Page 7 of Caught Up In You (Indigo Royal Resort)
“This is a basic skills drill,” Cullen said, addressing the group but turning to make sure the brunette heard him. “No need to get fancy and overcomplicate it. I want to see basic footwork. There’ll be plenty of time to show off later.”
The rest of the group made their way down the line, leaving the little guy for last. He didn’t seem to mind though. He truly just seemed happy to be out on the pitch playing. When it was finally his turn, he took the ball and bobbed in and out of the cones, using both the inside and outside of his foot as instructed. He didn’t lose control of the ball once as he did so, piquing Cullen’s interest even more. Speed and ball skills? Maybe there was more to this kid than meets the eye. When they broke for lunch, Cullen asked him to hang back for a moment.
“What’s your name, lad?” he asked.
“I’m Josef. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Cruz!” he said, sticking his hand out like someone would on a job interview.
Cullen held out his fist to bump knuckles and Josef followed suit. “You can just call me Cruz, no mister needed. And it’s nice to meet you, too, Josef. So tell me, where are you from? Who do you play for?”
“I’m from here, sir. I play in the local Charlotte Amelie rec league right now, but I hope to play for the junior high next year!” he answered enthusiastically.
“No travel team or anything like that?” Cullen inquired, amazed that the kid had only ever played for a small rec league on such a small island.
“Nope, that kind of thing would never be in the budget,” he said matter-of-factly, confirming that he was one of the kids on a scholarship this week.
“Well, Josef, you pay close attention this week and we’ll make sure that you’re a fixture in the starting eleven for your school. Sound good?”
The kid’s eyes widened to the point that Cullen worried they might pop out of his head. The excitement radiating off of him was palpable and reminded Cullen that yes, he had actually enjoyed working with the rookies all those years ago.
“Sounds great, sir!” Josef said before running off to join the other kids for lunch.
Cullen pulled out his phone and started to text Oliver, but stopped himself from sending the message right then. He knew Oliver would call immediately, and he needed to finish up. He’d send it when he was all done with camp. He needed to talk to his agent about his own career and any options he might have for the future, but also wanted to inquire about this kid, Josef. Oliver had been the one to choose who got a scholarship after all, so he had to have some information on him. There was something about this kid, and he was going to figure out what it was, even if it took all two weeks of camp.
Weekends at the Indigo Royal were a wild ride. Since most guests either arrived or departed on Saturday or Sunday, there was lots of coming and going and it was some version of organized chaos to say the least. Trying to get guests out of rooms in time for them to be flipped for whomever was to occupy them next, mixed with a small contingent just there for the weekend, made everything a logistical nightmare at times. Leona always seemed to have some kind of story during the changeover about rooms getting mixed up or items left behind; she just preferred when it was her team that made the discovery, rather than a set of guests. So when Mondays finally rolled around and she actually got a day off, she made sure to not be on the resort property.
The house she grew up in, and that her parents still lived in with her little brother, was only about seven miles from the Indigo Royal, but that was far enough to get away. Leona loved her suite in the staff dorms on the resort. After all, living on-site did have its benefits. Her commute was basically non-existent, Uncle Miller took care of most of her meals, and on nights that she and Drea drank too much wine, it was a three-minute stumble from Drea’s cottage to the dorms. However, even with all that, it was nice to come home to see her family. She’d moved out of the house shortly after graduating from high school when she started working full-time instead of just part-time at the resort. Both she and her parents had been thrilled when Drea’s uncles had said there was a room for her in the dorms.
Pulling into the drive of her parents’ house, she pulled her phone out of her purse, checking the text she’d heard chime while she was driving.
Drea: Are you doing dinner with the fam?
Leona: Not sure. Why?
Drea: I need wine. Lots and lots.
Leona: lol, K. Will let you know the plan.
La Hacienda, as Leona had started calling it when she was a little girl, wasn’t a large abode, but it had been enough for their little family of three. However, when Leona’s mother, Anna, found out she was pregnant when Leona was thirteen, the small three-bedroom and two-bath house suddenly became a lot more cramped. If being a teenage girl with next to no privacy wasn’t hard enough, add in a baby and being at home was that much less desirable. Leona loved her little brother about as much as any sister could, but that didn’t stop some angsty teenage resentment from forming when at fourteen, she was all of a sudden expected to contribute to the family just because there was an extra mouth to feed. A mouth she had no part in creating.
The Filipes certainly weren’t rich, especially by St. Thomas standards, but they had always managed to make ends meet and remain comfortable. However, when her dad, Roberto, had a stroke a couple of years back, making it so he could no longer work full-time as a mechanic, her job at the Indigo Royal went from being “some extra padding” to “what’s keeping us afloat,” since her mother’s job as a police dispatcher really only covered their health insurance. Leona didn’t mind being the one to help support the family—that’s what family did—but it didn’t leave much room for any extras, ever.
“Where’s Josef?” she asked her mother as they sat at the kitchen table folding a load of laundry. Her dad was asleep over in his recliner, with the TV turned on too loud, but neither woman dared turn it down out of fear of waking him.
“He’s at the soccer camp I told you about, the one with Cullen Cruz?” her mom answered, framing her answer as a question as if she were on Jeopardy.
“Ugh, I forgot we signed him up for that. Is it horrible if I hope he learns nothing from him?”
“Yes! He idolizes Cruz!” her mother chided her. “I know that he makes your life difficult at the resort, but he is one of the best in the world and he’s here on this little island to teach these kids a thing or two. Don’t burst your brother’s bubble!”
“I’m not going to burst his bubble. But at thirteen, he’s impressionable, and I don’t want him seeing the way Cruz treats people and thinking he can do the same thing,” Leona responded, pushing a pile of laundry to the side to start a new one. “Because trust me, if I could give that man a piece of my mind—”
“Leona Manuela Filipe!” her mother hissed, at just above a whisper. “Don’t you dare do anything that would
risk your job! You have worked too hard to throw it away on some stupid reaction to some athlete! Did I not teach you better than to let your emotions get the best of you?” Her mother had a point. She had worked very hard to get where she was. The head of housekeeping position hadn’t been handed to her just because she was Drea’s best friend. She had worked long, hard hours, proposed process improvements, and introduced some more budget-friendly products for both everyday use and for the complimentary toiletries offered to guests. She had fought for and earned her title.
“Don’t you go thinking that just because you call them all ‘uncle’ because of Drea that you won’t get fired. You’re not actually family—they can and will replace you!” her mother threw in for good measure.
“Thanks, Mama,” Leona said, rolling her eyes. “I am fully aware that everyone, including me, is replaceable. And I’m not going to throw away my career over some guest. I am just looking out for Josef.”
