I take a shower and dry my hair. “It’s better this way.” I give myself a pep talk as I slide my blue jeans on. “It’ll be fine. What’s the worst that will happen?” I button my jeans, and they fit me just a touch looser than the last time and then slide on the long-sleeved black shirt. “The worst that can happen is that I see him and tell him that I miss him.” I slip on my black boots and then grab my green army jacket and matching scarf. “I mean, would it be so bad to see him.” I grab a black purse and walk out of the house. “Yes,” I say to myself. “Yes, it would.”
I park in the parking lot, and I take out my phone, texting my brother that I’m here.
Tim: Upstairs sitting at a table.
It’s twenty minutes until he starts playing, so I walk in the same arena that I saw Manning again, and my heart speeds up so fast that I feel like it’s going to come out of my chest. I walk to the back stairs and take a quick look around to see if I see him. I walk up the stairs and see tables everywhere. When I spot my brother, I start walking, and then I see who he is sitting with, and I swear I almost fall on my face. Why? I think to myself. Why the fuck is this happening?
My brother spots me and raises his hand with a smile. Manning turns around and sees me, and I see something flicker in his eyes. I walk over to them. “Hi,” I say to Tim.
“Why are you dressed like you’re a biker?” he jokes, looking down at my boots, and I roll my eyes. “Did you come here on a bike?”
“Yeah,” I say, joking. “I’m an old lady now, and my man is parking the Harley.” I smile and look over at Manning.
“Manning,” Tim says. “This smart-ass is my sister, Evelyn. This is Jaxon’s dad,” Tim says, and I don’t know what to do. Manning leans over and holds out his hand, and I just look at it for a second, not sure I should shake his hand. I don’t want to touch him, but my head has other ideas. My hand slips into his, and I can feel myself shiver.
“It’s nice to meet you,” Manning says softly, and I blink away the tears that come with the sound of his voice. “I’ve heard all about you.”
“If Tim said it, I wouldn’t believe it too much,” I joke with him and slowly let his hand go. I know he doesn’t want to let my hand go. He looks so good, but he has circles under his eyes, and I wonder if he’s having trouble sleeping, too. I wonder if this week has been easy for him. “Where is Veronica?”
“She might come later,” Tim says, and I look around. “Sit down.” He points at the chair between him and Manning. I look at the chair. It’s too close to Manning, and I don’t know how good I’ll be at not leaning over or toward him.
“I’m going to get myself a coffee,” I say to him. “Then I’m going to grab a seat.” I point at the rinks. “Which one is he going to be playing on?”
“That one,” Tim says, pointing at the door. “I’ll meet you in there.”
I smile at Manning. “It was nice meeting you,” I say, and I walk away, hoping not to fall flat on my face. I order a coffee and then walk into the arena, grabbing a seat. I watch as the Zamboni cleans the ice, and then I hear my name being called. I look down to see Caleb and his team lining up by the glass.
“Hi.” I wave to him, and then I see Jaxon beside him. “Hi there.”
“Hi, Evelyn,” Jaxon says, and then they both turn around.
I see Tim approaching, and he sits next to me. “Where is Manning?”
I ask, and he points down toward the door. He sits by himself. “Why is he sitting by himself?” I ask him. “Is it ’cause I’m here?”
“No,” he says. “He always sits by himself. He tried to sit with the parents once, and they introduced all of their family to him, and it was just too much. So he sits by himself now.”
My heart is literally all over the fucking place. “He’s not a circus monkey,” I say, my tone pissed. “God, what is wrong with people?”
“Calm down,” Tim says, laughing. “Besides, he doesn’t want to take away the spotlight from Jaxon, so it’s just easier this way.”
I look over at him, and he looks my way, giving me a small smile. I wish I could sit with him. I wish this whole fucking thing came with an instruction manual. I also wish I hadn’t fucking fell for a married fucking man. Goddammit.
