by Katie Dowe
“It’s up to you,” he said stiffly. “But I have to warn you that Jermaine is not a one-woman kind of guy.”
She looked up at him and an amused smile creased her lips. “He did not ask me to marry him.”
“Of course not.” Jerrold could have kicked himself! “I just wanted you to know-“
“You are looking out for me, that’s sweet but not necessary. I am not interested in anyone,” she told him coolly.
“Good to know – I mean these guys are not-“
“Not the kind a girl would want to get involved with?” she asked him, lifting tapered brows.
“Something like that.”
“Thank you.” Her pointed look told him that the conversation was over and he stood there for a moment feeling like a fool.
“I will see you around.” With a nod, he walked away.
*****
Noelle toyed with the sandwich she was having for lunch. It was already two PM, but things had been pretty hectic until now. For the moment, the room was empty except for her and her dad who was seated across from her having his lunch.
“Honey, you are not eating.”
Noelle made an effort to bite into the tuna sandwich. “I am not really hungry.”
“What’s on your mind?”
“Mom.”
He looked at her sharply. His wife had been dead for twelve years now and he had never had the need to replace her with anyone else. He could not bear the thought of doing so. He was seeing someone else, but as far as he was concerned it could never lead to marriage while he was still in love with his dead wife. “Why?”
Noelle shrugged. “I was just wondering how my life would have turned out if she was still alive.”
“I think your life turned out pretty great. She would have been proud of you.”
“In terms of my career, it did turn out great, but I am twenty-eight years old and I am still single.”
“Why are you?”
She shrugged again. “I cannot seem to get past certain trauma in my life and even the thought of going out with someone makes me want to run and hide. Jermaine keeps asking me out and he is a sweet guy and all, but I am so paranoid when it comes to men that I cannot accept a simple invitation.”
“I am not sure that is not a good thing.” Robert smiled as his daughter looked at him in surprise. “Jermaine is not the type of guy a father would like to see his daughter with, honey.”
“You mean because of his reputation?”
Robert nodded. “He has different women every week.”
Noelle laughed at that. “He would be the last person I’d get involved with, Dad. I know the type of person he is. But that is not the point, the point is that even a simple invitation like going to a bar to have a drink makes me want to run and hide and I am sick of it.”
“Sal’s is no place for a nice young lady like you.”
Noelle reached across the table and clasped his hands. “I really can take care of myself.”
Chapter 3
Jerrold showed off for her on Saturday. He had been happy that she had not taken Jermaine up on his offer for her to come to the bar and had spent the night drinking lemon water and eating peanuts as he watched for her. His parents were at the friendly match as usual and he had had them seated in the VIP section of the huge auditorium. He knew that Robert always attended the matches but was not sure she would be there but he had seen when she came in with her dad, wearing the team shirt and black denims. Her hair was loose around her face and she had a team hat on her head. She was armed with bucket of popcorn and a can of beer. It was very hard to take his eyes off her and he had done so reluctantly as he got ready to get the usual group lecture from the coach.
He dribbled the ball, concentrating on the opposing team crowding him as he played inside his position as a forward. But his concentration was off and as he made to pass the ball to the other team member, his left ankle twisted and he fell hard on his knee, the pain stinging through his legs with a force that had him falling all the way to his side! He vaguely heard the referee blew the whistle and closed his eyes only to open them as his team members crowded around him. “Way to get out of the match, Littman,” Coach Bleaker said with a sardonic smile as he tried to get to his feet. “Don’t try to stand, you will only do more damage. The doc is on her way down.”
*****
“I have to get the swelling down,” Noelle told him as she examined his left knee. “Your ankle is slightly sprained so that’s good, but your knee is swollen.” She took of the basketball hat and bundling her thick dark hair up, she used a rubber back on her wrist to secure it into a ponytail before continuing her examination.
“I am sorry to get you away from the game,” he gritted as she pressed against the swollen skin.
“That’s okay.” She smiled at him. “When one of the team’s star players gets injured, I figure the game will go downhill after that.”
“Not likely.” His blue eyes wandered over her face and for a moment he forgot about his discomfort.
“I am going to ice it and then elevate your leg.” Her touch on his skin was causing him to feel uncomfortable, but he managed not to show it. “You are going to have to stay off your feet for a bit.”
“I can deal with that.” He watched as she went to the fridge to get a cold compress. “It’s just embarrassing being injured so early in the game.”
“Why is that embarrassing?” He sat on the side of the cot and placed the compress on his knee. She did not get up but sat there looking at him.
“I was careless,” he admitted.
“Or accidents happen,” she pointed out.
“I want to run with that, but I was careless.” He did not add that he had been careless because he had been thinking about her.
She shrugged and pressed he compress on his knee, giving it some pressure. “Would you like to take the edge off the pain?”
“What do you recommend?”
She got up and went to a cabinet next to the fridge and opening a door she took out a bottle of scotch and held it up.
