Page 110 of Sweetheart

Uncle Becks threw me a smile.

"See you later, Scarlett," he said. "It's really nice that you mentor all these kids."

"Thanks, Uncle Becks," I said.

"Remind your boyfriend of the talk if he ever gets out of line."

Aunt Sally rolled her eyes. "We're going now. Bye, Scarlett."

"Love you guys," I said.

"Love you too."

They left, and that was when Sam came over, wearing his usual grin.

"Good game," I said.

"Are you kidding? Coach Stryker and your uncles schooled us out there."

I sent him a smile as we went to retrieve the balls.

"Yeah, I saw," I said. "Are you sorry you came?"

"No way," Sam replied, "I loved hanging out with the kids."

I swallowed as he went on.

"That Trevor is a trip, kept wanting to show me his tooth, and Zoe's got real potential. She channeled her aggression into kicking the crap out of the ball."

"She's got a lot of that," I mumbled, "which is understandable, considering her situation."

Sam's brows pinched."What situation?"

Startled, I looked up at him. "Oh, it's nothing. Sorry, my brain got away from me for a second."

"No, it didn't."

When I gave him a questioning look, he tilted his head.

"Just then, you said something about Zoe, and it made you sad."

"You noticed that?"

"I always notice you, Kent."

Those words hit me deeper than they should have.

"So, what's up?"

"Like a lot of the kids in the program," I said, "Zoe's from the foster home. Herdad died, and her mother justleft her there. It's hard, you know? Getting left behind."

He was quiet a moment then, "She'll regret it."

"Who?" I asked.

"The mom," Sam said, never taking his eyes off mine."She really missed out."

"Yeah, Zoe's a great kid," I said.

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