The game starts, and I see Jaxon and Caleb skate together. “They are really good,” I tell Tim, and he nods his head. “Are you one of those hockey parents who yells?” I ask, laughing. My laughter fills the arena, and I have a couple of people look at me.
The game starts, and I have to admit I am into it more than I thought. “Hey!” I shout when I see a kid hit Jaxon and then hit Caleb. “That is not nice,” I tell Tim, and he laughs. I try to keep my eyes away from Manning. I try so hard, but by the end of the second period, I have to pee so bad. I get up and pass the seat that Manning was sitting in, and I see that it’s empty, and I wonder if he had to leave for work. I look around for the signs to the bathroom. I walk to the end, my head down as I turn the corner of the brick wall and smack straight into someone. I don’t have to look up to know who it is. I would know his touch anywhere. I would know his smell with my eyes closed. My body wakes up as soon as I look at his hands that are holding my arms. “I’m sorry,” I say, looking up at him.
A smile fills his face. “This reminds me of the first time we met,” he says, his voice low as we stand here.
“I really need to watch where I’m going,” I say to him as neither of us makes a move to walk away.
“Never a third without a second,” he says to me, repeating the words he told me, and my heart pitter-patters in my chest.
“So I’ve been told.” I laugh nervously, and I look up at him. His eyes are a clear blue as he smiles down at me. It’s the look he always gives me. It’s a look I’ve had etched in my memory since we first met.
“You’re beautiful,” he says as his hand moves from my arm to my cheek, and I want to turn my face and kiss his hand. “I miss you,” he says. The same words I’m thinking and want to say to him. “I think about you all the time.”
“I know.” Those are the only two words that come out. “It’s been hard.” I tell him the truth. “I faked sick for two days.”
“I know,” he says, his hand falling from my face. “I was away for three days, so it made it a little easier. But then seeing you walk in here.”
He swallows, and I swear I feel like it’s just the two of us. I hear cheering coming from somewhere, but right now, right here, it’s just him and me. “You walked in, and I felt settled if that even makes sense. For this whole week, I’ve felt like I had all these balls in the air.” I listen to him as he tries to get out what he has to say as fast as he can before someone comes our way. “But the minute I turned around, it was just peace. It was just you.”
“Manning.” I whisper his name, and I’m about to say something else when I hear the sound of heels coming our way, getting louder and louder.
I take a step away from him, but he doesn’t move. “Well, well, well.” I hear and look up to see his wife. “What do we have here?” she says, looking at me and then at Manning.
Chapter 25
Manning
“Well, well, well.” I hear and look up to see Murielle. “What do we have here?” she says, looking at me and then at Evelyn. She crosses her arms over her chest. “Is this a secret meeting I don’t know about?” She smiles, but there is nothing friendly in her smile. There is nothing friendly when it comes to Murielle.
“Murielle, you remember Tim’s sister.”
“Right,” she says, coming to stand next to me. “Evangeline, isn’t it?”
“Actually, it’s Evelyn,” she says, now giving us her own fake smile. “It’s nice to meet you again. I was just telling Manning what a special boy you have.”
“He really is,” she agrees and nods her head. She tries to grab my hand, but I put it in my pocket, so then she wraps her arm around my waist. “Just like his father.”
Evelyn looks like she wants the floor to swallow her. “Well,
it was nice seeing you again, Evelyn,” I say and then walk around her.
“Yes, it was nice to see you again,” Murielle says, and I hear her shoes clicking on the floor. She joins me, and I look over my shoulder to see that Evelyn didn’t follow. I want to go back and make sure she is okay.
“You have got to be kidding me,” Murielle says between clenched teeth. I don’t have time to ask her what she is talking about because I open the arena door and make my way over to the seat where I was sitting before.
I’m expecting Murielle to walk to the other parents like she usually does when she shows up for a game. Nothing like basking in the glory of your son. She gets it at the hockey games with me, and then she gets it here, too. It strokes her ego more than anyone knows.
“Why are you sitting here?” I ask, and she just stares ahead. “I thought you had such a busy day that you couldn’t come.”
