She was silent on the phone which only made me more nervous.
“I’m tired of fighting with you. Just… please, Cheryl, sign the papers.”
“Fine.” It was quiet, I almost had to ask for clarification but if she had actually conceded I didn’t want to risk anything by questioning it. Before I could say anything else she’d said goodbye and hung up.
Eh, what did I care if she hung up on me? At least I didn’t have to speak to her anymore. I sighed, again, out loud hoping that she wasn’t playing any games this time.
Speaking of games… I decided to leave my cell in the bedroom before making my way back out to the living room. That was surely enough interruptions for one game night.
I got a round of cheers from the guys huddled around my poker table as I reentered the room. “There he is. I told you he had a good hand, why else would he have rushed back.” Mack pulls my chain and our other teammates crack up.
“You fuckers better not be cheating.” I took my seat at the table, between Mack and Tommy.
“Everything alright?” Mack asked.
“Oh yeah, you know, the usual.” I didn’t go into detail and so the guys resumed chatting. I’d obviously interrupted a conversation but I tried to catch up while keeping my poker face in place.
“She went ballistic. Like nothing I’d ever seen before.”
“So what’d you do?”
“What could I do? We were in public, and Alesso’s was not a place I wanted to get kicked out of.” Ah, a name I recognized, which meant Daniel must have been talking out about his date the other night. The team had been joshing him all weekend for the details. “I just had to deal. I dropped her off home at the end of the night and vowed to never see her again.”
Oh shit. I’d felt bad for the guy.
A bad date you can shrug off, but a bad date with the coach’s darling niece…
He had it coming to him at practice tomorrow. I didn’t even know why he was here, if I were him I’d probably have been halfway across the country. Or hiding in a church somewhere, praying to God.
I’d been a part of the Detroit Aces for a long time which meant, I’d also known Annalise for a long time. She was only a teen when I started with the team and her uncle was the assistant coach back then. She’d been a nice kid, was hella smart, and then she returned from college a year ago looking like a fucking model.
There were a lot of younger guys on the team - horny and stupid. I knew it wouldn’t have been long before someone tried to make a move.
Daniel had been the only one with the balls to give her a shot. But as the guys continued their back and forth I kept my mouth shut. I was sure they didn’t wanna hear my thoughts on the subject - that it probably hadn’t been the best time to ask her out. Her college sweetheart dumped her a month ago and she’d still been pretty torn up about it.
From what the coach had said, anyway.
I knew that I could tsk and shake my head all I liked but I was no expert on relationships or love, so I kept my opinions to myself.
“Speaking of which, how’s Melody these days?” Mack asked quietly as he took to ignoring the rest of Daniel’s conversation. I threw my cards in and took a pull from my beer. My throat was suddenly dry and I didn’t feel like talking so much. I cleared my throat at his expectant look.
“She’s fine, I assume.”
“So you’re saying that you haven’t been back to see her?”
“Nope.” It was a lie but I wasn’t ready to tell him just yet, and I hadn’t known if there was even anything to tell him.
That phone call the other night had been unexpected, and after what had happened I wasn’t sure where Melody and I stood. She might’ve very well ran away from me the next time I saw her. So, instead, I didn’t say any more on the subject.
Mack had this look in his eye that said he didn’t quite believe me but before he could poke me about it anymore, I stood from the table. “Anyone want another beer?”
I got five cheers and took off to the kitchen. I filled myself a glass of water before grabbing the beers from the fridge. Resting back against the kitchen counter I paused for a deep breath. I was getting too old for this shit.
Maybe that was why I went looking for Melody that night, weeks ago. Maybe I was ready to settle down and for real this time. I’d known since the day we met that Melody was special. It’s only taken my ego getting in the way and six years to realize that my instincts were correct. She was it for me.
I sighed as I let the weight of that thought sink in. Well, I guessed I’d better man up and do something about that before it was too late. If it wasn’t already.
I'd watched from afar. That was all I’d done for the past six and a half years.
