RUNNING GAME (A SECOND CHANCE SPORTS ROMANCE)

by Nikki Wild

  “Maisey, I need to ask you a question and I need you to tell me the truth,” he turned to me, his blue eyes peering deeply into mine.

  I nodded, unable to tear my eyes away from his.

  “Why did you leave Ault? Why did you leave that day? Why didn’t you wait a week, like you were supposed to?”

  “I told you, Jesse,” I replied. “It was just time for me to go.”

  “But why? Why that day?”

  “Why are you asking me all these questions?” I asked, my voice rising. “We’ve already gone over all of this, and you know how bad I had it there. My life was a goddamned mess.”

  “I need real answers now, Maisey.”

  “What does it matter, Jesse? It was so long ago.”

  “Ten.”

  “What?”

  “Ten years. That’s how long ago it was.”

  “Right, wh-whatever,” I said, my words tripping over each other. I felt trapped in a corner, and I wanted out - fast.

  “How old is Maddy?” he asked, his voice quiet as a whisper. I froze in my spot, my eyes darting away from his. I couldn’t look at him.

  “Nine,” I whispered.

  “Maisey, you’re going to have to talk to me about this…”

  I looked away, I looked at the neighbor’s house, my lawn, the Volvo in my driveway, and Jesse’s long and low Jaguar sitting next to it with Grady inside at the wheel…

  I looked anywhere but at him.

  He knew.

  Somehow, he’d figured it out.

  And I had no idea how to face him.

  “Maisey, look at me.”

  I bit my lip, my hands wringing in my lap furiously, until he reached over and grabbed one of them in his huge palm. His touch was hot. Too hot. Too real.

  I pulled my hand away and stood up, walking to the other side of the porch, ignoring his questions.

  The swing squeaked as he stood up behind me, his footsteps falling loud behind me. His hands clasped my shoulders, pulling me around to face him. He put a finger under my chin, raising my eyes to his.

  “Tell me the truth, Maisey,” he said, his voice so loud, so clear, so demanding. “Is Maddy my daughter?”

  “Jesse,” I said, my eyes filling with tears as I looked up at him. “I’m so sorry.”

  “She’s mine?” he asked.

  “Yes, you’re her father,” I said, a huge sense of relief washing over me as I said the words.

  “Oh, my God…” he whispered, his eyes searching mine frantically.

  The clanging of the screen door behind him startled us both and we jumped. Maddy’s footsteps rang out through the house as she ran up the stairs and into her room. The sound of her door slamming vibrated through me violently. She’d heard everything…

  “Maddy!” I yelled, running for the front door.

  “Don’t!” Jesse said, grabbing my arms and stopping me. “Give her a minute and we’ll go talk to her, together…”

  I collapsed into his arms, my sobs echoing up to the sky above us.

  37

  JESSE

  “How could you do this?” I asked Maisey, pushing her away. I wasn’t angry, I was just bewildered. I didn’t understand how she could keep this a secret from me all along.

  “You said you didn’t want children,” she said, the muffled words sounding as if they were being wrenched from her soul. She was in so much pain, it hurt to look at her. I wanted to take her into my arms, soothe her, comfort her, but I was so confused and fucked-up, I didn’t know which way to move.

  “What are you talking about? When did I say that? I love children!” I said.

  “Back then. In Ault. Before we even had sex, don’t you remember?”

  “No, I don’t. But for fuck’s sake, Maisey, I was eighteen! No eighteen year old wants kids!”

  “Jesse, I didn’t want to get in the way of your dreams. You had such big plans. And look at you, you’ve achieved them.”

  “You think I wouldn’t have achieved them if we had a kid?”

  “No, I don’t. And don’t lie to yourself and tell yourself differently, either. I gave you a gift.”

  “A gift?!” I asked, incredulously. “You took away the first ten years I should have had with my daughter!”

  “I was eighteen too… I made a mistake Jesse. I made a big stupid mistake and I couldn’t fix it. One day led to another. One year to another. I couldn’t bring myself to tell you… I understand you’re upset,” she said, her eyes darting up the staircase. “But she’s upset. I can’t leave her alone. Please just leave. I’ll call you later.”

