“That must be some book,” he says with a smirk.
“Let’s go,” I say, heading toward the nearest pub. When our beers have been delivered, Tim turns to stare at me with a raised eyebrow. “I met this lass,” I say.
“Oh, here we go,” he says, rolling his eyes.
“Dae ye want me tae tell ye or naw?” After a long swig of his beer, he motions for me to continue. “I met her yesterday at the library. She was supposed tae wait for me tae come back, but she must have blown me off.”
“Okay, so she decided she didn’t want to sit in the library all day on the off chance you showed back up. So what?” Tim asks, his amazing ability to state the obvious making me itch to knock the smirk off his face.
“I dinnae know. There was something aboot her. I cannae get her oot of my mind. I just thought... I dinnae know whit I thought.” Tim holds up two fingers at the bartender. When the next round shows up with our food, he takes a swig of his beer.
“So why don’t you call her?” he asks, stating the obvious.
“That’s just it. I left yesterday before I could get her number.”
“Oh Christ, Alex. Were you fucking some groupie in the stacks when I found you?” Tim’s words make me want to pop him even more. It wasn’t like that, was it? We’ve discussed my sex life many times over the last ten years, but this is the first time I’ve ever questioned my own motives.
“It was naw like that, she’s naw a groupie. She’s a nice lass from Texas named Claire. I’m pretty sure she dinnae even know me.”
“So, you’re all worked up over some piece of ass. Is that what you’re saying?”
Slamming my bottle down on the table, I growl out, “Ye’re a real wank, ye know that?”
Tim just laughs. “You Brits can’t even cuss properly. Besides, it sounds like I’m not the one who's going to be doing some wanking.” I snort out a laugh this time. He’s probably right.
“Why dae I even bother with ye?” I ask.
“Because I married your sister.” He just smiles. We finish round two in silence. Round three shows up shortly, purchased by a handful of giggling coeds. Looking where the waitress is pointing, Tim nods at them. “That would go a long way to help you forget her,” he says.
“That’s the problem, arsehole, I dinnae want tae forget her. I want tae find her.” After gently brushing off the coeds, we decide on an Uber. We can retrieve our rental on the way to the airport. Neither one of us takes up with coeds anymore.
Tim got married a couple of years ago and I don’t need a picture of me with a nineteen-year-old in the papers. The owners are very supportive of our newest endeavor, but that doesn’t mean they would look kindly on a scandal.
“Don’t we fly to Texas next week?” Tim asks as we stumble toward our room. “You could hook up with her then.”
“I could, aye, except I just know her first name.”
“So you don’t have her number, you don’t know her last name, what else?”
“I dunno exactly where in Texas she lives,” I say, shrugging. He laughs, shaking his head.
“Dude, you are some kind of fucked.”
“Aye, that I am.” Undaunted, I sit down at my laptop when we get back to the room. I’m pretty sure I’m not going to get much sleep anyway with the bear snoring in the other bed. How hard could it possibly be to find a Claire living in Texas. I start with Google.
“Bloody fuck!” I growl. According to Google, there are twelve and a half million women living in Texas. Facebook? All I have is Claire from Texas. If her profile is locked down or her picture is her cat, I’m shagged.
After a few more attempts, I call it quits for tonight. Tim snores happily in the other bed as I fall into mine. Why wouldn’t he? He’s heading home to his beautiful wife, just now starting to show with their second kid. After Texas, he’s taking some time off to spend with his growing family. I’m continuing on with the camps until I have to report in February.
* * *
“Is this Dallas?” I’m woken up by a giant rumbling in the seat next to mine a couple of weeks later. My futile search for Claire has, so far, turned up nothing. Yawning, I look out the window.
“Aye?” We’ve finished a three-day camp in Houston. The camp was coordinated through the Houston Dynamo FC. I would like to expand the program if I just had more time.
I’ve had the most luck working with other professional football clubs around the country. Tonight we are meeting several members of FC Dallas for a drink. Just their participation guarantees the camp will be well attended.
The camps are always hosted at colleges, so I can recruit the help of their players. Tomorrow we’re opening a three-day camp at some college in Fort Worth.
