by Stone, Nora
“Right, I get it. It’s just me and Jacinta.”
“Okay, she’s dating Patrick so I’ll make an exception. But please, neither of you say a word to anyone, alright?”
“Alright,” Char and I said in unison.
“The team is fine, all of them. Patrick and Joey, plus the rest of them are here at the hospital. There’s a lot of media outside, because they saw some of the team’s people arrive, but you two can come down here and see them,” Nick said. Char lay her head on my shoulder, crying again.
“Thank you so much, Nick,” I said, since Char needed a moment.
“Not a problem, I’m so glad that it’s good news that I can give,” Nick said. “Jacinta, because you aren’t married to Patrick, we’re going to have to try and pull some strings to get you in to see him. They’ve locked down visiting to pretty much blood relatives and spouses, but Coach and I’ll see what we can do.”
“Thanks again, Nick. We’ll get Al up and be on our way there.” I put my arm around Char. She was so relieved that she was shaking, and I held her close.
“We’ll be waiting,” Nick said before ending the call.
Chapter 19
The hospital entrance was a mad house. Media vans and trucks blocking the public entrance, people standing in the middle of the drive to give some live update… Charlotte had wisely suggested that we take Joey’s truck, since the tint was super dark and it was big enough to make most anything or anyone get out of your way. She made it to the parking lot that Nick had texted us about simply by laying on the horn and moving forward until people finally picked up on the fact that she wasn’t going to stop.
The lot was gated, which meant that we’d be seen but not attacked. They’d ended up having to call the police to come keep the media circus contained, otherwise we probably wouldn’t have made it as far as we did.
“Here. Put this on your head,” Char said, handing me a baseball cap from the back seat before grabbing another for herself.
“Okay, why?”
“This is how it has to be, and since you’re going to be Patrick’s wife soon, you might as well get in the habit,” she said. “Things like this are sticky. If they see you going into the hospital, they’ll speculate things that no one is ready for them to know yet. If they can’t tell for certain who you are, there’s only so much that they can say.” She slipped on her sunglasses. I pulled mine from my purse and followed suit.
“Got it.”
“Pull the front of the hat low and keep your face away from the cameras. Then, just duck your head and move quickly to that door where Nick is, okay?” She pointed. I glanced up and saw him, standing there with his phone to his ear.
“Alright,” I said.
She smiled and nodded, reached into the back and pulled Alton from his car seat. Then she handed me the diaper bag, opened the door and took off at a brisk hustle for the entrance.
“You gave her the crisis talk, I see,” Nick said as we entered the hallway. He hugged us both tightly.
“She needed to know,” Char said, taking both hats and shoving them down into the diaper bag.
“I assume that’s why we brought the stroller but didn’t use it?” I said. Nick nodded and motioned for us to follow him.
“They’d know who it was, there aren’t many wives on the team with young enough babies to still have an infant seat,” he said, leading us down a few halls and through a few doors until we hit a waiting room. Coach stood at the counter, speaking with a nurse.
“It looks like Coach is still working on getting you in Jacinta, I’m sorry,” Nick said. I smiled, a bit disappointed.
“I can wait. I know that he’s alive, so I can wait to see him.”
“Are you sure?” Char asked, taking my hand in hers.
“Yes, I’m sure. Go, see your husband and take him his son. I’ll be here,” I said. There was no way in hell I was going to keep her from Joey, not then. Not ever.
An hour later, Coach wandered up to me with a smile and held out his hand.
“Well, it took Patrick raising hell in his room and asking for you by name, but they’re finally going to let you see him,” he said. I felt some of the tension that had built up since I’d been sitting there finally release as I stood.
“Thank you, Coach. I appreciate you trying to get me in there all this time,” I said. Coach smiled and nodded, then motioned for me to follow him.
The hospital room door opened and I walked through it slowly, terrified of what I might see. Patrick lay there in the bed, wrapped in a hospital gown. There was a bandage wrapped around his forehead and one wrapped around his left hand, on first glance. If there was more, I couldn’t see it at first. Something inside of me simply let go, and before I was even fully aware of it, I was across the room and in his arms, crying. A deep, soft laugh rumbled through his chest as he held me.
“Calm down, honey. I’m fine, I promise,” he said, gingerly wrapping his arms around me.
“The news didn’t say anything other than the plane went down, and they kept showing this horrid image of the plane in the water and smoke rising…” I said. Patrick gently shushed me.
“What the news didn’t say was that the pilot called in the engine turbulence and flight trouble, plus announced to the plane what was going on and gave us instructions on what to do. By the time the plane hit the water, we were all fully prepared and braced for impact. And, because he’d advised the tower, we were all pulled out of the water after a rather short amount of time,” Patrick said softly. I raised my head up to look at him.
