Lu held out her hand and they shook. “I look forward to seeing my first in-person English Premier League game.”
“Hopefully, it will captivate your imagination,” he said, smiling. “We always enjoy this rivalry. Ah, our archrival features an American, but you can’t root for them tomorrow.”
Lu felt some of the color leach from her cheeks. “You’re the first, so you’ll lay claim to my loyalties.”
“Yes, well, as much as I hate to play against him, Lex Pellitteri is always fun to watch.”
It kept running through her mind like a mantra. Lex Pellitteri is always fun to watch. Lex Pellitteri is always fun to watch. Over and over again until she felt like she might be going a bit crazy. Dropping her head into her hands as she sat at her kitchen table, she thought frantically of a way to get out of going to the game tomorrow night. In all the years that they’d known each other, Lu had never seen him play in person—and had only watched a few plays on TV before her heart would turn in on itself and she would have to turn the channel. As kids, Lex and Pete were gone every Saturday to some sporting event. Soccer for Lex, while Pete mixed it up and played a variety of sports. But going to watch Lex and Pete play wasn’t what they did. They were girls. They didn’t want to go sit at some park during the weekends. Not that the boys would have even thought to invite them.
When Lex started playing more competitively, all of his events were out of town. At first, he would leave for weekends. Depending on Pete’s schedule, usually Mr. P. would take Lex and Dr. J. would stay in town with Pete. By the time they were together, Lex was playing at such a competitive level that he never played in Sarasota. Oh, she’d seen him with his soccer ball, she’d seen him do his dance, she’d seen him practice. The upshot of it was she had never actually seen him play soccer live, in the flesh. While she felt the irony of going to see him play the first time as the guest of his opponent, she could only lay the blame for that at his feet, as she wouldn’t have been there, in this predicament, if it weren’t for his high-handedness.
Then the flowers caught her eye. Pushing her hand in her pocket, she took out the card and reread it, a smile on her face. She needed to thank him. She struggled to decide if she should tell him that she would be at the game. Grabbing her phone, she shot him a quick text.
Thanks for the flowers. My favorite.
She glanced at the time and realized that if she called Willa now, she might catch her before she went to work. Selecting her name, she opted for FaceTime.
“Hey,” Willa said, a big smile on her face.
Lu had to admit, it threw her a bit. “Hey yourself. You seem awfully chipper.”
“You got chipper from one word?”
“No, from the big-ass smile on your face. Did I tell you how much I love FaceTime?” she smirked.
“Ha. Yes, it does remove some of the mystery, and actually freedom, of talking on the phone.”
“That’s right. You can’t roll your eyes at me without me knowing.”
“I’m fairly certain that the tone of my voice, as you just pointed out, gave away my eye-rolling,” Willa responded good-naturedly.
Lu looked at the phone. Turned it upside down, jiggled it a bit.
“What the hell are you doing? That’s making me nauseous,” Willa bitched.
“I was looking for my sullen big sister. Do you know where I can find her?”
“I think the sullen got fucked out of her,” Willa quipped.
Lu laughed. “I bet it did.”
“So how was the lunch?” Willa asked. “This time-difference thing still throws me, and I didn’t know when to call.
Lu propped her phone up on some books on the table. “Lunch was good,” and Lu couldn’t help the big grin.
“Now who’s looking like the cat that ate the canary?” Willa teased.
“I’m excited. I was nervous at first, but I think this is a great opportunity.”
“I’m proud of you.”
“Thanks, Will,” Lu said, taking a moment to collect herself after the surprise of her sister’s compliment. “So some interesting things have happened.”
“And?”
“I received some congratulatory flowers.”
“From who?”
“Whom.”
“Yeah, yeah, whom.”
“You’d never know your mother is an English professor.”
“Thank God!”
“Ha. One set was from Malcolm Helms.”
“By the way, Sky and I Googled him. Wow!”
“Yes, wow. The second set was from Lex.”
Willa leaned back, away from the phone, as if she were trying to get out of someone’s way. “Well, isn’t he just full of surprises this week,” she commented.