or the losses.”
“Well, I kind of do. The players care and I take care of the players. They become like a family. You want them to do well. They’re your team.”
“But Manchester United was your team.”
“It was, but now I’m here. That’s how it works with professional sports.”
“But Stewart is the coach for that team. Don’t you care about him?”
I hold the phone away from me and make a face at it.
Seriously?
I bring the phone back to my ear. “No, not really,” I tell her in a clipped voice.
“Thalia. Just because you’re divorced doesn’t mean you should cut him out of your life.”
My face suddenly flares with anger. She did not just say that.
“Yes! It does! That’s what getting divorced means!”
“I just don’t understand why you couldn’t have made it work with him.”
“Oh my god!” I exclaim, making a fist around the phone, seconds away from chucking it in the river. “How dare you fucking say that to me!”
She makes a scoffing sound. “Oh, Thalia. Your language. Grow up a little, huh? You don’t have to speak like the men you work with. I’m just trying to make a point.”
“That you think Stewart can cheat on me and I’m supposed to ignore it?”
“For better or for worse. This is the worse.”
“He’s with another woman!” I cry out, not caring that people walking past me are staring. “Even if I got hit in the motherfucking head and went crawling back to him, we are divorced and he’s with someone else.”
Silence. Except for my heart, which is pounding in my head like a drum.
“You shouldn’t have gotten divorced,” she says. “That’s just my opinion.”
“And it doesn’t count. Okay? It’s my life.”
“Sheesh, the last time I talked to you everything was fine and you weren’t throwing tantrums over the phone. What’s your problem?”
“I don’t have a problem,” I say through a clenched jaw. “You’re the one who brought up Stewart. What’s done is done and there is no turning back.”
“Okay, fine. So are you just giving up on dating all together? You’re not getting any younger.”
Give me a fucking break.
“My divorce was finalized almost three months ago. I’m taking all the time I need to figure myself out.”
“I’m just saying, it doesn’t hurt to get out there and look.”
“Well, for your information,” I say, and I’m powerless to stop the words from coming out because I’m so hell-bent on shutting her up. “I am interested in someone.”
“Oh yeah? Who?” she asks brightly.
“Uh, well, he’s a nice guy.”
“What’s his name?”
“Manuel…”
“Oh, very Spanish. What does he do?”
“He’s…on the team.”
Oh shit. I need to shut up. Now she’s going to go look for Manuel on Real Madrid and he doesn’t exist.
“Thalia,” she warns. “Did you not learn anything with Stewart? You can’t get involved with someone from your team. It’s going to get messy.”
“It’s not like that.”
“I don’t care what it’s like. You’re a smart woman, usually. Grow up and look at the big picture. You only get one choice here; you get your career, or you get love. You can’t have both, and you especially can’t mix the two. Believe me, it’s one or the other, and I know you know it, too.”
I don’t know what to say to that.
She sighs loudly. “Look, I’m glad you found someone you like but you have to look elsewhere. Madrid is a big city and there are plenty of fish in the sea. Go out there and meet someone who has nothing to do with your job, and then I’ll be happy for you, okay?”
“Okay.”
“Promise me you won’t do anything stupid.”
“I won’t.”
“Are you coming home for Christmas?”
Now it’s my turn to sigh. “I don’t think so. There are a lot of games around then.”
“That’s what you say every year. Same goes for Thanksgiving.”
“And every year it’s true.” Kinda.
“All right, well, see if you can make it work. And call me with good news next time, okay? Love you.”
She hangs up before I can say I love you back, before I can remind her that it was her that called me.
I close my eyes, pressing the heel of my palm into my forehead, and take a deep breath. Dealing with my mother can leave me so rattled. It’s no wonder I took off for LA as soon as I had the chance.
I turn around onto the path, trying to put my phone back in my armband, just as someone big bumps into me from behind.
My phone goes flying to the ground and it clatters alongside another dropped phone. I