He pressed send once he‘d finished the email to Patrick‘s webmistress. “There. I think some young lady’s night will be made once she opens her inbox.” Brett rose from his desk. “Okay, out to your playpen before Mama sends the search party for us.”
*****
“Hi, Phoebe,” Karen said when she answered the phone. “Anything good happening at home?”
“You mean how I almost ended up on my ass taking out the trash before I went to work this morning? Just wonderful. Maybe I should consider a move to Florida.”
“The joy of winter in Pittsburgh. How’s everyone at the paper?”
“Outside of missing you, things are moving along well. Autumn and Brett good?”
“As always.”
“Sounds like married life’s agreeing with you. So much for you dying an old maid like you always thought.”
“It’s only been a short time. Check back with me in twenty years when Autumn’s in college and Brett and I are sick of each other. While on the subject, he has this wild idea of playing matchmaker.”
“Oh, no. Who’s the unfortunate victim?”
“Patrick. No matter how many times I’ve told Brett that Pat’s an adult who can make his own choices, Brett still insists on fixing him up with someone.”
“Sounds like he has good intentions. What’s the problem?”
Karen let out a groan. “Don’t tell me you’re fine with the whole idea.”
“Brett’s just being a good friend. You know, that man may shock you and find a decent girl for Pat. No offense to Pat, but the girls I’ve seen him with over the last few years look rather…well…skeevy.”
“Maybe they’re his type. To each their own.”
“Which is okay if he’s twenty or so, but he’s almost thirty-one. Pat needs someone a little classier, more grounded.”
“Now I’ll agree with you on that point.”
“Preferably someone who isn’t a gold digger or fame monger.”
“Don’t worry, Brett already has someone in mind. I wouldn’t be surprised if he cooked up his sneaky plan after the baby was changed.”
“Oh? Who?”
“He has the wild idea of the girl who does Patrick’s website.”
“Isn’t she around twenty-one?”
“Yes.”
“Still, that’s only ten years, and for her, a dream come true.”
“Oh, Phoebe, ever the romantic, aren’t you?”
“I am, and even more so since Eddie and I were engaged.”
“By the way, how’s your wedding planning?”
“So far, moving along at a smooth pace. I don’t know how you handled all the chaos for your wedding.”
“You have the advantage of more time to plan ahead, plus no child to figure in the picture.”
“True.”
“I should go,” Karen said. “I sent Brett to change Autumn a bit ago, and Lord knows what else he’s doing with that baby. I can say from experience that it doesn’t take long to change a diaper.”
CHAPTER 87
"Daddy," Autumn said when she pulled to a standing position on Brett’s chair.
"Hey, Little Bit, " he said, smiling. "Karen, when did she start doing this stuff?”
"About a week ago," Karen replied, looking up from her laptop. She was typing her latest column. "As much time as she and I spend together, her first word was ‘Daddy’. Go figure.”
A smirk crossed Brett‘s face. "She’s my Little Bit.”
Saturday afternoon was peaceful as Autumn explored under the watchful eyes of her parents. An old wrestling show was on TV, but Brett’s attention was focused on watching his daughter, who was very active at fifteen months.
She let go of Brett’s chair, falling back onto her bottom. Autumn looked up at her father with wide blue eyes. “Uh, oh.”
“Come on, Little Bit,” he encouraged her. “Show Daddy what a big girl you are and try it again.”
“Daddy,” Autumn said with a grin and attempted to pull herself to an upright position again.
“Won’t be long before she walks,” Karen said, “then we’ll really have our hands full.”
“I like her at this age; she’s starting to get cute. At least now Little Bit’s able to do more than just eat, sleep, shit, and yell.”
“She’ll still do all the above for a while. One good thing is around this time next year, she may be ready for potty training.”
The phone rang, and Karen glanced at the Caller ID. “Better answer it,” she told Brett. “It’s for you anyway.”
“I hope to hell that isn’t Creative fitting me in Monday’s TV taping at almost the last minute.”
“No, it isn’t work. It’s Pat.”
“Oh, cool!” Brett picked up the phone. “Hey, holmes, what’s happening?”
“Hey, holmes, my ass. Dude, did I not tell you to stay out of my love life?”
“Yeah, but you should know by now I’m never one to listen.”
“I should come down there and fork you. Laura told me she got an email from you about us going out the next time I was in New York or any time she got to fly out here. Brett, what the fuck?”
“She’s a great girl, man. Give her a chance. Just because she isn’t a tattooed freak or doesn’t dress like a hooker doesn’t make her less of a person. Come on, Pat, one time. Please? You may thank me later. Hell, I’ll even pay for her flight to see you.”
“Jesus, I can’t believe you’re talking me into this Okay, one time, just to shut you up, if nothing else. Don’t bother paying for the flight; I pay for my own dates.”
