Page 45 of Well Aware

“She sounds fun,” I found myself saying. “I’m sure glad that I missed her.”

His lips twitched. “You’ll get to see her tomorrow. They cornered me in the parking lot after you left practice. My sister pretty much admitted to having that ref throw the game. After my call with the head ref, I met Court at a bar and pitched my solution to him. He probably wouldn’t have gone for it had it not been for Charleigh.”

“He likes her?” I wondered.

I watched the beautiful smile that lit up Beau’s face. “Court’s obsessed with her.”

“And let me guess, she doesn’t like him?” I teased.

“She’s a hard ass,” he admitted. “She joined the Marines, following my footsteps. She stayed for about half the time that I was there. Came home and started doing odd jobs. Never really found one that she loved. But when Court arrived in town, it was like I saw a spark come back to Charleigh’s life. I haven’t seen that spark since she was pulled out of that wrecked car next to my sister.”

I toed off my shoes. “It took me a while to place Court,” I found myself saying. “But I finally figured out who he was. Kind of hard not to notice one of the biggest men in the professional soccer world. I hadn’t realized that he’d changed his name, though.”

“Can you blame him?” he asked.

Court had gone to prison for killing someone in a car wreck.

At first, it was suspected that Court had been drunk. But it was later found out that he had a condition called “Auto Brewery Syndrome.” Skeptical, I’d looked it up only to find that it’s when your body converts sugars to ethanol. Which then raises your blood alcohol level.

“I’d been devastated to hear that one of my favorite players had killed someone drunk driving. When it was later found that he had that condition, I’d been ecstatic. I didn’t know how I could meet someone with his great character only to have him do something atrocious like what was done to my own parents.”

“Court’s a really good guy.” Beau shoved off the door. “Good night, Magnolia.”

My breath hitched. “G’night, Beau.”

ELEVEN

I live my life by trial and error. Mostly error.

—Beau to Magnolia

BEAU

Court stood beside me as we watched the game.

“She’s really good,” Court mused as he watched Magnolia expertly stop the Texas Fusion’s star forward cold. “She knows all their moves. Why’s she retiring again?” he asked. “She’s not that old.”

“She graduated from college as a nurse anesthetist and wants to start her career with that,” I explained. “She’s been doing clinicals and practices, schooling, and games. She told me coming into this team that this would be her last season. She wants the guaranteed income while also being able to take care of Iris.”

Speaking of Iris, she was sitting directly in front of me watching the game with avid fascination.

She always did.

Usually I wasn’t the one in charge of her, though.

However, after this morning’s freak-out and tantrum on Iris’s end, we’d decided that it was better if Iris stayed with me.

This morning, when Iris had woken up, I’d been up for an hour.

I’d gotten my own workout in and was outside with a cup of coffee when she came out onto the front porch and stared at the mountain beyond.

There were deer in the field, and a couple of elk higher up, and she’d been enraptured.

We’d had breakfast, then tried to leave, and she’d freaked when she’d had to get into the car.

It’d taken us several minutes to get her calmed down enough that she knew she wasn’t going to school.

Then she’d seen the yellow fucking school bus that took us from the stadium to the airport and lost her mind a second time.