Chapter 5
5
Grant was exhausted in the best way. He’d been running drills all morning and that had been the routine for the entire week.
They might not be fully professional, but this team trained hard, and he loved it. It had been way too long since he’d gotten to train with other players and his muscles were screaming, but it was worth it.
Their first game was this weekend, and he still didn’t know if he’d get to play. That was frustrating because he was used to starting, but he didn’t know where he fit in here.
The guys were nice enough. Not all of them were thrilled to have Grant there, but they let it go on the pitch and that was all that mattered. Some asked questions about playing on his other team, and Grant was happy to answer them.
“You got anyone coming tomorrow?” Maddox, a midfielder, asked.
Grant shook his head. “Nope. I’m far from home here.”
“Surely you’ve met people since you’ve been here.”
He thought of Cassie. She was great company and he could see them being something more if he were staying around, but he wasn’t.
“I know that look,” Maddox laughed. “Whoever she is, just invite her.”
Grant shook his head. “I don’t even know if I’m playing.”
“You’ll play. You might not start, but I’d bet money you’ll see game time.”
He shrugged. “I don’t know. It’s a bit late to ask, and she’s just a friend. Her family is all fans of the team, though, so they’ll be here.”
“Already met the family?” Maddox shoved his water bottle in his bag.
“You don’t even want to know.” Grant wanted to forget.
Maddox threw his head back in a loud laugh. “You’ll have to tell me sometime. I’ve got to jet, but I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“See ya,” Grant muttered.
Should he ask her? They didn’t talk a lot about soccer and he didn’t know if she even liked to watch it. It would probably be too presumptuous, or at least that was what he convinced himself of on the way home.
She wasn’t around when he made it to his apartment, so he let himself in and went about getting cleaned up from practice. His phone chimed a little while later.
Cassie: How was it?
Grant couldn’t hold back his smile at a text from her.
Grant: Good. Still don’t know if I’ll play tomorrow.
Cassie: That’s got to be frustrating.
Grant: A little. What are you doing?
Cassie: Cooking dinner.
Grant: What are you having?
Cassie: Why? Fishing for an invitation?
He laughed. She’d invited him over every night except Tuesday, when she had a late yoga class she was teaching.
Grant: Maybe I was going to invite you over.
Cassie: Ha! Were you?
Grant: Umm…
Cassie: I knew it. Does it matter what I’m cooking if you don’t have to cook for yourself?
Cassie: The door’s unlocked.
Grant scrambled off the couch where he’d been relaxing and made a beeline for the door. He didn’t give a damn about the food, just wanted to see her if he was being honest.
The door was unlocked, as promised, and he let himself in. Immediately, the smell of garlic bread hit him and his stomach growled.
“Well, that’s one way to enter a room.” Cassie tossed a hand towel over her shoulder. “Pasta night.”
“Carbs,” he almost moaned.
Grant went into her kitchen and took in the pots, sticking his finger in the white sauce and giving it a taste.
“How is it?” she asked. Not once had she fussed at him for tasting the food, but he had a feeling if one of her brothers tried it, they’d get hit with that towel on her shoulder.
“Really good.” The Alfredo was seasoned nicely and he couldn’t wait to dig in. “I’m going to need you to let me give you some money for all the groceries you’ve wasted on me this week.”
“Hardly a waste. If I had a problem with it, I would’ve told you.”
She started building the plates and handed one to him. They both carried their plates to the table, and Grant took the seat across from her.
“Are you excited about tomorrow?” She asked between bites.
He nodded. “Yeah. It’s a weird nervous excitement. I don’t know the fans and how things go here, so it will be interesting.”
“They’re loud. Very loud. And they are very big fans, win or lose.”
“Good to know.” He swallowed his next bite. “Are you coming?” That wasn’t quite inviting her, but just testing the waters.
Cassie nodded. “Season pass holder here.”
That made him more excited than he was willing to admit, and he pushed it down in front of her. “Awesome.”
“My whole family is. We’ll be hard to miss, sadly. But until they start yelling, I’ll let you know we sit pretty close to the center and are about halfway up in the stands. One of us always gets there early to save seats.”
He was probably grinning like a fool, but couldn’t stop. “I’ll look for you.”
“I’ll be there probably around 5:30 to get some food from the food trucks and then get ready for the game.”
A thrill shot through him at the thought of seeing her before the game. He had no reason for it and quickly pushed it back down.
“That’s cool.” Even to his own ears, he sounded like an idiot.
“Yeah, it’s a tradition. We’ve all gone for years to the local games. Sometimes my brothers work it on the ambulance, but usually we are all there in some way.”
“You never travel to the other games?” He was disappointed, but also curious. It was hard to play away games sometimes because it felt like the entire crowd was against you.
“I’ve been to two, but my schedule doesn’t allow for it most of the time. Plus, as I’m sure you know, I like the home team advantage.” She winked.
Grant grunted an answer as they finished dinner. He wasn’t sure what else to say to her. His mind was a whir of thoughts, most of them screaming that he was getting too close to her.