Chapter 33
Manning
I get to the arena, and I know there is going to be press there. For the past two days, they’ve been trying to get in touch with me, and I have ignored them. Candace released one statement, and that is all I’m going to say.
When I step out of my car, I don’t know why I’m shocked to see Miller and Ralph standing there waiting for me. “What are you doing?”
“Walking in with you,” Ralph says, and I smile.
“I just want to be pictured next to you and get more press,” Miller says, laughing.
“How’re you doing?” Ralph says, ignoring Miller.
“As good as can be, I guess,” I tell them. “Murielle calls no less than fifty times.”
“A day?” Miller asks, shocked.
“An hour,” I tell him, and his mouth hangs open.
“What does she want?”
“To tell me what a mistake I’m making. To tell me that she is going to do a tell-all.”
Miller laughs. “A tell-all of what, how you became a monk?”
“How is Evelyn?” Ralph asks, and I shrug my shoulders.
“She’s pretending she is fine, but I know that this whole thing bothers her. I met her mother yesterday, and it was rough.”
“It was rough?” Ralph asks. “Have you met my brother-in-law, Evan Richards? The Evan Richards who is in town with his team. The one who tried to put my daughter in his jersey. The same one who hid my wife from me.” He mentions his brother-in-law, who plays for New York and who is here tonight.
“To be fair, she wasn’t your wife at the time.” Miller points out, and we start to walk into the arena. I stand in the middle of the two of them. I see the five cameras aimed toward us as we walk.
“Manning,” one of them shouts, “can we get a statement?” I put my head down and walk into the hallway. When the door closes behind me, I let out a huge sigh of relief.
I’m walking to the changing room when I see Nico in the hall. He looks at me and motions with his head to the side. “I’ll see you guys in there,” I tell Ralph and Miller as they walk into the changing room.
“Hey,” I say. He looks around and sees a closed door. He knocks on the door and then sticks his head in. He walks in and then calls me in.
I close the door behind me and look at him. “How are you doing?” he asks, and I shrug. “I need to give you a heads-up,” he says as he puts his hands in his pockets. “Murielle has been asked to step down from the foundation.”
“Oh, shit,” I say, putting my hand on my neck.
“Did she not tell you?” he asks, and I look down.
“I spoke with her this morning,” I tell him. “I thought maybe she wanted to know how Jaxon was. She didn’t.” I shake my head. “So I told her I would speak with my lawyer. We have a meeting tomorrow afternoon with the mediator.”
“What do I do if she tries to show up tonight?” he asks, and I look at him.
“Whatever you think you need to do, you do it. It’s not my problem anymore,” I say, and he looks at me.
“I have to go. I have a meeting with Matthew Grant in ten minutes.” He walks to the door.
“Is there a reason you’re meeting with Matthew Grant?” I ask him of the General Manager for the New York Stingers.
“You know me,” he says, opening the door. “Just being respectful.” He smirks, and I know Nico enough to know he doesn’t need to be respectful, so he must want something. I shake my head and walk into the room just in time to see Evan Richards walk out with Justin Stone, both of them laughing.
“Hey,” Evan says, stopping and extending his hand to me. “You okay?”
“Yeah,” I say to him. Say what you want about the other team, but sometimes there are just some genuine people out there. “Did you come in here to ruffle his feathers?” I motion with my chin toward Ralph, who just glares at him.
“It’s all fun and games,” Ralph says. “You aren’t allowed to talk to Ari when we get on the ice,” he says of his daughter.
“You can’t tell me that I can’t talk to my niece!” he shouts back and then walks away with Justin, who just slaps my arm.
“We really have to fucking win tonight,” he says to me, and I nod. He isn’t the only one who wants to win tonight. I just want to show the press that this isn’t getting to me. That this shit I’m going through doesn’t matter.
