Chasing Football Dreams (Diner Girl #2)

Chapter Sixteen

C oach Shane drove us across town to grab lunch while the downpour of rain continued. I had no idea what was on his mind when he sat opposite me, staring out the window. I looked at my reflection in the mug until I was drowning.

“How did you find out?”

I raised my gaze—he was staring at me now. I didn’t know if what I confessed was the right move since it had been a terrible day. I lashed out at Duncan because of my anger. I held my feelings once inside instead of sharing them with him. I didn’t know how to get out of this dumb cycle.

“I didn’t. Eliza suspected for years that something wasn’t making sense. She kept looking at the news articles and going on about how my case didn’t make sense to her,”

"But something must have spooked you,"

I wringed my fingers togethers feeling a wave of guilt wash over me. I didn't want to give Shane the wrong impression about the orphanage. They were planning on donating a great amount of funds to convert it to a foster care program.

It was difficult for me to accept that the orphanage can be an accomplice to my kidnapping.

I unzipped my bag to grab the file I took from the orphanage and pushed it over to him.

“What is this?” He asked, picking up the file.

“My file,”

He opened it up and I focused on his face as he read through each page until he reached the last one. There was a gasp as he found the photo of me when I was taken to the orphanages. He held it between his hands as if would disappear if he blinked.

“This is you?” He asked with tears shimmering in the corner of his eyes.

I nodded. “That’s from the night they brought me to the orphanage,”

“You look exactly like her,” He noted with a sad grin.

It wasn’t the answer I exactly wanted but at least he didn’t reject the idea of me being his daughter.

“Why do you have the orphanage file?” He asked, his suspicion growing.

I rubbed my hands together beneath the table, my palms sweaty for feeling as if this was turning into an interrogation and maybe it was. “I was ten years old when I started having dreams that felt like memories. I had snippets of a girl and her father. He would take her to a football game, show her how to play football and remind her that no matter what anyone says, she’s strong enough to beat the stereotypes,”

“I never thought much of them as I saw them as desires. I always wanted a family to adopt me and love me. So, I let them slide but Elzia. She was always skeptical of my case,”

“What case?”

I reached across the table to flip a page where the so-called police report was. “This state my father and mother passed during a head-on collision and I was the only survivor,”

“We went to the police station that wrote the report but they don’t have any accident of that on file or even that year,”

“We?” He questioned frowning.

He blinked and frowned. I stopped talking when the waitress dropped off our burgers and made sure we were still fine before she hurried away.

"The team," I confessed. "They showed up at the orphanage and helped me escape,"

His arched eyebrow didn't make me feel any better. "It's evident that they really care about you,"

I shrugged. "We are not only a squad. We are a family. We stick through everything,"

He smiled and nodded, raising the file to get back on track. “Why were you investigating this?” He asked.

“Eliza showed me the news article of Zoey Martin’s miraculous disappearance and soon after, death. She calculated the dates of Zoey Martin’s disappearance and my sudden appearance at the orphanage. I never believed her because I was determined to do what the orphanage told me until I overheard a conversation between one of the social workers and someone on the phone,”

Coach Shane jerked as if someone slapped him, his eyes wide as saucers as he put the puzzle together. “You believe the orphanage is involved in what…kidnapping?”

I shrugged. “She only said to the person over the phone, right after I told her about my dreams, to come and fix their mess. That I was a liability,”

“And so, you stole this?” He held up the file.

“I had to know the truth,” I admitted, feeling like I was chasing my tail.

“This is crazy,”

“I know that’s why I didn’t tell you any of my suspicions. It sounded ridiculous in my head and even more insane mentioning it out loud,” If someone told me months ago that I was Shane Martin’s daughter, I would have laughed at them. Sitting across from him and seeing that dread in his eyes as he let everything sink in, made me realize what this was doing to him.

“Yet, you go back there,”

“What else can I do? That place is my home. The kids are my family. I can’t desert them,”

Coach Shane stared at me for longer than a blink. He shut the file and pushed it back over to me. “Even though you’ve got all the evidence leading you to me. You still see the orphanage as your home. You are not convinced that you could be Zoey Martin…My daughter,”

I shrugged. “I don’t know what to believe. The people who were supposed to protect me could also be the people responsible for kidnapping me,” I felt tears build up. “For so long I’ve been looking for a family to adopt me. I cursed myself day in and day out. I got used to the system,” I looked at my armband from the orphanage will all of my information engraved on it.

I slipped it off and held it out to Coach Shane. “If by some miracle I am your daughter. Which I suspect that I am. I don’t want you to feel sorry for me or blame yourselves. You couldn’t have known,”

He engulfed my small hand in his. He was fighting back tears and it was making me weak inside. “As a father, I should have done more to have avoided this or looked harder. I knew in my gut that you couldn't be dead,"

“What are we going to do?” I asked, letting tears escape.

He pinched my chin and wiped away a few of the tears. “We will find out what this is. But first, we have to confirm that you are my daughter,”

“Blood tests,” I noted.

He nodded. “I have to know, Zoey. I know you are afraid. I am terrified. Not for me but because I let you grow up in that place,”

“If this can assure you. You’ve always been my role model,”

He chuckled and wrapped his second hand around mine. “You have been mine since I saw you made a stadium with thousands jaw drop when you had faith in yourself,”

“Even if you are not my daughter. It has been an honour to have met you. You let me see what I’ve always dreamt my daughter will achieve was small compared to what you’ve done,”