Game On

by Barbara Oliverio

  “How could you do that?”

  “If it were true, I could. But you’re missing the point here. I didn’t know if it was true or not, so I couldn’t report it.”

  He paused. “You’re right, you’re right. You have a responsibility to get the truth out.”

  “Thank you.”

  “But, Maisie, you’re telling me there was no proof at all?”

  “I don’t know. I just know there wasn’t any at the time they asked me to go on the air. I had to hold on to my professional ethics. And my personal ethics for that matter.”

  “Well, I would have expected nothing less. You’re a good person.” His tone softened and he sounded proud.

  “Thank you, Daddy.” I turned away from Addison so she wouldn’t see my eyes tear up.

  “So. What now? Do they reprimand you?”

  “Wellllll ...”

  “Are you telling me that they let you go? That’s ridiculous!” Gruff Coach Valenti was back.

  “I know.”

  “Call your brother. He left home awhile ago, but you might catch him at the airport. We don’t have a lawyer in the family for nothing.”

  I smiled. Anthony had pegged what Pop’s response would be.

  “He actually called me, and he’s on his way here.”

  “How did he know? The broadcast was only minutes ago.”

  “Addy called him. She’s here with me now.”

  “Addy? I like her. Your brother should hold on to that one. She’s a keeper.”

  “I think so, too.” I grabbed Addison’s hand and smiled at her.

  “Well, Maisie. Do you need me to come over?”

  “Not right now, Pop. I’m sure I’ll need your advice, but I’ll wait for Anthony and see what he and Addison can find in the paperwork.”

  “Okay, but you call me the minute you need anything. And you better let your mother know. She can’t find this out from strangers.”

  Ouch. He was right.

  “I will.”

  “And your other brothers.”

  “I will.”

  “I love you, baby girl.”

  “I love you, too, Daddy.”

  I was silent for a moment after I hung up.

  “Your family is amazing,” Addison said.

  “What? I just think we’re an ordinary family.”

  “Seriously? Don’t you ever notice how you interact?”

  “You mean how my brothers pummel on me? How my mother feeds us until we burst? How my father is the quintessential coach twenty-four hours a day?”

  Addison hit me with a pillow. “You blockhead.”

  “Hey!” I hadn’t ever heard Addison use that word before. I think she was hanging around my brothers too much.

  “Your family is great. Be thankful.”

  I took the pillow from her and returned the hit. “With the ability to hit like that, you’ll fit right in.”

  I should be careful. I didn’t know if she was officially going to be “in.” Was that what the champagne was for? I couldn’t just come out and ask her if she didn’t tell me. By the way Pop spoke about her, they obviously hadn’t told him about any sort of engagement. Yikes. I had too much to think about to worry about Anthony’s love life.

  Her phone rang, and we stared at each other.

  “Anthony didn’t tell us what to do if YOUR phone rang,” I said.

  She looked at the screen. “It’s Mathis.” She looked up.

  “I think you have to answer it, or it will look suspicious.”

  She nodded, cleared her throat, and swiftly turned into Office Addison. “Addison Thornton.”

  Since I could only hear one side of the conversation, I could only deduce that Mathis was looking for her and that he was surprised she had taken the day off. The give-and-take was terse before she was able to speak at length.

  “I’m certain that I’ve thought through my resignation carefully, and if you read my letter, you will see that I’ve outlined my reasons clearly. And, no, I’m not available right now to begin ‘just one last project’ because it might linger on. Is that all you needed, Mathis? I’m in the middle of something and need to get back to it. I’ll see you in the morning.”

  She clicked off.

  “Smooth, Addy.” I was glad that I had her in my corner.

  “Of course. I’ve been dealing with that man for a long time.”

  “Do you think he wanted to talk about my situation?” I asked.

  “Probably. But I wasn’t lying. I can’t start any project that might linger. Trust me, this one will.”

  “If you don’t mind me asking, what was the reason you gave for resigning?”

