Page 9 of Offsides Attraction

“At least her reporting would be right on that story,” Cal said, and bitterness edged his tone as he stacked the bowls together.

“What are you going to do?” Lucas asked.

“Me? I’ll clean up the rest of this mess.” And then research how to make tamales taste like something other than steamed corn.

Chapter 5

Bash parked his Land Rover next to the barn, feeling a bit like Dorothy when she crashed in The Land of the East. No witch under me, but I’m next to a red barn surrounded by endless potatoes? Wheat? Barley? Cal had told him what his grandparents grew at Thistlestone Ranch, but he couldn’t remember. And as the fifth generation of Buchanans to farm this land, land Cal was proud of, Bash should have retained what his roommate said. See? This is the stuff Coach wants you to pay attention to. But, in his defense, he asked Cal how everything was when he came back from Thistlestone on Tuesdays, their traditional day off, but if their playing didn’t improve, they’d lose a portion of that.

The Tetons, a young franchise starting their fourth year, were one-and-two for the season. Not where they wanted to be, but Bash was optimistic. Most of the players were inexperienced or at the end of their careers, but there was a lot of untapped potential in the group. Bash knew the plays and, for the most part, his team executed them in practice. When he had a few brain cells firing at night, he drafted plays he wanted them to try. They capitalized on a few hidden talents his teammates had. One running back had been the QB on his high school team, and another was faster than he looked. A few surprise plays at critical times could lead to more wins.

And since Lucas and Cal had smoothed the way for him, talking him up behind his back, the team might be open and supportive of his ideas. Because of their PR work, most of the team thought of Bash as reserved and shy, but there were a few who still considered him to be a stuck-up prick. It should bother him, but it didn’t.

He leaned against Rover and felt the tension build. He hated these events, although technically speaking, watching Cal’s sister, Maggie, bake in front of an audience of his teammates in the Buchanan farm kitchen wasn’t really an event. I’d rather be home reading, but Lucas had said it’s what friends do, and he’d mentioned there’d be food. So here he was, surrounded by farmland and chickens, supporting Maggie and Lucas with his crazy rehearsal plan.

His roommate had the hots for their other roommate’s sister. He hoped Lucas knew what he was doing as he watched a few teammates approach the large, whitewashed farmhouse with its wide porch and various containers filled with red geraniums and colorful petunias.

“Yo.” Bash turned his head as Lucas jogged up to him, carrying a bouquet. “Did you know there’s a chicken sitting on Rover’s hood?”

“She’s a pretty thing, isn’t she? I didn’t know chickens could fly, but by the time she made it up here, I didn’t have the heart to chase her away. But”—he pointed at the chicken—“if there’s one scratch or any shit on my car, I’m making Gordon Ramsay’s famous roast chicken.” The chicken squawked and bobbed her head, and Lucas chuckled.

“Come on, city slicker, let’s go before you start making deals with the other animals,” Lucas said, turning toward the house.

“You didn’t need to bring me flowers.” Bash nodded at the colorful bunch.

“Good thing I didn’t then,” Lucas said, running his free hand through his damp hair.

“Were we supposed to?” Bash knew flowers were acceptable for dates and a bottle of wine or chocolates as a hostess gift for dinner parties, but he didn’t know country etiquette.

“No, I just wanted to say thank you to Maggie’s grandma, Barbara, for helping pull all of this together so quickly.”

“Barbara, huh? You sure?” He opened the door.

“Shut up, Bash,” Lucas muttered as they stepped into the kitchen and the screen door smacked behind them. Cal waved them over to a small huddle of people.

“This is my dad, Cal or Four,” Cal said, introducing them. “And my mom, Alison, and Aunt Elspeth, and you both remember Penny.” The shopgirl who doesn’t like me. His grandparents joined them, and Cal made introductions again. Bash wanted to know more about their weird family names, calling the men by numbers, but that would require making small talk, and it was easier to stand there and let the inane conversation float around him than to join in. He’d join if it became interesting.

“I’m glad everyone could make it on such short notice,” Lucas said, handing Barbara the flowers, who beamed like a woman half her age.

“Wouldn’t miss it,” Alison said. “I just wish we’d thought of it. This is exactly what Maggie needs.”

“Sometimes that girl needs a stick of dynamite under her to get her going, but once she does, watch out,” Four said. Silence descended on the group as Barbara and Alison moved into the kitchen to deal with the flowers. As the only common denominator, Cal should have kept the conversation going, but he was more than happy to soak up the silence and graze on the chips and salsa Barbara had set out. Bash looked around the kitchen, shifting his weight from one foot to the other, trying to think of something to say.

“So, who’s watching Get Lost?” Lucas asked Penny. “Or do you close early?” Asking the shopgirl about books was a safe topic, and Bash kicked himself for not thinking of it. From his perspective, talking about books was almost as good as reading them. Except she doesn’t think you’re a reader, he remembered, deciding to keep that nugget of information to himself. The last thing he wanted was for them to find common ground.

She was cute with her light red hair and the freckles across her nose. Tall and willowy, and the memory of her legs in those bike shorts had interrupted his thoughts more than once. Penny was the epitome of the quintessential small-town girl or girl next door, content to work for her aunt in this mini metropolis and live a quiet life. She was too sweet and too vanilla for Bash’s sophisticated tastes.

“We’re closed Thursday evenings for two book clubs.”

“Two? How does that work?” Lucas asked, before Bash could formulate a follow-up question. Bash would have been impressed with Lucas’s questions and faked interest if he wasn’t annoyed with his question-stealing roommate. There was no way Lucas Rodriguez was interested in how book clubs functioned, but Sebastian Vander Vetter was very interested.

“The Good for You book club meets in one corner and the Fun for You meets in another,” Penny said.

“And it isn’t hard to tell who belongs to each group,” Elspeth said with a wink. She explained the members cleaned up after themselves and put everything away. The club leaders each had a key, and she or Penny set the alarm system remotely after everyone had left. “We’ve been doing it for years.”

“Another one of Cascade City’s charms,” Bash said.

“We think so,” Elspeth said, accepting the compliment, but Penny looked like she’d sucked on a lemon.

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