Page 37 of With the Assist

“You're saying there’s more to Wesley than soccer?”

The question hangs a beat longer than intended, and I shift in my chair, rolling my shoulders as if I can physically shake off the awareness of her watching me.

“Much more.” She tilts her head. “What about you? Other than hockey and apparently being tragically misunderstood by the media.”

I snort. “That’s my whole personality, actually.”

“I don’t buy it.”

“Hockey, hiking, and exploring whatever city I’m in that week.”

Her eyebrows lift. “You hike.”

“I do.”

“Where?”

“Well, it’s more like I enjoy walking near nature.”

Her laugh comes quick and unguarded, and I file that sound away immediately. “Of course it is. Hiking and exploring? I figured you were a city boy.”

“I am,” I say, setting my fork down. “I grew up here and don’t ever want to leave. But we’re surrounded by a lot of sights, and I like seeing what else is out there.”

“But no scaling mountains?”

“Hell no. I use the word hiking loosely.”

She laughs again, and I catch myself wondering how often I can get her to do that.

“You have to be careful when saying ‘hiking’. The next thing you know, you're three miles into climbing Mount Monadnock, scrambling for your life.”

The memory flashes across her face.

“Speaking from experience?” I ask.

“Unfortunately.” Her cheeks flush. “There was no second date.”

“He sounds horrible. Who the hell takes someone on that kind of hike on a first date? You dodged a bullet.”

“A twenty-one-year-old guy trying to show off how cool he was, that’s who.”

“I’m definitely doing better than that guy.”

“If you say so.” She takes a sip of her water, wiggling her eyebrows.

“What about you? What does Wesley Miller do outside of soccer?”

She shifts uncomfortably as if I’d asked a hard question and not just about her other hobbies. Except…

“No,” I say, shaking my head. “You can’t seriously mean you have literally nothing you enjoy outside of soccer.”

There’s serious and then fixated. Clearly, she’s the latter.

“I don’t have time for much else. When there’s room in my schedule, I like to run in charity runs or try different local yoga classes.”

“That doesn’t count,” I argue, knowing that she only does those things to help with soccer.

“They count.” Her jaw works.