AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Kara’s vision shifts to Calista and she looks her up and down. “That we have to allow the coach to coach. I get that you”—she wiggles her finger at me—“are some sort of soccer player, but you don’t understand girls’ soccer.”
I cross my arms and stare at her. “And the difference is?” I can’t wait for this woman to tell me.
Calista puts out her hand. “Hi, Kara, I’m Calista Bailey.”
The woman shakes her hand. “Bailey as in from Lake Starlight?”
She nods. “Yep.”
“Which one are you from? My husband went to school with Phoenix and Sedona.”
“I’m Rome’s daughter, the other set of twins, but I did play soccer from the time I was six until I was twenty-six. And that coach isn’t teaching them what they need to know in order to play, and the fundamentals are the same whether it’s girls or boys.”
She huffs and looks at Mandi. “Did you bring them here to, like, butter up Coach Baxter because your daughter rides the bench?”
I step a little closer to Kara, and Calista stands shoulder to shoulder with me as though we’re protecting Mandi.
“There’s no reason a nine-year-old should be on the bench. And maybe if your daughter was on the bench, she’d try a little harder as a goalie,” Calista says.
“Mandi, I’m sorry, but I’m going to have to talk to the director of the park district about how many family members can come to a game. It’s just too much for the kids.” Kara turns around and goes over to the other moms with jackets that would never keep them warm and their Starbucks cups.
“Man, she’s something,” Calista says.
“She’s a bitch,” I add.
The refs blow the whistle for halftime.
“Sorry, Mandi, but I’m going to intervene.” I walk across the field toward the coach.
“No, Rylan!” Mandi calls.
I don’t make it a quarter of the way across before Calista is at my side.
She puts her hand on my arm to stop me. “I have a better plan.”
“What?”
“How about we work with Maisie?” She blows out a breath. “Enough so she knows the rules. She can handle the ball with her feet, bounce it off her head. Then when she’s put in for a few minutes, she has a real chance to show why she deserves to have a spot. If you go over there like some half-cocked uncle, they’ll brush you off or make things even harder for Maisie.”
Calista isn’t wrong. Although we both dominated at Maisie’s age, we’ve had challenging times in our careers where we were riding the bench until we pushed ourselves that much harder.
“You’re willing to do that?” I want to rub at the warm sensation in my chest but refrain. “Because when I asked you to come to Jamison’s…?”
“For that little girl who looks like she’s about to break out in tears, hell yes. For you who doesn’t need me at all, no.” She puts her arm through mine and forces me to turn back the way we came, escorting me across the field.
“Good decision, uncle,” Kara says to me, and I flip her off by rubbing my middle finger along the bridge of my nose.
Childish? Yes. Deserving? Absolutely.
Do not fuck with my nieces or nephews.
“I’m offended, by the way,” I whisper in Calista’s ear. “You always gave me the best workouts.”
She shakes her head and doesn’t knee me in the nuts, so I’m going to assume our make- out session did something to soften her to me.
We finish watching the game, and when Noah shows up and sees Maisie on the bench by herself again, I tell him our game plan. After the game is over, all the players get their snacks, and we say goodbye to my family, who tell Maisie she did a good job even though she didn’t play a minute of the game. Gotta love family.
“Maisie!” Mandi calls her over. “Do you remember Calista? When we went to Chicago when you were younger to see Uncle Rylan play, she was hanging out with us while we visited?”
