Chapter Sixteen: The Return of Trev Davila

****Trev****

I woke up the next morning feeling like I was on top of the world. For the first time since my accident, it didn’t matter to me that my career was up in the air because I knew that no matter what happened, Pam would be by my side.

It was the furthest thing from my mind when we finally made our way to the kitchen, when I successfully distracted her from making coffee, or as we drank some an hour later while we looked out the windows at the busy noonday city. 

It was rare that we had a quiet moment alone which was why I didn’t look at my phone when a message came through. Who knows how long I would’ve gone without checking it if Pam hadn’t brought it up and I lazily picked it up, figuring it was Ryan or maybe Stan.

“What is it?” Pam asked after she saw my double take at seeing my agent’s name on the screen.

“It’s David. He wants me to call him: ‘ASAP’.” I looked down at her and without saying a word, she kissed my cheek, grabbed her coffee and walked back up stairs to the bedroom. Giving me the privacy she thought I needed.  

She might’ve been half way up the stairs before I selected his number and started pacing around the kitchen as I waited to hear it ring in my ear. 


“Hey, Trev. Sorry to bother you on the weekend.” He greeted me after only one ring and I stopped pacing.

“No big deal.” It was since he never contacted me unless it was important, which was why I felt jumpy. Like I’d drunk a whole pot of coffee instead of my one cup. “What’s up?”

He chuckled and I heard his squeaky chair move in the background. “A lot, actually. I was contacted this morning about presenting you with a possible job offer and considering who it’s from, I didn’t want to sit on it for very long.”

“What is it?”

“It’s a quarterback coaching position and ASU.”

“You’re shitting me.” I said more out of shock than anything and glanced up at the living room ceiling, wondering how much Pam knew about it.  

“I’m not. Apparently the previous quarterback’s coach has moved on to be offensive coordinator at another school. If you’re interested, they’d like to meet with you as soon as possible.”

It’s not every day that you get a chance at your dream job, so when it comes out of the blue it’s hard to wrap your head around it. Especially when you’re wondering how much a certain person walking around on the floor above you knew about it. 

“Let me call you back in a minute.” He started to protest but I hung up on him and made my way over to the stairs to get some answers.

She jumped out of one of the chairs when she saw my head pop up from the stairs and rushed to meet me at the top of them. “So?”

I studied her, looking for any sign that she knew what I was about to tell her, but she kept looking as impatient to hear what I had to say as I did with trying to figure out what she knew.. “So. . .he said that there’s some people who would like to meet me about a job. . .” I hinted, seeing if she would crack. 

If she was faking it, she was doing a good job. Her brows bunched together and she actually scowled at me for holding out on her. “Who?” 

“ASU.” I finally admitted and her jaw fell to the ground. “You didn’t know, did you?”

She looked at me like I was crazy. “No! You really think I could keep that from you?” I shook my head, answering her and scolding myself for even wondering it. “What’s the job?”

“They need a quarterback’s coach and they want to meet with me.”

“What did you say?” She inched closer and I shook my head.

“I haven’t told them anything.” I looked down at the phone still in my hand and chuckled. “Actually, I hung up on David just so I could find out if you knew anything about it.”

Her tongue clicked and she put her hands on her hips as she started to scold me. “Well, don’t you think you should call him back?”

I spent most of the thirty minutes it took to fly from Bridgeport to ASU the next morning telling myself that I shouldn’t be so nervous. Especially since I knew that one of the people I was meeting with was Coach, but something about that made me even more nervous. Probably because I was worried about saying or doing something and blowing my chances. 

There was the fact that he didn’t know about our engagement yet.  Which was why I was relieved when he popped into the waiting room soon after David and I got there and asked to speak to me alone. “I thought it would be a good idea to meet beforehand.”

I nodded and plunged ahead before he could stop me. “That’s good, because there’s something I need to tell you. Pam and I are engaged.”

“What?!” His smile went from ear to ear and he wasted no time in pulling me into a rib crushing hug. 

“When? He asked as he patted my back and pulled away so he could look at me.. 

“Two nights ago. We would’ve told you but didn’t know if we should since you hadn’t personally contacted either of us about this job.”

