Page 3 of Rumor Has It

Wren’s dad broke her out of her train of thought. “How’s Andy’s new thing going?” he asked. He liked Andy well enough. He liked her a heck of a lot more than he had either of the other two girls Wren had introduced him to.

“It’s going pretty well. She’s out doing the brand building thing tonight. I wouldn’t be surprised if we saw her in some trashy magazine next week.”

“Well that’s… something.” Her dad let out a laugh. “I’ll get Linda to check the next time she’s at the grocery store. If she’s in one, we’ll get it and cut her photo out, put her accomplishments up on the fridge right next to yours.”

Wren’s heart swelled. She knew her dad was kidding, but the sentiment was actually really sweet. “You know, Dad, I think Andy would appreciate it.”

Wren could hear Barbara and Linda talking in the background.

“Hey, Little Bird, I’m gonna have to let you go. I love you so much, and I’m so proud of you.”

“I love you too, Dad. Give Linda and Barbs my love too, yeah?”

“You got it, Sweetie.”

Their call ended and Wren looked at the clock on her phone. It was already eight-thirty, so she stuffed a bookmark into her book and got up from her spot on the couch she and Andy had purchased when they moved into this apartment together. It wasn’t the world’s nicest couch, but it was long enough for them to take naps on and deep enough that they could take them together. Almost a whole month into living together after a full year of dating had proved to be easier than Wren would have expected. They had only argued once, and it was about the way Wren does laundry. They decided then and there to do their laundry separately, and honestly Wren thought she had gotten the better end of that deal. Andy had all sorts of fancy clothes that couldn’t be dried in a drier, while Wren’s wardrobe was ninety-nine percent athletic attire and one percent a suit that had to be dry cleaned.

She was too keyed up to sleep, so she decided to go ahead and pack up her bag for tomorrow before getting ready for bed. Right after she crawled under the covers she shot Andy a text telling her to be safe and to please not drink and drive. Andy had replied immediately with a hundred hearts and about seven texts that said some variation of “I wish you were here.”

Wren sent back a promise that she would go next time and thirteen kissy faces.

Wren’s trusty Toyota Tacoma, Toddrick, rattled into the parking lot of Dignity Health Sports Park. She had bought him with her own money at the end of high school. She had saved every dollar her mom had sent her over the years, every paycheck she had made from working over the summers at the sporting goods store on the edge of town, and every graduation check. Toddrick was older than she was, but the previous owner had loved him as much as she did and had kept him in great shape. She figured she could get another couple of years out of him before upgrading, but as she parked in between a Range Rover and a Mercedes, she wondered if the pressures of Andy’s new glamorous life and her new status as a professional athlete would make her cave early.

She patted the black faux leather dashboard and spread out her Star Wars sunshade. “Don’t worry buddy, I think you belong here. As much as I do, at least,” she said softly before hopping out.

As she approached the player’s entrance, she flashed her temporary badge to the waiting security guard and headed out onto the pitch. Her heart swelled as she dropped her bag next to Courtney’s and fell into an easy conversation about their upcoming PWSL season. Her nerves about playing with her childhood heroes were still there, but they had stopped making her heart pound in her chest and were more just fluttering around her stomach with excitement and anticipation that she might actually get to be real friends with them one day.

The last day of camp went exactly like Wren suspected it would. The drills were more complex, the conditioning was brutal, and the scrimmages to end the day were staggered competitions, three-on-five types of games that were designed to challenge even the world’s greatest players. By the end of the day she was thankful for the final whistle, but more importantly, she was proud of herself. She’d left it all on the pitch, and she could hold her head up high. She had been in the top three players every conditioning drill, her skills drills had been on point, and even when she was on the smaller side team in competitions, she had only lost once. Not that anyone was grading her on it, but she had also managed to piss Rebecca off during that portion of the practice. She did notice that that kind of competitive spark between the two of them only made them both play better, especially now that they weren’t playing dirty. If Wren was a betting person, and thanks to growing up so close to Vegas, she absolutely was not, she would bet that both she and Rebecca were about to make the Women’s National Team.

She didn’t bother trying to offer Rebecca any sort of congratulations or recognition for her efforts from the day, instead she made it a point to go shake the coaches’ and trainers’ hands and thank them for their time over the past three days. She knew it would look good. Professional sports were unlike anything else in the world, but at the end of the day, this camp had just been a very long, rigorous interview.

She called her dad on the way home to tell him all about it. She still didn’t want to jinx herself, but she really thought she had a shot. When she opened the front door of her apartment, Andy had a pizza and a six-pack of Wren’s favorite beer waiting for her on the counter.

After Wren took a quick shower, they squished onto their comfy couch and tried to watch TV while Wren’s leg bounced anxiously. At exactly six o’clock, Wren’s phone dinged. Andy muted the show they were pretending to watch and wrapped her arms around Wren’s waist. Wren swallowed nervously and scanned the roster. Sure enough, her name was listed as a selected forward. She was too happy to be even the least bit bothered by the fact that Rebecca Rothschild had been selected as one of the defenders.

