eye shadow on, so much so that when she went to hug me and kiss my cheek, she left me in a cloud of glitter.
“It’s going to sound kind of lame,” I say, “but I always wanted to heal people. I always played sports, and when someone was hurt, I was always the first person at their side, trying to fix them. The weird thing was, I seemed to work magic on them.”
“You have magic hands?” Vera deadpans.
“No,” I say with a laugh. “It was a coincidence. It just felt like it. But it gave me the confidence to go into sports medicine, even though I was always so terrible at math and science. I barely passed those courses, but when it came to the human body, I couldn’t get enough. In another life I feel like I was an engineer or something, and this is another look at engineering.”
Vera nods. “Okay. That’s honest. I like that.” She glances at Mateo to see his reaction but he’s playing with his watch and staring out the window.
“Mateo, baby, please,” she says, sliding her hand along his leg, her voice taking on this husky Scarlett Johansson-esque tone. “Lighten up. Put it behind you for Alejo’s birthday.”
He grunts in response and I continue to watch her rub his thigh, higher and higher, until I feel awkward.
I face forward and my mind can’t help but drift to the two of them. She’s so much younger than him and they make it work. But why not? She’s sexy, he’s sexy. He’s got the younger woman instead of someone his age.
Someone my age.
He’ll grow older, but she’ll be a hot little number for years and years to come.
But if you look at me and Alejo…
I know I look good for my age, I know I can pass for younger, I know that forty is the new thirty. But after a few years, I will age, and I refuse to up the Botox to catch up. I want to age as gracefully as possible, but what does that mean to Alejo? What will that look like in his eyes?
Oh my god. Why are you even worrying about this?
That voice is back and it has a point.
A few rounds of hot sex and I’m already planning for a future?
Get a fucking grip, you crazy old cougar. This won’t last forever. Enjoy it for now but don’t forget to move on.
I hate that voice, as right as she is. But at least it’s a good reminder to live in the present.
And tonight, that’s exactly what I plan on doing.
The surprise party was my idea. I just thought with the way the team was playing and how excluded Alejo must feel from it all, not being able to practice every day and take part in the games, that it would be good to have his team around him for the party in a safe environment.
Since his mother doesn’t like me though, I passed that part on to Mateo, so he could coordinate with her. Then I had Luciano take Alejo out for birthday drinks. They’re at some club downtown right now, getting proficiently hammered. In an hour from now, Luciano and Alejo will take a cab back to his place and then we’re all going to jump out.
Once we arrive at his place though, we see some challenges.
Real Madrid might have eleven players on the field, but it has twenty-four players in general, and that’s a lot of people to hide, even in a house as big as Alejo’s. We spend a good amount of time trying to get everyone sequestered away, especially since their Belgian goalie is six-foot-six and can’t properly fit behind the couch.
I’m hiding in the closet with Vera, right where you walk in the front door. From here I can hear Alejo’s mother yammering on and on about something in Spanish while everyone else is shushing her.
I giggle and lean into Vera. We had a few shots of some almond liqueur with the team when we first got in and I’m feeling a little tipsy. “His mother hates me,” I tell her.
I can see her eyes through the slats in the closet. “Why would she hate you?”
“I showed up once to bring Alejo to Valdebebas and I think she thought I was some crazy fan. She tried to take my jacket off, and I don’t know why.”
“If it makes you feel better, she’s suspicious of me, too. The few times I’ve met her I’ve always gotten