The first period is rough, and New York gets ahead by two. We come into the locker room, and the whole room is pissed. It was just what we needed because at the drop of the puck in the second period, Ralph gets set up right in front, and he tips it in. He kicks up his foot and celebrates right next to Evan, who glares at him. Four minutes later, I’m taking the puck down the ice and skating into the neutral zone, looking around. I get over the blue line and wait for everyone to set up their position. I pass it to my defensive partner, Denis, and he passes it to Miller on the outside of the net, but then Ralph is blocked in the center, so he sends it back to Denis, and he passes it to me, and I wind my stick up, slapping it right back to the goalie, tying the game at two.
The third period is a mess with both teams trying to get the winning goal, and it happens with ten seconds to go. Evan goes to pass it to Justin, who skates just a bit too much ahead of it, and Miller intercepts it. He skates as fast as he can and slips it through the goalie’s five-hole.
We go back to the locker room, and Nico is there slapping us on the back when we enter. Coach comes in and doesn’t chew our asses, and then he looks at me. “Reporters are itching.”
“Tell them to fuck off,” Denis says. “No one needs to know your business.”
“It’s all good,” I say, and the doors open, and the reports come in. I stand as ten of them surround me.
“Guys, just so we are clear,” I say, “I’m not answering any personal questions.” I look at all of them. “You want to talk about the game, fine, but it stops there.” I see a couple of them roll their eyes, and I laugh. “Since when did I talk about my personal life before now?”
The reporters only ask me questions about the game, and one tries to slip in if there is anyone in the stands tonight who I would see later. I look straight at him and say, “Thanks for the questions, boys,” then walk away and go into the shower area where I know they can’t follow me. I shower and leave in record time, pulling up to Evelyn’s house.
She answers the door, and I can tell she was sleeping. “Hey,” I say, walking in and kissing her neck. “Were you sleeping?”
“Yeah, I took a nap so I can stay up with you when you get here,” she says, and I stop looking at her. “I know that you’re usually wired after the game, and I want to sit with you.”
“I love you,” I say, and her eyes light up. We’ve skated around the “I love you” talk for a while now, but I couldn’t not tell her.
“I love you, too,” she says to me, and I suddenly want to get her naked. I pick her up, and she wraps me up like she always does. “That was a nice goal today,” she says. “We should celebrate.”
“We should,” I say, walking to her room. “Should we talk about the fact that we haven’t used condoms? I got tested six months ago.”
“I got tested when I got to town,” she tells me. “And I’m on the pill.”
She doesn’t have to say anything else. The rest of the night I spend inside her until I have to leave to go home.
I hang out with Jaxon and then make my way over to my lawyer's office. I walk in, the receptionist taking me into my lawyer's office.
“Manning,” she says, getting up.
“Hi, Yolanda,” I say, putting out my hand for her to shake it. “Good to see you.”
“Sit down,” she says. “Would you like something to drink?”
“No, I’m fine,” I say, sitting down and waiting for her to sit down.
She opens her file and takes out the papers she drafted up. “Okay, so she wants the family home.”
“She can have it,” I tell her. “I hat
e that house anyway.” She nods her head, writing down something. “I want my clothes.”
“I will arrange a time for you to go and get them without her there.” I nod.
“She wants alimony,” Yolanda says. “But thankfully, you had a prenup.”
I look at Yolanda. “What does she want?”
“Well, according to her lawyer, she wants Jaxon full time since you travel.”
“Never going to happen,” I tell her, and she holds up her hands.
“I’ve already told him that we will do fifty-fifty with regard to your schedule, and he sounded like it was going to be okay.” She looks down. “She wants you to put out a statement that you were separated before the video was taken.”
I think about it. “I’ll only do it if she signs the papers in twenty days. If she signs off on everything, I will put out a statement saying we separated four months ago. She has to stop communicating with the press, and I want an NDA.” I don’t want her to say anything about Evelyn to anyone, ever. Not now and not ten years from now.
“Are you sure about this?” she asks.
“I want to get on with my life,” I tell her. “So if she agrees to that, we have a deal.” Yolanda looks at me.
