“Well, then. Let’s go play.”
The car doesn’t move. His mouth twitches. “I didn’t mean what I said, you know. About being nice just so you’ll play. It was just a joke.”
Kendall bites her lip. She can feel his eyes on her, and she’s not altogether sure what the churning feeling is inside her gut. Maybe it’s just that some of her numbness is finally wearing off.
When it’s clear Kendall has no response, Jacian backs out of the parking area and picks his way slowly down the muddy road toward Hector’s, looking for new potholes to avoid.
They change inside the empty house and meet on the soaked, spongy grass. Kendall is glad she brought a thick sweatshirt, though one good fall and it’ll soak through. A little thrill goes through her at the thought of the fresh air and exercise, and it’s always fun to play in the rain, no matter what Coach says.
It’s been too long since she’s played, she knows that. She starts stretching.
They warm up, jogging in place. Kendall’s hair flops all around, and she’s mad she forgot a ponytail holder to keep her hair out of her face. They do a few exercises, dribbling, setting each other up. Each of them taking it slow, cautious of the sodden turf. Nobody needs a groin pull, that’s for sure.
As Kendall gets used to the conditions, she takes more chances. Her intensity multiplies, and soon she is in the zone — the brain-quieting zone where all of the whirring thoughts slow and stop for a while. It’s such a relief. Flooded with mind-dizzying endorphins, Kendall takes the ball, and Jacian, to task. She doesn’t even notice when it starts sprinkling and then full-out raining again. All she knows is that she feels relief for the first time in weeks.
Her depression dissipates and her mind goes somewhere else, somewhere quiet and peaceful, where nothing is there to trouble her. It’s like she’s floating as she darts around Jacian and takes the ball to the goal, leaving him breathless and staring at her.
Again and again she gets the better of him on this slick surface. It’s like the more difficult things are, the more Kendall can concentrate and focus. Her brain knows only one thing now. To take the ball around the opposition, past the enemy, and put it in the net. So simple, yet so complex.
When the enemy gets the better of her, messes with her mojo, she doesn’t think. She charges.
At top speed Kendall chases after Jacian. She pulls alongside him and grabs him around the waist, tackling him as the ball goes off, out of bounds. He slips and falls to a knee with a grunt and splashes in the soaking, muddy yard, grabbing Kendall’s arm as he goes down. He’s not going down alone.
Kendall lands on top of him.
“No way!” he yells, laughing in her ear. He rolls her over so she gets covered in the dirty rainwater too.
She pulls out of concentration mode, realizes what’s happening. He lies on her, mud on his face and dripping from his hair. His clothes are drenched. He holds her down until he realizes she’s not struggling to move, just to breathe, and then he eases off. She just looks at him, panting, like she doesn’t know what happened. Her breath comes in rasps. “Did I score?”
“Uh. .” He laughs. “No. Not even close. Are you okay?” he asks. He pushes her filthy hair out of her face, and his face grows concerned. “Hey.” His fingers are cold on her cheek.
She heaves and tries to catch her breath. “I think I’m going to puke.”
“No, you’re not.”
“How would you know?”
“I just know. You’re fine.” He rolls away from her just in case.
“I might drown first.”
“Distinct possibility.”
They lie gasping, rain pouring over them. Once Kendall can move, she struggles to an upright position.
She looks at Jacian in his T-shirt and shorts, totally mud covered. “You must be freezing,” she says.
“Yeah.” He sits up too, and she can see goose bumps on his arms and legs. “You?”
“I think my sweatshirt weighs fifty pounds. It’s keeping me warm just by being so heavy.”
“I think I still have Arizona blood.” He pulls his knees up. “Not used to this cold.”
“Just wait. It’ll snow soon. Just like that it’ll go from the decent fall weather, pretty colors, to snow. It’s probably snowing up in the mountains right now if we’re getting rain here.”
Jacian gets to his feet. His clothes drip. “Do you ever ride?”
“Sure. We don’t have any horses right now.”
“I bet I know where you can borrow one.”
Kendall smiles and gets up too. They walk to the porch together. “You should get inside. You want me to drip-dry out here? I can call my mom for a ride. I doubt they’re out in the fields when it’s like this.”
“Either way, you won’t be welcome in any vehicle like that. You can just take a shower here. We have enough bathrooms. Is that weird?”
“A little. I didn’t even think to bring a towel to sit on like I usually do when we play games in the rain.”
“It’s okay. Seriously.”
Kendall feels the chill working into her system too, now. “Okay. Yeah. Thanks.” Gingerly she pulls her sodden sweatshirt up over her head and drops it like a rock to the porch. “I’ll need a plastic bag for my clothes.”
“No problem.” He takes off his shoes, peels off his socks, and squeezes out the hems of his shirt and shorts, trying to get as much water out of them as possible so he doesn’t drip all over the house. “You remember where Marlena’s bathroom is upstairs? ‘Cause you’re going to have to make a mad dash.”
“Yep.” She does the same with her clothes and footgear. Thanks to the sweatshirt, her shirt is only wet, not soaked, but it’s still sticking to her. When Jacian glances at it, she blushes. “Okay, I’m going to make a run for it.”
“Don’t forget to bring your clean clothes with you, or you could have another problem,” he teases.
Kendall’s face turns hot. “Good point.” She opens the door and runs nimbly through the house, grabbing her backpack as she goes, and then dashing up the stairs.
A shower never felt so good. Even being alone in the house with Jacian, knowing he’s naked in another shower somewhere nearby, doesn’t mess with her brain. “Thank you, soccer,” she says reverently. She feels terrific. It’s been too long. She lathers up and thinks about how much better she feels now than she has since. . well, since the last time she played soccer with Jacian.
“I wonder if I could get him to dance,” she muses out loud as she runs her fingers through her wet hair, trying to comb it.
She emerges, hair still wet, back in her school clothes, and it feels awkward now. She wonders what she’ll find when she gets back downstairs. She creeps down and hears something in the kitchen. She slips into the room and sees Jacian standing at the counter in jeans and with a towel around his neck.
There’s no denying the guy works out. He’s listening to a message on the answering machine from
Mrs. Obregon, saying they’re staying in Bozeman for dinner and not to wait to eat. He deletes it.
“Hey,” Kendall says.
He reaches into the refrigerator and pulls out two Granny Smith apples and a hunk of cheese. “You hungry? I’m starving.”
“Yeah, sure.”
He pulls a jar of peanut butter from the cupboard and a knife from the drawer and starts slicing apples.
“I should probably get home soon. .,” Kendall says. “I’m sure you have stuff to do.” She can’t stop looking at his chest.
He pauses in his cutting. “You need to go now? I’ll drive you.”
“No! I mean, no hurry. And not unless you want to. I can call my mom.”
“It’s okay. I want to.” He continues slicing and moves on to the second apple, and then opens the block of cheese and slices that. Hands her a plate. “Here. Apple. Peanut butter. Manchego. Take your pick.”
She takes some of each. “So, ah, I’m not sure if you know this, but you’re not wearing a shirt.”
“Distracting, isn’t it?”
“You’re pretty sure you’re hot, aren’t you.” It feels more comfortable when they are at odds, somehow.
“You said it.”
