Dominique hugged Kathy and Ian before the dejected parents went down to the field to wait on what was sure to be equally crestfallen children. Dominique sat back in her seat, giving the crowd a chance to clear. She watched her son, who was sitting on the bench with his head hung low. Her heart clenched at seeing him so miserable. But on the other hand, she felt it was a good experience. When it came to the game of life, losing came with the territory. And in the end she felt it wasn’t who fell down, but who was able to get back up again. She looked at her watch and even though she’d vowed to be in the office by two, she knew where her priorities lay and right now ... they lay with her son.

Jake stayed out on the field to handle the myriad of reporters that gathered around him. Meanwhile, after congratulating the other players, the Hurricanes trudged to the locker room. Dominique checked e-mails and sent instructions via texting while she waited for Justin to come back out. After forty-five minutes of watching other players file out and join their parents, she was out of patience and called her son on his cell phone. When it went to voice mail, she called Jake.

“Hey, baby.”

“How’s he doing?” Dominique asked.

“The first loss is always the hardest,” Jake replied.

“Listen, I want to give him a hug, let him know I’m there for him. But it’s getting late and ...”

“And you’ve got to get to work.”

“I was hoping to get there within the hour.” Dominique noted that Jake’s comment was stated as fact, without judgment. But she felt that when it came to Capricious and the current situation, there wasn’t much she could do. It was what it was.

“We’ll be out shortly,” Jake said, and then hung up the phone.

Moments later she looked up from texting to see Jake and Justin exiting the locker room. She walked over to where her son was, resisting the urge to pull him into her arms. He was getting older and becoming less accepting of her PDAs. So she waited until they met her at the fence.

“I’m sorry, son,” she said when they’d reached her. “You played a good game.”

“I did not,” he countered. “I messed up. It’s my fault we lost.”

Dominique glanced at Jake, who motioned her to silence with his eyes. He put his hands on Justin’s shoulders. “Look at me, Justin.”

Justin reluctantly looked up.

“I thought we’d been through this already. No one person wins a game, and no one person loses it. There were a lot of things that went wrong today. We’ll shake it off, review the tape, and work like hell next week to make sure that what happened today never happens again. All right?”

Justin nodded.