Lessons in Letting Go (Study Abroad Book 3) by Jessica Peterson

Author:Jessica Peterson [Peterson, Jessica]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Peterson Paperbacks
Published: 2016-12-11T18:30:00+00:00

Chapter 20

Rhys

Tuesday

Madrid

I pull up to the curb and put the car in park. Glancing out the window, I see loads of little kids running about the playground at Santa Caterina, bundled up in tattered coats that are clearly hand-me-downs. I remember the powder blue coat I wore when I was six, maybe seven. It was my cousin Hannah’s, clearly a girl’s jacket, with pink and purple butterflies on the front. I hated it, but mum couldn’t afford to buy me a new one and the winter that year was terrible, so I had to wear it. I think I’m still a little scarred from being teased on the playground about those butterflies.

I take a deep breath, let it out. My heart is pounding like it was years and years ago when I had to wear that coat. Christ, this place cuts too close to home. There’s still so much work I have to do if I want to make sure my cousins and their kids don’t end up being mercilessly teased at a place like this for wearing a shitty jacket. There’s still so much I want to give them. The educations, the doctors, the homes and that van for Aunt Kate’s daughter Marie…

My thoughts begin to spiral out of control. I shouldn’t be here. I should just cut a check to Santa Caterina and go back to the pitch and practice my footwork. There’s a reason I’m not very hands-on with the charities I support. I don’t have time for this. My sports-drink sponsor isn’t thrilled that I moved the commercial shoot to next week, and if I lose them I lose the fifteen grand—

I blink, and realize I’ve been staring out the window right at Laura. When our eyes meet her face breaks out in a massive, glowing smile. It’s like a bullet to the chest. I can’t breathe. I can’t think.

I can just stare at her and wonder how the hell I got so lucky that I can make a girl as excellent as Laura smile like that.

Her arms are crossed over her chest. She looses one and waves at me, the late afternoon sun catching on her long hair as she does. I wave back, stupidly, and in that moment everything—my discomfort and my stress and my past—it all falls away.

I’m not that kid in the butterfly jacket on the playground anymore. I’m the guy who’s looking at girl he’s crushing on, hard, the guy with nothing to prove except his adoration for that girl. I don’t notice the tattered jackets or the broken down playground, and I don’t feel like my father is going to suddenly appear on the sidewalk, drunk and angry and ready for a fight.

I just feel like I want to hang out with Laura. Maybe try to shamelessly impress her and her kids with my footy skills. She’s done so much for me; it’s the least I can do for her. Plus I know now it’s fun to play just for play’s sake, to play to make the kids laugh.

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