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Suzanne laughed a little as Harrison adjusted his ice pack

"You okay?" she asked

"Strained a groin a And I’m ten years older than you"

"He’s twenty years older than you and that’s not stopping you fro the bedroom eyes at hiirlfriend to stop drooling all over hi in her direction during a pause in the play She gave hi down the pitch with reoal and he intercepted it with a hard kick that sent the ball halfway down the field

"Best priest on the planet? That’s high praise" Suzanne wished she’d brought her notebook with her A flirtatious teenage boy could be a wellspring of information Reluctantly she pulled her eyes away frouys like hiarious, always the center of attention

"It’s true He speaks like twenty languages, has two or three PhDs…and kicks ass on our church league teah to tee boy defending the unsullied virtue of his Catholic priest--interesting," she noted "Do all the kids like Father Stearns?"

"Yeah, of course He’s really laid-back"

Suzanne’s eyes widened Father Stearns, the couple of tiid

"Laid-back?"

"Doesn’t lecture, doesn’t bitch at us for swearing, treats us like people It’s nice Blake over there--" Harrison pointed to Father Stearns’s goalkeeper "--goes to St Mark’s His dad’s a deacon there Hates it They’ve been through three priests in three years One went to rehab for booze The other got transferred for ‘reasons,’" Harrison said, putting the word reasons in scare quotes "And the new guy is sixty going on one hundred and sixty Father Stearns rocks So if you put the moves on him, you and I will have words"

"Have words? That’s cute"

"I’aoalie seeoalie had a water bottle in his hand He took a swig before pouring some into Father Stearns’s hands He took the water and swept it through his hair, slicking it back At that moment Suzanne realized she’d never been so attracted to someone in her entire life Need pooled in her sto fire Priest or not, enemy or not, asterisk or not…she wanted him

Adam, she whispered to herself Remember Adam

"So no rehab trips for Father Stearns? No weirdness?"

"Only weird thing is what’s he doing here with us in the suburbs? He should be pope"

Suzanne leaned back on her elbows and crossed her legs at the ankles She wished she’d worn shorts or a skirt, soot a reason for sticking around here" She looked at Harrison out of the corner of her eye

"Like what?"

Suzanne shrugged "I don’t know--Nora Sutherlin?"

Harrison clamped his hand to his chest

"God, Nora Be still roin"