The Player by Camille Leone Page A

tickets, but I can see about getting another one. I can’t promise anything though-”
    Disappointment brought Reina’s voice down to a manageable level. “Okay, then I guess it’ll just me and you.”
    “Gee, thanks.”
    “You know what I mean. You don’t really like football so I’ll be stuck watching the game by myself while you’re looking at your cell phone,” Reina grumbled. “I’ll probably have to talk to the people sitting around us. I hope we’re not too far up from the field.”
    “We’ll be in a skybox. A private one.”
    “What?! Mom! We’re gonna watch the game in a private box?!” Reina’s thumbs froze as her text message was put on hold. “Did you win some contest on the radio? How’d you get the tickets?”
    “From a friend of mine. He comes into the bar every now and then, and so do some of the other players.”
    “Romero, you’ve seen Romero?” Now her child met her eyes with a smile on her lips that proclaimed Harlow a “cool mom.”
    “No, I don’t think I’ve seen him there yet,” Harlow admitted. “But that doesn’t mean he might not stop by some night.”
    “I bet it’s because of you, mom. Because you’re so pretty and one of ‘em likes you.” Those thick lashed, dark eyes of Reina’s were brightening with all kinds of thoughts. Harlow had to remember that Reina’s twelve years of age wasn’t like her own twelve year old childhood. Kids knew and said things that a fourteen or a fifteen year old would. Reina was tall enough to be mistaken for someone older, with her long, colt like legs, but she was still just a child.
    “Kyle McClure’s become a regular. And a good friend. I want to introduce you to him-”
    “Ooh mom, is he your new boyfriend?”
    Chagrined at her daughter’s spot on statement, Harlow changed the subject. “Look at the time! I’ve got to get you downstairs or you’ll miss the bus for school.”
    “Aw, no fair!”
    Harlow tuned out her daughter’s whining, helping Reina slip her book bag over her shoulders. “We’ll talk more when you get home from school.”
    As they scrambled down the steps of the newly renovated brownstone Harlow rented, Reina let out a squeal as her bus rounded the corner. “I love you, Mom!” she said, giving Harlow a sloppy kiss on the cheek. Running in that awkward way kids often do, with her legs flying and arms going every which way while her long braids swished from left to right, Harlow smiled in in both joy and in sadness. Her little girl was growing up much too fast.

 
    8
     
    There were three males and one female in the current generation of McClure’s. Willa was two years older than Kyle, next came Scott and the youngest was eighteen year old Shaun. Once Kyle signed with the Renegades, he’d set up his mother and her boyfriend up with their own place, as well as Willa and also Scott. Since Shaun was in his freshman year at Newburgh University, he lived on-campus. For Kyle, there were times Willa lived with him and ran his household. Ever since his daughter Maddy came into his life, Willa made herself available for babysitting as well as being a surrogate mother for his child. Willa also was his earpiece whenever the younger boys got a little too headstrong. Right now they were weathering Scott’s time in rehab.
    But if Kyle thought he could take a breather, he was wrong. As soon as he got home from studying the film of his team’s latest loss, Willa was right there to greet him, talking a mile a minute about Shaun and how he needed to tell his side of the story.
    “Just give me the phone,” Kyle told her, in no mood for her to explain just why Shaun had screwed up yet again. Willa wasn’t a tall woman, but her presence was felt by all the McClure brothers. Her heart shaped face was further emphasized by light brown hair that stopped at her chin. When she handed her cell phone over, Kyle barked out a greeting to his baby brother. “Don’t bullshit me, Shaun. What’s going on and how bad is