“I did that on purpose. I didn’t contact you because even though the decision on who gets hired rests with me, I didn’t want there to look like this was a biased decision. Which is why I’ve asked the Offensive and Defensive Coordinators to sit in on the meeting. That way it’s a joint decision.”

“That was something I was worried about.” I admitted and sighed. “You know there’s going to be talk if I get this job. There would’ve been with just me dating Pam, but with her and I being engaged. . .”

He nodded. “Which is why I’m not making this decision alone.” He paused and gave me a pointed look. “And before you start wondering it, that’s not why you’re interviewing for this job. I looked over a long list of possible candidates and would’ve interviewed anyone else if I thought they could do the job better. I just happen to believe that you’re the best fit here.” 

The hallway doors opening cut short our conversation and Coach introduced me to Greg and Bill, the offensive and defensive coordinators and with one final big breath, David and I followed them into the conference room to decide my fate.

Pam looked like she might tackle me when I walked through her door almost three and a half hours later. I had enough time to figure out one reason why when my eyes caught sight of an almost empty glass of iced coffee on the coffee table.

“What happened?!” She asked with way too much energy and and I shook my head. 

“How many of those did you drink?” I teased while motioning to the glass and she hit my arm. It was a little too hard, but I still chuckled and led her over to the sofa so we could sit down. 

“They offered me the job, but I told them that I needed to talk to you before accepting or declining it.” A smile lit up her face and she squeezed my hand.

“What did they offer.”

“Sixty thousand a year, with bonuses if the team does well,” She nodded and I continued. 

“And several other things like paying for us to move and a signing bonus, but I turned both of those down since I don’t want a signing bonus and I figured we can afford to move ourselves. . .if we do move.” I hinted and she shook her head.

“You’d really not take the job if I wasn’t okay with it?” I nodded and took her hands in mine. “I’m not gonna lie, it would hurt to do it, but. . .” I stopped and shrugged, not able to finish the thought but managed to give her a small smile. “We said we’d do this together.”

She almost knocked me over from the force of her hug and squeezed me. “Then tell them you’ll take it.” She whispered in my ear and I pulled back to look at her.

“You sure?” I scanned her eyes for any doubt but only saw twinkle in them as she answered me.

“Are you serious?! I should be asking you that. We’ll be living in the same town as my parents and Paisley.” She joked and I laughed.

“Good point. Maybe we should rethink this.” I teased and she smacked me with a pillow.

****Pamela****

The next morning we were both flown to ASU for the announcement of Trev as the Stallions next quarterback coach. Normally they wouldn’t do a press conference for an assistant position, but because it was Trev, the university wanted to make a big deal out of it. 

Their reasoning was that it wasn’t everyday that a player returned to coach at their alma mater, especially one that had just helped lead a team to the Super Bowl, and they wanted to make a big deal about his return to ASU.

It took a little convincing for Trev to agree to do it. Partly because he didn’t want to draw any attention to himself, but the university finally won him over by telling him it would be good press for the school and would help with recruiting players for the team.

Once we arrived on campus, we were taken to Dad’s office. He was waiting there for us and the second I walked through the door he walked over to me, gave me a hug and told me how happy he was about Trev’s and my engagement. 

We spent the next several minutes talking about the whirlwind that the past several days had been but were interrupted when someone knocked on the door and told us that it was almost time to start the press conference. With a look towards Trev and a nod from him, we walked down the hallway and into the media room.

I expected there to be some media, since it’d been leaked that the Stallions had hired Trev and that the press conference was to announce it, but I was shocked to see so many. There were about as many there that I remembered being at Dad’s press conference when he was announced as head coach.

It proved that the university had been right about the interest in Trev’s hire and that it would be good publicity for the university, but I wondered if it’d caught Trev off guard, like it had me. He seemed to be unfazed by it though and gave me one of his blinding grins before we turned our attention to Dad as he walked up to the podium.

“I guess the cat’s out of the bag. . .” He joked and chuckles sounded from around the room. “In case you hadn’t heard, the Appaloosa State University Athletics Department hired a new quarterbacks’ coach today. He’s an alumni student and player whose leadership, skills and ability helped deliver a National Championship to the Stallions during his senior year.”