“Everyone lived?” I asked. Patrick nodded.
“Yes, Jacinta. Everyone lived. But of course, there was some injury, so everyone was brought to the hospital,” he said. I sighed, my breath trembling.
“I was so terrified that I’d lost you.”
Patrick pulled me closed and kissed me gently. “I won’t ever leave you.”
“Promise?” I whispered
“Promise.”
Chapter 20
It had been a week. Life had somewhat returned to normal, but not completely. Isobel still wasn’t talking to either me or Char, but then again I didn’t blame her. Kind of.
Char had gone off on her, totally. But on the other hand, she had been out of line with what she’d said. If I’d been in my right mind in that moment, I’d have given her an ear full too, but I’d have stopped Char from kicking her out. Her heart was in the right place, which is something Char normally would have seen and kept herself from getting quite so upset. I wasn’t sure what to do about the situation, honestly. I’d tried to call her, but she wouldn’t answer. Instead, for now, I was giving her some space.
Patrick was home from the hospital, but still bandaged up a bit. The team hadn’t been able to play any games or even practice over the last week because of everyone’s various injuries. Coach had opened the gym to them, asking them to consult their doctors before working out but leaving the avenue open to do some independent training, should they be able to. Patrick’s hand injury kept him from doing any football related exercises on the field, but he’d done leg works and running, determined not to lose any ground.
In the hustle at the hospital, the media latched onto my relationship with Patrick and splashed it across the headlines. Char had called as soon as she’d seen it, warning me to keep an eye out for stalker media, because they would follow me, stake out my apartment and harass me. That was a part of this life that I hadn’t really been excited about, but I knew that I couldn’t avoid.
The day before, a rather persistent woman followed me from the store all the way through the parking lot to my car, spewing private and intrusive questions the entire way. By the time I got the door open, I’d completely lost my temper and spun around, flipping her off before getting into the car and peeling out of the parking lot like I’d just stole something. It only took about two minutes for the remorse to kick in over that one. And of course, the picture of me flipping her the bird was everywhere the next day. I
was mortified. Char thought it was funny because she’d done the same thing when she and Joey were dating, and Patrick just shrugged. He said he didn’t blame me, he was just glad I hadn’t smacked her.
I told him that I’d thought about it and he’d laughed so hard that he claimed he pulled something. And then I got a phone call…
“Hey Jacinta, it’s Nick. Can you come out to the training grounds around 2?” he asked. I hesitated.
“Sure, what’s up?”
“We just wanted to sit down with you for a few, nothing big,” Nick said. Liar.
“Okay. I’ll get ready and see you in a few,” I said. Nick and I ended the call, and immediately I dialed Charlotte.
“What’s up?” she asked.
“Nick just called and asked me to come out to the training grounds later today.”
“Ooo, that means Coach saw that picture, most likely,” she said. I sighed and put my face in my hands.
“So I’m in trouble?”
“Well, not yet. Everyone knows that you haven’t really been briefed in the whole ‘how to deal with media jerks’ thing yet. This might just be that talk,” she said, her voice sympathetic.
“Ugh.”
“Don’t worry. I’m pretty sure all of us would have reacted the same way that you did.”
“Yeah, but I’m the one being talked to about it.”
Char calmed me down as much as she could, and then left me to get dressed and make a rather nerve wracking drive out to the practice grounds alone. Nick met me at the entrance.
“Welcome back,” he said, offering me his arm. I smiled and breathed deeply as I took it.
“I’m not so sure that I’m exactly welcome,” I said. Nick smiled.
“Don’t worry.” He led me down a few hallways and opened the door into a small conference room that contained Coach, Patrick and Joey. Okay, I was confused.
“Um, hi?” I said, looking around. Patrick smiled and motioned for me to sit beside him.
“Hey Jacinta,” Joey said. I gave him a questioning look and he shrugged slightly.
“Jacinta, I asked you and Patrick here to talk about a few things,” Coach said. “Joey is here because I know that you’re friends with him and his wife, and I was hoping that maybe having him here would make you a bit more comfortable.”
“Okay,” I said hesitantly.
“I wanted to talk to you about this picture that hit the wire this morning,” he started.
For the next forty minutes, Coach proceeded to make me feel like an idiot for overreacting to the woman who’d followed me. I tried to explain that the woman had harassed me all the way across the parking lot, but that apparently didn’t make a difference. He said that was her job, and mine was to be the adult in the situation. And that was about the time I lost it.
