The fact he’d made it almost five hours until finally breaking down and asking why the German had sat in the stands was amazing. I had to give him credit for holding onto the question so long when it had to be eating him up inside. “Yes.”
He exhaled, and I had to fight the urge to take the bottle from him and take a swig.
“He sat out today so that I could play. He’s sitting out the final so I can play then too,” I explained slowly. “The other girls have been complaining about how he’s playing favorites, so…” The last month of my life suddenly came down on my shoulders again, and all I could do was shrug helplessly.
Dad stared and then stared a little more. One of his eyelids started fluttering a little. “Tell me what happened.”
I did. I told him about how I’d been cleared to play, but how they’d initially said I was going to be benched.
Dad gulped down half the bottle in response. He looked about ready to pop. If anyone understood the magnitude of what Kulti’s actions meant, he did. “Sal…”
“Yes?”
“What are you going to do?”
“I don’t know.”
He gave me a look. “You know what you need to do.”
“I don’t know.”
“You know.”
God, was this what talking to me was like? “Dad… I… I don’t know. I don’t even know what to think about all of it. We’re in completely different leagues. I’m me; he’s him. It would never work.”
He nodded, seriously. “I know. You’re too good for him, but I’ve taught you better than to be so conceited.”
Oh God. Why did I bother? I started cracking up. “That’s not what I meant and you know it. Jeez.”
He smiled over and pressed the cool glass of the beer bottle to my knee. “Does he know about your little obsession?”
I gave him an ‘are you kidding me’ look that had him chuckling in response.
“I want to see them.”
“See what?”
“Your chicken wings,” he deadpanned.
I groaned.
He took it to another level when he started squawking.
“I’ve always known you were insane.”
Dad snorted. “I thought you were a tiger, hija mia.”
There he went. Leave it to my dad to bring up exactly what I’d been worried about. Had I really lost my guts? “I don’t know how to tell him. I don’t even know why he thinks he has feelings for me either, Dad. What am I supposed to do? He’s doing all these things and saying stuff, when he’s never even given me the idea that he thinks of me as anything more than a friend. What am I supposed to do?”
He gave me that look that said he wasn’t impressed that I was asking for his opinion. “Do you really want me to tell you?”
I nodded.
“When I met your mom, I knew exactly who she was. Everyone knew who she was. I’ve told you before, I didn’t talk to her first, she came up to me.” Dad smiled gently at the memory. “I didn’t have anything to offer her. I didn’t even finish high school and your mom was La Culebra’s daughter. It didn’t matter how many times I told her she could find someone better; she never left. If it didn’t matter to her that we would never be rich, then why should I push her away? I loved her and she loved me, and when you have love, you find a way to make things work.” He pressed the bottle to my knee again. “You can have anything you want in the world. Anything you’ve ever wanted, you’ve worked for, and I know that you know that. ‘I can and I will,’ remember?
“I’ll tell you this, too. I knew something was going on when you showed up at the house with him. No man is going to go visit your family because he’s bored. No one would spend so much time with you if he didn’t want more, and my birthday was months ago, Salomé.” He pointed at his heart. “Think with your heart, not your head. I’ve never known you to not take every opportunity you’ve ever been presented with. Don’t start passing on them now.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
“Where’s Coach Kulti?”
“He’s taking time off for the rest of the season,” Gardner answered before walking off.
I stretched my arms up over my head to really get a good stretch into those shoulder muscles always nagging me. All the while pretending like I didn’t hear the group talking twenty feet away.
“He’s been here all season, and now he’s decided to take time off?”
“I’m not surprised.”
“I can’t believe it.”
“Really?”
“I bet Sal knows what’s going on.”