“I’m sure you would have liked that.” She glares at me now, her voice low. I stare at the game, and then I see movement from the side, and I look down the ice and see that Evelyn is back sitting next to Tim.
I try to get her attention a couple of times, but she never looks down this way. Her eyes never leave the ice, and when the game finishes, she is the first one out of her seat. She doesn’t move from beside Tim.
“I have to go,” I say, getting up. “I want to get a nap in before the game tonight.”
“I’m bringing Jaxon tonight,” she says from her seat, getting up at the same time I get up. “When do you leave?”
“Monday morning,” I say. “Back on Wednesday afternoon. Are you going to wait for Jaxon?”
“He is my son,” she snaps, and I just look at her.
“At least you remember sometimes,” I say and don’t wait for her to answer before walking out of the arena. I sit in my car for longer than I need to, checking to see if she walks out. I know that I’m chancing it by sitting here, but something in me won’t leave.
It takes twenty minutes, but I see her walk out with Tim as she holds Caleb’s hand, who smiles at her. She is so fucking beautiful. I can’t breathe when I look at her. I spot Jaxon coming out next, no smile on his face as Murielle walks beside him, letting him carry his own bag.
Pulling out of the arena, I call Becca. “Manning,” she says my name as she answers. “My favorite client.”
I laugh at her. “You mean the one who makes you a lot of money.”
“That means the same thing.” She laughs now. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”
“Becca, I’m losing my mind.” I start to say. “You have to tell your guy to speed shit up.”
“Manning, how do you want him to speed things up exactly?” she asks me.
“I can’t take it much longer,” I admit. “I can’t.”
“You’ve lasted four years,” she reminds me, and I want to tell her I lasted four years because I wasn’t living. I want to tell her that the only reason I lasted that long was because I didn’t know what I was missing. I knew nothing. “You can last a couple of more weeks.”
“A couple of weeks?” I shout. “Fuck, no.”
“Let me call him and see what he has for me,” she says, and she hangs up. I get home and walk up to my bedroom, and my nap is nonexistent.
When the alarm rings, my eyes are already open. Getting up, I shout down the stairs for Jaxon, and he runs up to my room. He sits in the middle of my bed as I get ready. “So how do you think you played?”
“Good,” he says. “The other team was bigger.”
“And?” I look at him. “What excuse is that? You’re faster than them.” I slip on my pants while I talk to him. “They get in your head. You have to think that you are ten feet tall. That is what I do.”
“But you’re huge,” he says, and I laugh.
“I wasn’t always huge. Where is your mom?” I ask.
“She went out when she dropped me off,” he says, and I stop dressing.
“What do you mean?” I ask him, my heart beating fast. Yes, I was home, but my door was closed. Had I known, I would have left my door open.
“She had an appointment to do her glam,” he says, and then the front door opens and closes.
“Hello!” she shouts up the stairs. “Jaxon. Manning.”
“I’m in Dad’s room!” he yells, getting off the bed and going out of the room to the railing. “I’m here.”
“Do you want a snack before I go and get ready?” she asks, and I slip on my shoes as Jaxon walks down the stairs to the kitchen. I slip on my cuff links and my Rolex watch. Running my hands through my hair, I walk down the stairs. I stop in the family room, first seeing him sitting there eating a snack while he watches some cartoons.
I walk into the kitchen, grabbing a water bottle, and I see Murielle sitting at the island. I look at her and see that there is no fucking glam done to her face; she looks like she did the last time I saw her. Her hair isn’t even done differently. “I thought you went to get ‘glam’?” I ask her, closing the fridge, turning to look at her.
“Now you care where I go.” She shakes her head. “You have some fucking nerve.”
“Oh,” I say, opening the water bottle and drinking a sip of the cold water. “I don’t give a shit if you went to join the circus and never came back. I give a shit that you left our son home alone.” I put the water bottle down on the counter, then lean back on it. “That is what I care about.”