“Did you just say that I should have been ‘the adult’ out there?” I said, my voice becoming higher pitched. Patrick put his hand on my leg under the table in an attempt to calm me, but it wasn’t really working. I’d been steaming the entire time Coach had been talking, and that was pretty much it for me.
“We can’t depend on the media to do it, Jacinta. It has to be us,” Coach said.
“And my reaction to her, while perhaps not the best, was childish? Is that what you’re saying?” I asked. Coach hesitated and looked to Joey.
“Don’t look at me, Coach. You dug your own grave on that one,” he said, putting his hands up in surrender.
“That’s okay. Don’t answer,” I said, picking up my purse.
“Jacinta, where are you going?” Patrick said, standing. Part of me was a bit pissed that he was even asking, but I managed to appear calm. I think.
“Back to my childish home to drink until the childishness flees my body,” I said, brushing past him.
“Jacinta, wait,” he said, grabbing my arm. I pulled free before he had the chance to get a good grip on me and pushed the door open, looking up as Nick jumped out of the way.
“Whoa!”
“Sorry, Nick. Can you show me the way out of here?” I asked. Nick glanced behind me, hesitating, but whatever he saw there and on my face made him agree.
“Sure,” he said, offering his arm yet again and starting to walk. We moved through the building in silence, nothing but the sounds of our footfalls until we were almost at the front door.
“Should I ask what happened back there?” he said.
“Probably not. Thanks for walking me out.” I let go of his arm and pushed my way out into the sunlight.
Chapter 21
“He called you childish?” Char asked. I sighed and leaned against the back of the couch.
“For all intents and purposes. He said that we have to be the adults, because we can’t depend on the media to do it,” I said. Char sighed.
“I see what he’s saying, but it’s not fair to expect us to always take the high road. We’re people too.”
“Right. It’s not like this is a regular thing for me, that woman was harassing me,” I said, putting my arm over my eyes.
“And Joey was there? What was that supposed to do?” Char asked. I shrugged.
“He said Joey was supposed to put me at ease, but by the time he decided to bring Joey into the conversation, I was already pissed off and Joey basically opted out and told Coach that he was on his own,” I said, snickering.
“Joey is a smart man,” Char said, laughing.
“Very. I see why you married him.
“I can’t believe he called me out there to tell me that I was being childish for not allowing this woman and her cameraman to stalk me to my car and harass me for answers to questions I’m probably not supposed to answer. Hell, if I had answered, I’d probably have gotten in trouble for that too!”
“Just don’t be too mad at Patrick, Jacinta. He’s between a rock and a hard place with this one. Does he side with the woman that he loves or the sport that pays his bills and that allows him to do what he loves?” Char said. I sighed and rolled my eyes at the ceiling.
“Damn it all,” I said. Char laughed.
“See? I’m not saying that maybe you both couldn’t have handled all of this better, but this situation doesn’t make his life any simpler.”
“Yeah, I know,” I breathed.
“Do you want to come out here for a bit?” she asked. I thought about it for a moment.
“Maybe later tonight. I think I just need some time to think for now.”
“Alright, well you know the offer stands. Al and I aren’t going anywhere.”
~~~
Patrick called an hour later, under the premise of making sure that I hadn’t actually gone home and drank myself into a stupor. Once he was sure that I was alright, he asked me to come out to the house for dinner. I wasn’t one hundred percent sure I wanted to do that, considering that I was still pretty irritated, but I did. Patrick waited for me at the door, coming out to meet me as I closed and locked the doors to my car.
“Is everything alright?” he asked. I nodded, not really looking at him yet.
“Everything is fine.” To his benefit, he didn’t push the issue.
He had two T-Bone steaks on the grill outside, and was steaming shrimp and veggies, and cooking rice to go along with it. The whole house smelled yummy, and I settled at the counter with a soda and a sigh.
“You know, Coach really meant well. He may not have chosen the right way to say it to you, but what he said was true,” Patrick said. I looked up at him.
“What are you talking about?” I mean, I knew what he was talking about, but I needed to know which parts he was considering ‘true’ from that conversation.
“Just the bits about how being a part of my life means that sometimes we have to be the grown-ups in the situation and not overreact,” he said. I watched him for a moment, wondering if he had any idea what the hell he’d just said to me.
“I’m sorry, was flipping her off an overreaction to her finding out where I work, invading my life and following me, shouting questio
ns and shoving her microphone and camera in my face?” I asked. I saw the moment when Patrick realized that I was getting mad again, and he sat back and frowned.
“I’m not saying that I don’t understand your reaction, I’m just saying that maybe another response would have been a better option.”
“Is that you speaking your opinion? Or you speaking Coach’s opinion?” I asked, my voice a lot calmer than I was actually feeling inside.
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” he spit back.
