“Yeah,” she says with a shrug, like she’s been over this. “Jonah said if I stopped cutting my hair he’d let me cut his.”
“He what?”
“Just read the note, Mom! What does it say?”
“Don’t think we’re done discussing your hair, young lady.” I unfold what is clearly a receipt and find handwriting in purple marker on the back.
I have tix to the PA Bluegrass Festival next weekend for all of you. Be my dates?
And then there are two boxes, to check either “Yes” or “Yes” with a heart next to it.
I’m grinning like an idiot, and my heart is ready to punchits way out of my chest.
“What does it say?”
“I need a pen.” Lo runs inside and back out holding another marker, this one green. I make the mark and fold it back up. When I look over to his place from my spot on the porch, he’s in the driveway getting into his SUV. “Go run this to him,” I say in a rush. “Hurry!”
Both of them don’t ask any questions and are sprinting over. He spots them before putting the vehicle in drive and hops out. They’re too far away for me to hear, but I watch him unravel the note and jump up and down, pumping his fist in the air. He leans down and says something to them and then they’re all jumping.
He sends them running back and spots me before holding up his hands to form a heart.
Chapter 27
Career Plans
Jonah
Despite horrendous traffic, my drive to the team training facility is spent in bliss. I am taking the Wilde girls to a bluegrass festival. She agreed, and like, pretty enthusiastically! She checked both boxes on my note. She could have created another box and declined me—though I purposefully didn’t leave her much room on the receipt to do that—but she didn’t!
“What’s goin’ on Joner Boner?” Joaquín asks as he enters the facility with his brother. “You look... manic.”
I hug them both. “I’m taking her on a date!”
“Renée?” Raf asks.
“And her daughters. We’re going to that bluegrass festival Christina told us about.”
“Does she like bluegrass?” Raf asks. “Doyoulike bluegrass?”
“Of course I do. Just because I haven’t listened to a lot it doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate it. And Renée...” I sigh. “She’s so talented. She plays mandolin and sings and... God, you have to see for yourself one day. Amazing.”
My best friend and brother-in-law take me through the renovations of our state-of-the-art rugby training facility. Though still under construction, it’s nearly finished, and I gape at the transformation Joaquín and Raf have pulled off in such a short time. Granted, I did end up throwing more money at the project to speed things up, but it was worth it!
No one outside of my family knows I funded this. Not Coach, not even the team’s executive board. As far as they know, it came from an anonymous donor.
Every week since this began, I’ve been meeting with the Jimenez brothers. Raf worked with the e-board and planning committee on all the details and financial reporting, while Joaquín was the project manager. To keep myself anonymous, I was never present for those meetings, but the guys still filled me in.
I haven’t been here since they started renovation a couple months ago, and I’m floored with the results. No training equipment has been moved in yet, but the indoor field is done.
“Holy smokes.” I huff and take in the magnificence. Bright LED lights illuminate everything—the faux grass, our enormous team logo painted on the far wall, benches, newly-painted field lines, and beckoning goalposts.
In the planning phase, we didn’t know if we’d be able to squeeze in a whole practice field, but the owners of the vacant bowling alley behind our lot sold it to us for a song, and voila!
Raf produces a rugby ball seemingly from thin air. “Go long.”
Before I can think, Joaquín and I are sprinting to the other end of the field, each of us turning to look back as we run. Raf’s kick is long and flies over our heads before bouncing chaotically. I pick it, but as soon as I turn, Joaquín is there and I side-step. “Sugar,” I grunt, and barely make it out of his grasp.
“When did you start playing rugby?” I yell.
