The thought of Chris touching another woman also made my blood boil. I wanted him all to myself. I doubted that other women appreciated him as much as I did.
I couldn’t tell Michael the truth about why Chris wasn’t going to be around anymore. He was too young to understand such grown up topics. He understood hurt feelings, but I didn’t want to taint his memories of his father, no matter how mad I was at him.
So instead I gave vague answers. I told him that Chris was busy playing football and that he might not get to see him. I also had to tell him that we might not get to go to a Tigers football game for a while. That, and watch any movies with Alexa Meyer in them.
Michael was a little disappointed by the news, but I told him that we’d do something even better. I wasn’t sure what that was yet, but I didn’t want him to feel like anything was missing from his life. I just wanted things to go back to normal.
My dad tried to bring up the topic of Chris one night after stopping by the house, but I shut that down quickly. Luckily, he respected my boundaries and hadn’t brought it up since. I knew that he didn’t like seeing me down like this, but I wasn’t in the mood to talk about it. I didn’t want to have to admit that he had been right all along.
I knew that just like last time, I would eventually move on from Chris Taylor. It just wasn’t going to be any time soon.
On Saturday night, my dad ordered pizza and came by to watch some college football with Michael. I usually loved to take part in this little tradition that my dad had started ages ago, but that night, I was more in the mood for wine in the bathtub. Between the two of them, they managed to coax me out of my state of depression long enough to catch the first half of a few night games.
The doorbell rang and Michael bolted to the front door to answer it. I suspected that he thought it might be Chris. Part of me thought it would be Chris too. I followed closely behind my son.
“Who’s there?” I asked him as he opened the door.
“There’s no one there,” he said.
“No one?”
He came running into me, clutching an envelope in his hands.
“What is it?” he asked.
I opened the envelope and pulled out the letter. Three tickets fluttered to the floor.
Natalie,
I understand that you’re upset with me, and you have every right to be. I don’t want things to end badly between us. I truly care about you and Michael and I want the very best for you two. In the envelope are three tickets to Sunday’s game for you, your dad, and Michael. I promised Michael that I would get him tickets, and I don’t go back on my word. I hope you use them. If you’re up to it, maybe we can meet up after the game. There’s so much that I want to say to you.
Chris
I crumpled the letter up and threw it in the trash.
“Mom!” Michael shouted. “Are these tickets to the Tigers game this weekend?”
“Yes,” I said glumly. “I don’t know if we can go.”
“Why not?” my dad asked, appearing in the hallway.
I glared at him. He wasn’t going to make saying no to Michael easy on me.
“I might have to work that day,” I lied.
“Michael,” my dad said, “go have another piece of pizza. The second half is starting.”
Michael ran into the living room and my dad walked closer to me.
“Why won’t you take the boy to the game, Natalie? You know that would make him happy.”
“I think you know why, Dad. I can’t go anywhere where I can see him.”
“Did you ever consider that there were reasons why he did the things he did?”
“Yeah, because he’s a child who only looks out for himself. Why are you defending him all of a sudden? You hate Chris. You’ve always hated Chris.”
“I don’t hate him, Natalie,” he sighed. “I was blinded by my love for you. I completely misjudged him.”
“Yeah?” I scoffed. “You told me years ago that he was never going to change his ways and that he’d only ever hurt me. You were completely right about that.”
“Listen to me,” he said softly. “I’ve been in his position before. When people are telling you to act a certain way because there’s a lot of money and fame at stake, you tend to listen. If you’re not careful, you become someone you don’t want to be. Chris is still young; he’s trying to figure all of this out.”
“That doesn’t excuse him from not telling me about kissing that girl.”
“It doesn’t. He should have mentioned it, because he knew that you’d be upset if you found out. We talked about it the other night. He feels terrible and wanted me to know that he has no feelings for the poor girl. It sounds like she’s a mess.”
“Dad,” I cried. “I like him so much. I don’t know if I’ll ever get over him.”
“I know he feels the same way about you. He’s not a bad guy. He’s made some stupid mistakes, but I know he’d do anything for you and Michael. He reminds me a bit of myself when I was just starting out.”
“You think so?”
“I know it for a fact.”
“I’m still not convinced.”
“At the very least,” he said, “why don’t you take your son and your dad to the game? If you feel like talking, then you can talk. If you don’t, you don’t owe him anything.”
“Okay,” I sniffed. “What do I tell Michael?”
“Tell him that we’re going to the game tomorrow afternoon,” he laughed.
I went and told Michael the news, which elicited a lot of cheering and running around. I couldn’t help but smile when I saw how happy he was.
After my dad left, I tucked Michael into bed and kissed him goodnight.
“Mom?” he asked. “Can we talk to Chris after the game?”
“Oh, I’m not sure, honey. He might be busy.”
“He told me that if I came to a game, he’d get me anything I wanted.”
“Did he?”
“Yeah, but I just want to see him because he’s my friend.”
