Cameron was obviously happy about her praise for the stupid boots but also, who wouldn’t like beautiful and fun Maricela Reyes?
“What are you two whispering about?” my mother said, holding the two glasses and shoving them into our chests. “Drink,” she ordered. “Then, you can tell me what your intentions are with my Adalyn.”
I spat out the water. “Mom.”
“Siempre mom this, mother that.” She waved her hand in front of her. “Soy tu madre, I say it like it is. I didn’t go through a ten-hour birth to bat the bush around.”
“Beat around the bush,” I corrected her.
“I like batting better,” she answered, nonchalantly. “It comes from hunting times, you know. I read it in a magazine,” she explained, looking over at Josie like she was her new best friend. She pulled up her arms. “They used to hit at bushes and trees, and you know what they used? Sticks. Now what’s just like a stick to hit on things? A bat. No offense, but some of these things you say don’t make sense.”
Josie clicked her tongue. “Oh my God, she might be right.”
“I…” I released a deep breath, readying myself to ask her what in the world was she doing in Green Oak, but a couple I recognized as parents of one of the kids on the team came into the café, a very enthusiastic nine-year-old dashing right behind.
For the first time, I took in the inside of the café, noticing how crowded it was for this time in the evening, how loud and excited the chatter was.
I shot Josie a questioning glance. “What’s happening here?”
She blinked. “I told you on the phone,” she said, but I must have been frowning at her because she immediately elaborated. “One of the teams leading the Six Hills was disqualified.” She clapped her hands, and my frown deepened even more. “A whistleblower called the County Gazette, they apparently had thirteen-year-olds in their roster. Every team in the standings is climbing up a spot. So that means that—”
“The Green Warriors are in the final,” I finished for her.
Josie gave a delighted jump, and I could only blink at her.
The Green Warriors are in the final.
For an instant, I was too stunned to speak. Or move.
And then, I was moving. Just like that day all those weeks ago, when I’d turned my life upside down. Only this time, the dam had broken for a completely different reason.
I launched myself at Josie. With a shocked laugh, she wrapped her arms around me. We squeezed each other, and when I released her, I turned on my heels.
Cameron’s eyes were on me, just like I’d known they would be, wrinkling at the corners with a smile. I threw myself at him, too. And when I landed against his chest, his arms were already open. Laughter rolled off him, and it was deep and rich and it traveled right into my heart.
I was happy. Ecstatic.
“We made it, Coach,” I said into his neck. And I didn’t care that my mother was there, or Josie, or the whole team and half the town. I didn’t even care that this was just some recreational team with a roster of kids. I didn’t even care that we hadn’t won anything yet, or that I was celebrating some other team being disqualified. I could only think of how happy my kids would be. How big María’s smile would be. How good this would be for the town. “We freaking made it!”
Cameron’s mouth came to my ear, and he said low, so low only I could hear, “I could fucking eat you right now.” Which only made me giggle.
“Mira, mira. Look,” I heard my mother say with a laugh. “They totally banged. Do you think they’re past the situationship stage?”
Josie’s laughter reached my ears. “I sure hope so, Maricela.”
Cameron let out a grunt that I interpreted as a promise.
I extracted my head off his neck, but he didn’t release me. I guessed that that was okay, social cues had never been his thing. “Where in the world did you learn that, Mom?”
“I have a TickTack now.”
“TikTok?”
She rolled her eyes. “A clock always made ticktack-ticktack, so if anything, that name is wrong.”
Oh God.
She was actually right.
* * *
Cameron pressed his lips to the top of my head before lifting my mother’s giant suitcase and walking out.
My mother stared at him as he left, just like I had been doing, and then turned to give me a look.
“What?” I whispered.
“No, nada,” she said, lifting her hands in the air. But I could see her smirk. She took one of the stools from Cameron’s island out and plopped herself down. “Sit down with me.”
“Mami,” I warned with a sigh. “Cameron will be back in a few minutes, and he’s taking the couch tonight. We should probably call it a night and have whatever conversation you want to have tomorrow morning when we are all rested.”
“Okay, one?” She lifted her hands in the air. “There’s no need to be coy around me. You two can share a bed.” Flashes from earlier tonight came back, making me feel breathless. My mother clicked her tongue. “And two? That man will not be back until you go looking for him. He said he would get the rooms ready for us but he’s giving us space to talk. So sit.”
I crossed my arms over my chest. “But—”
“Ahora, Adalyn.”
I took out the stool with a roll of my eyes. “Happy?”
“Not really,” she said, her expression serious. “Why did you not come back home immediately? Why would you take part in your father’s games? And more importantly, why did I have to buy Matthew off to know where you were?”
“What could you possibly offer him to rat me out like this?”
My mother shrugged. “I’ll never say. A mother doesn’t betray her children. And that man is like the son I never had.”
I opened my mouth to complain but my mother arched her brows, reminding me I had questions to answer. “This is not a game. I really messed up, Mom. There’s a conduct clause in my contract—”
“You are his daughter,” she interjected. “He shouldn’t care about clauses.”
“I’m also his employee,” I countered, feeling that chest tightness that stopped air getting to my lungs. “And hopefully, because I’m both, one day I’ll be the one he picks to take over for him.” These were words I’d said more than once, words I’d worked for, dedicated myself to fulfill, but somehow… Someway, they now tasted bitter in my mouth. I ignored it. “I needed to fix it. To show him he could trust me. I also wanted to help the team after my… slip.”
Maricela Reyes shook her head, making those beautiful dark waves move around her face. “There’s something you’re not telling me. I know.”
I willed my face to remain still, my expression blank. I couldn’t tell my mother about David, or what Dad had done out of some… sense of responsibility that only made me feel small and inadequate. If my mother heard about any of that, what had happened to Sparkles wouldn’t be anything in comparison to what she would do. She would catch a flight to Miami right now and—
That was exactly how Cameron had reacted to the story. Tonight. It had been so clear from his words, his face, the way he’d held me, everything. He… cared about me. That much.
“You know how much I love my job,” I continued, a little breathless. “The club. How much respect I have for what Dad does.”
“You’re getting it all wrong, mi amor.” A long sigh left through her nose. “I loved your father. I still do. I don’t think you can ever stop loving your first great love, and he was that for me. But ever since you were little, you’ve had him on this pedestal nobody else can reach. Not even you.”
“Is that so wrong?” I asked her, honestly. “Is it so bad to aspire to be like him? To want to impress him?”
“I don’t know.” She shook her head, and I believed she genuinely didn’t. “But while you’re on your way there, you’re climbing, getting higher and higher, and I’m scared you’ll fall. I’m scared he’ll do something to shatter all that faith you have in him.”