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I laughed. “Thanks, man. Same to you.”

“We’ll get ’em the next match, yeah?”

“You know it.”

We engaged in idle chitchat for a while before lapsing into silence. I put on my headphones and stared out the window at the streets whizzing by.

The matches were spread throughout the country. Our team’s base camp was in Cape Town, but we were currently in Durban and would return to Cape Town to play against Australia next week. It was a lot of logistics and a lot of time with the team.

I got along with my US teammates well enough, though we didn’t interact much outside of international tournaments since none of them played in the Premier League. I was arguably the most recognized name on the men’s team, but I’d always felt a little out of place, which was why I declined to join them for a post-match unwinding session back at the hotel.

I retreated to the sanctuary of my room and breathed in the silence.

One group stage match down. Two more to go. After that…who knew?

CHAPTER 37

NOAH

“Great match today, son. I was watching it with the guys at home. You should’ve seen Doug’s face.” My dad smirked. “He brags about his son winning trials all the time, but has that overly cocky attorney ever kept a clean sheet in the World Cup? I don’t think so.”

His pettiness drew a low sound of amusement from my chest. “It was only one match. You’re still going at it with Doug, huh?”

Doug was my dad’s best friend of forty years. They’d been locked in a (mostly) good-natured game of one-upmanship since before I was born, and now their friendly rivalry extended to their children. It drove my mom mad, but my dad said the competitive juices kept him young.

“Only one match? Don’t sell yourself short, sweetie. Those were spectacular saves.” My mom’s face popped up onscreen next to my dad’s. “Speaking of which, are you eating enough? You look a little thin. And did you change your hair? You look different.”

None of those questions had anything to do with my saves, but my mom would ask if I was eating enough even if I polished off a full rack of ribs in front of her.

“Yes, and no.” I ran a self-conscious hand through my hair. “It’s the same cut I’ve always had.”

I’d FaceTimed my parents after settling into my room for the night. They were six hours behind in Michigan, and except for darker tans, they looked the same as they had last summer. It was a small but comforting relief. They were getting older, and I dreaded the day when I looked at them and saw it.

Time passed too quickly these days.

“Is it? Hmm.” My mom pursed her lips. “You do look different though. Have you⁠—”

“Is that Daddy?” Evie’s excited voice piped up in the background.

I broke into an involuntary smile when she took the phone and beamed at me. “Hi, Daddy! We watched you play today. Pops used a bad word when the other team almost scored a goal.”

“No, I didn’t,” I heard my dad say off-screen.

“Dad,” I warned.

He grumbled. “Evie, bugbear, what did I say about snitching on me to your father?”

“You said, don’t do it. You also said not to use bad words, but you used one today, so now I’m confused,” she explained.

My mother’s laughter drowned out my father’s splutters.

I grinned even as a pang of homesickness hit me. I wished they were here, but the trip would be too hard on them, especially given my dad’s knee issues. “You enjoying your time with Nana and Pops, then? What have you been up to?” I asked Evie.

We’d talked on the phone several times since I arrived, but this was our first conversation where I wasn’t rushed.

Her brow scrunched in thought. “We went to the water park the other day. Then we got ice cream and…oh! Pops and I started a new puzzle together. It’s a thousand pieces. He says I’m ready for the next level after we finished the starry night one last summer…”

I listened as Evie regaled me with tales of her adventures. She asked me a few questions about the tournament, but she wasn’t a big football fan outside of supporting me, so she got bored quickly.