His grin is small but kind. “My vovó would have said the same thing.”
I lick my lips and study him a second before speaking again. “When did you come to the U.S.?”
“I was seventeen. I was recruited by a youth academy to come play over here.”
“Which one?” I say. I’m familiar with several. They’re clubs with professional coaches; they scholarship talented kids all over the world and train them to go pro. It’s an education in soccer with schooling on the side.
“Skyline FC?—”
“In Chicago,” I say.
“That’s the one. I started learning English in my first school year in Brazil—Vovó made sure of it. I played club there, too. But it was expensive and grueling. It was hard on Vovó, though she never complained. Skyline paid my tuition in full. They even paid for me to get here.”
“Did Vovó,” I say, unsure I’m saying the Portuguese word for grandmother correctly, “come, too?”
Lucca shakes his head, and I see the sorrow in that one movement. “No. I visited, but she stayed in our villa.”
“Is Vovó still there?”
“She passed away a few years ago.”
A pang of sorrow hits me harder than it should. But it’s clear how much Lucca adored his grandmother and that her loss is painful. “I’m sorry,” I say.
He gives a small nod. “Thank you, Maggie.” He peers at me, his eyes turning to slits. “In some ways, you remind me of her.”
“I remind you of yourgrandmother?”
He doesn’t take the chance to laugh at the absurdity. He very seriously nods once more. “Yes. She was the best woman I ever knew. And she loved a little boy like he was her own when she didn’t have to.” His smile is sad; it longs for a woman who is gone from this world. “She loved me.”
I’m in my bed,sixty seconds from sleep, when the door creaks open and a shadowed figure comes sneaking in—one that is much too tall to be Wyatt.
“Lucca?”
The light in my room flicks on. “Lucca?” Lindy says. “Were you expecting a tall, dark Brazilian athlete to creep into your room tonight?”
“What?” My tone is too high, and my voice cracks from lack of use. “No. Of course not. I didn’t say Lucca.”
“You did,” Lindy says.
“I said—” But before the lie can come out of my mouth, Lindy’s talking again.
“So.” She climbs onto my queen-sized bed and crosses her legs. She peers down at me, bouncing on my mattress once. “How was it?”
I squint in the bright light of my room. “How was what?”
“Lucca? How was Lucca? You guys had an entire hour alone together before he left.”
“Did you…” I push up until I’m resting on my elbows. “Did you leave us alone on purpose?”
“Of course I left you alone on purpose. I owed you big time.”
It looks like I won’t be going to sleep any time soon. So, I sit up and lean my head against the wall. “Owed me for what?” Was she rewarding me or punishing me?
She flinches, making a horrified face. “Ugh.Reggie.”
I sigh. “Oh, you definitely owe me for Reggie. But this does not make up for that fiasco.”
“How was I supposed to know he’d be carrying a tape measure?”
