Page 7 of Penalty Kick

“Once upon a time I was new to Atlanta as well, and a very kind woman named Shari Sutherland took me in and taught me that when life gives you lemons, you make lemonade,” Heather had explained to her when she first started working at Bunz. “I am where I am because of her, and when she died, I knew I had to pay it forward. So, when life brings me a young woman with a handful of lemons, I try and help her figure out how to make lemonade.”

Talia was making lemonade with the best of them now, and she couldn’t be happier.

“For what it’s worth,” Talia said, relaxing against the bar, “I’m team DJ. Keep it simple. Sax is right; you only have a little more than a month. A month that has a lot crammed into it.”

“I do like hearing the words ‘Sax is right,’” the brunette said with a wink. Turning away from them, she moved to the other side of the bar where an older gentleman had just sat down.

“At least the team is home for most of July and August. After Charlotte this weekend we’re not away until Portland, the week after the reception.”

“Right, but in the middle of all that we have the trivia night fundraiser, the Southland Holdings Annual Employee Carnival, the Unified game when Dallas is in town, and oh yeah, your wedding reception.”

“Okay, so we’re a little busy. Nothing we can’t handle. When do classes start up?”

“The Monday after Portland, so I won’t be going on that trip,” Talia answered. As daughter of the coach, and now stepdaughter of the owner, she had full access to the team, home or away. She made it to most home games but was hit or miss when it came to away games. The traveling was fun, but she cleaned up in tips when she worked a shift when the team was away. Bunz was the spot to watch a game, and they were always packed. Talia was determined to be independent, and those extra tips made all the difference.

“But you’re still going to Phoenix over Labor Day, yes?”

Talia nodded. There was no way she could get out of that trip. It was the only road trip game for the Unified team, and she knew all her players were over the moon about going. She would have been too, if Phoenix wasn’t also home. Or what used to be home. Robert and her two younger brothers, Bert and Doug, were still in Prescott, and she’d promised them tickets to the game and dinner afterwards. She did miss the boys, if nothing else about Arizona. She just wasn’t so sure she was looking forward to an entire family reunion.

“There’s no way I could miss that. The kids are all kinds of excited about having an away game just like the first team. Tanner is convinced that he’s going to score the winning goal just like Dash did in the Fremont cup.”

“Speaking of Dash…” Felicity trailed off.

“No.”

Talia gave the tall, gorgeous blonde a look. One that hopefully expressed just how much she didn’t want to go there. Something Felicity should know. The two of them were close and had been before Felicity’s relationship with Gunnar was public. Her stepmother knew all about her noninterest in the hotshot rookie. Who cared if he was quite possibly the hottest guy she’d ever seen, and if he showed up regularly when she was working just to sit at the bar and flirt with her. Not Talia, that’s who.

And so what if he kissed like a dream? That was a one-time thing. Never happening again. It was also a secret she was keeping to herself. Especially since it had made her feel like she never had before.

Okay, so maybe Felicity didn’t know all about her feelings in regard to Hector “Dash” Lazaro. It’s not like she needed every last detail.

“And that was a horrible segue,” Talia continued.

Felicity chuckled. “You brought him up.”

“No, I was talking about Tanner. You know, your godchild.”

“Yes, I remember him. About five feet five, brown hair, thankfully a spitting image of his mother and not that sperm donor who provided the other half of his genetic material.”

“He has his eyes,” Sax added. “He might look just like me, but those are without a doubt Perry Novak’s eyes.”

Felicity let out a huff, obviously not liking the mention of Saxony’s ex. Ignoring the comment, she continued, “But, you also mentioned that Tanner wants to be like Dash, and so I thought it a good moment to mention that he’s back to training today and will be joining you for the Unified practice this afternoon.”

Now it was Talia’s turn to huff. She was not thrilled that the team’s party boy was going to be working with them. “I still don’t know why you allowed him to work his community service off with us.”

“Because, you said it yourself, Tanner wants to be him. And this is the perfect chance for Dash to see that firsthand and realize that he needs to be the role model that these kids need. That you could help him realize that. Besides, I thought you two were friends.”

“Liam and I are friends. Dash just hangs around and…”

“Flirts?” Sax offered.

“I was going to go with ‘takes up space,’ but flirts works.”

“Okay, bonita,” Sax teased.

Talia pressed her lips together, forcing herself not to roll her eyes. She knew these two had her best interests at heart and that their subtle teasing was just that—teasing. They had both witnessed Dash flirt with her. And her dismiss him. She wasn’t interested. Hell, forget interest, she didn’t have time. There was already more than enough on her plate and so, so much more that she wanted to do. She had goals and dreams, and she was not going to let some guy get in the way of them.

“Ugh, don’t you start too.”