CHAPTER

THREE

BECKY

Becky stared out the window of the plane watching the clouds go by. Her long legs were cramped in the tight space. She could have sprung for better seats, but she refused to use her parents’ card. They weren’t exactly pleased with her at the moment. And honestly, though she’d never admit it, she wasn’t exactly thrilled with them, either. She had gotten a biology degree, and her parents had really wanted her to go into medical school. She had done the work, she had gotten the grades and had even been accepted into a prestigious PhD program; but when she’d been invited to the PWSL combine and the North Carolina Cougars had made her an offer, it had been the easiest decision of her life. Soccer was her greatest passion, and she wasn’t about to miss this opportunity. If only she could get her parents to see it that way, too.

Instead, they were starting to find her dreams a little silly. Of course they had been proud of her collegiate career at their alma mater, and they had been a little impressed when she had signed with her favorite team in the PWSL, but they both were from long lines of doctors and lawyers, and professional athletes were something they just didn’t equate to that. Certainly, they would be proud of her making the Women’s National Team. She just hadn’t told them yet. The truth was that she hadn’t even told them that she had spent the last three days in Los Angeles. The USWNT’s program had given her a stipend for her travel, her food, and her hotel. She could have gone a little crazy while she was there if she had wanted. She could have extended her trip by a night or two and gone to see all the tourist attractions Los Angeles had to offer, but Becky had spent the entire trip with a weird sinking feeling that everyone was silently judging her for her rough, bitchy reputation.

It’s not that Becky was unlikeable. Her teammates at NCU had all loved her—they still did. The volume of text messages sitting unread in her messages app was a testament to that. Anyone who had played against Becky, however, tended to not be a fan.

She had three older brothers and, from an early age, had been instilled an “anything to win” mentality. It’s not that Becky was proud of her sixteen yellow cards in eighteen games record season or that she went out onto the pitch hoping to draw blood—she just went out determined to win. And if people got in her way, well, they should have moved.

She sighed against the window and adjusted the airplane’s recycled air above her head. Of course Wren Eames had been at the camp and of course she had also made the team. She closed her eyes and was immediately met with the memory of Wren trying to offer a bridge of peace after their second day. Becky gripped her armrest in frustration as she thought of Wren’s emerald green eyes, her long hair sticking to her neck from sweat after their intense practice. The way she smiled so damn easily at Becky, her stupid dimples cutting into her tan cheeks. Did she really not remember? Or worse, did she just not care? Becky really wished she was a forgive-and-forget type of person, but when you grow up with a dad whose prominent medical career had slowly turned him into something of a hometown celebrity, she had learned the hard way to trust no one and give no second chances. People were always just looking for gossip and social clout. Besides, there was too much bad blood between them. She would just have to avoid her at all costs.

Becky forced her attention down to the contract sitting in her lap. She didn’t have an agent, so she’d spent the whole first hour of the plane ride reading it over and over again. The financials seemed simple enough: there was a signing bonus and a win bonus. Just being on the team gave her a monthly salary that rivaled that of her club team. The rest of it made sense, too. There were only a few rules that would result in immediate expulsion from the team: arriving to a practice or game under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol, with an amendment for drugs specifically meaning those that are not prescribed by a licensed medical professional. An additional amendment had been added to clarify that performance enhancing drugs were not allowed under any circumstance, prescribed or otherwise. There was a sports betting and match-rigging clause that made Becky genuinely wonder what had happened in the organization’s history that had produced the need for that, specifically, to be inked into their contract. And finally, a fraternization clause that strictly prohibited the beginning of a relationship of any romantic or sexual nature between teammates, coaching staff, team administration, health care professionals, or anyone who works at any of their training facilities.

There had clearly been one women’s national sports scandal too many. She knew at their first official team meeting, they’d be able to ask clarifying questions about their contracts, but her club team had an identically worded clause. She’d already had it clarified. Any new relationship would result in the expulsion from the team. Relationships that pre-dated the contract would be grandfathered in.

Thankfully for Becky, she didn’t think that would be any issue at a club level or a national one. She was there to play soccer.

Two weeks later, all the girls on the National Team roster were called into practice at the Arthur M. Blank U.S. Soccer National Training Center in Fayetteville, Georgia—their state of the art National Team Headquarters. They would do a two-week training camp and then would start a circuit of low stakes games. There would be five “friendly” matches played to get them all gelled and cohesive before the World Cup. All of their planes were to arrive before noon on Sunday, so they’d have time to catch team shuttles and head to the stadium to check in and receive further instructions. She guessed they’d get their hotel/room information and get to leave all their soccer gear in the locker rooms so they weren’t carrying it back and forth every day. They would also probably get practice kits and team gear. Becky was genuinely thrilled about that part. Her NCU team chat had been blowing up all day. Her former teammates were desperate to see photos of all of the National Team swag.