“You need to get a hold of yourself.”
Grant fought for a few seconds before he relaxed against the wall. His teammate was right. He was letting his emotions get the best of him. But after having Em walk out, and then hearing that the one person she felt like she could trust wasn’t as great as she thought, Grant was dangerously close to losing it.
He closed his eyes and took a couple deep breaths.
Bastian gripped his shoulder. “You need to listen to me.”
Grant opened his eyes.
“Do not talk to Finn until he’s had a chance to calm down. Do not go to the autograph session tonight. And for the love of all that is good and holy, do not talk to Emmeline again. Do you understand?”
Grant’s gaze went to Finn.
Bastian squeezed his hand over the tight muscle between Grant’s shoulder and neck. “Do you understand?”
Grant smacked Bastian’s hand off of him and grabbed his crutches. “Yeah, I got it.”
Not that he would actually listen to Finn or Bastian. It was one thing for Em to decide she didn’t want to date, and quite another for Finn to say she was off-limits and sabotage her happiness with his fake date plan. She was a grown woman capable of making her own decisions.
Of course, she might notwantto date him, he realized as he walked past the field on his way out of the arena.
But that was something he would need to hear from her mouth before he gave up on her.
Emmeline
After everythingthat had happened at the game this past weekend, Em had been hoping for an easy week at school. Apparently, that was too much to hope for. She’d never been so relieved for Friday’s dismissal bell. It was officially the weekend, and she kicked it off by crying in her car for fifteen minutes.
Riley, the student whose father recently died, was having a hard time after that morning’s festivities. Not that Em could blame him.
Why did so many schools insist on having Donuts for Dads when there were so many broken families in the world? Sure, for many students—and their fathers—it was a great chance to hang out while stuffing their faces with sugary goodness.
But for others, like Riley, it only served as a reminder of what they didn’t have.
Em knew that feeling all too well. Neither of her parents would have ever dreamed of showing up for a Muffins with Mom or Donuts with Dad event. They’d never been on a single field trip, and couldn’t be bothered to show up to any of Finn’s soccer games back in high school.
Every time they didn’t show up, it felt like a dagger to the heart. She always wondered what was wrong with her. Now that she was an adult, she knew the problem wasn’t with her, but her parents. But her students were still too young to understand that.
She’d spent the week reminding her kids that any special person could be their guest for that morning’s event, but either Riley hadn’t realized that her gentle reminders were for him...or he didn’t care.
She doubted it was the latter though based on the way he tried—and failed—to put on a brave face. She’d caught him with watery eyes on several occasions throughout the day. Em wanted to cry for him but had kept the tears at bay for his sake. She didn’t want to draw more attention to him.
It wasn’t fair. It wasn’t Riley’s fault that his dad died, just like it wasn’t the other kids’ fault that their parents had left, or didn’t want to go. And yet, they were the ones who paid the price for it on these cutesy, themed breakfast days.
So she’d kept it together until the bell rang and even made it out to her car before the tears streamed down her cheeks. Her gentle crying had quickly become loud sobbing as all the emotions from her childhood came to her in a rush.
It was moments like this that she usually grabbed takeout and showed up on Finn’s doorstep. If she knocked on his door right now, he wouldn’t turn her away—except for the pesky fact that he was on the other side of the country for an away game.
Em knew she could always go to her best friend with things like this too. Frida had always been there for Em growing up, but she was gone for the weekend at an art teacher conference, so she was also off the table.
Why did the two most important people to me have to disappear on the same weekend?
Em rested her forehead against her steering wheel and closed her eyes. There was only one other person who she’d opened up to about her awful parents, and she knew he was in town. Too bad she’d ghosted him in the middle of a date last week.
It would be completely unfair to expect Grant to talk to her after the way she’d treated him, she knew that. But she didn’t know who else she could turn to.
It was possible she would show up to his house, and he would be gone doing something else. Or worse, he could have another girl over—that waitress had probably pounced the second Em had left the table last Saturday.
There was also the chance that Em would show up only to have Grant send her away. She wouldn’t blame him.
