by Julia Bright
Kady and Blaine were huddled together at one of the tables in the corner of their favorite deli when Presley arrived. Technically, the table only seated two. Presley grabbed a stray chair and dragged it with her, taking a seat between the two in a frustrated humph. The emotional beating she called her life weighed heavy on her shoulders. She stared between Kady and Blaine, not even sure where to start as her shoulders slumped and her purse strap fell down her arm, her purse landing in a thud on the floor.
“Where’s Mads?”
“She’s with Roan.” Presley rested both elbows on the table, scrubbing a hand down her face oblivious to the quiet until she looked up to see Kady and Blaine both staring at her, and Blaine turning visibly upset.
“Why are you leaving her with him?” he asked as more of an accusation than a question.
Kady reached over the small table, placing a hand on his arm to quiet him. “Can’t you see she’s upset?”
“Maddie’s so in love with her father, and he is with her. You should see them together,” Presley offered, speaking mostly to Blaine. Just like Kady, he’d been a force in Presley’s life. She didn’t like seeing him so upset. When all Blaine did was shake his head, shrugging off the importance of Maddie’s happiness, the weight on her shoulders got heavier.
“I don’t give a rat’s ass…” Blaine started way too loudly. Presley turned, looking over her shoulder as every head in the vicinity turn their way.
“Shh, you’re making it harder, Blaine.” This time, Kady slapped at his arm, quieting him down. Kady leaned in, preparing to whisper something across the table when Jonathon, their waiter, came to her side. He was always a ray of sunshine, and much like normal, he immediately lightened the mood. As a past boyfriend of Blaine’s—and boyfriend was a nice way of saying it, more like a love triangle gone wrong kind of experience—Jon was always up for an insult or two on Blaine’s behalf.
“Blaine, this is a place of business. Watch your mouth.”
Presley’s grin grew watching Blaine’s discomfort.
“That’s right, just sit over there and be your cute, quiet, cheating self. Now, what can I get you, doll?” Jonathon turned his attention toward her.
“Just water.”
“Sure, as long as that comes with a big ole tip, because I’m still working when I bring you that glass.” Presley laughed at all the sass Jon used to drive his point home. He was absolutely crazy and didn’t miss a beat.
“Of course, I’ll leave a tip,” she said as if there should be no question.
“Sure thing then.” Jon whirled around, snapping his neck before turning back, giving Blaine a critical stare before walking away.
“So what happened? Catch us up?” Kady asked quietly, resting her chin on her hand.
Presley took a deep breath and just let out the reason she’d called this meeting. “He wants to give me his house.”
Kady and Blaine, in unison, sat back in their seats. Neither said a word, but their wide eyes conveyed their astonishment. She got it, even feeling much the same way, and she’d had twelve hours to get used to the idea. “He wants to cover all the costs of the house, pay me child support, and be Maddie’s caregiver when he’s in town—if that’s all right by me.”
“Wow,” Blaine managed. “I never saw that coming.”
“I know, right?” Presley muttered, somehow validated in her shock when her two best friends shared in her surprise.
“I didn’t see that coming at all,” Kady announced.
“Me either. I’ve been throwing all this shade his direction, never giving him a break, and he’s remained this overly patient guy, when technically, he was the one left in the dark all these years. He didn’t say one single negative word about that,” Presley said, pausing when Jon put the water on the table in front of her. Jon didn’t interrupt. He just pointed at Kady and Blaine, made sure they were good, before he quietly left and Presley continued, “He even told me that he sees how it’s his fault and just wants to do better by us.”
“And that means he wants to give you and Maddie his house?” Kady asked, still clearly amazed.
“Where will he live?” Blaine asked more skeptically, his brow furrowing as he waited for the answer.
“He says he’ll find a new place. He says that, in about a month, the season starts and he’ll be gone most of the time. He wants to get to know Maddie before then,” she summarized the rest, hitting all the points she needed to share.
“I’m a little behind on all the details, but Mad’s crazy about him?” Blaine asked, crossing his arms over his chest.
“Totally.” Presley exaggeratedly nodded. Lord, was her little girl already head over heels for Roan.
“And he’s not trying to shack up with you?” Blaine asked. The cynicism turned to calculation, as if he’d just figured it all out. Thank goodness she still hadn’t told anyone about the other night. Blaine would never believe her when she claimed she wasn’t interested in playing house with Roan.
“I was clear that’ll never happen,” she said in no uncertain terms. Even tossed out a hand, slicing it through the air right there at the table to show her resolve.
“What are you going to do?” Kady asked.
“What should I do?”
“You should take the house. Make him put it in your name so you can sell it if you need to,” Blaine said, clearly proud of himself. He gave a firm nod, as if that ended the conversation, and reached for his half a mug of beer and swallowed the rest down before he continued, “He’s hotter than he used to be. You can’t fall for him again, Pres.”
“That’s the last thing on my mind. I’m not becoming my mother.” And that was the absolute truth. Her father had come home long enough to tell a pack of lies and get her mother pregnant with Kylie then he’d flown the coop again. They hadn’t heard from him since. “I told that to him, and he didn’t seem to even want me like that.”
