IT WAS a hard-fought battle, but in the end Green Valley won. The single goal scored in the first half ended up being the only goal scored during the entire match.
“Hey, Con. We’re thinking of heading to Applebee’s. What do you say?” Marc got to his feet and held his hands out to help Cindy and Amanda up. They’d been flirting through the game. None of the three had paid any attention to what was happening on the field.
Distracted from his search for Graham, Connor agreed without considering. Which was how he ended up squeezed around a table with Marc and three girls from Jasper, twenty minutes later. Marc made a few lame attempts to engage Connor in the conversation, but the two girls still occupied Marc’s attention. And after their earlier conversation, things were a little awkward between Connor and Kayla. He’d never been so thankful in his life to feel the buzz of his phone in his pocket. He whipped the phone out and saw Graham’s name on the display.
“Hey,” he said to Marc as he stood up, “I’m going to take this outside. If I’m not back by the time the server comes, order me the bacon cheeseburger, okay?”
Marc acknowledged this with a wave of his hand while he continued his conversation—was he really talking about Star Trek?—with Cindy and Amanda.
He pushed the button to take the call while he walked to the exit. “Hey, give me a second, okay?” He heard Graham agree. Connor pushed his way through the heavy doors and found a place to sit against a half wall covered in potted plants. “Sorry about that,” he said. “I hate it when people talk on cell phones in restaurants, so I needed to get outside.”
“Where are you?”
Connor could hear the sounds of players chattering and traffic rushing down the highway.
“Marc and I are at the Applebee’s in Terre Haute. He picked up a couple of girls and wanted to hang out with them a bit longer. They’re Jasper girls,” he added in a melodramatic voice. “Marc’s consorting with the enemy. Great game, by the way.”
“A couple of girls? As in more than one?”
“Yeah, Marc’s a total stud. Two of the girls are falling all over themselves to be with him.”
“Two of them? I saw you at the match. There were three girls, right? Is the other making a play for you?”
“Hardly.” Connor laughed. “I’m not her type.”
“She prefers brunets?”
“She prefers girls.”
“Ah. I can see how that might be a problem. It’s all good, though. You’ve got a girl, right?”
“Allyson,” Connor confirmed.
There was a pause.
“I didn’t expect to see you at the tournament today. Not too many people outside of family come to the away games and tourneys.”
“Yeah, well, you know, we didn’t have anything better to do. Marc and I decided to have kind of a road trip.”
“I didn’t think soccer was your thing.”
“I actually enjoyed it. I’m even beginning to understand it, a little. Which reminds me. I was going to ask you—do you guys get a lot of scouts at these things?”
“Scouts? At some of the more important meets, sure. College scouts, club scouts, and even Major League scouts.”
“Major League? Baseball?”
Graham laughed. “No. There’s Major League Soccer too.”
“How could I have not heard of that?”
“It doesn’t get the same coverage as baseball, which sucks, but it’s growing.”
“Cool. I don’t know if you’re supposed to know about it or not, but I sat next to a scout during your second game. He had a file on you.”
“Really?” Excitement colored Graham’s tone. “Do you know who he was, who he was scouting for?”
“No—” Connor was interrupted by a rumbling conversation on the other end of the line. He overheard Graham tell someone to give him a minute, that he was on the phone.
“Sorry about that.” Graham came back on the line.
“No problem. I was saying that I didn’t get a chance to find out who he worked for. I’m not sure I was supposed to even know that he was a scout.”
“I’ll ask Coach if he knew who was expected to be there today. Speaking of Major League, I have a question for you.”
“Shoot.” Connor watched an elderly couple walking down the sidewalk hand in hand.
“My parents have a business-related thing in a couple of weeks in Chicago. They’ve got tickets to a Cubs game and said I could invite a friend. Do you think your parents would let you come to the city for a weekend?”
“I can ask. Why me, though? Isn’t there someone on the soccer team you can invite?”
For a second Connor thought the connection had been lost. Then Graham said, “Probably, but you’re the first one I thought of who would enjoy a baseball game.”
“I’ll run it past my parents, for sure. I would like that. I’m not sure I can afford it, though. Money’s a little tight.” He forced the words out, trying to ignore the wash of shame. He kicked at a loose rock and watched it ricochet off the brick wall of the restaurant.
“You don’t have to worry about that. It’s all covered. Besides, you’d be doing me a favor. I’m not looking forward to schmoozing with my dad’s colleagues. If you come along, I won’t look rude if I ignore them.”
A trip to the city and a Major League Baseball game sounded awesome. Family trips were few and far between in the Fitzpatrick household, so the only time Connor had seen anything except Indiana farmland had been on away baseball games and the odd weekend with Marc’s family. “If you’re sure. I don’t think it will be a problem.”
“Cool. I’ll give you details next Saturday! I’d better go. Coach stood up to make some kind of speech.”
Connor stared at his phone long after they’d disconnected. He looked up when someone pounded on the restaurant’s window. Marc stood there, waving at him to come in. Connor slipped the phone back into his pocket and went inside.