One Happy Accident
Would-be soccer star Sean McLaine knows what it’s like to still inhabit a child’s body in high school. Well into junior year, he remains woefully puberty-challenged, and it’s messing with his soccer dreams. Ignored by his coaches, he faces daily embarrassment and bullying. Out on the pitch, he’s up against practically full-grown men who don’t mind greeting his undeniable talent with repeated pummeling.
At school none of the girls seem to see him at all. He’s a nothing, a nonentity. But not in the eyes of brilliant, whimsical Kayleigh McLaughlin, a recent transplant from Ireland. She is hopelessly drawn to Sean’s poetic nature, both in class and on the soccer pitch.
Kayleigh wants to help Sean clear the hurdles of a potentially career-ending injury and the echoes of a horrific past trauma. But will Sean’s unbridled devotion to soccer doom the couple’s budding relationship? He can juggle a soccer ball, but can he juggle reaching for his dreams and having a personal life too? too?o?Would-be soccer star Sean McLaine knows what it’s like to still inhabit a child’s body in high school. Well into junior year, he remains woefully puberty-challenged, and it’s messing with his soccer dreams. Ignored by his coaches, he faces daily embarrassment and bullying. Out on the pitch, he’s up against practically full-grown men who don’t mind greeting his undeniable talent with repeated pummeling.
At school none of the girls seem to see him at all. He’s a nothing, a nonentity. But not in the eyes of brilliant, whimsical Kayleigh McLaughlin, a recent transplant from Ireland. She is hopelessly drawn to Sean’s poetic nature, both in class and on the soccer pitch.
Kayleigh wants to help Sean clear the hurdles of a potentially career-ending injury and the echoes of a horrific past trauma. But will Sean’s unbridled devotion to soccer doom the couple’s budding relationship? He can juggle a soccer ball, but can he juggle reaching for his dreams and having a personal life too?
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Lifetime soccer fanatic and neurosurgeon Gary Simonds retired from medicine and now writes, teaches undergraduates and medical students, produces educational materials, and gives frequent talks and seminars. He has written three nonfiction books and a novel, has been featured in related articles, interviews, and podcasts, and is a regular blog contributor to Psychology Today. Gary lives in a log cabin in Black Mountain, North Carolina, where he enjoys playing his banjo and hanging with his wife, Cindy, and his border collie, Hamish.
