“Coffee’s on,” Rose announces as I wheel her to the love seat, and I take my place beside her, curling my legs beneath me.
“Did you ever play?” Oliver asks Ben, motioning to the football game on the television.
Ben leans forward in the recliner, resting his elbows on his knees. “Nothing more than some pickup games with friends. I did play some soccer in high school, though.”
“No kidding? Me too.” Oliver’s eyes brighten. “What position?”
“Keeper,” Ben says. “You?”
“Center fullback.” Oliver laughs easily. “But I wasn’t very good.”
“What about you?” Oliver asks, turning his attention to Lindsey. “Did you play any sports in school?”
She presses her hand to her chest, eyes wide. “Who, me?Nooo. I’m not very athletic. In fact, my PE coach in high school requested I sit out because I accidentally knocked him in the crotch with a golf club while he was teaching me how to swing.”
“That’s my girl,” I say with a chuckle, and Oliver laughs.
“You’ve learned a thing or two since then,” Ellie begins. “It’s because of Lindsey that the kids had a soccer program this past spring.”
“Really?” Oliver angles himself toward Lindsey, and my inner body-language-armchair-expert has a field day. “Is that so?”
Lindsey, ever humble, ducks her head. “It wasn’t a big deal.”
“Oh, it was,” Ben says. “Coach Morgan tore her ACL right before the start of the season, and the rec center couldn’t find a replacement on such short notice.”
“They thought they were going to have to cancel the whole season,” Ellie goes on. “The kids were crushed. So, this rock star stepped in to help with zero knowledge of the sport.”
“You should have seen her.” Lucy moves forward and looks past her sister at Oliver. “She watched soccer-for-beginners videos at work on her lunch break for two weeks straight.”
Lindsey runs her hand through her hair and shakes her head. “It was nothing, really. I saw a need, and I filled it. That’s all.”
“Well, it meant the world to Noah and Emily.” Ellie regards Lindsey with a warm smile.
“Ref Caldwell, on the other hand, was glad when the season ended,” Ben says with a laugh. “Lindsey gave him so much hell.”
Lindsey throws up her hands. “Umyeah, because henevercalled offsides, and why would he when his daughter was playing for the other team? Nepotism at its finest.”
Oliver breaks into a grin. “Please tell me you’ll be doing it again next year, because I need to witness this in person.”
“Lucky for everyone, Coach Morgan will be taking back her spot next season,” Lindsey says.
Lucy blows a puff of air through her lips. “The only person benefiting from your absence is that toad of a referee.”
Ben rubs his palms together. “You know, Nashville has their own soccer team now.”
“I wanted to go to a game when I first moved here,” Oliver says, “but I never did make it.”
“We should go when the season starts in February,” Ben adds, clearly over the moon to not be the only guy in the fold anymore. “All of us.”
“Hell yeah, we should.” Oliver turns to Lindsey, his eyes flickering over to her sister and Willow seated on her other side. “Would y’all be up for that?”
Rose and I exchange wide-eyed glances as we wait for Lindsey’s answer. Luckily, we don’t have to wait long.
“That sounds fun.”
Lucy shrugs. “I’m always down for an excuse to drink overpriced beer.”
“Count us in,” Willow says.
