“Bodi?” Her voice quakes a little, like she’s afraid of what I might say.
And Ineverwant her to be afraid of me.
“He’s a dickweed,” I mutter. “But don’t worry—everything is going to be okay.”
“Is it?”
“What do you mean?”
“Tonight was…awful. I hated not being able to talk to you. Comfort you. Check that injury to your face.”
“I know, baby.” My voice drops.
Maybe that’s what I’m feeling—a disconnect because of our inability to be there for each other.
“I’m sorry I can’t be with you and Billie and Rome tonight, but I can’t leave Lindy home alone. Lourdes found a way to effectively cut me off.”
“I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay.” She hesitates. “Look, go enjoy the little bit of time you have with Rome and Billie. And I guess I’ll see you later this week?”
“I’ll come by the library tomorrow after practice. Lunch?”
“Sure.”
“See you tomorrow.”
I disconnect but don’t feel much better.
Billie and Rome distract me, of course, and it’s great spending time with them, but it’s hard not to focus on the fact that Jayne isn’t here.
“You okay?” Rome asks me when Billie goes to the restroom.
“Yeah.” I nod. “Sorry. Just thinking about Jayne and the situation we’re in.”
“Be careful,” he says quietly. “I don’t know what she’s up to but Lourdes is slippery, immoral, and dangerous.”
“One thing Jayne and I can’t figure out is why she would leave a guy like you—her age, good-looking from a woman’s perspective, making NHL-level money—for a guy nearly twenty years her senior who wasn’t making that kind of money back then. Maybe not even now.”
“The money disappeared,” Rome says simply, shrugging. “She spent everything we had, maxed out all our joint credit cards, and realized that I wasn’t going to give her the lifestyle she expected.”
“But Coach didn’t have that kind of money.”
“From what my lawyer heard, he got a million dollars in life insurance from his wife, and once he won that first championship, his salary went way up. I think she jumped on what she considered a long-term money train. Where they had the life insurance to get them through the short-term, gambling that it would pay off once he got to the NHL.”
“They’re living large,” I say thoughtfully. “You’d think that initial million dollars is gone and even with his new salary, it doesn’t make sense.”
“I think she knew she could manipulate someone like Coach Morrison a lot easier than me.”
“And the kid means he’ll have to support them for a long time.”
“Exactly. The whole interior decorator thing Jayne said she’s doing? That’s nonsense. She doesn’t have any skills or experience in that, beyond decorating her own homes. I’m guessing it’s just a way for her to subsidize her spending habits. And if she can trick the WAGs on the team into paying her for her so-called expertise, all the better.”
“Don’t you think that means everyone will eventually figure out who she really is?”
“Like I said, she’s slippery. She always seems to find a way to get what she wants.”
I’m still thinking about our conversation a few hours later when I get into bed, after Billie and Rome are gone and I hear some of the guys coming in. I’m just about to turn out the light when I feel the rustle of paper.
