I couldn’t and wouldn’t fail either of them.
6
JESSE
“Do we have everything?”Maddie asked as she leaned forward in the back seat of my truck, her eyes darting around the cab as she bobbed her knee.
“You have everything that paper said that you needed,” I told her in my rearview mirror. “You have cleats, shin guards, and long socks.”
She drew her brows together and nodded, appeased for the moment or, I hoped, for the remaining fifteen minutes we had to get to the field.
Before I’d had the chance to contact her teacher about what activities she would recommend, Maddie had come home from school last week waving the flyer for local soccer league sign-ups, asking if it was okay to join.
After I called the number and verified that it was an open sign-up and not tryouts, I piled her into my truck the next day to head to the mall and get everything the coach on the phone had told me she needed.
I prayed this was a sign that, just maybe, the tides were turning a little. But as excited as I was to see her excited about something, I worked to keep my expectations in check.
I glanced back at my back seat, a grin splitting my mouth when I spotted Maddie’s. “I never knew you wanted to play soccer.”
“My friend Jeffrey plays. He said it’s fun and mostly you just run and kick the ball,” she said, lifting her shoulder in a shrug. “And I like playing kickball at recess. It’s better than dancing,” she mumbled.
“From what they told me when I called the number on the flyer, a lot of kids join the league at your age. So don’t worry about that, okay?” I caught the hint of a smile when she lifted her head. “And if any kids do get stupid, I’ll be right there with you.”
“You don’t mind driving to games?”
I opened her car door and shook my head.
“I told you, Mad. I work from home and will take you to anything you want to do whenever you want.”
And I meant that with my total heart and soul. I’d chauffeur her all over the damn place, not only to give her the distraction, as Dr. Asher had suggested, but to help her grab any kind of joy she wanted to chase.
“I think we have everything.” I took her hand and the purple duffel bag she’d picked out and headed to the entrance to the indoor sports facility.
“Maddie!”
A blond-haired little boy, who I guessed was Maddie’s age, charged us as we stepped inside toward the fake grass.
“Hi,” Maddie said as she surveyed the long line along the edge of the field.
“Don’t worry about that,” he said, turning his head to follow her gaze. “That’s just check-in. I told you there aren’t any tryouts. You can just sign up.”
“I told her that too,” I said, squeezing the tense little muscle in her shoulder.
Maddie hadn’t talked about too many friends in school, but I’d heard the name of one boy a lot. I hadn’t officially met Jeffrey before, but I already liked him for looking out for her and getting her here in the first place.
“I bet you’re Jeffrey. Nice to meet you,” I said, dipping my head to meet his gaze. He was an inch or two shorter than my niece.
“Yeah, how did you know?” Jeffrey said, his brow furrowed as he peered up at me.
“Maddie said you’re the one who told her about today.”
“Oh yeah. Hi,” he said.
“This is my uncle Jesse. I guess, Mr. Evans to you.” She squinted up at me.
“Let’s get you signed up, Mad.” I reached for her hand but stopped myself, tipping my chin forward instead. “We’ll let you lead the way, Jeffrey.”
“Okay, come on,” he said before taking off. Maddie followed and I lingered behind. I hadn’t been to a soccer game since high school, when I used to sit in the stands and cheer my superstar girlfriend on to victory.
