God, I love that sad girl so much it hurts.
“Here,” Daisy returns and hands me the jersey. I look at the tag and sigh. “It’s the only size they had left,” she hollers before running to the bathroom. I follow her, changing out of my shirt and into the jersey that’s two sizes too small. It pulls tight around my ribcage and chest, but it makes Daisy laugh, and Rhea is going to think it’s hilarious.
“You’re going to have to cut me out of this,” I tell her as she drags me toward our seats.
“What the hell are you wearing?” Boone’s voice is loud as I settle down into my chair next to him, Loveday, and Boone’s best friend, Wren.
“And what the hell is on your face?” Judd grimaces.
“It’s the only size they had left, and Rhea likes it…” I say to them, running my hand over the mustache, she asked very politely for me to grow, but they’re all losing it laughing. “Yeah, laugh it up, assholes. So funny.”
The girls come out on the field, and we all stand to cheer for them. I cross my arms over my chest uncomfortably as they line up for the national anthem, and I wait for her to find us in the crowd. She’s nervous about today—her first time as captain, and her first tournament at this scale—but it doesn’t show. Her hair is braided into two buns, and her face looks so plain without her piercings, but her eyes are bright and scanning the crowd.
Daisy waves beside me as Boone whistles loudly. Kaia taps her on the arm and points in our direction. Rhea smiles nervously, and I turn so she can see the back of the jersey, and it turns into full-blown laughter as I turn back to her. She shakes her head gently and scrunches up her nose at me.
The game starts, and the Hillcats move fast; they don’t waste a second of the clock before they’re scoring. Sunday manages to hurdle a player and dive over the line for an electric start to the game. I think I hold my breath every time Rhea takes possession, but true to her nickname, she’s Death on the field. She moves like a shadow, graceful and powerful. It’s insane to watch.
When she scores, she points to us in the stands and flexes to Daisy, who does it in return with that goofy smile on her face that I love so much.My girls.
“She’s an animal.” Wren shakes his head in disbelief. “I’d grow a mustache for her, too, Bri.” He leans over with a stupid grin on his face.
“She’d tear you to shreds if you said that to her face,” Boone laughs.
Wren looks horrified, and it only makes me laugh.She’s not scary; that thought has remained true. She jogs down the field, her feet moving faster than the girl next to her as Kaia launches the ball backwards to Cosy, who skips it to Sunday and out to another girl. Watching themmove together in tandem is like moving art. It’s flawless, and even if one stumbles, the others pick up the slack.
“Women terrify me,” Wren mumbles, and Judd laughs in agreement.
Kaia tips the ball off just as the clock runs down and brings them into the half. Seven minutes down, and the Hillcats are up two tries. Boone and the guys run to get beers during the quick break, leaving Daisy and me in silence.
“Hey, I signed you up for some classes down at the rec center,” I say to her, and she scowls at me. “Yeah, I know how much you love fishing, so…”
“Dad!” She groans.
“Guitar classes, Squish,” I confess, and she lights up like a Christmas tree.
“Really?” She turns in her seat and throws herself at me for a hug. “I need to text Lori and Auggie,” she squeals, pulling out her phone.
The excitement in her voice is enough to keep me smiling the rest of the game, and by the end of the second half, the girls have won their first match. They just have to do the same thing for the rest of the weekend.
Every game is stressful, and slowly but surely the crowd starts to thin, leaving the die-hards and the family members cheering on who they can, when they can. By the last game, Daisy is asleep with her head on my shoulder, and I’m doing everything I can not to move around, but Rhea takes a hard tackle, and my whole body tenses when she gets up slowly.
“Come on, Reaper,” Boone whispers from beside me as he slides forward in his chair. “You’re tougher than that.”
When she pushes off the ground and starts moving, I exhale the breath I’m holding, and Boone nods in approval. They’ve got two minutes left on the clock to score a try that wins them the game, but Kansas matches pace, and they’ll be lucky to break the defence.
“Sunday’s gassed,” Boone grumbles.
“No, look,” Judd snaps his fingers, and Cosy pulls up for relief. Sunday rifles the ball back to her left. The second the ball leaves her hands, she loops around to back up Kaia, who trails Cosy. Rhea is trying, butit’s clear she’s dizzy from the hit because she’s moving more slowly than usual. Kaia’s screaming out orders, and the girls are filing into a line for one last push.
“Come on,” I urge them under my breath. “One more good play.”
Boone flinches beside me as Kaia gets thrown to the bottom of a pile, but Rhea is there to protect, pushing it back to a stable position as the ball comes loose and Sunday pockets it. She chucks it to Margie, who snaps it back to Cosy and out to Rhea, who has repositioned.
“Atta girl, Hellcat.” I sit up a little straighter with every step she takes, and Daisy stirs against me.
“There it is,” Judd huffs, and Rhea throws herself across the line with a defender attached to her waist, tapping the ball into the turf with a wild smile on her flushed face.
Everyone explodes, scaring Daisy awake, but I don’t move. I let her get both eyes open, and when she realizes what happened, she’s on her feet. As the tournament winds down, we wait for the girls outside. It feels like forever, and I just wanna see her so I know that she didn’t get too banged up over the last ten hours. When the doors push open, I hear her before I see her, and she's laughing with the girls as they wander over to us.
