there was no second
summer-school session, I could let maintenance come in and disrupt
everything.” She nodded to the light-yellow walls with Degas and
Renoir prints hung on them. “The color brightens it up. Now I just
wish we could get the Outreach Center painted.” Rising from her
computer, she came around the desk. “Everything’s over at the
table. We can meet there.”
    “Coach Kingston isn’t here yet?”
    “Ah, no.” She wasn’t sure he’d even show up.
She wasn’t sure she wanted him to. Sitting down, Jacelyn reached
for her notes.
    Jake blurted out, “I heard about Craig
Anderson’s course.”
    “Did you?”
    “Yeah. We’re going to get blamed for it,
aren’t we?”
    “We?”
    “The Sports Studies program. They’re going to
say the enrollment’s down in other business classes because of
us.”
    “Well, that’s probably true, Jake.”
    “Anderson’s enrollment is down because he
bores the kids to tears.”
    “How would you know that? This will be your
first year teaching at Beckett.”
    “My sister’s a student here. She and her
friends talked to me about it. He reads from his notes, never uses
multimedia materials and makes business about as tasteless as dry
cereal.”
    She’d heard that, too. But Craig was tenured,
and it was tough to do anything about his teaching practices.
    “Can I be frank?”
    Jacelyn leaned back and crossed her legs.
“Sure.”
    “I hope you’re not thinking about giving him
anything from our program to compensate.”
    Oh, Lord. Wouldn’t Craig love that? “What on
earth could he teach in the sports program?”
    “Maybe an accounting course or a statistics
course. But they’re supposed to be geared toward sports business.
We’ve already got someone in the Sports Studies area to teach
them.”
    A knock on the door precluded her answer.
Both looked up to see Mike standing in the doorway. “Am I late?” he
asked. He still wore the black jeans and shirt he had on earlier,
though he was sweaty from the heat.
    “Jake and I were just discussing the Sports
Studies program. Come on in.”
    Mike covered the floor in a few long
strides.
    “You know Jake, right?”
    “Of course.” The men shook hands with obvious
warmth. Mike sat down next to Jacelyn. His big shoulders filled up
the space between them.
    “How’s the settling-in going?” Jake
asked.
    “I was helpin’ out Marcus Stormweather. He
wanted to take the stairs, so I’m plum tuckered out.”
    “Word has it you’re in as good shape as your
guys.”
    He certainly looked it, Jacelyn thought.
    “I need to be to keep them in line.”
    “You keep them in line with your
fairness.”
    “I think we’re boring Dr. Ross.” Mike faced
her. “Should we talk about the purpose of today’s meeting?”
    “Jake?”
    “The speaker series.” He opened a notebook.
“As liaison to the team, I was hoping you’d be part of it.”
    Jacelyn cocked her head. “I thought we were
brainstorming possibilities today.”
    She felt Mike stiffen beside her though she
was right to question Jake’s presumptiveness.
    “Not that I wouldn’t want you to do this,
Mike. I just thought we’d bat around ideas.”
    Mike glared at her. Hell, she was going to
have to watch every word she said. She was trying to be fair, but
he needed to meet her halfway.
    “Let’s see what you already got set up.” His
tone was strained. “And decide who from the team could do the best
job.”
    Jake handed her and Mike copies of a list.
“We haven’t confirmed all of them. But this is what we’re hoping
for, if we can get these people.”
    Mike skimmed the names. “Steve Wright’s a
nice guy and is a big supporter of education. Plus he can give you
solid insight into Major League Soccer.”
    “You know him?”
    “The sports world is