“Brooke, what’s wrong?”
“Nothing, I just can’t swing a weekend trip.”
“Is this about Levi? Because you won’t even see him, I promise.”
I’d managed to ignore him, especially after we lost that first game, and I sure as hell planned to keep him away from my girl.
“No, it’s not that.”
“Then what is it?”
Brooke was usually talkative, yet tonight it felt as if I had to fight for every word, just like on that night before I left. I’d known something was nagging at her but hadn’t wanted to push.
Now I thought it would’ve been better if I pushed more and got to the bottom of the problem, because it was harder to communicate over the phone.
“Just... a lot of things I need to take care of.”
I let out a frustrated sigh, leaning against the railing of the balcony.
“Brooke—”
“Listen, I need to go. Have fun celebrating tonight, okay?’
She wanted to hang up already? I was too taken aback to think about a better way to reach out to her and get at the bottom of this. We exchanged a hurried goodbye. What in the hell was happening?
I was too restless to stay in my room, so I went straight to the hotel bar. Andrew was already there, perched on a stool, eating a sandwich.
“What crawled up your ass?” he asked as I sat next to him. I was surprised he’d picked up on my mood, but then again, I’d been ecstatic just twenty minutes ago. “Problems with your girl?”
“Is it that obvious?”
“Just an educated guess. There’s a reason I’m single. Don’t want any bullshit in my life.”
I respected Andrew as captain, but our views differed wildly where our private lives were concerned. Sure, a few years ago I would have agreed with him. Maybe even a few months ago, but not after meeting Brooke.
What she and I had was powerful. If something was off, I didn’t want to ignore it or just assume it’d go away on its own. In my experience, unspoken frustrations and problems only tended to escalate. I needed to find a better way to reach my girl, that was all. I was sure we could work out just about anything.
The next two days blurred into each other. Our schedule was draconian: moving to a new city, working out, watching tapes, working out again just before the last friendly game.
We won, but only by sheer luck. I felt boneless when I returned to my room every night. After the game I was so exhausted that I wanted nothing more than sleep, but I’d promised Milo I’d call as soon as I could, so I dialed Lori’s number. The two of them, Evelyn, and Graham were on vacation.
Milo answered. “Uncle Jace, that was so cool. Dad said it was your best game.”
We went on to discuss every detail. His enthusiasm made me grin. Milo reminded me of myself at his age. He could have probably gone on forever, but I heard Graham’s voice in the background after about an hour.
“Milo, please pass me the phone. I’d like to talk to Jace.”
“Bye, Uncle Jace. Dad wants to talk to you.”
“Great job,” Graham said a few seconds later. “Kind of makes me wish I’d been there for a game.”
Before Lori and Milo were part of his life, Graham used to travel with the team on important games.
“You can always fly in for the semifinal.”
“Nah, and miss out on this? If there’s one thing Milo loves more than soccer, it’s scuba diving. But we’ll make it to the final if the Lords play.”
“Way to lay on the pressure,” I joked.