There was a pause. “Alone?”

“I was going to see if my brother would go with me. He’s the only person I know besides you with the time and money, but we’ll see. Last year we went to Peru to see Machu Picchu.” I shot him a smile over my shoulder. His fortieth birthday was coming up in October, but I didn’t want to mention that I knew that he should be the one thinking of making a bucket list. “What about you? What are you doing after the season is over?”

“I haven’t decided,” he answered in a low voice. “It all depends on a few things.”

A single thought entered my head. “Is your contract only for this season?”

I couldn’t remember hearing anything about the length of his employment, and the idea that he’d be leaving in a little over a month made my stomach churn.

“I only agreed to this season with the Pipers.”

There was one thing I knew: Kulti didn’t like coaching. He’d said so himself.

Why would he want to stay and coach again?

Jesus Christ, the idea of him going back to his flat in London made me so sad that the excitement from the whole shoe-buying thing, crumbled under its weight.

At the same time, that made me feel like a selfish dick. Who was I to be sad over someone, especially a friend, doing something that made them happy when I knew damn well something else didn’t? I knew I was in no position to give anyone a guilt-trip over anything, but the idea of him leaving sucked.

I swallowed the sadness away and forced a smile on my face even though I wasn’t looking at him. “I see.”

He was going to leave Houston. Blah.

He might have turned his head, but I wasn’t positive, and I didn’t want to talk about it any longer. “So... are you hungry?”

* * *

At the next soccer camp four days later, Kulti showed up with two more people. The first guy I recognized was an American goalie who had played for the national team in every major tournament the last six years right along with my brother. The second one was a pleasant surprise.

“Franz!” I walked toward the older man, bypassing Kulti, to give him a hug. “I didn’t know you were coming!”

He hugged me in return, two quick taps to my spine. “My business in Los Angeles didn’t take as long as I had anticipated.”

“Well, thank you so much for coming back,” I told him.

Someone made a grumpy noise. “Sal.”

Franz let out a short laugh as he let go of me, stepping back. His face was tipped down, open and easy, as he whispered, “Someone is territorial, hmm?”

I turned to look at the man whose gaze was burning a hole into my skull. Pretzel face territorial? I highly doubted it, but I found myself way too pleased by his scowl.

“Are you going to introduce me?” I asked, gesturing toward the popular goalie.

“No.” He kept that damn insolent look on his face, his arms extending wide in a universal gesture I was becoming familiar with.

Curling my lips over my teeth, I raised my eyebrows at him. God, someone was in a freaking mood and it put me into an excellent one. The smile on my face grew even bigger.

He flicked his own eyebrows up at me. Those dark brown, thick slashes went up and back down, silently telling me that he wasn’t going to introduce me until he got what he wanted.

For one second, I thought about ignoring him and just introducing myself, but…

Kulti liked to play games, and I liked to win them.

Somehow I managed not to smile as I stepped forward and hugged him, silently worrying that he would make me look like an idiot if he didn’t actually go through with it and hug me back. I mean, it wouldn’t be the first time he acted like I had cooties. I just hugged him and I hugged him tight.