A slow smile lit his face and he nodded. “You read my mind.”
She found two glasses and poured the amber liquid in and came forward to hand him the glass. To his disappointment, she did not sit back on the side of the bed, but taking a chair she pulled up to the side of the bed and sipped the drink, trying to hide the grimace.
“Not used to it?” he teased her as he took a sip. The pain was already fading and the drink made him feel mellow.
“I had it once or twice, but I am yet to acquire the taste for it,” she admitted as she took another sip.
“The trick is to sip it slowly.” He demonstrated by showing her.
She did as he suggested and shook her head. “It still tastes lousy.”
He laughed at that. “It’s an acquired taste.”
“That much I gather.”
They fell into silence for a moment before she spoke. “What does owning the team mean?” she asked him suddenly.
He contemplated on that for a moment before he responded. “A hell of a lot of responsibility,” he said dryly, staring at her in surprise when she laughed, his heartbeat quickening as he watched the whiteness of her teeth against her lips.
“But you love it.”
“I do.” He stopped a moment to fish his phone out of his pocket. “I am sorry, it’s my dad.”
She nodded her head and he answered the phone. “Dad, I am fine, I am in very good hands.” He listened for a moment. “I am expecting you and Mom to stay at my place until tomorrow.” He listened again and then said. “I will see you later.”
“They are at the game?”
“They try not to miss any,” Jerrold said with a fond smile. “You asked me about owning the team and what it means. I got a lot of recognition in high school and was picked up by a coach who had been visiting and scouting out talent. I knew I was good but not NBA good and was really surprised when I got noticed. Suffice it to say, that it ch
anged my life. Mom and Dad were skeptical and wary about my going off to basketball camp, we were from a small town and we hear all sorts of horror stories of kids who have been messed up by the very people who were supposed to be looking out for them but we were assured that it was all strictly legit and there was a signed contract to verify all that. The game consumed me and I never had time for anything, but I loved it. I started to play professionally when I was only seventeen and that was just the beginning. I decided to use the money I made and invested it into a team of my own among other things.” He stared into his glass for a moment before continuing. “I am going to be hanging up my basketball shoes shortly.”
She looked at him in surprise. “Why would you do that?”
He smiled slightly. “I have been playing the game since I was twelve and as much as I love it, there comes a time when it is time for something more meaningful. I want a family and I want to travel the world, take in sights and scenes that I have not been able to do before. We follow a strict regimen when we are practicing and there are certain things we are not supposed to eat.” He lifted the glass. “Alcohol messes with our concentration and slows our movements. I want to be able to eat what I want when I want without feeling guilty that I am going to have to do fifty push-ups or more to burn off the calories and be at my best. I just turned thirty and I want more in life.”
“That makes sense,” she murmured as she stared at him. “I am thinking that I should not have handed you that glass. I think I broke some sort of rule.”
He laughed at that. “But we are alone in here so I won’t tell if you won’t.”
She nodded and looked at him thoughtfully. “You made millions playing the sport?”
He nodded. “And then there is all the endorsement deals we get from sports affiliated businesses and even beverage companies. There is even cologne made especially for me.”
“You mean the exorbitant scent by the name of Litt D’Or?” she asked him dryly.
“I am afraid so,” he said with a grin. “It is also flying off the shelves or so I am told.”
Noelle shook her head as she finished the drink. “How many bottles of it do you own?”
“Just one,” he told her with a grin. “I happen to have a varied taste in colognes and do not stick to just one scent.”
They listened to the muted shouts in the nearby auditorium for a moment. “Who do you think is winning?” she asked him.
“Us of course,” he told her loftily.
“Of course,” she said with a smile. He wondered how long she would stay with him and wished that they would not be interrupted right now. He was enjoying talking to her and spending time with her and he did not want anyone coming in the room to spoil the fun. But she got to her feet just then and taking the empty glass from him she carried them both over to a counter before coming back to check on his knee. “The swelling has gone down.” She removed the cold compress. “Do you think you can stand?” She held out a hand to help him up and he wrapped his large hand around hers, before swinging his legs off the cot. He did not let go of her hand as he got to his feet and put pressure on the injured knee feeling the slight dart of pain.
“It’s not bad,” he told her. Either she did not realize that he was still holding her hand or she did not mind and he did not call her attention to it because he did not want to let her go.
“How about taking a few steps before sitting back down?” she suggested. She walked with him for the few steps and walked back with him as he sat on the side of the cot. “How do you feel?”
“Like a brand new person,” he told her with a grin. She let go of his hand and stepped back much to his disappointment even though her nearness had been unnerving him.
“I recommend that you stay off it for a couple of days.”
“Noelle?” His deep voice stopped her as she went to put the stuff she had used away.
“Yes?”
“Thank you.”
She nodded without saying anything.