“He wants you,” Blaine declared as if he magically had all the answers.
“How can you be sure?” Kady asked.
“No straight NFL’er comes into a gay bar if he’s not interested in something. He could have just sent me a message online.” Blaine even rolled his eyes, making fun of her and Kady’s naivety.
“I see professional football players in gay bars all the time,” Kady countered, giving him an absurd look right back.
“Not by themselves, and not with the stakes so high. If anyone saw him there, he’d be tagged as gay, and he doesn’t need that with his new team,” Blaine explained, forgoing the regular “you’re so dumb” expressions he usually gave.
“Okay, that’s a good point, Pres,” Kady said, nodding her agreement at Presley. She was now back on Blaine’s way of thinking.
“Well, I don’t want him. I’ve worked too hard and sacrificed too much.” She was proud of the conviction she used in that statement, because, bottom line, she might physically respond to Roan, she might secretly harbor all those romantic fantasies of finding a soul mate and living happily ever after, but Roan wasn’t for her. She didn’t want to ever go there with him again.
“So you’re a homeowner,” Kady announced after a minute or two of silence between them all.
“Maybe. We’ll see. I’m meeting with his attorney this week.” The anxiety was proving to be too much. Her fingernail went to her teeth, and she started nibbling, something she hadn’t done in years.
“Do you need me to go?” Blaine offered kindly. Blaine had an innate understanding of finance. She could most definitely use his help if things got over her head, but so far, Roan seemed on the up and up. Even more than that, he’d kept his distance, lived by her boundaries. Her teeth bit through the nail, and she immediately lowered her hand, making a fist, trying to get a hold of herself.
“Maybe. I don’t know. Let me get in there and see what they have to say.” Presley should feel more stable now that her confidants seemed to be on board with the idea. She was stable. She was making the right decisions. Right?
&nb
sp; “On a side note, we found someone who wants your bed. You don’t have to pay your last month if you move out soonish,” Kady said carefully. Presley lifted her head, so lost in thought that it took a second to focus. “Not that you have to go. I’m just telling you, so if this works out, you don’t feel guilty.”
“Who is it?” Presley asked defensively. They’d already replaced her in the apartment? She loved living there with the girls. She felt weirdly possessive about her space there. The apartment had been the first place in years that she’d felt hopeful for the future.
“A girl from the magazine. She’s cool. You’ll like her when you meet her. She just got promoted. She’s getting a column. Bitch,” Kady said dramatically, rolling her eyes, and Presley laughed at the obvious jealousy.
“You know what would be great? I’d love for my sister to come here and go to college. If I get the house, maybe she could come,” Presley said, taking a drink of water. She glanced between Kady and Blaine for their reaction. They both looked at each other before Blaine reached out a hand, threading his fingers with hers.
“Don’t overthink this, Pres. Go step by step. Just go in with a clear conscience and open mind. Don’t let them sugarcoat anything. Be ready to walk away if it’s not both the cake and the icing,” Blaine counseled. As much as she pretended to be confident and strong, she needed to harness this side of Blaine and make sure Roan’s attorney got the same impression. She wasn’t easy to run over.
She might need new clothes.
Maybe a power-red business suit to meet Roan’s legal counsel…
“So he’s only gotten better-looking with age?” Kady asked Blaine, drawing her out of thoughts of the red power suit, and she quickly mashed her lips together, trying to keep from answering that question.
“Girl, I’d slay that tight ass,” Blaine announced boldly in his overly dramatic way and began fanning himself. When Kady busted out a laugh, Presley gave a smile, pretending to think Blaine’s response was outrageous, but it wasn’t. Not even a little. Roan did have an incredible butt.
“Do you have any idea what slay that tight ass means?” Presley asked Kady good-naturedly. Blaine always came up with new and exotic ways to talk about what he wanted to do with all the men in his life.
“Nope, and I’m not sure I want to know,” Kady answered honestly.
“Thank you for dropping everything and meeting me. I was so stressed out,” Presley said and reached for her purse.
“I gotta get back to work,” Kady said, pulling her sweater off the back of the chair. “And Blaine needs to get on finding a real job.”
“Yeah, or I’m gonna need a bed in your brand-new house,” Blaine said, pulling his wallet out, thumbing through his bills. Blaine was loaded. His grandfather had died, leaving him a wealthy man, but he was blowing through the money like crazy. He threw a five-dollar bill on the table, and Jon appeared from out of nowhere.
“You can afford another one of those. Don’t be cheap.”
Thank God for Jonathon. He totally lightened the mood, making her laugh as she watched Blaine reluctantly cave to peer pressure, dropping another five-dollar bill on the table.
“Next time, we meet somewhere else. I can’t afford to keep coming here,” Blaine grumbled, scooting past her as he headed toward the door. Presley chuckled as she and Kady followed. She loved her friends. They did make her feel better.
Chapter Sixteen
One week later
Presley sat quietly at the kitchen table with Roan and his attorney, Trace McKay. Their discussions this week had been outlined to the smallest detail in the pages spread across the kitchen table. Roan had been generous to both her and Maddie. Maybe too much so, but Trace hadn’t bullied her one time or tried to steer her in a different direction. It had been all about making her comfortable and secure.