I left the room before the tears could start falling. I wanted to see my friend, too.
Back in bed, I decided to respond to the most recent text message sent to my phone.
Got the tickets. We’ll see you tomorrow.
21
Chris
After I arranged for press box tickets for Natalie and her family to be delivered to her house, I was feeling a lot of pressure to not mess anything up. I knew that I was skating on thin ice, and if I did anything to screw this up, it would mean I would lose Natalie and Michael forever.
As of now, there was no plan. All I knew was that I wanted to do some sort of grand gesture during the game to prove to Natalie that I was devoted to her.
When it came to women, I was pretty good at getting them into bed with me. I could convince a girl to have another drink, to stay out an hour later, and to go back to my place. However, I had no experience convincing a girl to be in a long-term relationship with me.
I needed some expert advice. First, I called my mom. My parents and I weren’t super close; living away from home and keeping the schedule that I did made it hard to visit often. Still, I liked to supplement the news they read about me online with my side of the story from time to time.
“Hi, Chris,” my mom said. “What’s going on?”
“I need your advice,” I said, feeling a little embarrassed. “It’s about a girl.”
“Oh, no, Chris,” she said, sounding worried. “You didn’t get some poor girl pregnant, did you?”
I wasn’t sure how to answer that question. I mean, I did get a girl pregnant, but that wasn’t the issue. Leave it up to my mom though to be sure I was calling with bad news.
“It’s not like that,” I said. “There’s a girl I really like, and I messed things up between us. I have a chance to get her back tomorrow, but I don’t know what to do.”
“What did you do?”
I told her about how things were good between Natalie and me and the
whole mess with the publicity stunt.
“Well, she must be pretty special if you’re this worried about it,” she said. “Is she the one?”
“Yeah,” I admitted out loud for the first time. “I’m in love with her.”
“How long have you been dating?” she asked. “Is it time for the next step?”
“Technically,” I said, “we aren’t dating. There’s more to the story.”
I told her about the first time Natalie and I met, how her dad pushed me away, and how we reconnected after all of those years apart. My mom listened intently.
“You didn’t mention that she’s Russell Boyd’s daughter,” she shouted. “I still have posters of him in the house.”
“I know. It’s a weird coincidence,” I said, laughing.
“Chris, are you sure you can handle having a little boy around, too? You know that means you’ll have to spend more time at home.”
“That’s the thing, Mom,” I said, before taking a deep breath. “Michael is my son.”
She was silent on the other side of the line for so long, I was afraid that she had fainted or something.
“Mom,” I shouted. “Are you still there?”
“Christopher Taylor,” she scolded. “When were you going to tell me this?”
“I only found out a few weeks ago myself. Michael doesn’t even know yet. We were going to tell him the night that the picture came out.”
“You should have started with that,” my mom said. “Do you still not know what you need to do to get her back?”
“I think I do, but I needed a little reassurance.”
“Trust your instincts, Chris. Work out your plan before you go to bed tonight. That way, you won’t be distracted during the game tomorrow. Don’t forget, you still have a job to do.”
“Okay,” I said. “Thanks.”
“Good luck tomorrow,” she said. “With the game, and the other stuff, too.”
“I need all the luck I can get.”
“When do I get to meet the little guy?” she asked. “It’s not every day you find out you have a new grandchild. I’m still in shock about it all.”
“Me too. Hopefully really soon. Even if Natalie doesn’t want me, I hope she will still let me see Michael.”
“I’m sure she will. Get some rest.”
I hung up the phone, feeling a little less nervous. There was really only one option for me at this point. I had spent too much time being coy and cautious with Natalie. I needed to declare my feelings for her, once and for all.
Next, I called Russell at home. Luckily, I’d managed to catch him right before he left for Natalie’s house. I told him about what I was thinking of saying to Natalie, and he agreed with everything. I told him to make sure Natalie stayed for the whole game, and to get her into the press conference afterwards. He said that he’d do what he could to make sure that happened.
I still couldn’t tell if Russell actually liked me, or if he was just trying to get me to do the honorable thing, for Michael’s sake. I hoped that one day, we could be friendly toward one another. It was something I had wanted since the day I’d first met Natalie.
Finally, I called Wesley. I could tell he was starting to get annoyed with me, but I needed his help to get everything ready for tomorrow. I told him I had big plans for getting Natalie back, and he agreed, as a friend, to help me out.
He would make sure there was plenty of press at the game so the whole world would know my intentions. I was about to show a new side of me, and part of that would require me to shed my old image.
Finally, I decided that I would have to have the best game of my life tomorrow if I wanted everything to be perfect. Natalie needed to know how important her support was to me on the field. I had to win big to prove to her that I needed her in every aspect of my life.
Winning was easier said than done. To win a game, especially against a good opponent, everyone needed to be at their best. This meant that there could be no distractions.