*****
“Mom, you do not need to fuss,” Jerrold protested as his mother went to get an extra cushion to elevate his knee. It was Sunday morning and she had already prepared breakfast and brought it to him in bed. Usually Jerrold slept naked, but he knew they were coming over for the night so he had put clothes on. Jackie Littman was a petite woman with her son’s cerulean blue eyes and his coffee brown hair as well as his straight nose, but he had gotten his height from his dad who was seated in a chair in one corner of the room, his greying head buried in the morning paper.
“That’s like telling her not to breathe,” Jack Littman grunted as he looked at his son and his wife with a fond smile before looking back at the paper. “It says here that the win for your team was achieved in spite of your injury.” He looked at his son who was sitting back against the pillows at his back and was staring at the contents of the tray his mother had brought him. “You really took a hell of a fall there, son. I thought the injury would be more severe.”
“So did I.” Jerrold took up the coffee and sipped it slowly. “Noelle did a good job taking care of it.”
“You are talking about that really sweet looking gal who rushed onto the court to see to your injury?” his father asked him curiously.
“She is really beautiful.” His mother looked at him curiously. Ever since her son had become of age and had proven himself to be a very successful man, she had wanted nothing more than to see him married and have children and had been constantly disappointed when it did not happen.
“Mom,” he said mildly as he ate his scrambled eggs. “She is the physiotherapist assigned to the team.”
“So what?” she challenged him.
“You cannot win this argument, son, so might as well give up,” his father told him dryly. “When your mother gets it into her head that she smells romance, nothing will stop her.”
“She is not interested in a relationship,” he said without thinking and brought an inquisitive look on his mother’s face.
“Does that mean that you are?”
Jerrold gave her a wry look. “I am just going to enjoy this breakfast and pretend that you did not just ask that.”
*****
“How about a game of chess?” Robert suggested as they finished dinner and retired to the living room to sit in front of the fire. Noelle had slept late and had woken up wondering if Jerrold was okay and if there were aftereffects of the injury. She had every intention of calling him later as soon as she got home. For some strange reason, he had been on her mind when she woke up this morning.
“The last time we played chess and every time before that you cheated,” she reminded him dryly. “So how about a game of Scrabble instead?”
“Are you calling your old man a cheater, young lady?” he asked with mock gruffness.
“To your face,” she said with a smile as she went to get the box of Scrabble. “Remember when Mom used to play this and the words she used to make up and insist that those words were in the dictionary?” Noelle moved the board and handed a bag of letters to her dad.
“She used to make them into sentences to prove her point.” A gentle smile hovered at his lips as he selected his letters. “And they made perfect sense.”
“Until we looked them up and the words did not exist,” Noelle added as she studied the letters she had selected. She placed the letters onto the board and looked at him. “You never remarried even though she has been dead for so many years.”
He shrugged and frowned in concentration as he tried to come up with a word. “She is very hard to replace.”
“I am actually happy that I was not stuck with a stepmother,” she said lightly as she looked at the word he had made and tried to come up with one and then handed him some more letters as well as taking some for herself.
He smiled at her. “I have been seeing someone for the past year.”
“I know, Dad, and somehow you never seem to be able to introduce her to me.”
“You were not here.”
“I came home almost three weeks ago,” she pointed out as she made another play. The game was bringing back so many memories that they filtered through her mind at intervals. “Are you ashamed of her?” she asked him teasingly.
“I am ashamed of the fact that I cannot commit to her,” he admitted. “She is a decent enough woman who does not deserve me stringing her along.”
“So why are you?”
He shrugged, his expression somber. “When I am with her I feel as if I am cheating on Jackie.”
“Dad, that’s crazy!”
He sighed. “I know, honey, but I cannot seem to help myself. She wanted me to invite her over for dinner with you so that she could get to at least know you, but I made some sort of excuse.”
Noelle made her play and sat back to stare at him. “You are going to have to tell her the truth you know.”
“I know.” He placed the letters onto the board and sat back. “She does not deserve anything less.”
*****
Jerrold met with his financial advisor regarding the new apartment building he had just acquired. Now that he was more or less on bedrest, he had decided to take care of some business that he had been leaving in the hands of his very capable administrative assistant for the past few months. The new year was fast approaching and he had some decisions to make. He could put pressure on his knee without too much discomfort, but he had told Coach Bleaker that he was going to take a couple weeks’ break before starting back up. He sat back in the chair in the place he used as his office and studied the image of the building in the uptown area, a building that he planned on restoring by the early months of the coming year. He was alone for the moment as Marco, his assistant, was seeing to procuring some meetings with potential investors. His mind drifted back to the phone call he had received from Noelle two days ago. She had called him Sunday night after his parents had left to go home. He had been decidedly surprised and delighted when she had called to check on him. “I hope I did not disturb you,” she had greeted him.
“Of course not,” he had told her swiftly. “My parents just left and I was contemplating whether to torture myself and watch a replay of the game that showed my ignominious moment for all the avid basketball fans to witness or just play it safe and watch a movie.”