I get up and walk out of the office, and for the first time since this started, I see the end of the tunnel.
Chapter 34
Evelyn
“What time will you be over?” Manning asks, and I look up and see it’s almost three o’clock.
“I finish at five, and then I have to rush home and change.” I tap my finger on the desk. It’s been two weeks since the pictures have been leaked. Two weeks of me waiting for the other shoe to drop, yet nothing has come out.
“I just got home,” he says to me. “And I was gone four days.”
“I’m aware.” I laugh. He’s been over every single night that he’s been in town. He stays home for supper and then sneaks out to come over here and then sneaks back in before Jaxon wakes up. But tonight, he wants us to have dinner together and for me to meet his mother.
“Murielle is getting Jaxon tomorrow morning for the weekend,” he says softly. “Which means I get to sleep over and wake up with you.”
“I might be busy.” I roll my lips when he groans. “I will be over by five thirty,” I tell him. “Can I bring anything?”
“Yeah, your ass,” he says, and I shake my head, laughing. “See you later, baby.” I hang up the phone, and my whole head is now thinking of Manning. I pack up my stuff at four thirty, and I’m in the car when he calls again.
“Where are you?” he asks, and I laugh.
“Did you plant a chip in me?” I ask, pulling out of the parking lot. “I just left the office.”
“Change of plans. Murielle is going to get Jaxon at seven,” he says, exhaling a deep breath. “Can you come over now so we can eat at five thirty? I really want to have a family dinner.”
The way he says it, I would give him anything. “I can be there in thirty,” I say. I don’t tell him that I’m stopping at the flower shop to get his mother flowers.
“Okay, perfect,” he says. “Guess the sleepover is going to happen tonight and tomorrow,” he says, and I just hang up the phone. Luckily, I ordered the bouquet this morning, and it’s ready when I walk in. It’s right next to a bakery, so I swing in quickly and pick up a chocolate cake.
When I pull up to the house, my stomach starts to flip and flop, making me feel like I’m going to vomit. I’m about to open the door when it’s swung open, and I look up to see Manning. He bends down, coming into the car. “Hi,” he says, and his head comes closer to me. “I figured you wouldn’t let me kiss you in front of my mother.” He kisses my lips.
“You would be right,” I say, giving him one more kiss. He moves out of the way, and I step out of the car and open the back door, grabbing the massive bouquet of wildflowers. “That box is a chocolate cake,” I tell him, and he leans in and grabs it along with my purse.
“Are you ready?” He looks at me, and I shake my head. “Good, let's go.”
He slips his hand into mine, and I walk up the pathway. “This house is nice,” I tell him as he opens the door, and I step in, smelling the home cooking right away. “Mom.” He shouts for his mother, and I exhale a big breath, and then she comes into the room.
“Well, hello there,” she says. She looks a lot like Manning. They have the same eyes. “I’m Rachel.”
“I’m Evelyn,” I tell her. “I didn’t know what flowers you liked, so I decided you can’t go wrong with colorful,” I say, handing her the bouquet and her whole face lights up.
“That is the sweetest,” she says, bringing it to her nose. “Manning, take her jacket and bring her in.” She turns and walks out of the room. I turn to shrug my jacket off, and once it’s off, he wraps an arm around me.
“I missed you,” he says, and I don’t move in his arms. “A lot.” He bends to place a soft kiss on my lips.
“Manning.” His mother says his name as she walks back into the room, and I want the earth to open up and swallow me. “Would you let the woman be.” She shakes her head.
“Nope,” Manning says, moving his hand from around my waist up to my shoulder and then kissing my head. “I didn’t see her for four days.”
“Oh my god.” His mother puts her hand on her chest. “I don’t know how you survived,” she mocks him. “I haven’t seen Dad in two weeks. I survived. Him not so much.”
I laugh. “It smells wonderful,” I say as we walk from the front door to the kitchen.
“I’m making my famous pot roast.” My eyes light up.