“Along with those qualifications, he’s also helped mentor and coach quarterbacks on both this team and the Bridgeport Bucks and I don’t think I’m stretching the truth in saying that by doing both, he helped with leading both teams to a National Championship and a Super Bowl.

“So having said all that, help me welcome Trev Davila back to Appleville and Appaloosa State University.” Dad smiled and motioned for Trev to join him. They posed for pictures together and after several moments Dad handed the mic over to Trev and sat down next to me.

“Thanks Coach.” He smiled at Dad and then looked at me. He’d read me his speech on the plane but was checking one last time that I was still okay with it. With a nod and a smile from me he took a big breath and continued. 

“Let me start off by saying that Pamela and I are thrilled to be returning to ASU.” He didn’t pause, but there were a couple mumbles from those who hadn’t missed him saying both of our names. 

“As I stated in a press conference not long ago, coaching is something that I’ve wanted to do for a long time, and I’d like to personally thank the university, the ASU Athletics Department and Coach Haines for this opportunity.”

He looked at dad as he added the last part and waited until after his nod before continuing. “I’ve been a Bridgeport Buck for the last seven years, but I never forgot where I came from and who I owe my thanks to for any success I’ve had. Which is why I’m looking forward to coaching and guiding present and future ASU quarterbacks and will end this by saying: Go Stallions!”  

With the press conference over, we made our way to my parents house to celebrate Trev’s and my return to campus. It didn’t take long for Mom to direct the conversation to us settling in ASU. “Not two rush both of you, but you’ll need to start thinking about buying a house soon. . .”

We smiled at each other and Trev nodded. “We talked about that on the flight here. We’re up to looking while we’re here, but it’s short notice. . .”

Dad nodded but smiled and pointed to his left. “I don’t know how you’d feel about it, but the house next door’s been for sale for about two months.”

“The modern one?” I asked and he nodded. You couldn’t have missed it if you tried. It was one of maybe a handful of modern homes in Appleville and I’d always wondered at it. Not that it wasn’t a nice looking house, it was just so out of place. 

I’d always wanted to know what it looked like on the inside and I glanced over at trev to see if he was interested. He gave me a nod and a smile and within an hour we were standing in the front yard with the realtor. 

She told us about the history of the house, which I should’ve been listening to since I’d wondered about the owners who built it, but all I could think about was wanting to see the inside. I could tell by the way Trev was shifting his weight from foot to foot that he was just as eager.

What I remember about the moment when the realtor finally opened the door was a sense of belonging. It’s hard to explain if you’ve never experienced it, and I honestly don’t think I’ve felt it since then, but the second that we stepped into the house, I knew I belonged there. But that didn’t matter if I was the only one of us that felt that way.

I hoped that Trev’s gaping open mouth and small smile as he looked around at the large, open downstairs meant that he felt the same way. It wasn’t until after we toured all three floors and the realtor left us in the kitchen to talk alone that I got to find out. 

I drug a finger along the marble countertop once the realtor closed the front door behind her and immediately regretted it when I saw the dust. “It needs a good cleaning.” I admitted and he nodded.

“It’s in pretty good shape otherwise.” He said and glanced at a set of windows on the far side of the living room. “You can barely see your parents house through the trees.” He chuckled and I looked out the window before stepping closer and grabbing his hand.

“Does that bother you? Because if it does we don’t. . .”

He shook his head and looked down at me. “No,” he interrupted me and turned so he could wrap his arms around me, “Knowing how few houses aren’t colonials, I’d figured we would have to settle for buying one. This house. . .” He looked around for a second before returning his eyes to mine.

“It’s like we belong here. Right?” His brows came together as asked me and he let out a sigh of relief when I nodded. “Plus, I’m not that concerned with living so close to your parents.” He gave me a blinding smile and grabbed my ass. “I figure it’ll take one time of them walking in on us before they’ll realize that it’s a good idea to call before they come over.”

I laughed, smacked his arm and stood on my tiptoes to give him a kiss.