though she is hunched over in exhaustion, her hair wrapped in a messy bun at the top of her head, Mel still shines with a radiant beauty that appears effortless but is actually impossible for normal people to pull off.
Even if Grace put on the very same clothes—the white tank and denim cutoffs and varsity jacket—and you stood the two of them side by side, it would be like comparing a leopard with a trout.
“Sorry, I didn’t know anyone was waiting.”
“I’m not waiting. I’m just … I don’t know.” She holds up her phone gamely. “Hoping Phoebe will text me back.”
“Are you worried?”
She shakes her head. “She’s had a hard time these past few months, and a lot of it she’s had to deal with on her own. But no. I’m not worried.” As if she needed to prove it to herself, Mel takes one last look at her phone before putting it away. “How are you holding up?”
“Fine.”
“I hope that stupid waitress didn’t upset you.” Grace shakes her head, which makes Mel smile tenderly. “Good. I want you to know that I’m a very generous tipper, especially when I am using other people’s credit cards, but I won’t give her a penny more than fifteen percent.” She laughs, glancing over her shoulder on her tiptoes. “I can’t believe Ali burned her like that! You know, this is the first season Ali’s taken a younger player under her wing. She clearly sees something special in you. We all do.”
Mel’s compliment is almost enough for Grace to swallow down the question rising up in her throat. Almost.
“Can I ask you something about Coach? Did he say anything to you about my hair tonight?”
Suddenly Mel stands up straight. “Umm, why do you ask?”
“I just want to make sure I didn’t screw up somehow. I checked the team binder, but I didn’t see any rule about hair dye in there. Unless I missed something.…”
“You didn’t miss anything, Grace.” Mel grimaces. “I just think it’s never come up before. We’ve never had a girl like you on our team.” She’s quick to add, “And that’s a great thing, if you ask me.”
“If Coach hates it, you can tell me. I’d rather know.”
Mel looks somewhat relieved, though not entirely unburdened, by Grace’s earnestness. “I’m sorry, Grace. I thought it was such a cool thing to do. But Coach is … not exactly a fan.”
Grace takes a deep breath. “I’ll dye it back tomorrow.” Mel gives her a thin smile. “Unless you think I should tonight?”
“I don’t want you to feel pressured to do that.” Mel bites on her knuckle, clearly uncomfortable being the messenger here. “It’s just that I honestly don’t know how Coach is going to react when we show up for our team meeting tomorrow.” Mel reaches out and rubs Grace’s upper arm.
Grace spares Mel from having to finish the thought. “It’s really no big deal. When I was in the lower school, I changed my hair color every week.”
If Grace had her choice, she’d have Chuck bleach it. But it’s too late for that and would require too much to explanation. She’ll have to cover the blue with something darker from the drug store.
Mel lunges forward and wraps Grace in a huge hug. “We love having you on our team, Grace. And I want you to have the best experience possible.”
“Thanks for being honest with me. I know that wasn’t easy.”
“It was absolutely horrible.”
Mel threads her fingers through Grace’s and brings her back to the tables. As the girls pass the kitchen, Grace sees their waitress pointing her out to the cook.
Grace takes a deep breath and works it out in her head. The Walgreens just up the road is open twenty-four hours. She could walk over there now and grab the dye while the rest of her teammates finish eating. That way, she wouldn’t take any time away from whatever the girls come up with for the last stanza.
The girls are practically melted with exhaustion. The food has been served but no one is eating.
Or, it occurs to her, maybe Grace’s dye job could be the last stanza.
Mel sits down but Grace remains standing. She doesn’t think it through so much as just start talking about what she’s going to do and why. Everyone seems to be following her rationale enough to not put up much of a fight, especially once the girls realize that they can head back to Mel’s and finally go to sleep.
The only holdout is Ali, who