“That’s one of my favorites,” I say, and Jaxon looks up from the couch.
“Hi, Evelyn,” he says, getting off the couch. “Nana has been cooking all day for you,” he says.
“Hey there,” I say, not sure what else to say. What does one say when meeting your boyfriend's child? “How are you doing?”
“Good,” he says. That is the end of that conversation because he turns around and watches the television.
“Do you want a glass of wine?” Rachel asks me, and I nod.
“Not too much, though, because I have to drive home,” I say, walking to the kitchen as she takes out a wine glass and pours a bit in the glass, and then she takes out a second one, pouring her own.
She hands me a glass and then holds hers up. “To new beginnings.” I smile, clicking my glass with hers and then looking to my side, feeling his hand on my hip.
“What can I do to help?” I ask. She gives me some plates, and I set up the dining room table. We sit down to eat, and the talk is light. Manning talks about being in Philly and seeing the snow.
“How is school?” I ask Jaxon, and he shrugs.
“Good. Today, Caleb and I heard Macy fart, and she said it wasn’t her, but we know it was.” I laugh at him. “I knew girls farted.”
I laugh, shaking my head. “They do,” I say, and his eyes light up. “Not as often as boys but sometimes.”
“I knew it,” he says as if he just found out a national secret. “I told Caleb that.”
The rest of the meal is spent with idle chitchat until Manning looks over at me. “I’m going to drive Jaxon to his mom’s place. Do you want to wait for me here?”
“I’m not going to let your mother clean up this whole mess by herself,” I say, getting up and getting the plates. He just smiles at me.
“Jaxon, go get your bag,” he says, and Jaxon runs up to get his bag. “Okay, I’ll be back in thirty minutes,” he says to me, and I just smile. When he walks toward me, my eyes go big, and I’m mentally yelling at him not to do what I think he’s going to do. He puts his hand on my hip and bends his head, giving me a soft peck. “See you soon.”
I look at Jaxon to see how he reacts, but he couldn't care less. He slips on his running shoes and opens the door. “Go,” I say to him when he just looks at me, and I make the mistake of looking up at him, and he bends his head again to kiss me.
I watch hi
m walk out and then turn to look at his mother. “I told him not to kiss me in front of you,” I tell her, and she laughs.
“It’s funny that you think he will listen to you,” she says as she turns on the water in the sink and fills it. “I have never seen him like that before.” She grabs some Tupperware to pack the leftovers. “When he called to tell me about Murielle, I was not shocked per se. God knows it was a long time coming. I was more scared for him.” She starts saying while she rinses the dishes before putting them in the dishwasher. “Scared he wouldn’t have anyone here in his corner.”
“I’ll always be in his corner,” I tell her. “I know we just met, and I know it’s not the most conventional way to meet, so I can just imagine what went through your head.” My mouth is literally having diarrhea and won’t stop. “Who gets involved with a married man? How can someone do that?” I finally place the last plate on the counter. “When I found out he was married . . .” I shake my head, and she puts her hand on mine.
“You don’t have to justify yourself to anyone.” She smiles. “Anyone. Do you know that I used to talk to my son monthly? Every thirty days, he would call, or I would call, and it was so tense. I didn’t want to be rude and not ask about Murielle, and he didn’t want to be rude by not telling me anything. For five years. It was the hardest thing in the world as a mother to watch your kid go through so much and not say anything. But now.” She taps my hand before going back to washing the plates. “Now he has light in his eyes. His shoulders aren’t slumped, and he stopped making excuses.”
“I don’t understand,” I tell her.
“We would have a family gathering, and I would invite him, knowing that she didn’t want to come, and he would have to make an excuse. His father was over it and was ready to fly out here, but I wouldn’t let him. I had a lifeline with him, and I would not cut it. So I would give him the invitations, and he would try to let me down slowly. He did come a couple of times, but each time was without her. It put a strain on us all.”
Only One Night (Only One Series 3) Page 19
