“Ugh. I hate all of those scenarios, although I’m glad you get paid either way.”
“We’re going to be okay,” I say. “I know sneaking around sucks, and I get grumpy about having to take you home instead of sleeping over at my place, but those are minor inconveniences in the grand scheme of things. Like you said, it’s October. You graduate in May. It’s seven months, give or take.”
“I need Dad to pay for my final semester of school. It’s expensive.”
“I’ll pay it.”
“No.” She shakes her head. “I can’t ask you to?—”
“You didn’t. I offered. If it means freedom for us, I’ll pay it. How much can it be? Ten, twenty grand?”
“It’s around ten thousand.”
“That’s nothing. Don’t worry about it.”
“Bodi, we can’t start a healthy relationship when we’re completely upside down financially. I never want to feel like I’m taking advantage of you. And what if you pay for school and then it doesn’t work out between us? I have no idea how I’d pay you back.”
“You think ten grand is going to bankrupt me?” I wait until she looks at me. “I’m making two million a year now. Even after taxes and other expenses, that’s a lot of money.”
“I know, but it’syourmoney. I can’t count on you to take care of me. Not yet. Not until I’m on more solid ground. Please try to understand where I’m coming from.”
“It’s good to have goals, especially professionally. It’s one of the things I love about you. I just don’t want it to come betweenus. Where you’re so busy trying to prove yourself that we let your dad or some intangible goal dictate our future. A little while ago, you said you trusted me. Do you?”
“Of course.”
“Then trust me to take care of us no matter how things play out with your dad.”
Hopefully, I sound more confident than I feel.
Chapter
Twenty-Six
Jayne
I’m still reeling from our conversation when I get to the arena. I’m running late and don’t have a chance to go down to the glass during the warm-up, so I make my way to my seat. Billie texted me earlier to tell me she was going to say a quick hello to Bodi as he comes through the tunnel for warm-ups and then she’d meet me in our seats.
Until then, I’m trying to wrap my head around words like “…trust me to take care of us.”
What does that mean?
I’m stubborn sometimes, but I don’t want to look like some gold digger. Like Lourdes. Or even as someone who latched on to a pro athlete and let him spirit me away from my difficult family dynamic to lead a life of leisure. At this point, I don’t give a shit what my father thinks, but I care very much what Bodi thinks.
And what he may think a year from now.
Or after we’ve had our first fight.
I’ll never make two million dollars a year like he does but if I have a job, a career, a way of taking care of myself, I’ll feel like Ibring something to the table. Maybe that’s my pride talking, but I can’t help it.
The thing is, I have a good idea what happens when you marry a professional athlete. Some women continue to have careers, but most have to put their dreams aside to be there for his career. Through trades and injuries and all the other variables. And when you’re in love, married, starting a family, that makes sense.
But there’s also a reason so many pro athletes wind up divorced.
For Bodi and me, it feels too soon to be making those kinds of plans.
Kelly would say I’m overthinking, and I probably am, but there are so many things to consider. And at the end of the day, I’m the one who’ll potentially be homeless if he decides this relationship isn’t for him.
Despite what I told him, I don’t know how far my trust extends.
