I made my way to the gym floor. I’d help with the mats. The corner of my mouth ticked up. I couldn’t enter the club room without thinking of how Kate and I had wrestled there.

Randall made sure to high-five or knuckle-bump every wrestler before they left. He told them something great they’d done that day, or a way they’d improved. He was a good coach, and he was going to miss this. He’d told Kate that he would’ve liked this year to be his last, but next year would definitely be it. As long as he found someone competent enough to run the club. The competent part was easier to find than someone with the time. It would be a part-time gig on top of whatever full-time job the new person would already be working, and for a few months of the year, the coaching side of the job kicked up to nearly full time. Running the club didn’t pay enough to support a full-time position. Maybe he could’ve gotten it there, but he’d had the same roadblock. Not enough time.

Randall found me after all the attendees were gone. He clapped me on the back. “Thanks for coming. I think Corbin tried extra hard to live up to the tales his daddy told about you.”

“Glad I could make it.”

“You don’t have to help. A few of the older kids volunteered. They get volunteer credits for some club they’re in.”

My disappointment surprised me. I wasn’t ready to leave. The energy from the tournament still buzzed along the walls. Excitement. Exhilaration. Support. I missed this feeling. This was part of what I’d given up when I’d walked away from the sport after high school.

I kept the resignation out of my voice. “I guess I can go find Kate.”

“Violet told Katie she was starving. If they’re not in the club room, they’re in my office raiding my snack drawer.”

The snack drawer he stocked for his grandkids. I gave him a nod and went in search of my wife and niece. The club room was bustling with activity. Jason and his boys were directing traffic for equipment return.

Randall’s office was down the hall, a little-used space in the dark corner of the building that he’d been able to rent out.

Noise faded behind me the closer I got, and Violet and Kate’s murmurs took over.

“I haven’t seen that one,” Kate said. “Is it the one with Ariel’s daughter?”

“Mm-hmm.” I could picture Violet’s legs swinging in Randall’s rolling chair. “Why don’t you want kids, Aunt Katie?”

My steps faltered. I hadn’t meant to eavesdrop but I couldn’t move.

“I did.”

“Don’t you still?”