“Kickass. Keep me posted on your progress. I want details!”
“I shouldn’t tell you shit.”
“I’ll buy you lunch and you can give me the play-by-play.”
Patrick laughed. “You’re an asshole, but hard to resist. Okay, I’m holding you to lunch the next time I’m in Orlando.”
“Make it soon, partner,” Brett said. “Life’s getting short.”
He hung up before Patrick could fit in a remark from his litany of short jokes, and was met by a quizzical stare from Karen. “What?” Brett asked.
“I can’t believe what I just heard. You set Pat up on a date, didn’t you?”
“Indeed.”
“You never fail to amaze me sometimes.” She shook her head.
“Yeah, I am kind of an amazing dude, huh?”
“Well. Mr. Amazing, then you’ll notice your daughter is trying to eat the TV remote.”
"Fuck! Little Bit, no! Give me that!” Brett took the remote from Autumn and wiped away drool.
"Fuk," Autumn said, and smiled at her father.
Karen shot him a death glare. "Did she say what I think she said?”
"Autumn, that’s a bad word," Brett said, trying to remain calm.
Autumn continued to smile at her father and repeated her new word a couple of times.
“Sweetheart, stop. Not nice.”
“Fuk.”
“Autumn Skye,” Karen said in a stern voice, then glared at Brett. “Since you got us into this mess, you need to figure a way to make her stop using the word.”
“I know.”
“No time like the present to get busy. Then no more cursing in the house, especially in front of Autumn.”
EPILOGUE
Brett held the TV Title for a record of 279 days before losing it to Zipper, who had a brief run as Florida Champion before the creative staff decided he was ready for a bigger story line.
Stephanie Cross decided Brett was a perfect fit as a house show agent and trainer for the new cruiserweights who signed with Orlando Wrestling, both a huge jump in salary and prestige. It meant less TV time, but Brett no longer cared. His new role took his passion for the wrestling business to an entire new level, and he enjoyed working with the younger cruiserweights.
Brett’s friends and colleagues from both past and present wrestling days, led by Patrick, came together and threw a surprise party to celebrate his new position. “
Just consider it a thanks for hooking me up with Laura,” Patrick told him. “We’re getting married next April.”
“Is this your way of telling me I was right?”
“Okay, you win. You were right.”
Brett hugged him. “I’m happy for you two, man.”
“As am I for you. First a fine woman and beautiful kid, now a big ass promotion. I’m proud of my little buddy. Couldn’t have happened to a better guy, especially after all the bullshit you’d been through the last few years.”
“Wasn’t an easy ride for you either, bro. Hear you’re up for a movie part.”
“Yep, my first feature, can you dig that shit?”
“Never doubted you’d go places once you cleaned up your act, dude. Hey, talking about screen life, make sure you turn on Wendy Bretherton’s show tomorrow.”
“Gee, Kerrigan, I didn’t know married life made you a softy for daytime talk shows.”
“It’s not about me. Karen’s a guest. She’s going to talk about her book.”
“Jesus, why didn’t you say something? On my DVR list for sure.”
“Great. Now let’s get back to consuming the booze you’re paying for.”
*****
Karen’s appearance on The Wendy Bretherton Show was a success. She had spots on local radio programs in both Orlando and Pittsburgh to promote her novel after its initial release, but never considered a national level until Wendy’s assistant contacted her.
“I plead guilty,” Eddie told her after the show. “I sent an extra copy of your book to Wendy.”
“What on earth gave you such an idea?”
“Pheebs and I discussed it.”
“So she’s a co-conspirator?”
“Sure. Fantastic job on the show. Did Brett see you?”
“More than that. He’s burning DVD’s for my press kit as we speak. Of course, he said Autumn kept touching the TV screen and saying ‘Mommy’ the whole time.”
“She’s proud of her mama too. Have your latest sales figures come in yet?”
“I’m not going to become a millionaire or anything, but sales are good by my standards.”
“Sounds like you book’s appeal to it’s target demographic audience of mostly sporty young men and maybe a few women.”
“Quite a number of women and girls have shown up at the few book signings I had,” Karen replied.
“Guess it goes to show females aren’t into wrestling just to look at hot men.”
“No, but it doesn’t hurt, either. On a serious note, I found today’s female fans are a lot more intelligent about what happens in the ring. Enough about me and my book, though. Where are you and Phoebe planning to go for your wedding anniversary?”
“Bahamas.”
“Very exotic.”
“I’m surprising her with the tickets on her birthday. Hey, did you and Brett ever have a honeymoon?”
“Never got around to planning one, and I doubt it’ll happen any time soon. He’s been promoted to part of the backstage team in addition to wrestling.”
Eddie let a long whistle. “No shit? Doing what?”
Karen told him the details.
“Does that means he’s now one of the bosses or what?”
“I wouldn’t take it that far,” Karen said, “but he’s moved up in the company since he first signed.
