Cold or warm, I loved everything about the state that I lived in.
However, there was just something about a warm summer day that really did it for me.
The sunshine, the almost hot day…they were everything that you craved in the deadest of winter.
Now that it was here, I was definitely excited to embrace the temperature change.
My eyes opened when a whistle sounded, unaware that I’d closed them in the first place.
I shoved my glasses back onto my head and took a good look at the women on the field.
I spotted mine quickly, noting that she was talking to Beau and Eddy, as well as the head athletic trainer by the looks of it.
Another girl was with them, whom I assumed to be the team captain thanks to the C on her right sock.
I noted what Beau was talking about though, with the team camaraderie.
There wasn’t a single woman on the field that was playing with each other. All of them were practically passing to themselves, which was outright ridiculous. What was even worse was when the ball would fly toward another woman. That woman would see the ball and expressly ignore it in favor of paying attention to only what she had going on.
I rubbed at the back of my neck. Clearly, Beau had his work cut out for him.
The captain and Nettie broke off, and the women were called in to stretch.
They all came, but not one of them got close enough to each other to touch.
I scrunched up my face.
“Gonna be a problem,” I mused.
“What is?”
I turned to find a woman there with a toddler on her hip.
I recognized her immediately.
“Magnolia Baker?”
“That’s me.”
I gestured toward the field. “Beau told me before practice started that there was discontent among the masses. I agreed that it was going to be a problem.”
She sat down in the chair two down from me and then placed her toddler onto the chair between us.
I smiled down at the blue-eyed blonde girl, who dismissed me immediately in favor of the small soccer ball she had in her hands.
“Cute kid,” I said.
“Very,” Magnolia said. “I came here to check out the team. He said that there were issues, and I’m not sure that I want to deal with the bullshit. I’m in my last year, maybe two. I want to play for a team that I like. This team might be more trouble than it’s worth.” She looked around. “Plus, I’ve never lived in the north before in my life. I’m born and bred Tennessee sunshine. This place might very well kill me.”
She gave an exaggerated shiver.
I blinked at her. “It’s sixty degrees out, ma’am. It doesn’t get much more perfect than that here.”
She made a face. “That’s the problem. I’m not sure I know how to control my emotions in the cold.”
I grinned.
The whistle sounded, and we both turned our attention back to the field.