“You were here,” she points out, “which means he wasn’t alone. He was with a parent.” She cocks her head to the side, and I see that her hair is a bit messed up. I wonder if she went to meet her trainer. Not that I give a shit. She could fuck him at center ice during overtime, and I would not even blink an eye or care. “This isn’t about Jaxon, and you know it,” she hisses, then laughs bitterly. “So tell me, Mr. Fucking Perfect,” her words dripping with hatred, “is she the reason you’ve been fucking moping around all this fucking week?”
My mouth gets dry, but I refuse to let her see any of my emotions. I stare at her, our eyes locked on each other as she tries to get under my skin, but I won’t let her have any of that. She doesn’t get a piece of that. She doesn’t get to touch what I have with Evelyn. Not now and not fucking ever. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
I don’t know if that is the right thing to say to her, but with the way her eyes stare daggers at me, I know it’s not. “That fucking bitch you were giving goo-goo eyes to at the arena. In front of fucking everyone.” She slaps her hand on the counter, and her voice starts to go higher.
“You better lower your voice, Murielle.” My tone comes out tight as my neck starts to get hot.
“You are insane.” She looks at me. “To fuck someone who knows our kid. The backlash from that would be huge. Not to mention how disrespectful it is to me.”
“Disrespectful?” My hands clench into fists while she talks. “You fuck your trainer in my fucking house that I pay for. You fuck him in the gym that my hard work built. You want to talk about disrespect, Murielle? You are barking up the wrong tree.”
“Do you know how it would look if someone caught you two?” she asks, and I look at her. “What do you think they would have said?”
“I don’t know what you think you saw.” I put one hand on the counter and act like she saw nothing. But in reality, I want to kick myself for letting her see that Evelyn has a hold on me. “But nothing was going on. She was talking to me about Jaxon.” I brush it off as nothing.
“Don’t fucking lie to me!” she yells, and I glare at her. “For this whole fucking week, you’ve looked like someone stole your dog. You went to work, came home, ate, and then sat on the couch with Jaxon, and then you went upstairs.” I look at her. “Then I see you with that bitch, and all of a sudden, it clicks into place. So what’s the story? She break up with you? Kicked your ass to the curb when she realized how fucking boring you were?”
I have to choose my words wisely right now to make sure she stops looking at Evelyn. “Did it ever occur
to you that I was miserable this week because I’m stuck here in this fucking house with you?” She folds her arms over her chest and rolls her eyes. “Did it ever fucking occur to you that staying here with you is killing me?”
“You are so fucking dramatic,” she hisses. “And don’t think I don’t know that you are changing the subject. The next time I see her, don’t think I won’t have words with her.”
My heart beats so fast in my chest, and my hands itch to throw the water bottle against the wall. “Do it,” I tell her, pretending I don’t care. “I beg you to do it.” I chuckle. “I want you to do it so everyone can see what I get to see every single day. That you’re unhinged and crazy.” I use my finger to do a circle near the temple of my head. “It might just be what I need to get you the fuck out of my life.” I open the water bottle again and smile at her before taking a sip of water.
If looks could kill me, I would die in that room. “Fuck you, Manning,” she hisses, and I smile as big as I can.
“No, Murielle, fuck you,” I say, pushing off the counter and walking out to my SUV. Only when I’m in the privacy of my own vehicle do I let out the breath I’ve been holding this whole time. Only when I’m alone do I let my head hang with defeat.
Chapter 26
Evelyn
“Good morning,” I say to Chantal, putting a Starbucks cup on her desk, and she smiles at me.
“You spoil me,” she says, picking up her coffee and following me into my office.
“It is pouring rain out there,” I say, taking off my beige Burberry rain jacket.
“One of these days, I’m going to beg to come over to your house and go through your closet,” she says, looking at my outfit. I am wearing a high waisted gray pencil skirt that hugs me tight to my knees. The black cotton short-sleeved cross-over shirt is tied at the side. “Especially your shoe closet,” she says of my gray stilettos with a thin metal heel.
Only One Night (Only One Series 3) Page 14