Inferring it’s the latter, I feel obligated to add to my response. “I was fourteen when he scored the game-winning goal for Germany in the final. I’d been playing soccer since I was five, and all I’d heard for the past eight years was that I was too single-minded, that I should try other sports, other hobbies. Be a kid. People said I was too young to be fully dedicated to something. I stayed after practice one day to keep working on a drill I messed up, and when my coach found me there hours later, he made me skip practice for a week. But then there was this German guy, just two years older than me, being cheered on by millions for doing the very same thing. He inspired me.”

It’s by far the longest answer I’ve given during an interview, and I hope that’s the reason for the long pause that follows my response.

“Well, a pleasure speaking to you, Saylor,” the reporter finally says. “Congratulations on the win.”

“Thanks,” I respond, and then I follow my line of teammates into the locker room.

Despite our dominant performance, Coach Taylor still comes up with half an hour’s worth of critiques. Ellie calls me on the drive home from the field to catch up, and by the time I hang up with her and shower, it’s dinnertime.

I enter the kitchen to find Emma sitting on one stool with her feet resting on another, scrolling through her phone.

“Are you making any dinner?” I ask, opening the fridge door and surveying the variety of raw ingredients.

“I don’t know. I’m not really feeling inspired to make anything right now,” Emma replies. Even without the way she emphasizes the word, the shit-eating grin she’s sporting when I spin around is proof enough she knows about the interview earlier.

I sigh. “You were eavesdropping?”

“I was across the field, Scott. It’s all over social media.”

Shit. “What? Why?”

“Because you’re hot and semi-famous and Adler Beck is hot and super famous?”

“Semi-famous? Among the hundred people who follow women’s soccer?”

Emma shrugs. “You’ve been in plenty of articles and magazines.”

“Do you think he’s seen it?” I don’t have to elaborate on who I mean.

“Do I think the world-famous superstar known as Adler Beck has seen the video of you saying he’s the reason you’ve become the badass soccer player you are today that has gone viral on every single social media platform and that he’s been tagged in thousands of times? Hmmm… I guess I’d go with yes. A confident yes. Like I’d-bet-my-trust-fund-and-future-endorsement-deals-on-it confident.”

“I get it, Emma,” I say as I set a skillet down on the metal stovetop a bit louder than necessary. “And I did not say he’s the reason I’m anything.”

“It was strongly implied.”