Page 25 of Anatomy of Us

At breakfast, the yogurt in front of me tastes like nothing. Diana decides we start with a morning training session, even though most of the players would rather sleep. Half the team doesn’t even come down to eat.

The noise changes when Zoe walks in.

It’s subtle. A few conversations stop. A couple chairs scrape.

Zoe crosses the dining room with Wesley on her hip. Wet hair. Dark circles. Team T-shirt.

“Sit with me, Méndez!” Iris yells. “I saved you a chair. Give me the boss. You eat. You need fuel.” She basically snatches the baby from Zoe’s arms.

Wesley protests for a second, then decides our star striker is acceptable and starts yanking Iris’s ponytail like it’s a toy.

“Can I hold him?” one of the younger players asks, the kind who came to learn and will probably leave traumatized by Diana Creed’s standards.

“I’ve got him,” Iris grunts, explaining to Wesley something about the importance of a balanced breakfast.

**

Later, in the gym, the huge fans pushing air don’t do much. Sweat sticks the second you do anything at all.

Zoe works with Sara, the team’s lead trainer. After the custody hearing mess with Nate’s lawyer, we decided I needed to delegate anything that isn’t absolutely necessary. Just in case. Zoe does a stability drill, trembles a little at the end, and still pushes through.

She always pushes.

Wesley sits in his car seat in a corner where the heat feels less brutal. We surround him with bright toys, but the machines and their sounds grab his attention more. Jade is on baby duty and stands a few feet away, stiff as a statue, watching like she’s guarding a vault.

“What do I do if he cries?” Jade asks, worried, when Zoe comes over to give her son a quick cuddle.

“You pick him up and talk to him or sing something.”

“And if he keeps crying?”

“Then you keep talking while you walk around.”

“Talk about what?”

Zoe rolls her eyes while Wesley blows a spit bubble. He looks thrilled with the attention he’s getting at preseason camp.

When I walk over to the car seat, Jade tenses like I’m about to steal the baby.

“I’ve got him. Go to practice,” I tell her, nodding toward the dumbbells. Jade lets out a breath that sounds like relief.

Wesley looks at me, surprised, like: another one who wants to play with me. Lucky day.

Then he gurgles and flings his arms at the toys.

“Seems like the baby likes you,” Zoe whispers, appearing at my side.

“You think?”

“You’re good with kids. That’s a point in your favor.” She gives me a wink that makes my stomach do something stupid. “I need a favor. Can you take him during afternoon training? It’s Lucía’s turn, but Hades decided to test a new tactical setup and she needs her on the field.”

I just nod, shrug like it’s nothing, and before I realize it I’m in the medical room with a baby crawling across the mat, stopping to look at his reflection in the mirror and grinning at it like he’s flirting.

“Okay,” I whisper. “You and I are going to get along.”

Wesley blinks like he’s thinking it over.

“We just have to survive two hours of training.”