  “You want me to just leave?!” I couldn’t believe her. “I’m not going anywhere. Go, go check on her. But I’ll be here waiting when you come back down. We have a lot to talk about, Maisey.”

  “Fuck,” she shook her head, let out a huge sigh and turned and ran up the stairs.

  So it was all true. I couldn’t believe it. I had a daughter. A real, living breathing daughter. And she was right upstairs.

  It was all too much to take in, and I felt anger bubbling just under the surface, but I was determined to keep it at bay. Anger wouldn’t help anything in this situation. I had to do my best to keep my cool, to stay calm.

  I limped around their living room and picked up a picture on the mantle - Maisey and Maddy were at a carnival with a huge ferris wheel looming in the background. I gasped when I saw Maddy’s face. She was almost dangerously thin, her vulnerability shining in those bright eyes… My eyes.

  “Unbelievable,” I whispered. “A daughter. My daughter.”

  My heart swelled with a love I’d never felt before. It pushed away all the anger and frustration, leaving nothing but an unfamiliar purity that threatened to burst my heart wide open.

  38

  MAISEY

  “Maddy?” I whispered outside her door, knocking lightly. I had no idea what I was going to say to her. I had no idea how I was going to explain. My hands were shaking as I turned her doorknob, slowing peeking in.

  Empty.

  “Maddy? Maddy!” I cried, looking around her room frantically. I ran into her bathroom, but she wasn’t there either. I turned around and spotted the open window, her pink lace curtains blowing in the breeze. “Maddy!” I ran over and looked out the window, but she was nowhere to be seen. I turned back around and saw Jesse standing at her door, his eyes wide as he held a picture of us in his hand.

  “She’s gone,” I cried, my voice shaking as I sank to the floor.

  Jesse ran over, pulled me to my feet, and peered into my eyes.

  “Let’s find her,” he said, pulling me close to his warm body. “She’s just upset. We’ll figure it out.”

  “Oh, Jesse…” I cried, tears falling down my face. “I’ve screwed everything up. Everything!”

  “Shhh, we’ll fix it. We’ll sort it out. You gotta get a grip on yourself, so we can find her, okay?”

  I nodded, staring up at him. I felt so lost, so out of my element that I had no idea what to do. I leaned into him, sobbing uncontrollably.

  “Calm down, Maisey! Now, where would she go?”

  “I don’t know!”

  “C’mon, let’s get in my car. We’ll find her. She can’t be far.”

  Jesse dragged me to my feet and we ran downstairs. I grabbed my phone and keys and we rushed out to his car. Grady was waiting behind the wheel as we jumped into the back.

  “Did you see which way the girl went, Grady?” Jesse asked. “We gotta find her.”

  “I think she ran around the corner there,” Grady said, backing up.

  Terror gripped my heart like nothing I’d ever known. It wasn’t just that she’d run away… Maddy couldn’t run.

  “Wait!” I said, just as he began to back up. I threw open the door and ran back inside as fast as my legs could carry me. I grabbed Maddy’s inhaler from the kitchen counter and made my way quickly back to the car.

  “She’s sick, she needs this,” I said, my voice shaking with fear. Grady backed up and began d
riving around the neighborhood as we searched for her.

  “She has asthma?” Jesse asked.

  “I don’t know. Nobody knows. The doctors are useless. We can talk about this later, we need to find her right now! If she’s upset and running fast, she won’t be able to breathe!” I cried. “We have to find her fast, Jesse.”

  “We’ll find her, don’t worry. Just stay calm.”

  “Okay, okay….turn left here, maybe she went to the park.” Grady turned and we drove through the neighborhood, through peaceful, calm home fronts that reflected the complete opposite of the turmoil that was churning inside of me.

  “Maisey - tell me about her symptoms,” Jesse said.

  “What? Why?”

  “Just fucking do it, tell me what happens to her,” he insisted.

