Chasing Football Dreams (Diner Girl #2)

Chapter Eleven

“W e would like to set up a donation,”

The woman behind the desk blinked at my wife’s request. I couldn’t get the thought of Zoey being an orphan to myself. I told Angela about it and she’s been working non-stop on locating the orphanage and to her luck, found the last standing orphanage house.

A shudder punched my gut when we pulled up in front of an old building. It was falling apart and what hurt the most was the see the number of kids of different ages living here.

Angela and I never tried for a second child after our daughter was murdered. My wife pushed herself into charity events and helping foster care houses with funds. She has opened at least five foster care houses in the last ten years and hasn’t stopped looking for solutions to help orphans.

Many nights I would return home with a house full of children she invited to stay the night. We fostered a few children over the years and I imagined it was Angela’s way of coping. She has not skipped one of Zoey’s birthdays, she would buy her a present and leave it at her grave. She didn’t mind that someone would take it. She just wanted that feeling of buying her daughter something.

“I’m sorry if I seem baffled. It’s just are not used to your generous offer,”

Angela waved her hand to make the woman feel assured. “I’ve helped many foster care homes and I would like to help your orphanage with a foster care program,”

The woman frowned at Angela’s request. “Sorry, I never let you introduce yourself,”

Angela held out her hand. “I am Angela Martin and this is my husband Shane Martin,”

The woman nodded, her eyes darting over my shoulder. “I’m Kelly,”

Angela softly tucked my clenched hand resting on my lap—shooting me a grin and then turned her attention back to Kelly. “Ever since we lost our daughter, we have focused on helping unprivileged children,”

“Our orphanage is the last to exist and as much as we considered moving to a foster care program—there aren’t enough donations to fund the program,”

Angela graciously nodded her head. “And that’s why we want to help,”

Kelly looked at me and there was a scared look swivelling around in her gaze. “You are that football player that one of our kids was so obsessed with,”

I smiled. “I think I’ve met her,”

Kelly blinked. “How so?”

“I believe she’s one of my players. Zoey Reynolds,”

She nodded. “It’s a shame about her parents,” She pushed her chair slightly back and started to fidget with a pen. “I had to fetch her from a hospital and bring her here, thinking it was just for the night but no one came for her,”

“It surprises me that no one would have adopted her. She’s a good-mannered and beautiful girl,” Angela replied. Zoey has made such an impact on both me and Angela. Not only because she carries our daughter’s name and skill, but her gracious mind leaves a soft spot in your heart.

Kelly nodded. “She has done a lot for this place. She still comes here often to take care of the children and give them gifts and leftover food from where she works. It has always been a dream of hers to make so much money to be able to give everyone a shot at a dream,”

“Could you give us a tour?” Angela asked.

“Of the house?” Kelly sounded a bit taken aback.

Angela nodded. “I would just like to get an idea to set out a budget that will cover everything,”

“Sure thing. It’s playtime for the kids so many of them will be outside,” Kelly got to her feet motioning for us to follow her.

I let Angela walk in front of me to talk to Kelly while I took in the saddening look of this place. Each room was so small and could barely fit two beds. I stopped in front of a room when a colourful wall caught my attention. I entered the room seeing a little girl sitting in front of the wall drawing a butterfly. She smiled at me and invited me to sit with her.

She held out a pencil to me and motioned for me to draw something but my mind was stuck to the wall where Zoey’s name was painted with her wishes. I tried to push the tears back as I imagined what life she must have had but yet, she is so damn selfless and cares more about others than herself.

“Coach Shane?” I raised my head at Zoey's voice and saw her standing in the doorway with a little girl holding her hand.

I pushed to my feet.

“What are you doing here?” She asked eyeing the wall and the little girl scribbling over the wall.

“Oh, Shane, you should see the black mould…,” Angela paused when she saw Zoey.

“Zoey,” She greeted with a smile and a hug. She also greeted the little girl who shied away for a second behind Zoey’s legs. “It’s so good to see you again,”

Zoey nodded, not hiding her suspicion. “What’s going on?”

“We want to make a donation that could help the orphanage to fund a foster care program,” Angela explained and I saw the way Zoey didn’t stop expressing her doubt of having us here.

“Is it because of what you found out the other day?” She asked looking right at me, unblinking.

She made it obvious that she didn’t love the idea of having people feeling sorry for her. Angela has dealt enough with kids who lost their parents to make me see that I’ve overstepped a boundary.

“Shane only told me because he knows it is part of my work to help those that are less fortunate and I am glad that he informed me because no child deserves to grow up like this,”

Zoey’s eyes darted from me to Angela. And it looked like she dropped her defences when she nodded. “They do deserve better but nobody cares about this place. We’ve tried,”

“And that’s why we are here to help,” Angela placed her hands on Zoey’s shoulders and smiled at her. “I care about this place and I will make sure I will do my best to give every single one of these children a chance,”

Zoey nodded. “Thank you,”

“You are very welcome, darling,” Angela barely covered the emotion in her voice. I know she battling to suppress her emotions ever since I told her about this place.

“Zoey!! Can we play some ball?” A few other kids came running into the room, grabbing her by the hand and tugging her hand.

She looked at us with an apological look. “Sorry,” She mouthed before letting the children pull her away from us.

Angela came to stand next to me, snaking her arm around my waist and dropping her head against my shoulder. “I wish we knew about this place sixteen years ago,” She whispered.

I rested my arm over her shoulders, nodding my head. “You would have adopted her,” I noted.

She nodded her head, letting the tears fall. “Nobody can take our baby girl’s place but I would have fallen in love with that girl. She’s not only caring and selfless or shares your ambition but there is just something that pulls you to her,”

"You already love her," I noted, tightening my arm around her shoulders, and pulling her against me. “I believe this used to be her room,” I told Angela remembering her name painted on the wall.

She turned around and faced the wall where her name with another name was painted.

“Hey, Zoey! Where the hell are you? I don't care if you are a football player. I am going to kick your ass…Oh, shoot!”

Angela and I turned around at the same time, finding a girl Zoey’s age standing in the doorway with big round eyes. I’ve seen her hang around at the field with Zoey.

“Eliza!” The little girl on the floor cheered, jumping to her feet and running over to her. Eliza caught her in her arms and hugged her. “I waited for you to show me how to draw,”

“I brought all my supplies, so we can draw whatever you want,” The little girl shrieked excitedly and I saw the way Angela’s eyes lit up to see that she wasn’t the only person who cared about these children.

“I’m sorry that you had to hear that ranting of mine but I have been looking for Zoey all morning. She usually waits for me before she comes over,” Eliza explained, her cheeks flushing.

“You come here often?” Angela asked.

Eliza nodded. “Yeah, the team as well,”

I frowned. “Team?”

She pointed out the window and we turned to see that Zoey’s whole team was there and they had bags with them. I chuckled when I saw Duncan carrying an upside-down Zoey over his shoulder with the kids cheering at them.

“The team has been supportive of Zoey and my background and have come here with us since they learned of this place. The kids absolutely love the attention,”

“You’ve got a great team, coach,” Angela said with tears in her eyes and I couldn’t disagree.

“They have a good leader to look up to,”