Cleat Cute by Meryl Wilsner

Author:Meryl Wilsner
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3
Publisher: St. Martin's Publishing Group

Twenty-One

Injury reports go out Wednesday afternoon, so Wednesday morning, Grace picks up her phone. She’d rather not tell her family about her hip, frankly, but it’s always worse if they learn something through the media. So, no matter how much she doesn’t want to talk about herself and her so-called injury and deal with her family’s well-meaning but intrusive questions, she calls her parents’ home phone.

Her dad picks up. “Gracie! What are you doing calling in the middle of the day? Shouldn’t you be running around on a soccer field?”

Grace knows exactly what she should be doing. Givhan has run practice the same way every year she’s been on the team. Wednesday just before lunch, the team plays some kind of game, soccer tennis or keep-away. Givhan likes something fun before breaking for lunch, as if the players won’t want to come back afterward, especially on a Wednesday, since it’s the middle of the week.

Her dad doesn’t need to know any of that.

“That’s actually kind of what I was calling about,” Grace says. She’s always been one to rip off a Band-Aid. “I’m fine, but I’ve got a bit of a hip thing, and I’m gonna be out for a couple weeks.”

“What? Honey, are you okay?” Then, muffled, she hears him yell, “Maggie! Pick up the phone! It’s your eldest!”

Her mom picks up immediately. “Hello, beautiful. You never call during the day. How are you doing?”

“She’s hurt,” her dad says, still on the line.

“I’m fine,” Grace insists. Of course the first thing both of her parents notice is that she’s not at practice. Like Grace is a soccer player before she’s their daughter. “It’s a minor strain. I’ll be back on the field before you know it.”

“Are you okay?” her mom asks, like Grace didn’t lead with the fact that she’s fine.

“It’s honestly not a big deal. I’m not limited in any daily activities outside of soccer and exercise.”

“That sounds like most of your daily activities, sweet’ums,” her dad says.

He isn’t wrong, but she wishes he saw her as more than a soccer player. Maybe she can spend her time off the field figuring out how to see herself as more than a soccer player.

“I suppose you’re bound to get injured as a professional athlete, but gosh, I don’t like it,” her mom says. “You haven’t been hurt since you tore your ACL.”

Grace is well aware of that, thank you. She remembers how hard it was to come back from, and she was younger then.

“I’m not particularly wild about it, either,” Grace admits. “But I’ll be fine.”

“How long will it be?” her mom asks. “Will we still be able to see you play in the home opener?”

The Krewe’s first home game is five weeks away.

“I don’t know yet,” Grace says. “I’d rather we not plan anything until I’m back.”

“But we always come to the home opener,” her mom says.

“Maggie, it’s fine. The rest will be good for you, Gracie.” Her dad says it like he has decided it, so that’s how it will go.

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