Lex and Lu (27 page)

So proud—

Lex

In too much of a rush to take the moment she needed, Lu clutched the card in her hand and hurried out the door.

Mr. Helms was a fit, slender man who epitomized, for Lu, everything European. She’d done her research and knew that he was a former soccer player turned coach turned front-office man. He was well respected throughout the world of soccer for his many accomplishments, and he enjoyed a modicum of celebrity throughout Europe. He wore the classic suit that screamed metrosexual to Lu with its slim lines, fully equipped with his own slightly effeminate lavender scarf. She knew that her own American sensibilities were at play. Sue her, she liked her men to look manly. Even fighting against the clothing, she could admit that he was hot. And of course, the accent!

“Thank you so much for the flowers. That was very thoughtful,” Lu said as she was seated for lunch.

“Quite an accomplishment should not go unacknowledged,” he demurred. From there, they enjoyed an easy conversation that had little to do with the reason they were there. He was easy to talk to, and Lu found herself caught up in his charm. It was at the end of lunch that they began talking in earnest about the job.

“I’ve followed your work fairly closely, Dr. Knight.” He emphasized the
doctor
with a smile. “I know you have doubts about transitioning to our football, but I think it would be seamless.”

“Mr. Helms …,” she began.

“Malcolm,” he corrected.

“If you are going to call me Dr. Knight, then I am going to call you Mr. Helms,” she responded.

With a slight smile, he deferred.

“I realize that all athletes have some commonalities, but most of my research, as you know, has been with head injuries. While I also know that you deal with concussions in your sport, it is not the main issue. I am not opposed to bridging some of the gaps, but I do want to continue my work with rehab and injuries—not to be confused with mental conditioning and sport psychology.”

“That’s exactly what I was hoping. I think you can be a great resource for all of our clubs. But I’d like you to start with mine. I have seen the results you have published. You’ve managed to cut rehab time by approximately 25 percent in some cases.”

Lu merely nodded. She had statistics upon statistics to support her research, and she knew they wouldn’t be having this conversation if he didn’t already have faith in what she did.

“So does this mean you will consider working for us as a consultant this season?”

Lu paused before answering. She felt a draw to move in this direction while at the same time she felt a hitch in her step. What would this mean for her career and, although Willa would have beaten her, she wondered what this would mean for Lex? Surely he would find out, and when he did, would he feel like she was stalking him?

“Do you have something pending right now or are you just trying to be prepared?” she asked.

“I want to be prepared. We’ll have an injury, no doubt. I’d like to have you waiting in the wings.”

“I do not travel,” she said bluntly.

If he thought it peculiar, he hid it well. “That’s not a problem. We tend to keep our injured players here rather than have them make trips with us.”

“Perfect.”

“Do you have any questions for me, Dr. Knight?”

“Do you have a space for me to come to you?”

“I figured you could come to us at our training grounds when needed.”

“That’s actually what I prefer.”

“Have you been?” he asked.

Lu felt confused. “Have I been where?”

“Have you been to an English football game?”

Lu smiled. “No I haven’t.”

“Well, that’s the first order of business, isn’t it?”

“Ah, I don’t know.”

“We play tomorrow night. I insist that you come as my guest. It will give you a chance to see the facility and watch a game.”

“Evenings are hard, Mr. Helms. I have a daughter.” She watched him take a quick glance at her left hand.

“I would of course want you to bring your family.”

“It’s just my daughter and me.”

“Come, please. It’s actually a big game for us. I think the excitement will rival your football atmosphere.” He was teasing her, and she found it quite endearing, really.

“OK, we’ll come.”

“How old is your daughter?”

“Nine,” she answered.

“And does she like soccer?” he inquired.

“Yes, actually, she does,” although Lu kept the reason for that to herself.

“I’ll send a car for you prior to the game so we can tour and you can get a look around.”

“Thank you. That’s perfect.”

He called for the check as they talked about inconsequential things. Once he paid, he waited for her to stand and then escorted her to the door at the front of the restaurant by way of his hand at the small of her back. His hand left his imprint as she felt the warmth of it through her sweater. Lu could feel people watching him, recognition quick to dawn on their faces. As they made their way forward, Lu thought that she must have a thing for soccer players as she felt herself drawn to him. Then, as quickly as it appeared, she reined it in because she was about to be employed by him.

As they exited the restaurant, Mr. Helms stopped and held out his hand. “Dr. Knight, I appreciate your time. And I look forward to seeing your tomorrow. You are in for a treat as we are playing our archrivals, so it should be a festive atmosphere.”

Lu held out her hand and they shook. “I look forward to seeing my first in-person English Premier League game.”

“Hopefully, it will captivate your imagination,” he said, smiling. “We always enjoy this rivalry. Ah, our archrival features an American, but you can’t root for them tomorrow.”

Lu felt some of the color leach from her cheeks. “You’re the first, so you’ll lay claim to my loyalties.”

“Yes, well, as much as I hate to play against him, Lex Pellitteri is always fun to watch.”

