ve m

ped so tight her knuckles ached. Her first instinct was to type back someth

ct, which was neither smart no

mergency." Marcus said, picking up on the se

f me and my coach." Mia said,

ount. No name.

e kind that told her Marcus had g

e 'pho

g weird." Mia said, then hesitated. "I mean. It do

eight years old and about to do something reckless on a pavement c

a said,

ia

said, laughing despite herself, the sound co

've known him for

rly enjoying himself now that the emergency had

lf, has he done anything a

game tape. The way he'd leaned in close enough that she could smell rai

after hours once." Mia

not a cr

now

teasing in it at all, just the same steady patience he'd had every time she came home from tr

back against the cabinets, phone pressed to her ear, and let he

lf-court behind their apartment building, playing soccer with a ball more p

ce mostly by refusing to go easy on her, shoving her off the ball, laugh

opped crying and started scoring on him instead, and that was the day he'd looked at her diff

n real grass until she was sixteen years old, standing at the edge of a proper pitch for the first t

embered being the last name called, remembered thinking she'd blown it, remembered the assistant coach a

'd spent every day since making sure

er a full minute late. "I just... I don't want it to be a thing, Marcus. I

, if it's already a thing, pretending otherwise doesn't make it no

said, half a laugh escaping despite

urvive fatherhood." Marcus said, and this time they both actual

reenshot it first in case it matters later, then block

good advice." Mia

omorrow, and knowing you, you'll be there forty-five minutes early trying to

d, rolling her eyes, though

" He paused, voice dropping into something

ssage, blocked the account, and sat there in the quiet of her kitc

e question she hadn't actually answered out loud: whether there was something. She told herself there

needed to be up, an hour before practice, an hour

half-panicked, certain it wa

was

as D

nutes early today. Something ca

ntirely, heart suddenly pounding for rea

n anything. A tactical change. A

an he'd seen t