Page 19 of Romancing My Grumpy Goalie

Aubrey walks up to us, her red hair up in a messy bun. She’s waving both her arms up and down in an exaggerated motion.

“What are you doing?” Anabelle asks.

“Isn’t it obvious?” She grins. “I’m fanning you.”

I fold my arms across my chest. “Why?”

“Because it’s getting a little too hot over here, and I figured you needed to be cooled off before you both burst into flames.”

“What?” I scoff.

Anabelle rolls her eyes. “You’re absolutely hilarious, Aubrey. We’re dying of laughter over here.”

Aubrey wrinkles her nose at her. “That’s what you get for talking to my mom about Sean.”

“Who’s that?” I usually mind my own business, but Aubrey just mocked me, so I’m a little more invested than normal.

Anabelle smiles like she’s more than happy to fill me in on the details. “He’s her new man. Or very soon will be. She cooked for him and everything.” She turns to Aubrey. “I didn’t tell your mom. She already knew from Sully’s mom. We’ve covered this.”

“Maybe you didn’t tell my mom, but you’re clearly fine with telling your man.”

“He’s not?—”

“Or very soon will be,” Aubrey says, cutting her off.

Anabelle’s face turns bright red. “You little . . .”

“Mom!” Nolan runs up to us. “Did you see me? I just blocked three balls from getting in my goal.”

Anabelle’s red face turns ashen. “Oh, that’s great, buddy.”

His face falls. “You didn’t see it, did you?” He looks over at me next. “Did you at least see me?”

My stomach drops. I’m the worst at this mentor thing. Here I am talking to his mom when I should be doing my job.

Nolan kicks his shoe into the ground, shoulders slumped.

My heart speeds up. I need to do something fast. “Why don’t you tell me how it happened?”

His eyes light up, and then he launches a long explanation of what has happened. When he finishes, he grabs his Gatorade and downs what’s left of it. I give him a few pointers, and then he runs back to the field to finish the game.

Aubrey and Anabelle are holding a heated discussion. I’ll not presume it’s about me, but they’ve looked over in my direction about four times since I’ve been talking to Nolan. Whatever that means.

I’m focusing on the game and doing my best to ignore them. But I won’t lie. They’re a bit distracting. I call out instructions to Nolan for the rest of the game, and right as the game finishes, Anabelle comes over to me with Aubrey.

“Hey, I wanted to apologize for distracting you from mentoring Nolan. I know you guys have important work to do, and I feel like such a bad mom for getting in the way like that.”

Literally, the last thing I expected her to say, and strangely, I’m touched. I can’t help it, but the kid is growing on me a bit. Maybe even his mom, too.

“You’re fine,” I say.

She looks at me like she’s expecting me to say something else.

I clear my throat. “You weren’t in the way. He played better with you there.”

Her eyes widen a little, like she wasn’t expecting that.

Then she nods and turns back to Aubrey.

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