The Soccer Star's Forgotten Wife novel · Chapter 31 of 32

Chapter 31: Home

"Okay," I said. "Take me home."

It took an hour to get out of the stadium.

The car park was full of people in blue scarves who wanted a picture.

A little boy in a number 9 shirt asked me to sign it.

He'd put tape over the name on the back, and I signed the tape.

Junie had already been claimed.

My dad was taking her to Robin's for a sleepover, with the popcorn machine and a movie and the famous spring.

"Your father's sleeping on that couch?" Cody said.

"He asked for it," Robin said. "He wants to see if it builds character."

"I'm sixty-one," my dad said. "My character's done. I want to see if it breaks."

Junie hugged me hard around the waist.

"I timed the chant," she said. "Over six minutes. That's longer than the halftime show."

"That's a lot of data."

"I know." She let go. "Don't wake up too early. Robin says we're making pancakes at your house at nine and she's bringing the batter."

Then my dad put his hand on my head, the way he did when I was nineteen.

He didn't say anything.

He didn't have to.

Cody drove us home through the snow.

He didn't sing.

He drove with one hand, and the other one held mine on the seat between us, and he didn't let go even at the lights.

The bungalow was dark.

The crooked mailbox had a hat of snow.

The porch light was on.

He'd left it on before the match, for when we came back.

Inside, the kitchen was cold and smelled like coffee from that morning.

The red stain was still on the table.

He turned the light on this time.

I stood in the kitchen in my black league jacket, my hair still damp from the referee room shower.

I couldn't stop shaking.

"Cold?" he said.

"No."

He came and put his hands on either side of my face.

"Then what?"

"I don't know," I said. "Everything. It's over. They chanted my name, Cody. All of them. The same people."

"I heard."

"I keep thinking I'll wake up on the floor in that condo with a scrub brush."

"You won't."

"How do you know?"

"Because I'm going to be here when you wake up," he said. "I'm very reliable. Ask anyone. Ask Junie."

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