Page 11

11

HEIDI

M y dad loved football. He loved it so much that when I was a kid I would be dressed in his team’s colors every single weekend. There was a day dedicated to wearing green, and then there was football Sundays.

When I was little it felt like a burden. I wasn’t ever a giant fan, and although sometimes I liked the food my parents made for the day, there was little else I enjoyed about it. The yelling, the high emotions, the cursing… it just wasn’t for me, and that was okay.

It wasn’t until I was a little older that I started to appreciate it, and when everything happened, the small amount of interest I had left too.

I haven’t really paid attention since. I’ve been to a few games with Isla and I tolerated going when Briar asked me to tag along for Elara, but overall it just wasn’t fun for me.

There was no real rooting interest and we were too far away to really make watching the men’s asses as they run onto the field to be a perk.

So of course, I think about this the entire way home from Emmett’s house. Because this is one of the first games I’ll be going to where I really do have a rooting interest. Even if Emmett doesn’t want to be my friend, I consider him one. He’s also technically my boss? Which means I benefit from him being in a great mood. I want him to win.

But more than that, I find myself almost excited to go. What am I going to wear? Where are we going to sit while we’re there? Am I going to get a good view up in the first row of seats with Isla and Briar? Or am I going to have to hang back? What’s socially correct in this predicament?

As I pull Emmett’s Subaru up to Mila’s house, I grab my things and head inside, expecting to relax for the night.

“ Heidi! Holy crap you have got to get your ass over here and watch this episode. It’s batshit insane,” Isla yells from my couch.

There are five women shoved onto our little couch, a large blanket over them and three bowls of popcorn in their laps, the newest episode of the Real Housewives on the TV.

I forgot it’s Wednesday.

The girls come over every single week to watch our trash TV, and since our little circle has grown, the rule is: if you’re not there, the show starts. There is no waiting. If we miss a little, we can catch up on our own. There were far too many instances of being out far too late because someone was late, and we just gave up and set some ground rules.

“Coming!” I call as I drop my things by the door. Grabbing a glass and filling it with wine, I take my place on the floor in front of the girls and rip one of our small blankets out of the basket beside the couch, draping it over my lap.

The second my wineglass hits my lips I’m pelted by at least four kernels of popcorn to the face.

The episode is almost over but Izara, Briar’s best friend, quietly fills me in before going back to her popcorn.

What feels like three more screaming matches in ten minutes later, the episode ends and we sit there quietly for a second, taking in what happened.

“That was intense,” Amara says, looking around.

Isla scoffs. “It’s always intense.”

Murmurs of “That’s true,” erupt before Isla’s head whips in my direction, her trance broken.

It’s clear that I’m now in the spotlight.

“So what have you been up to lately?” she asks, a glint in her eye.

I know that look.

“Just work,” I shrug.

“With Emmett,” she deadpans.

I look at the other girls, watching as they all stare at me. “I mean yeah. My camera broke. My car broke. I needed something.”

“Girl,” Briar smirks. “I know how working for those boys goes. Have fun.”

My brows furrow. “How long did it take you guys to get together? It felt like a million years. Let’s be real here,” I roll my eyes. “This is Emmett we’re talking about. I can’t seem to figure out whether he’s moody or shy or just quiet, and he made it extremely clear that he wanted nothing to do with me when he ghosted me.”

Amara’s lips thin like she’s trying hard not to chime in, while Mila’s eyes narrow at Isla. “I think it’s a great opportunity for her,” Mila says finally. “She’s been stressed and she loves the kids.”

I’m grateful for her chiming in. I know the girls just want me to find some love, but half of them don’t have anyone, either. I’ll start dating on my own time. It just doesn’t help that Briar and Isla know about what happened that trip.

“Wait,” Zara says suddenly, her head tilted. “I feel like I need to get filled in. What’s going on here?”

I sigh before shooting Isla a nod of permission.

“You know Leo’s best friend? Emmett? Big dude with a kinda stale personality? Loveable teddy bear but also so quiet it’s a little scary? Well, when we were on vacation this past summer, he and Heidi had a little moment on the beach.”

Zara sucks in a breath. “You guys kissed?” she asks, shocked.

I quickly shake my head. “No, we didn’t kiss.”

“No, but they had a heart to heart.” Isla’s eyes are huge as she pauses.

Zara looks between the girls, trying to figure out why this is news.

“The man doesn’t talk,” Briar chimes in. “He doesn’t tell people things. Do you know that most of the team still doesn’t know he has a daughter?”

I watch as Zara processes the words, her lips tilting down in a small frown. “How does that happen?”

“He’s just really private,” Isla continues. “Owen didn’t know he had a daughter until this year. That’s how crazy private he is. He’s been through a lot, from what I hear, but none of us really know much about it.” She pauses. “Well, except for Leo. He knows the most. But now,” she gestures to me. “Heidi knows a lot too.”

I shrug. “We had a little moment talking about our lives.”

“She won’t tell us anything about him, though.” Amara says.

“He told me these things in confidence,” I retort. “I’m not going to run back and tell everyone!”

Amara puts her hands up. “I know! I know. I’m just driving home what actually happened.”

“I’ve got it now,” Zara nods, leaning back into the couch. “So what happened after?”

“Well,” I start, stretching my neck. “We were texting for awhile and then he just,” I shrug. “He just stopped texting me. Stopped hearing about him at all. Then the next time I saw him was at Isla’s gallery, and then at Lulu’s, where the man literally ran away from me.”

Mila snickers. “She did a great job of chasing him down though. Truly impressive work.”

“The guy can’t blend in to save his life. I never once lost track of him.”

“He was running like he was being hunted for sport,” Isla agrees.

“So what now?” Zara asks.

“Well, he found me stranded on the side of the road and offered me a ride. We got to his house and he offered me a shower,” the girls all look at each other. “Nothing scandalous happened. I showered. I dressed in—” I pause, the wheels in my brain smoking. “Clothes, and he asked me to nanny for his daughter.”

“And this is a problem?” Zara asks.

I down the rest of my wine before placing it roughly on the coffee table. “Not really. I mean, kind of. I have to be around him all the time and I feel like he doesn’t really want me there. Like he was pitying me by asking and I’m unwelcome. I don’t know.”

Learning back into the couch, Mila unfolds her legs so I’m sitting between them and begins to brush my hair through her fingers. Amara and Briar get off the couch and come sit on the floor on the other side of the coffee table.

“If he has a daughter, is the mom in the picture?” Zara asks.

I watch as Briar looks at Isla behind me on the couch, their eyes knowing, before Briar’s connect with mine.

“No,” I say simply. “She’s not in the picture.”

Silence falls as they all think. I’m not quite sure if Amara knows everything, and I know Mila knows a little from me unloading about my trip. I only told her the basics and why I felt so connected to him.

But it’s really not my story to tell, no matter how much I want my friends’ input.

Mila’s fingers start parting my hair as she braids it, and the tugging relaxes me. “It’ll all be okay. I don’t know. Just a lot happening at once. At some point it’ll get better or,” I shrug, “it won’t, and I’ll move on.”

I just wish it were simpler and that life was a little kinder.