In fact, she’d spent many hours with Trace this week. He accompanied her for six full days of meeting with Roan’s attorney team, financial planners, and accountants, all while she’d been running her ever-expanding gym and caring for the still very exuberant Maddie. Also toss in the official big move-out from her apartment and the tense lunch date Roan, Presley, Blaine, and Kady had shared—man, her nerves were fried. She ventured a look in Roan’s direction, thinking about that lunch. Roan had garnered his saint status during that meal. No way Presley could have handled all the hate Kady and Blaine had flying at Roan, but he’d shouldered all the blame with such style and grace. He seemed very much the man she’d admired all those years ago. But this was all too much. She was exhausted. Running on fumes. So tired, she lost the worry and anxiousness of all these changes. She just wanted them done and over. Oh, and she wanted Roan to have time to start looking for a new place.
With the humbled grace and always-patient way Roan handled himself with everything changing around him, he was more out of reach than ever before. They had seemed like an episode of Laurel and Hardy—so mismatched. The last six short days had made that an obvious fact. Presley got how someone like Elle would fit with Roan. They were just a class above everyone else. Well, at least the everyone else that included her circle. She was painfully common. She had no style or grace, and after this week, she realized she had two types of clothing: what a teacher wears and gym clothes, all of which came from the thrift store. She couldn’t even go to dinner with Roan and Maddie without feeling like part of the serving staff.
Insecurity and self-preservation had Presley pulling her heels to the edge of the seat and wrapping both arms around her calves, listening to the final totals of Roan’s income. She couldn’t comprehend that kind of money. He made millions of dollars between playing football and his endorsements. He gave her full disclosure and readily agreed to give Maddie everything she needed and so much more. The house had been signed over to Presley, child support set, and she and Maddie became his beneficiaries. Factor in a whole house of new furniture, Maddie a new wardrobe, and a team of painters who built a fairytale mural on top of the exact pink she’d always wanted for her room, and Presley was so in over her head it was almost too much to comprehend.
Dozens of times this week, Presley considered getting her own legal counsel. Her defense mechanisms were in overdrive as her heart kept connecting to all of Roan’s generosity, but in the end, she hadn’t. Roan and his attorney seemed genuinely open and honest. Roan purposefully chose to make everything legal to give her a safety net. Trace gave her more information than she ever would have considered asking for, including the knowledge that Trace was now the attorney for both of them and wouldn’t go back to only representing Roan. Roan and she had had to sign a waiver for conflict of interest to allow that to happen.
In a moment of pure exhaustion, Presley laid her head on her knees and watched Roan sign the last set of papers. That was the deed to the house, making her a homeowner. Wow.
He pushed the document to her. She lifted enough to scribble her name under his and pushed the single slip of paper toward Trace. When the guy talk continued, Presley turned her head in such a way that she could look out the kitchen window and see into the backyard. Maddie had a brand-new swing set and playhouse outside, and she played happily with the new puppy Presley had come home to find last night. That seemed the norm all week. Roan had offered to babysit every night so Maddie didn’t have to go to the gym. All very sweet and thoughtful gestures until Presley realized the ulterior motive. Every night she’d come home to something new and over the top. Maddie wasn’t having near the hard time keeping up with their sudden good fortune.
Realistically, Presley understood that none of this made any sense. Fairytales weren’t real and never came true. Not for women like her. The fear she was missing something monumental always lingered on the edge of everything she did. Most certainly, the rug would eventually be ripped out from underneath her. Her life had become something she didn’t understand, and much like every single day this week, Presley decided it was enough to see how extraordinarily happy her little girl was with all these changes. M
addie had even made a new “best” friend in their small neighborhood.
The fall would happen, but she’d deal when the time came.
Her next step, and the biggest complicating factor right now, was that she wanted Roan to move out of the house. She’d seen a Realtor’s business card lying on the kitchen counter a couple of days ago, but he hadn’t mentioned whether he’d found a new place to live. His presence in the house was both a blessing and a curse, and honestly, the guy was becoming more and more attractive with all the kindness he continually showed. It just sucked so badly trying to remember the emotional distance she must keep with Roan. That was probably the most exhausting and tension-filled part of all.
Like normal, she tried to keep her agitation with this situation in check. When Roan moved, she’d have to find care for Maddie. Right now, with school out, Presley only worked nights. Roan’s schedule required him to leave before she and Maddie ever woke in the mornings. The problem came from the hours the three of them spent together during each day. Roan always stayed this chill, relaxed, helpful guy who had family fun on his mind. They went to the park and to the movies; they had even gone bowling one day, much to Maddie’s delight. Roan was their afternoon social planner and didn’t cross any of Presley’s platonic boundaries, not even one time. He always treated her as a respected friend. Nothing more.
She was having an extraordinarily hard time processing it all.
For Presley, Roan was becoming that larger than life man about campus. The one they all swooned over but were never quite good enough for. The whiplash of all the conflicting sentiment was catching up to her. Presley let out a yawn that turned jaw-cracking wide. Only when done, did she lift her head and look at both men who were staring at her. “I’m sorry. I’m tired.”