It kept running through her mind like a mantra. Lex Pellitteri is always fun to watch. Lex Pellitteri is always fun to watch. Over and over again until she felt like she might be going a bit crazy. Dropping her head into her hands as she sat at her kitchen table, she thought frantically of a way to get out of going to the game tomorrow night. In all the years that they’d known each other, Lu had never seen him play in person—and had only watched a few plays on TV before her heart would turn in on itself and she would have to turn the channel. As kids, Lex and Pete were gone every Saturday to some sporting event. Soccer for Lex, while Pete mixed it up and played a variety of sports. But going to watch Lex and Pete play wasn’t what they did. They were girls. They didn’t want to go sit at some park during the weekends. Not that the boys would have even thought to invite them.

When Lex started playing more competitively, all of his events were out of town. At first, he would leave for weekends. Depending on Pete’s schedule, usually Mr. P. would take Lex and Dr. J. would stay in town with Pete. By the time they were together, Lex was playing at such a competitive level that he never played in Sarasota. Oh, she’d seen him with his soccer ball, she’d seen him do his dance, she’d seen him practice. The upshot of it was she had never actually seen him play soccer live, in the flesh. While she felt the irony of going to see him play the first time as the guest of his opponent, she could only lay the blame for that at his feet, as she wouldn’t have been there, in this predicament, if it weren’t for his high-handedness.

Then the flowers caught her eye. Pushing her hand in her pocket, she took out the card and reread it, a smile on her face. She needed to thank him. She struggled to decide if she should tell him that she would be at the game. Grabbing her phone, she shot him a quick text.

Thanks for the flowers. My favorite.

She glanced at the time and realized that if she called Willa now, she might catch her before she went to work. Selecting her name, she opted for FaceTime.

“Hey,” Willa said, a big smile on her face.

Lu had to admit, it threw her a bit. “Hey yourself. You seem awfully chipper.”

“You got chipper from one word?”

“No, from the big-ass smile on your face. Did I tell you how much I love FaceTime?” she smirked.

“Ha. Yes, it does remove some of the mystery, and actually freedom, of talking on the phone.”

“That’s right. You can’t roll your eyes at me without me knowing.”

“I’m fairly certain that the tone of my voice, as you just pointed out, gave away my eye-rolling,” Willa responded good-naturedly.

Lu looked at the phone. Turned it upside down, jiggled it a bit.

“What the hell are you doing? That’s making me nauseous,” Willa bitched.

“I was looking for my sullen big sister. Do you know where I can find her?”

“I think the sullen got fucked out of her,” Willa quipped.

Lu laughed. “I bet it did.”

“So how was the lunch?” Willa asked. “This time-difference thing still throws me, and I didn’t know when to call.

Lu propped her phone up on some books on the table. “Lunch was good,” and Lu couldn’t help the big grin.

“Now who’s looking like the cat that ate the canary?” Willa teased.

“I’m excited. I was nervous at first, but I think this is a great opportunity.”

“I’m proud of you.”

“Thanks, Will,” Lu said, taking a moment to collect herself after the surprise of her sister’s compliment. “So some interesting things have happened.”

“And?”

“I received some congratulatory flowers.”

“From who?”

“Whom.”

“Yeah, yeah, whom.”

“You’d never know your mother is an English professor.”

“Thank God!”

“Ha. One set was from Malcolm Helms.”

“By the way, Sky and I Googled him. Wow!”

“Yes, wow. The second set was from Lex.”

Willa leaned back, away from the phone, as if she were trying to get out of someone’s way. “Well, isn’t he just full of surprises this week,” she commented.

“What do you mean
surprises?
Were you going for plural?”

“He was here Sunday night.”

Suddenly, it was Lu’s turn to flinch. “What do you mean
here?
”

“I mean he showed up at my door Sunday night, needing a place to crash,” Willa reported matter-of-factly.

“O … K,” Lu said slowly, struggling to understand this turn of events. She didn’t want to sound like a petulant middle-school girl with a crush who nagged for information about the guy she liked. “Did you talk?”

Willa paused. “Yes and no.”

Again, Lu restrained herself. Willa could take secrets to the grave. Her vault of gossip and facts that had been handed to her over the years overflowed with both trivial and important secrets. If Lex told Willa something in confidence, Lu would never be able to pry it out of her. A tiny fissure of jealousy snaked through her. Willa and Lex had a good number of confidences that Lu had never been privy to. It hurt her that when he needed someone, he’d shown up on Willa’s doorstep.

“Did you make up?” Lu asked, thinking that perhaps Willa would feel that she could answer that question.

“To be honest, Lu, we didn’t talk much. He showed up saying he needed a place to crash. And I could never turn him away. Not you, or him, or Pete. Too much history.”

“It’s not like he couldn’t have stayed at a hotel,” Lu remarked snidely.

“No doubt. But I think he needed to be some place familiar.”

Again, Lu reined in her hurt. Seeking solace from the loneliness creeping into her, Lu told Willa her other news. “Mr. Helms invited me to a soccer game tomorrow night.”

“Well that ought to be interesting and fun. Will you actually be with him? Because that could be promising,” she said, winking at Lu.

“I’m not sure about with him. As his guest. But here’s the rub …”

“Come on, spit it out, Lu.”

“His club is playing Lex’s. Tomorrow night I’m going to watch Lex play soccer.”

Willa’s head dropped to the table. Banging it lightly a couple of times, she picked it up, blue eyes dancing and peering into the phone as if she could get into Lu’s face. “I give up. Just be careful.”

Lu pulled back from the phone again. “What? Who are you?”