Header (Bardley FC Soccer Romance #1)

Chapter 1

One

“T his is way too much mess for one kid and one adult who weren’t even home most of the day,” Tori muttered.

She was working her way through cleaning her kitchen and living room back up after putting Emmett, her eight-year-old son to bed for the night. It was late, and she didn’t want to, but she’d be even more mad if she had to do it in the morning.

Tori loaded the dishwasher and then started a load of laundry. Today had been rainy and of course Emmett had found a way to get drenched. She wasn’t worried about him getting sick, no, she was worried about the extra load of laundry she now had to do. He’d gone and played in the rain, not wanting to miss even a day of practice.

Soccer was his life and she was happy he was into something active and hoped it lasted. He was just starting to get into video games but always after practice. The kid was determined to play for the local FC, the Bardley Badgers when he was older.

Whenever she could afford it and they had the time she would take him to one of the games. It was great, she really enjoyed it except for the last one when a fight had broken out on the field. She hated for Emmett to see it and didn’t want him to think that was okay.

Local news had said that player would likely be suspended. It was a shame, he was one of the best strikers on the team but, he needed to calm down. Chance Lawrence was nice to look at, too.

She giggled as she thought about it. She had no business lusting after one of her son’s idols. It did, however, mean they were both interested in the same thing, just for different reasons.

Her phone ringing cut through the silence she was enjoying and she groaned as her ex’s name flashed across the screen. Whenever he called there was always bad news for her or Emmett.

“Hello?” she answered.

“Victoria,” he replied.

She hated when people used her full name. It was just another way for him to try to get under her skin. “What’s up?” She wasn’t going to take the bait.

“How is Emmett?” He always asked about him. Never listened to her response, but he went through the motions of acting like a concerned parent.

“He’s good. Got some practice in today,” Tori answered. She took a seat on her sofa and waited for him to get to the point.

“In the rain?” Isaac asked. She could just see the disgust on his face.

“What did you call for?”

“He’s going to get sick,” Isaac continued.

“It’s not raining that hard, and it’s still warm out. I wouldn’t have let him go outside if it weren’t okay. You should be happy he prefers to be an active child.”

“He needs to focus more on his schoolwork. Sports don’t last forever,” Isaac reminded her. It was the same thing he’d said at the start of every soccer season.

Tori blew out a breath and waited for what he had to say.

“I won’t be able to take Emmett this weekend. I have other plans.”

Tori rolled her eyes. She could understand if it were work, sometimes, but it would no doubt be his latest fling that wanted his attention.

“Are you coming to his game?” Tori asked, already knowing he wasn’t.

“I won’t be able to. There will be others,” he said dismissively.

“They are important to him,” Tori told him.

“He can handle if I’m not at every single game. He’s going to have to continue to learn that some things are more important.” Isaac again brushed off his son’s love for the game and the importance of supporting him.

“He’s your son,” she said without any fight. The same conversation had played out over and over.

She should record it and just put it on play for these calls, so she didn’t have to repeat herself. Or just stop arguing with him when she knew nothing was going to change.

“I’m not going to tell him the bad news again, Isaac. You can call him tomorrow when he’s still awake and not at school and tell him yourself.” She was tired of delivering the bad news to her son.

“I’ll try my best,” Isaac said.

“Did you need anything else?” Tori asked, ready to be done with this conversation.

“That’s it. I’ve got to go.”

He didn’t wait for her to acknowledge him and ended the call. It was just as well. She had nothing to say to him anymore.

She leaned back on her blue sofa and stared at the ceiling. Everything between her and Isaac had started out seeming so great, and then it had just fallen apart. Six years ago she had caught him cheating on her and pushed for a divorce.

It was only after that she learned that he had cheated on her the whole time they were together. At one point she could convince herself that she hadn’t noticed because she was too in love with him, but now she knew better.

It was never about love between them, she had just wanted to believe everything he was saying and she convinced herself to do it. She thought she was going to have the perfect life, now she was 27 and a divorced, single mom. Definitely not where she thought she would be.

Tori picked up her phone and sent a text to Leah, her best friend.

Tori: I won’t be able to go out this weekend.

Leah: He cancelled again?

Tori: Are we really surprised though?

Leah: He waited until Emmett went to bed, too, huh?

Tori: Got it in one. How else would he do it?

Leah: Use that sitter. I’ll pay her. You’re coming out.

Tori: We can just do it another weekend.

Leah: And he will probably cancel then, too. Did you tell him we were going out?

Tori: No. Why?

Leah: He’s really good about cancelling when you have plans…

Tori: Or he cancels so often that there’s no connection.

Leah: Call the sitter.

Tori: I might.

Leah: If you don’t, I will.

Tori: I’m going to bed.

Leah: I’m not kidding.

Tori didn’t write her back. She knew Leah wasn’t kidding. She also wanted to go out, it had been so long since she’d had a night for herself and not just as a mom.

Not that she didn’t love her son. He was everything to her and she wouldn’t even want to imagine life without him. That didn’t mean she didn’t miss being more than just a mom.

Standing, she locked the doors and flipped off the light switches as she went upstairs. Today had been a long one, and she was ready for it to be over.

For a moment, she stared at her bed, debating if she really cared about brushing her teeth and putting clean clothes on. She did, of course.

It didn’t take long to get ready for bed, and she laid down, playing on her phone. It was too late to call the sitter tonight, but she’d do it tomorrow.

Tori had been looking forward to going out for a few weeks, and she wasn’t going to let Isaac ruin it again. He’d done enough of that while they were still married.

As usually happened, she was wide awake when she lay down. It was the most annoying thing. She wanted to sleep, dammit.

Tori: Still up?

Leah: I’m not a mom, I don’t need to be up that early.

Tori: So, yes?

Leah: Of course I am.

Tori pressed the call button and gave up on the texting.

“You’re something else tonight,” Tori said when Leah answered.

“Awe, you enjoy me,” Leah quipped back.

“I’ll call the sitter tomorrow. It’s too late tonight, but I’m in.”

Leah squealed. “Yes! We need this. It’s going to be so fun.”

“Ow, that noise hurts through the phone.” Tori pulled the phone away form her ear and rubbed it.

“Shut up. Let’s talk about this weekend. What are you going to wear?” Leah asked.

“Jeans?”

“You can do better than that. We need to dress to kill.”

“I don’t do that. Besides, it’s just Carey’s. We will stand out if we dress for the club,” Tori pressed. She wasn’t about to dress like she was 21 and going clubbing, not that she ever had.

“I’ll bring something for you to wear then,” Leah pushed back.

“Ugh, fine. It better be Emmett appropriate.” She couldn’t walk out of here in something skimpy past Emmett, plus she wouldn’t wear it anyway if it was.

“You’re such a mom,” Leah teased.

Leah joked with her about having a kid, but she’d always been there for Emmett like a second mom. She’d probably attended more of his soccer games than Isaac had.

Tori yawned. “Okay, I think I’m really going to go to sleep now.”

“Yeah, yeah. Good night.”

“Night.”

As sleep settled over her, she thought about all the things she still had to do and what Leah had said. She was such a mom, never really thinking of anything or anyone else except Emmett. She wouldn’t change it either.