  “It looks like just like asthma, only her attacks are getting worse as she gets older. They hit out of the blue, sometimes they wake her up. She’s been on a dozen different treatments and medications. Sometimes they work, sometimes they don’t. There’s no pattern.”

  “Maisey, I know what it is,” he said, his voice low and serious.

  “What? What do you mean?” I asked. How could he know? He hadn’t even met Maddy yet.

  “My sister, Maisey! Nina!” he yelled. “If Maddy’s my daughter, then she has the same condition as my sister! It effects the females in my family.”

  “Oh, my God! Jesse!” I said, my head spinning.

  “We’ve got to find her, Maisey. If we can get her to a doctor, we can get her help. It’s her heart, Maisey. There’ve been so many breakthroughs since Nina died! I’ve spent a damn fortune on research and development of treatment and a cure. Everybody thought Nina had asthma too… We didn’t know what was wrong until it was too late, but now there’s help for these kids. There’s help for Maddy.”

  “I can’t think about this right now… I just can’t. Turn right here,” I murmured with a huge lump in my throat. We got to the park and I told Grady to pull over so I could jump out. Jesse and I ran around the park calling her name and looking for her. I could see he was in pain as he moved faster than he had any business moving at this point in his therapy, but I wasn’t about to stop him. We had to find her… It was getting dark and it was taking all my strength not to break down completely.

  “Think, Maisey. There’s gotta be somewhere else Maddy would go. Someone she trusts? A favorite place?”

  “Oh! Of course!” I cried, grabbing Jesse’s hand and running back to his car. “Eddie! I bet she went to see Eddie!”

  39

  JESSE

  “He’s not answering,” Maisey said, her voice quivering in fear as she hung up her phone. I glanced over at her as Grady raced through the neighborhood towards Eddie’s house. I reached over and grabbed her hand, squeezing it.

  “We’ll find her,” I said.

  “Maybe I should call the police?” she asked.

  “How far are we from Eddie’s?”

  “About two minutes,” she replied.

  “If she isn’t there, we’ll call the police,” I said. “Don’t worry.”

  Her eyes were frantically searching every corner and alley we passed. “She’s everything to me.”

  “I know, Maisey. Stay calm. She’s upset, that’s all.”

  “She’s never done this before…” her voice trailed off.

  “What did you tell her?” I asked. “About me? About her father?”

  “I didn’t really have to say much. She never asked a lot of questions. I just told her you weren’t in our lives, that it was just the two of us. It’s always been like that, she didn’t know any different.”

  “I see,” I replied, biting my tongue. I was angry, that much was undeniable. But I would deal with my anger later because right now none of that mattered, and I knew it. The past was the past. I had to deal with what was in front of me right now and nothing more. Once we found Maddy, we’d come to terms with everything else one thing at a time. Miraculously, my anger was being overshadowed by worry and love.

  “Jesse, I’m so sorry. I thought I was doing the right thing at the time,” Maisey said, her voice full of sorrow and regret.

  “We were just kids, Maisey. We both were. You should have come to me, we would have figured things out together. You didn’t have to do it alone.”

  “I told myself it was the right thing to do, it was the only way,” she said, shaking her head. I took a minute to watch the tears streaming down her beautiful face. “I was so wrong. I fucked everything up.”

  “Maisey, stop it. We’ll figure this out,” I squeezed her hand harder. “We’re together now. That’s all that matters. The past is in the fucking past.Right now, we just need to focus on finding Maddy and getting her to the best doctors in Colorado. I know all the leading specialists.”

  “I never even thought of it being genetic, Jesse,” she said. “You’re so healthy… So strong…”

  “Don’t blame yourself, Maisey. You did what you thought was right at the time. That’s the best any of us can do.”

  “You’re amazing,” she said, looking over at me.

  “So are you, babe,” I replied. “You’ve been strong for so long. Let me be the strong one now, okay?”

  She nodded, the tears flowing faster now, as she squeezed my hand back.

  Two minutes later, we pulled up in front of a pink bungalow with purple trim, surrounded by elaborate and meticulous gardens on each side, and a huge rainbow flag hanging by the front porch. Grady parked in front of it, and Maisey jumped out, running up the curved walkway and ringing the bell. I followed behind her, my heart racing as we waited.