“Come a long way from being a jobber to midgets.”
“No kidding!” She saw Brett coming toward her. “I have to go, Eddie. I think my wonderful husband finished the DVD project. Talk to you soon.”
*****
Three weeks later, Karen and Brett had a rare quiet day at home. Autumn, at twenty-two months, was playing on the floor while Brett was stretched on the sofa in the living room watching television. Karen was in the kitchen preparing their dinner.
Brett fell asleep in front of the TV at some point, his shirt pulled up and exposed a little of his stomach. Autumn spied her father’s state, waddled over to his slumbering figure, and stuck a small finger in his navel.
“Button,” she said with a smile.
“Autumn Skye, what are you doing?” Karen asked from the kitchen.
“Button,” Autumn repeated, poking Brett’s belly button again, which woke him.
“Huh?” he asked. “Must’ve dozed off.”
“Button.” Autumn smiled at him.
Brett looked down at himself. “Yeah, Little Bit, that’s Daddy’s button. Where’s yours?”
Autumn had just lifted her shirt to show him when Karen came into the room. “Brett, don’t encourage her,” she said. “Next thing we know, Autumn will be doing that in public.”
“It’s cute when they’re little.”
“Good, then you can deal with your daughter being a savage when the two of you go out. Could you clean her up in the meantime? Dinner’s almost ready.”
“Best time of the day.” He scooped Autumn into his arms. “Let’s go, Little Bit. Time to clean up for some of Mommy’s nommies.”
“Nommies.” Autumn gave him a wide smile.
Karen shook her head and chuckled. That girl’s going to be a carbon of her father for sure.
*****
Karen had more than her share of scary moments with Autumn. One afternoon, she was working on her latest column while keeping an eye on Autumn–not an easy feat–when she spotted something unusual out of the corner of her eye.
“Autumn!” Karen cried, spotting her daughter about to jump from the edge of the sofa.
The toddler gave her a confused look. “Daddy do.”
Brett and I need to discuss these things with her. “Honey, Daddy trained for and gets paid to do those kinds of things.
“Wanna fly,” Autumn said in protest. “Daddy do.”
“But you’ll get hurt, ladybug,” Karen told her. “Then Daddy and I would have to take you to the doctor.”
“Yuck.”
“Yes, yuck. Doctors are no fun.”
As if on cue, Brett came in the door. “Hey, ladies. Anything happening?”
“Some little girl almost flew off the couch in an attempt to imitate Daddy,” Karen said, giving him a look.
“Shit, you can’t be serious. Little Bit, Daddy told you about stuff like that. Just because I do it doesn’t mean you can. Even I get hurt sometimes.”
An idea struck, and he turned to Karen. “I just thought of something!”
“What?”
“Orlando Wrestling’s never done a public service announcement about the dangers of kids trying our moves at home,” Brett answered. He picked up a tablet from a nearby table. “I think I may have something to contribute to the creative meeting this week.” He kissed both her and Autumn. “Thanks for the inspiration.”
“Glad to be of assistance…I think.”
“This will be great! I’ll also make sure it appeals to all ages, so parents can talk to their kids.”
Karen warmed to his idea. “Is there anything you can’t do?”
“Still working on getting more hours in the day, but so far, I haven’t been successful.”
“I don’t think anyone’s going to accomplish that in our lifetime,” Karen replied with a smile.
Brett waved the tablet. “Time for me to get to work on my script.”
*****
Brett’s PSA idea was well-received by the creative team. Since it had been his idea, Stephanie also wanted him featured in it. Figuring it might help Autumn to comply with not jumping off the furniture (and scaring the hell out of Karen in the process), he agreed to do it, on the condition that clips of fellow wrestlers were also featured.
The video was a hit. It generated over one million views on YouTube and aired during each Orlando Wrestling television episode. Stephanie Cross also arranged for it to air on the titrations at house shows; like Brett, she’d hope the message would get across to children that the moves wrestlers did were not safe to imitate at home.
Karen was proud of her husband’s latest success and threw a dinner party in his honor.
Memories from the last couple of years were shared around the table as Brett and each of his friends reflected how far each of them had come in the interim.
The dinner continued for another hour before everyone went home. Karen tried to remember the last time she’d laughed so hard. It was good to have people come together who were so meaningful in both hers and Brett’s lives.
In bed that night, she couldn’t help but think how her life would‘ve gone if she hadn‘t met Brett in that Pittsburgh hotel lounge. Perhaps that was why her life had taken such a direction for the better, and neither was alone any more.
Nevertheless, Karen wasn’t more thankful than for the man that was her husband that now slept beside her, his quirkiness and all.
Everything happens for a reason. Who says there’s no such thing as Fate? Karen drifted off to sleep in Brett’s arms.
END
The Cruiserweight Page 31
