“You’re still here, aren’t you?”
“You remember what she was wearing when she walked by your window,” he said, nodding at the bathroom door.
“Yeah. So?”
“She means something to you.”
“Does blood loss make you stupid?” I wondered.
“I’m just sayin’， you care about her. Any other woman you wouldn’t have bothered calling her on her own bullshit. You wouldn’t have known any other woman well enough to know she was bullshitting you, let alone care that she was.”
“Getting to your point any time soon?”
“Yeah. Don’t fuck it up like you usually do.”
THIRTY-THREE
A SWIFT KICK
Naomi
“Why do kids’ sports start at such ungodly hours? And why is the grass so wet? Look at these shoes. They’ll never recover,” Stef complained as we set up our folding chairs on the sideline of the soccer field.
“It’s nine in the morning, not four a.m.,” I said dryly. “Maybe if you and Liza hadn’t made and then drank an entire pitcher of margaritas last night, you wouldn’t be cringing like a vampire at the light of day.”
He collapsed into his chair, looking impossibly stylish in Raybans and a thick knit sweater. “It was my last night in town before my trip to Paris. I couldn’t say no to margaritas. Besides, it’s easy to be Suzy Sunshine when you’re getting laid regularly.”
“Zip it, Betty Big Mouth,” I said, shooting a look at the rest of Waylay’s cheering section. My parents were sitting with Liza, who didn’t seem any the worse for wear for her half of the margaritas. Mom was doing her mom thing and introducing herself to everyone in a twenty-foot radius, asking them the names of their players and proudly pointing out Waylay in her number six jersey.
Wraith, badass biker and silver fox, strode down the sideline. He was wearing a Metallica t-shirt, black jeans, and a scowl perfectly framed by his gray Fu Manchu mustache. “Looking lovely as always, Liza,” he said with a wolfish smile.
“Peddle that charm someplace else, biker boy,” she shot back. But I noticed two dots of color on her cheeks.
“Bring it in, Knock ’Em Outs,” Wraith bellowed. Fifteen girls in all shapes, sizes, and colors jogged and skipped their way over to the unlikely head coach.
“That guy looks like a probation violation, not a girls soccer coach,” Stef observed.
“That’s Wraith. His granddaughter Delilah is the one with the pigtails. She plays forward. She’s unbelievably fast,” I told him.
Waylay looked up from her team huddle and waved at me. I grinned and waved back.
The ref blew two short blasts on the whistle, and two girls from each team jogged to the center circle. “What’s happening? Did the game start?” Stef asked.
“They’re doing the coin toss. You’re lucky you’re so pretty. What if your future husband is into sports?”
Stef shuddered. “Perish the thought.”
“The coin toss determines which team gets the ball for kickoff and which direction they’re trying to score.”
“Look at you, soccer mom,” he teased.
Self-consciously, I straightened my Knock ’Em Out hoodie. Thanks to a school fundraiser, I now owned a capsule wardrobe of school cheer gear. The mascot was an oversize boxing glove named Punchy that I found both charming and inappropriate.
“I may have done a little reading up on the sport,” I said. I’d done a lot of research. I’d reread Rock Bottom Girl and watched Ted Lasso, Bend it Like Beckham, and She’s the Man for good measure.
The whistle on the field signaled the start of the game, and I cheered along with the rest of the crowd as the action got underway.
Two minutes into play, I was holding my breath and Stef’s hand in a death grip as Waylay got the ball and started dribbling for the goal.
“Go, Waylay! Go!” Dad shouted as he came out of his chair.
When we were ten years old, Tina had played softball for one season. Dad had been her biggest fan. It was nice to see he hadn’t lost his enthusiasm.
Waylay faked a move to the right before heading in the opposite direction around the defender and firing off a pass to Chloe, Sloane’s niece.
“That was good, right?” Stef asked. “It looked good. Sneaky and full of deception.”
“The coach says she’s a natural,” I said proudly before yelling, “Go, Chloe!”
Chloe lost the ball out of bounds, and play was paused so three players could tie their shoelaces.