Of course, there were a million distractions in my life alone. The past week had been a whirlwind. I had nearly sealed the deal with Natalie, only for her to shun me from her life. Then, I rode in an ambulance to save the life of a girl who had a large hand in this mess. Now I had to pull off the biggest stunt of my entire career.
As the quarterback, I had a lot of influence on how the game would go. I had to read routes and work around the opposing team’s defense. I had to know what to do, and when to do it. A lot of the team’s success or failure was on me.
If we won tomorrow’s game, we had a really good shot of making it in the playoffs. As a professional football player, a good season record meant a lot. If things went badly, I could lose my starting position, or end up traded to another team. I needed to be here. I had a life in Los Angeles. I had a family.
With nothing else to do but wait, I eventually fell asleep. It took a few hours, and a sleeping pill, but eventually I was out.
While I slept, I had a dream that I was playing the best football of my life. I was throwing the ball clear across the field and the receivers were making impossible catches. When I ran the ball, the defenders parted, and I took off down the field, faster than I had ever run before.
Suddenly, I was in the locker room, changing out of my uniform and into a tuxedo. The door opened, and instead of our training facility, I was in a church, standing at the altar.
Russell Boyd was beaming at me as he escorted his veiled daughter down the aisle. Even though I couldn’t see her face, Natalie looked gorgeous in a dress that accentuated her slim figure. When Russell let go of her hand and handed her over to mine, it was cold.
I slowly lifted the veil to see my beautiful bride, but it turned out to be Alexa Meyer. I looked around the church for answers, but everyone I knew was sitting here, looking delighted. I tried to run out of the church, but all the doors and windows were locked. I was trapped.
I woke up in a cold sweat, feeling a little sick. I looked at the clock. It was only 4:30. I still had a few more hours to sleep before I needed to get ready for the game.
Still a little shaken from my nightmare, I went into my closet and started digging through a box of things I’d never sorted through when I moved to Los Angeles. It took some searching, but eventually I found what I was looking for.
I had nearly forgotten that I had once bought a gift for Natalie to remember me by. I think if I had gotten it to her, everything would have been different. Maybe if it weren’t for my wild ways, Russell would have never have had a problem with me in the first place. We may have started dating, and could be married by now, if things had gone well.
Regardless of how things went after the game with Natalie, I wanted her to have the watch I’d meant to give to her ages ago. It belonged to her, and I didn’t feel right letting it collect dust in my closet.
I set the watch on my dresser and went back to bed. At this rate, I’d fall asleep just in time to pass the time before I could put my plan into action.
22
Natalie
Michael came sprinting into my room, already dressed for the game, waking me before my alarm went off.
“Where did you get that jersey?” I asked, half asleep. It looked like it was a size larger than his other one.
“Grandpa gave it to me,” he said.
“Tell your grandfather to stop spoiling you,” I said, rubbing my eyes.
When he turned to run out of my room, I noticed that there was a different name on the back of the jersey.
Taylor.
My eyes started to tear up, thinking about the fact that my son was living the dream. He was about to sit in the press box at his favorite team’s game, wearing his favorite player’s jersey—his father’s jersey. And the worst part was, he had no idea.
I remembered one game that I went to before my dad retired. My mom had dressed my siblings and I in matching jerseys with my dad’s number on it. I didn’t get to go to a lot of games, because I was pretty little, but I remembered
how excited I was to be there.
I don’t remember what happened in the game, but I do remember how it felt. My dad made some great plays and the team was winning. Everyone around me was so happy and the feeling was contagious. After the game, strangers came up to me to give me high fives and tell me how lucky I was to have Russell Boyd as a father. It was fun to have people pay so much attention to me, and I was so proud to wear my daddy’s jersey. That feeling never really went away.
I was still a little upset with Chris, but I wanted my son to have the same amazing experience that I had as a child. I wanted him to be able to tell people that his dad lead his team to the Super Bowl, or to be able to go to his alma mater and be treated like royalty. I wanted him to feel proud of his father and one day, to know the crazy story of how we met. I couldn’t keep Chris out of our lives. For better or worse, he was part of the family.
Still, I wasn’t thrilled to see Chris after what had happened the previous weekend. As my dad pointed out to me, I could be stubborn and I wasn’t so quick to forgive Chris.
If I was being honest with myself, though, I loved Chris Taylor more than I cared to admit. He wasn’t the type of guy I envisioned myself settling down with, but my heart still wanted him. Without him, I felt miserable. I didn’t know how much longer I could go on, ignoring his calls and texts.
I pulled myself out of bed to see what kind of mess Michael was making in the kitchen. He was cracking eggs into a mixing bowl.
“Let me help you with that,” I said, picking eggshells out of the bowl.
“Mom, are we going to make breakfast for Chris?”
“No,” I said. “He’s probably getting ready for his game.”
“Oh,” he responded as I whisked in milk. “Do you think he’ll want to make breakfast with us again sometime?”
Game Winning Catch: (Secret Baby Sports Romance (Pass To Win #5) Page 13