  “Eddie!” Maisey pounded on the front door and after a few seconds, a very large, very made-up man in a gold sequined floor-length gown answered the door.

  “She’s here! She’s here, calm down!” he said, his voice high and feminine as he flung open the door, gesturing for us to come in. “She’s upset and she’s in my back den, but she’s calming down now. Best to let her be for a bit. I was just getting ready for work,” he said, as we walked in past him. His gaze raked over me like I was a pork chop on a platter, and I cringed when he licked his lips. “Who are you, pretty boy?”

  “Eddie, this is my friend, Jesse,” Maisey said.

  “Jesse, huh? You look familiar - oh, yes!” Eddie exclaimed. “Jesse Colorado! I saw you in an underwear ad in GQ, last month, didn’t I?”

  “Yeah, I guess. Nice to meet you, Eddie,” I said, extending my hand. Eddie gripped it strongly, pumping it up and down as he looked at me suspiciously. “Why are you here, exactly?”

  “I - um, well —,” I was at a loss for words, and I looked over to Maisey for help.

  “Jesse and I went to high school together,” Maisey explained.

  “Uh-huh? And?” he asked.

  “Eddie, Jesus! Okay, look! Jesse is Maddy’s father. She overheard us talking about it on the porch and she ran out - she ran away.”

  “Oh, dear! Wow,” Eddie replied, his eyes widening in surprise. “Her father, huh? This is big…” he said, turning to Maisey and elbowing her. “Damn, Maisey, you sure can keep a secret, can’t you, girlfriend? I can’t believe you never told me.”

  “I never told anyone!” Maisey protested.

  “I just found out myself,” I said quietly.

  “Ohhh! The story gets even juicier!” Eddie said, clapping his hands together gleefully.

  “I’m so glad this is entertaining you, but that’s not why we’re here, Eddie. Did Maddy say anything to you?”

  “Not really. She just said she needed to get away, and asked if she could watch TV. She’s only been here about ten minutes.”

  “Okay,” Maisey said, taking a deep breath and squaring her shoulders. “I’ll go talk to her.”

  She turned to walk away and disappeared down a hall, leaving Eddie and I alone in his living room. He turned to me, his dark lined eyes full of questions.

  “You look like you could use a drink,” he said, fli
pping his curly auburn wig over his shoulders.

  “A drink sounds good, but it’s probably best if I wait on that,” I said, gesturing to the back room.

  “Oh? Handsome, rich and responsible, huh? So far so good,” he laughed, turning to walk in the kitchen. I followed behind him, watching the exaggerated sway of his hips. “I can’t believe Maisey never told me about you.”

  “Maisey likes to keep things to herself,” I replied, dryly, as I watched him pour himself a drink.

  “Apparently,” he laughed. “She’s a good woman, though. I’m sure she had her reasons. She’s not the reckless type.”

  “We were young,” I explained. “It was a long time ago.”

  “True,” he agreed, “and now here we are. Not so young anymore.”

  “Here we are,” I nodded, allowing a small smile to cross my face for the first time today. “Here we are…”

  40

  MAISEY

  I walked down the hallway that led to Eddie’s back den, clutching Maddy’s inhaler and trying to figure out what I was going to say to her. I’d imagined this conversation a million times in my head, and it had never played out like this. All my practiced speeches and explanations abandoned me, leaving my brain a tangled mess of confusion and uncertainty.

  I walked down the few carpeted stairs that led into Eddie’s den, and saw Maddy watching television, eating a banana with Snowflake in her arms and sitting in front of the open sliding glass door that led to the backyard. It was dark out, and the light from the television cast a dim glow across the room.

  “Hey,” I whispered.

  She glanced up at me quickly and then looked away.

  Slowly, I walked into the room and sat down beside her.

  “Maddy, we need to talk,” I said. Her eyes flashed over at me, and I could see she was angry.

  “Who is that man?” she asked, her voice quiet as a whisper.

  “His name is Jesse. He’s my friend.”