  “I just said I was exploring other options. It’s a perfectly valid reason.”

  “You would know.” I switched topics. “We should find the video of the story. It won’t be easy to watch, but we need to see it.”

  She opened her phone and didn’t have to look very hard. A search for “Nelson Humbert” yielded that news story for the first dozen hits. “Every sports news outlet has already picked it up!”

  I shook my head. “What did you expect? Everyone loves a scandal.”

  Poor Nelson Humbert. A naturally shy person, he was blindsided by Calliope and her attack of questions. The moment I saw their exchange, I could tell that the rumor was just that, a rumor. Intuitively, I knew this kid was no bank robber.

  I felt sick as I watched Calliope chase him through the aisle of a grocery store while he was there with an older woman, who I remembered as his mother from footage of his Heisman win. As Calliope and her crew hassled him, he avoided obstacles in the aisles the same as he avoided linemen on the field, while comforting his bewildered, weeping mother. They dashed to the parking lot to find their car, leaving their grocery cart behind.

  A triumphant Calliope turned to the camera, her feline eyes glistening. She had bagged a trophy, and she was proud. At that moment, it was confirmation to me that she was not in the business to be a sports reporter. She was after some other sort of stardom—the kind I never wanted and never would want. She even encouraged the cameraman to zoom in and focus on the grocery cart, which held such pedestrian items as milk, eggs, cereal, and laundry detergent. I was furious.

  “Nelson’s mother was widowed, and she scrimped and saved to raise him and his siblings,” I fumed. “He’s the kind of person who would be happy that he could finally do something in return for her, like buy her the staples of life with his new salary.”

  I mused, “Do you suppose Calliope’s worried about what the consequences will be for Nelson?”

  “Of course not,” Addison said.

  “Can you imagine that she’s even thought about what the consequences will be for her?”

  “Ah, but I think she has. Calliope is very calculating. She knows that she’ll be able to slide out of this in some way if it turns negative for her.” Addison sounded certain.

  “Awful.”

  “Of course.”

  Thinking of Nelson’s mother reminded me of mine. I needed to call her, so I did, but was slightly disappointed when she answered. I would rather have left a message and dealt with an actual conversation later.

  “Maisie! Darling, I was just thinking of you. Lucy and the kids are coming over to bake cookies Saturday morning. Would you like to come?”

  “Um …”

  “Do you think that Addy would want to come? I know Anthony won’t be here, but we know her well enough that we can ask her for a ‘girls’ morning,’ don’t you think? Check with her since you are there with her at the office.”

  “Okay. First, I think Addy would always be tickled to be invited over to bake cookies with us and the kids.” I looked over at her, and was pleased with how Addison’s smile brightened and how she nodded vigorously. I had to continue with the not-so-bright news, however.

  “But, Ma, I need to tell you something.” I put my hand over my eyes and jumped into it.

  “Oh, my sweet Maisie! What are you going to do?” Ma
consoled.

  “Anthony is coming over here to my apartment, and Addy is already here, so we’re going to see if there is anything we can figure out.”

  “You can trust your brother.”

  “I know I can.”

  “Just think of that poor boy and his family!”

  “I know Ma. But there’s nothing anyone can do for him unless he has an alibi.”

  “I’m sure you’ll do whatever you can to help him. Do you need me right now?”

  “I always need you, Ma. But I’ll get back to you after we’ve looked at this further.” As much as I would have appreciated her comfort and whatever wonderful dish she would have brought over, I really didn’t want to complicate things at the moment.

  “Well, you call me. Or come over. Oh, and don’t forget the cookies! Saturday will be a day we need to make them one way or another!”

  We disconnected, and for several seconds I felt oddly numb from the reality of what was happening. All I could do was stare at my phone.

  I shook it off and remembered to tell Addison, “We might be making cookies at Ma’s house with Lucy and the kids on Saturday.”

  “What do you mean ‘might’?”

  “Well …” I gestured toward the paperwork on the table.

