‘Did you bring a date?’
‘Uh, I brought my sister. I kind of abandoned her a minute ago, I should probably try and find her.’
‘I’m sure she’ll be fine. I just wanted to have a quiet word.’
‘About football?’
She purses her lips. ‘About my daughter, Lemon.’
Oh god. Anything but Lemon.
‘Uhh—’
‘Look, I won’t beat around the bush here, seeing as you don’t seem to have a girlfriend. Jake, I would very much appreciate it if you could take my Lemon to dinner one night.’
I hold her gaze, swallowing hard. I don’t want to give my true feelings away, not when this woman is technically my boss and I’ve only played two pre-season games for the Mutineers. But… What. The. Actual. Fuck?
I can feel my teammates’ eyes on me. ‘I, uh—’
‘Look, hear me out. She can be a shy girl. But she’s a heart of gold. Being my daughter, and given that her Daddy ain’t around no more, I sometimes feel men are… well the fact that I’m her momma makes them nervous to ask her out.’
‘Nervous?’
‘Men are sometimes a little afraid of me, Jake.’
You don’t say.
‘All I’m asking for is one dinner,’ she adds when I don’t say anything – due to being lost for fucking words. ‘Nothing too fancy, though my Lemon is known to have her mother’s impeccable taste. The Country Club, right here, has an enchanting restaurant. Great steak.’
Her smile is fixed, like the Botox is stopping it from being any wider, and there isn’t a single wrinkle in that forehead. How the hell did I end up in this situation?
‘Hank adores his granddaughter. Did I mention that?’
Holy fuck.Was that a threat? That if I don’t be nice to his granddaughter, Hank Conway will have a word with Coach and have me dropped from the team?
‘Sure, I can take Lemon to dinner,’ I say, and my throat sticks when the words come out. ‘Should I— Do you wanna—’
‘Why don’t you ask Lemon for her number? Before you go home. That would be just fine. Thank you, Jake. And everybody is real pleased with your performance on the field so far. Keep it up.’
When I watch her walk across the lawn, I swear a little part of me dies on the inside. Hudson and Harmony are gone and I’m standing on a patch of grass all alone.
‘Where’d you go?’ River asks me when I eventually find her hanging out near the bar, at a table on her own. She doesn’t look happy. I pull out a chair.
‘I am so sorry. I was helping out a teammate before I got cornered by Samantha Conway.’
‘Right. Can we go now?’
She glances over her shoulder, looking uncomfortable. ‘What’s up?’ I ask.
‘Two of the waiters are in my high school class.’
‘They are? Did you talk to them?’
‘No. They were pointing at me and laughing. I only agreed to come with you to be nice. I didn’t expect to see anybody I knew here. Now my whole class is gonna think it’s normal for me to hang out at places like the Country Club.’
‘Do you know their names?’
‘One of them. His name’s Scottie Lincoln. He’s a soccer player.’ Her eyes well up and now I feel like shit for leaving her. ‘Can we go now?’ she asks again.
