Page 3 of Tailored for Them

“Sorry, unfortunately—”

“Taylor would love to go,” Josh said, standing beside me and wrapping one of his long arms around my shoulders. “I’m Josh, what are your names?”

I guessed Josh wasn’t worried about these people recognizing him.

“Leo,” The Englishman, as Josh referred to him, held his hand out for him to shake, “This is my partner, Jacqueline.” Josh shook her hand too, nodding with a polite smile behind his sunglasses, “And this is Nicole. We all work together.”

“Where do you work?” Josh asked, shaking Nicole’s hand last and dropping it. I crossed my arms, determined not to look embarrassed or uncomfortable with Josh’s obvious prying.

“Sun Steer Technologies,” Nicole replied.

“With the solar-powered, self-steering tractors,” Susie chimed in, tossing the ball carelessly in the air, “A boy in my class just did his report on them.”

“No shit,” Josh raised his eyebrows behind his glasses, “That’s where you work? That technology is insane.” Josh emphasized his point by making an exploding sound with his mouth and gesturing with his hand near his head.

“See that guy over there?” Nicole gave Josh a conspiratorial look as she pointed to Zaid, “He’s the one who built most of the software.”

“Wow,” Josh stared at my teammate for a moment before glaring down at me, “You didn’t tell me your rugby team had cool fucking people on it.”

I also didn’t tell them that the most famous rock star in the world regularly attended our rugby matches with his daughter. But, whatever.

I shrugged, “My bad.”

“Don’t say ‘fuck’ so much,” Susie scolded her dad, tossing the ball in the air again, “It’s lazy.”

Everyone’s eyes widened at the nine-year-old dropping the f-bomb. Except mine, of course. After being friends with Josh and Courtney for over a decade, I was used to the way they parented their daughter.

“You’re right,” Josh nodded. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a dollar bill to hand to his daughter. She didn’t even make eye contact as she reached her hand out for him to slap it in her palm. She pocketed the bill with ease before turning to me with wide eyes.

“Want to pass with me for a bit?”

“T is gonna go get drinks with their team, Suse,” Josh stepped forward, holding his arms up, “But I’ll pass with you.”

“T can speak for themself,” I replied with a lifted eyebrow.

“T needs to go celebrate with the team like a good team captain.” Josh lifted his middle finger at me behind his back so his daughter couldn’t see.

“This is getting tense,” Leo murmured, lowering his head toward Jacqueline’s ear.

“Please don’t feel pressured to come.” That was Nicole’s voice, and if I had ears like a dog or something, they would have perked right up: “There’s always next time.” Nicole looked downat the ground after she spoke, making me suspect that she was nervous to speak up.

But she was talking to me directly, which didn’t happen often.

So, I was joining her.

“No, no,” I shook my head, pulling my jersey from myself and cringing from the reek of it, “Shit, I smell like ass, though.”

“I told you,” Susie chimed in before tossing the ball to Josh.

“We all do,” Leo emphasized his point by tugging Jacqueline closer to his body. She wrinkled her nose in disgust while pulling away from him.

“Good point,” I lifted a shoulder, trying to find the calm, cool, confident Taylor that I usually am, “I’m down. Bye, nerds.” I turned back to Susie and Josh, still tossing the rugby ball back and forth, and lifted my fingers in a parting peace sign.

Susie returned the gesture, but Josh caught the ball and held it as he asked, “You’re still good for Saturday?”

I gave him a thumbs up as I bent down to scoop up my bag, “More than ready.”

“Bring Nerf guns!” Susie called again. I gave her a thumbs up too, before turning toward Leo and the women to follow them off the field.

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