  The doorbell rang, and we jumped.

  “That has to be Tony,” Addison laughed and went to the door.

  “Oh,” she said as she peeped through the fish-eye.

  “Is it Anthony?”

  She looked back at me, then turned and opened the door to reveal Alek.

  31

  I jumped up.

  “Addison,” he said to her, then looked over at me questioningly. He had on a suit, his tie pulled askew. Where on earth was he going to or coming from?

  “Mais.”

  “Hey, Alek.”

  “Well. I have a few phone calls to make,” she said. “You don’t mind if I duck into your bedroom, do you?”

  Addison was off, and Alek and I were alone. Neither of us moved from our spots.

  “Um, it’s not that formal here. You didn’t need to put on a suit.” My lame attempt at a joke.

  “Funeral.”

  “Ha.” Oh. Wait. He wasn’t joking. Gulp.

  “Nana—Mrs. Morton—died Saturday night.” He entered hesitantly, closed the door, and shoved his hands in his pants pockets.

  “What! Oh Alek, I’m so sorry. Saturday night? It must have been right after we visited.” I moved a few steps closer.

  “It was. My mother called me right after I got home. I grabbed a few things and headed straight back there. The funeral was this morning.”

  I did an internal facepalm, remembering the message I’d left him saying that somebody had better be dead if he wasn’t answering my calls.

  He took an uneasy few steps toward me.

  “Maisie, I have to apologize for losing my temper—”

  “No, no … it was all me …” More steps toward him from me.

  We stared at one another. By this time, we had inched close enough to be toe to toe.

  Alek pulled his hands from his pockets and embraced me, and my arms moved around his neck in a natural way.

  “I couldn’t bear to think that you were angry at me,” I murmured and looked up into his slate gray eyes.

  “Me neither.”

  He pushed my hair back from my face. And then we locked into a steamy kiss and were lost until I swore I could hear bells.

  I did hear bells. My doorbell, to be exact.

  We reluctantly pulled apart in time to see Addison stroll past us.

  “Don’t mind me,” she said with a wry look as she opened the door for my brother Anthony.

  “Took you guys long enough,” he complained. “Whoa. What’s this?”

  With his eyebrows scrunched, he took in the fact that Alek and I were locked tight. We sprang apart, and I attempted to straighten my clothes and hair, but Addison came to our rescue.

  “Tony, don’t pretend you didn’t know this was inevitable. You saw these two mooning away at each other at the gala.” She reached up for a kiss of her own from my brother, while Alek and I both lamely protested.

  “Bup, bup, bup … you two can fool anyone else, but you can’t fool me.” Addison waved her hands then gestured for us to move toward the couch and chairs to sit.

  Alek and I looked at each other and, with shining eyes, shrugged and gave in. We sat with fingers interlaced.

  “How did you even know to come here, Alek?” I asked. “You didn’t answer any of my messages.”

  “On the trip back to Nebraska, I accidentally let my phone charge die. Yesterday, we were so busy with the funeral plans, I just didn’t pay attention. Then today, I saw the broadcast on TV at the house, and I figured something fishy was going on. I tried to call you, but you didn’t answer.”

  Oh, right. That was when I wasn’t answering any strange numbers.

  “I tried the office and finally got the story from the guys. After the burial, I tore out of Nebraska because I figured you’d want a friendly face—and I, well, I needed to apologize.”

  He kissed my hand.

  “I was the one who needed to apologize—” I started.

  “Look, I’m going to assume you both did something stupid,” Anthony broke in impatiently, “so let’s agree that you are both sorry and that you both accept the apologies. Now we really need to get to the issue at hand.”

  “Hey!” I reached my leg over and kicked him.

  “What?” He shook his head.

  At that moment, the doorbell rang again.

  “Who’s that now?” I looked up with a bit of worry.

  “While you three were apologizing and bickering, I ordered pizza,” said Addison sensibly as she crossed to the door.

  “What? People have to eat.” She stared at Anthony and me as we grinned.

