The Recruiting Trip (The University of Gatica #1) by Lexy Timms Read Free Book Online Page A

about we eat?”
    Tyler pointed to the ball shaped steak on her plate. “Looks good?”
    Aileen inhaled. “Smells good, too,” she said and winked at him, surprised at her own cocky teasing.
    “I deserve that.” Tyler cut into his steak. “What does your family think about your recruiting trips so far?”
    “My brother thinks I should go somewhere hot. My mom wants me somewhere close by and my dad, he’s the only one who really gets it, he wants me to go where I can run. And get a good education at the same time.” She added for the coach’s benefit.
    “I checked out Stanford and Miami on my trips.”
    “You did?” She was curious what he thought of the places.
    “Loved Stanford.” He twitched and Aileen had to stop herself from smiling when she realized Coach Anderson had kicked him under the table. “Didn’t like Miami.”
    “Me, either!” She bit her tongue. This wasn’t the place to gossip or admit that some of the girls on the Miami team had seemed mean and she didn’t like the vibe she got from them. “It just isn’t the place for me.” She stared down at her plate embarrassed to have almost acted like a tattle tale.
    “Well, we had better make sure Gatica is.” Tyler rapped his knuckles gently against the table top.
    Aileen brought her eyes up and held his gaze a moment before shifting to Coach Anderson. “How do you run your house here?”
    “My house?”
    “Wavertree Fieldhouse.” She was kind of proud of her play on words. It made her feel like she had the upper hand in the conversation.
    “Ahh…” Coach Anderson wiped his mouth with a napkin. “I like that. I might have to borrow it from you.”
    “It’s all yours.” Aileen did not miss the low chuckle that came from Tyler.
    “Well then I guess I had better answer the question.” Coach Anderson moved his plate and using his hands traced the shape of a track on the table. “The four hundred is basically four parts of a race. I approach the track season in a similar fashion. The first hundred,” he said tracing the curve counter-clockwise, “is preseason training. School starts the last week of August and most of the track kids come the week prior. They start base training, which then gears more into technical training. It then switches to the next phase.” He ran his finger over the straight away of the imaginary track. “Indoor season. For some, the season runs longer than others. That will be your case.”
    Tyler leaned forward and whispered, “He means NCAAs. He’s pretty sure you’ll make indoor nationals.”
    Coach Anderson ran his finger over the final curve of the track. “After indoor finishes, we move back into some base training and technical stuff. The curve is good to use as an example because it consists of different things. Competitive season is straight forward—”
    “Like the straightaway,” she finished.
    “You got it.” Coach Anderson moved his plate back to where it had been.
    “Unless of course,” Tyler said. “You’re a cross country runner. Then you’ve got, like, six parts to a season. It gets complicated.”
    The coach smiled. “Yes, not every athlete followed the curve of the track. I just use it as a simple analogy.” His phone began to ring. He reached inside his pocket and checked the caller. “Sorry kids, but I need to take this a moment.”
    Tyler slid out of the booth to let Anderson out. He sat back down after the coach had moved by the entrance where they had come in.
    Aileen racked her brain for something intuitive to say. Here she had this moment alone with Tyler Jensen and she probably never would again. Why do I always refer to him as Tyler Jensen? Why can’t I just think of him as Tyler now? She shifted on the bench and tried to appear relaxed. “What made you come here, Tyler?” Jensen. Stop doing that! “Why did you chose Gatica, say, instead of Stanford?” Good deep question. She was proud of herself.
    Tyler sat back and put his arm over the back of the booth.