Untangling myself from Miguel’s arms, I took the phone from Freya. “Josh?”
“Hi Leah,” he said, the brightness in his voice instantly calming me down. “How are you?”
“You scared me half to death by calling so suddenly!”
“Sorry,” he laughed. “I’m not interrupting anything, am I?”
“Well, I was hanging out with my boyfriend, but I think I can spare a few minutes to talk to my big brother.”
I hadn’t mentioned Miguel to my family yet. I wanted to make sure I had something worth telling them first. My mother already thought I should be married with kids, and I couldn’t be bothered to sit through another lecture about my terrible track record with men.
Luckily, she didn’t know the half of it.
“You’ve got a boyfriend already? You little hussy!”
“I will hang up right now.”
“No, don’t,” Josh said, still chuckling. “I want hear all about him. Is he a footballer?”
“No. He’s a coach, actually. His name’s Miguel.”
“Aw, Jamie will be so disappointed. You’d score major points with him if you dated Bryce Warren or Radleigh McCoy.”
He couldn’t have known how much of a nerve he'd hit, but I bristled at the mention of Radleigh’s name. Over the last few weeks, he’d backed off a little, but not nearly enough to keep me from wanting to strangle him whenever our paths crossed.
“He likes McCoy?” I asked, unable to keep disgust out of my voice. “Can't you persuade him to pick a better role model?”
“Who could be a better role model than a world class football player?”
“Trust me, there are a million more respectable people he could idolise.”
“I’ll tell
him, but I doubt he’ll listen. I’m just the uncool dad, remember?”
Nothing could be further from the truth, but I enjoyed winding him up, so I didn’t correct him.
“What can I buy Jamie for his birthday?” I asked. “Something soccer related?”
“That's what I wanted to talk to you about,” Josh said, and I heard a grin in his voice. “I don't want you to send anything over.”
“What? Josh, I -”
“I don’t want you to send anything,” he interrupted, “because we want to come over and see you.”
The squeal I let out made Miguel jump. At the other end of the phone, Josh said, “Bloody hell, you nearly deafened me!”
“Sorry,” I giggled. “Josh, are you serious?”
“Yep! I'm taking two weeks off and we're coming to America!”
“Really? When?”
“I’m not quite sure yet. Can you send me over your schedule so we can work something out?”
We chatted for a little longer, and I promised to email him with my work schedule as soon as I got off the phone. By the time we hung up, I was bouncing around the room like Bree after a bikini wax.
“So, your brother’s coming over?” Miguel said, laughing at my elation.