A Wright Christmas

5Isaac“Where even is your head at tonight?” Annie asked from the passenger seat. “We’re going to be late.”

“We’re not going to be late,” I told her.

We probably were. Since having Aly, I was late almost everywhere. I used to be the kind of guy who thought fifteen minutes early was on time and on time was late, but, man, kids changed all of that.

“I mean, you usually run behind now but not for soccer.”

I shrugged and took the next turn north toward the indoor complex. “I guess my mind is on other things.”

“Like?” Annie prodded as she finished French-braiding her dark red hair.

“Peyton.”

Annie’s eyebrows rose. She tied off the completed right side before turning to face me. “Peyton Medina?”

“What other Peyton do we know?”

“I don’t know. It’s been a few years since I’ve heard that name out of your mouth.”

“Well, she’s back in town.”

“What?”

“Just for the month. She’s performing as the Sugar Plum Fairy in The Nutcracker.”

“Did you see her? When did this happen?” Annie asked excitedly.

“I guess Thursday. I ran into her when I was picking up Aly.”

“And you’re just now telling me this?”

I rolled my eyes at my sister. “I haven’t even seen you since Thursday.”

“Yeah, I’m in med school. You never see me, but pick up a phone or something, dude. What are you going to do?”

That I didn’t know. I knew what I wanted to do. I wanted to ask her out. I wanted to take her out to dinner and hear all the amazing things that she had accomplished since she left Lubbock and me behind all those years ago. I wanted things to be what they had been.

But…I knew that was impossible. Nothing could go back to the way they had been. She’d left, and I’d told her to. I couldn’t stand between her and her dream. Not when I’d had such high hopes for my soccer career. I wasn’t the same person either. First and foremost, I had Aly to think about. As much as the kid adored anyone who danced and would surely idolize Peyton, would it be fair of me to introduce her to Peyton when I wanted more? Would it be fair to any of us?

Lots of questions and no answers.

I pulled into the parking lot and killed the engine in front of the indoor complex. Annie and I hopped out and grabbed our soccer bags out of the bed of the truck.

“You need to get her out of your head, or you’re not going to be able to play tonight,” Annie told me.

“I know. I mean, I told her she could call or text me. She said that we should meet up. But I haven’t heard from her in four days. That probably means I’ll never hear from her, right?”

Annie slung her bag over her shoulder. “You haven’t seen her in sixteen years. Seems unlikely you’ll see her again if she didn’t text you the next day.”

I nodded and pulled open the door to the soccer facility, letting Annie step inside first. “You’re right. I’ll just put it out of my mind. No reason to dwell on the past.”

“Or not,” Annie muttered, frozen in place.

“Or not?” I asked in confusion.

Then, I stepped inside.

Peyton Medina was seated in the bleachers.

“Oh,” I whispered.

God, I’d forgotten how beautiful she was. Thursday, when I’d seen her still in tights and a leotard, it was like nothing had changed. Sixteen years had just disappeared. But now, she sat on the bleachers in street clothes, next to Annie’s friends, Jennifer Gibson and Sutton Wright, and I was a goner. Simple jeans and a white sweater with her wild, curly hair out of its immaculate bun shouldn’t have done me in, but it did. And I wanted nothing more to go over there and kiss her.

“Earth to Isaac,” Annie hissed. “She’s waving.”

I raised my hand and waved back.

“Go say something to her, you idiot.”

The first buzzer rang then, announcing five minutes until game time.

“There’s no time. We have to go warm up.”

Annie rolled her eyes. “You go. I’m going to say hi.”

True to her word, Annie raced off to the bleachers, waving at her friends and then crushing Peyton in a hug. I wanted to go over there, but five-minutes already wasn’t enough time to warm up. Not if I wanted to win this match…and I did. My competitive streak was unparalleled.

I dropped my bag at the bench and put on my shin guards before jogging up and down the sidelines. I interspersed high knees and some side shuffles before returning to the bench. Annie was stretching next to Blaire, who grinned broadly at me.

“You’re welcome,” she said.

“What’s she talking about?” Hollin Abbey asked.

I’d played soccer with him on an intramural team at Tech. He was a solidly built white guy. With how big he was, I was sometimes surprised that he was the fastest guy on our team.