  “Nothing,” said Anthony. But I knew he was happy he had found a woman who fit into the family so well.

  The mood quickly switched from light to worried, however, as Anthony switched from brother to lawyer. After reviewing my paperwork, he concluded unfortunately that my contract was locked tight. I could be sued for breach of contract for not performing my duties.

  I threw myself on the floor and propped my feet on the couch.

  “Nice. Ladylike. Ma would be proud,” Anthony observed.

  “Ma’s not here,” I retorted.

  Alek paced the room. He had already cast his jacket and tie aside and rolled up his shirtsleeves.

  “Addison, there has to be a loophole,” he said.

  “I’m afraid not. Daniel has a team of very slick lawyers who work just on the edge. You know how lawyers can be. No offense, my love.” She was sitting on the rocker moving slowly back and forth.

  “None taken, sweetie.” Anthony ran his hands through his curls as he also paced.

  “Wait,” I popped up. “Wouldn’t it make a difference if Nelson didn’t do it?”

  “You’re delusional,” Alek ruffled my hair as he passed by.

  “Actually, I think she may have something there,” Addison said, sitting up straight. “If your boss asked you to report a story that was unethical, you would have a moral reason to refuse, and breach of contract would not apply.”

  “Hey! I think I actually remember something like that from one of those online trainings we had to take!” I exclaimed. See, I did pay attention to those trainings.

  We all looked at one another, but as quickly as we inflated, we deflated.

  “One problem with that,” Anthony pointed out. “We don’t know that the story isn’t true.”

  “I do, though. I really do,” I said with confidence.

  “Just how do you know?” Addison asked.

  “Well, that I don’t know, but I know we can find a way to prove it.”

  “And how do we do that?” Anthony asked.

  I didn’t have an answer, so we returned to our pacing, head scratching, and rocking.

  Alek flippe
d the TV on to see what networks had picked up the story. Sure enough, it wasn’t just on the major sports outlets. Now it was on mainstream headline news, as well. Each time it was accompanied by the jagged footage of Nelson and his mother dashing to their car in the parking lot of the grocery store.

  “Who filmed this?” Alek asked.

  “Logan,” I answered from the floor, with a pillow muffling my face.

  “Figures,” he sniffed.

  “Are you seriously picking right now to critique a co-worker, Markovich?” I pulled the pillow off my head and gave him a challenging stare.

  “No. I’m just saying he doesn’t really know how to do a location shot. Look at the lighting. He also chose a bad camera for motion, and obviously he must not have shot enough or they wouldn’t have to continually use that one sorry piece of blurry, jagged footage.”

  Alek could be such a perfectionist about his craft. And he always shot WAY more footage than he needed. I admired that, but—

  I shot up again.

  “Wait! When did the bank robbery take place?”

  “Allegedly,” corrected Anthony the Attorney.

  “Fine, allegedly.”

  “According to the news report, it happened last Monday night. Maisie, you heard that on the film over and over just like the rest of us,” said Addison.

  “Right. And where were we last Monday night, Alek?”

  “This is the worst time in the world to play twenty questions, sis,” Anthony said impatiently.

  “At the Blitz game. Ohh ... I see where this is going.” Alek grabbed me by the shoulders.

  “Then one of you explain it to me, please,” Anthony plopped down on the chair in front of us and looked up expectantly.

  “Now that the Blitz lacrosse games have become so popular, a lot of local professional athletes show up to support them. Players from the Rockies, the Avalanche, the Rapids, and the Broncos show up randomly all the time.”

  “Oh my gosh! Was Nelson at the Blitz game that night?” Addison asked excitedly. “If he was there, couldn’t anyone who saw him provide that alibi?”

  “I think I might have seen him at a game, but whether it was that night or not I don’t know. I never thought about remembering exactly what night someone was at a game, you know? But if his attorney uses that as an alibi, we might be able to come up some footage to prove it. We could actually help him and help me at the same time.