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“I take care of the people I care about, and you’re on that list, right below June. Some days you take the top spot, not because I love my daughter any less, but because what I feel for youis different than what I feel for her.” He shakes his head. “I’m always going to be in your corner.”
I swallow. He’s so beautiful in the dusk light. Soft and earnest and a man who’s done a lot of great things, but the best is yet to come. And as the sun dips lower in the sky, there’s a moment where he also looks like he’smine.
“I think I want to try,” I say. “Right now. Will you try with me?”
“I’d do anything with you, Maven,” he says.
He stands up and dusts the grass off the back of his shorts. My necklace rests against the collar of his shirt, and he offers me a hand. I take it and our fingers thread together as he lifts me from the ground in an easy, gentle pull.
I stare at the ball between us, and I touch my toes to the hexagons. I exhale and give it a kick with the inside of my foot. Electricity surges through me as the ball rolls ten feet ahead.
It’s far from the goals I’ve scored. The penalty shots I’ve knocked down to send my team to the Final Four. It’s not even as monumental as the kicks kids do. The old Maven would laugh at how silly it is that I’m staring at the ball like it’s made of gold. But it’ssomething, and something is better than nothing.
“I did it,” I say, and turn to Dallas. “Can you?—”
“Whatever you want. Whatever you need. Let’s go, sunshine.”
Dallas jogs after the ball, running backwards so he can keep his eyes on me. Every few feet he looks behind him to check on June, too. He taps the ball back, and I touch my cleats to it a few times, getting reacquainted with the magical way the leather feels.
I pass to him, a harder kick that has my blood pounding in my ears. He laughs and chases after it, stopping it with the back of his heel.
“Look at you,” I say, impressed.
“Look atyou,” he says. “A fucking rockstar.”
“I wanna play,” June says when she runs up to us, and she kicks her ball to me. “Can you pass to me, Mae Mae?”
“Of course I’ll pass to you, JB.”
We spend the next twenty minutes in a triangle, passing to one another and running after the ball when someone kicks it too far. My stomach hurts from laughing so much. When June grabs Dallas’s leg and steals the ball out from under him, running all the way down the field and scoring a goal, I lift her in the air like she just won the World Cup.
We stay out there until the sun sets and the stars start to come out. When we call it a night, our legs tired and our breathing heavy, I realize my happy place finally feels happy again and I’ve never felt more powerful.
TWENTY-SEVEN
MAVEN
“Going somewhere?”
I look up from the rideshare app and see Dallas sitting on the couch with a picture book in his hand. June is in his lap, and they’re wearing matching tiaras that sparkle in the early evening sun.
“Hey,” I say, and smile at the pair. “I’m meeting Isabella for drinks. Is that okay?”
“You don’t have to ask my permission to do things, Mae. The apartment is yours, too, and you’re free to come and go as much as you want.”
“I know, but I should’ve checked with you first. In case something came up with your schedule.”
Dallas chuckles. “When has anything come up with my schedule in the three months you’ve been here?”
I bite my lip to hold back a smile. “Not once. Maybe you should live a little.”
“Maybe. But I like being here best.” He sets the book down and cradles June to his chest. “Where are y’all going?”
“This wine bar over by Georgetown. Isabella knows a server there and was able to get us a table. I won’t be late, though. Iknow you have an early flight to Seattle tomorrow, and I don’t want to disturb you when I get back.”
“You won’t.” He pauses, and his eyes track down my body in a slow perusal of my outfit. He starts at my crop top and moves to the leather skirt that hits the top of my thigh. He lands on my knee-high boots, and he lets out a soft puff of air. “Wow.”
“Is it too much?” I pull on the hem of the skirt and try to make it longer. “I’ve only been in overalls and khakis between here and the stadium. This is the first time I’ve worn something nice in a?—”
