Yeah, I bet he was. I’d imagine that Scott has a Google alert set up for my name, looking for any information he can use as ammo against me.
And I gave him some. On a silver platter.
Ichose to go to Emmett’s room that night.Ichose to sleep in his bed.Ibrought this on myself.
I can ignore all the bullshit online regarding my abilities or questioning if I’m cut out for this job. But this? This is somethingIdid. This isn’t some made-up story. Someonedidsee me leave his room.
“Reese,” my grandfather says, and when I finally meet his eyes, I find him studying me. “This is simply a made-up rumor, right?”
I swallow hard, doing my best to compose myself. “Of course it is. You may adore Emmett Montgomery, but you know I can hardly stand the guy.”
“Give him a chance, Reese. I think he can change your mind.”
He already has.
“I just wanted to make you aware of this post, that’s all,” he continues. “Not to accuse you of anything, but to remind you that you’re under far more scrutiny than I ever was. All I want is for you to succeed. This is everything you spent your whole life working toward. Shoot, you gave up your marriage for this.”
“I didn’t give up my marriage for this. Jeremy gave up our marriage when he decided to try to take this all from me.”
“But that was also your decision to not let him. You chose this baseball club because this was your dream, and I just need you to remember what you’ve given up to be here. I didn’t choose you as my successor simply because you’re my granddaughter. I chose you because I believe you’re the best person for the job. But just because you’re the right fit for this position doesn’t mean you’re not going to have to work twice as hard to be taken half as seriously. You know that. You’ve known that for years leading up to this. You can’t ever give them a reason to talk about you, Reese. Okay?”
I nod in agreement. “I won’t.”
I won’t make that mistake again.
“All right,” he says, slowly standing from his seat. “You’re leaving for a few games in Detroit?”
“I am. Our flight is at nine tomorrow morning.”
“Okay. I love you.”
“Love you too, Grandad. Tell Ed and Denise I said hello.”
As soon as he’s out of the door, I count to twenty, giving him enough of a head start before I freak the fuck out.
What am I doing? How could I ever think that staying in his room was acceptable? When did I become so reckless?
I grab my phone off the desk, but I don’t dare look for that post while here in my office. As my grandfather reminded me, I don’t have a receptionist to go through first, and the last thing I need is for someone to walk in on me having a mental breakdown while reading a supposed rumor about me and my field manager that is very much true.
Leaving everything else behind, I take only my phone and head straight for the one place I’ll be able to hide at this time of the day.
The team is off today after a series of home games and before we leave on another road stretch tomorrow. The only guys that were at the field this afternoon were those coming in to get treatment by the medical staff, but even those players have left by now.
So, with the clubhouse level left empty, I make my way through the tunnel that leads to the dugout, then take a seat on the right-hand side where the field manager’s spot is, hiding behind the small partition that blocks it from anyone else’s view.
Grabbing my phone, I pull up Reddit and it doesn’t take long until I find the post my grandfather was referring to.
This is the only post this anonymous account has ever made, and it quickly details what they saw as I left Emmett’s room. The exact pajamas I was wearing. The slippers on my feet. My blonde hair that was completely disheveled, which they say is due to an activity we definitely didnotparticipate in.
The walk of shame they claim to have witnessed was simply a walk back to my room around nine thirty a.m. after the front desk confirmed the HVAC system on our floor had been fixed.And yeah, I looked disheveled because I was running on only a few hours of sleep.
As exhausted as I was, the final words Emmett said to me that night are what kept me up.
I didn’t have it in me to move on.
What the hell am I doing? I’m putting my reputation on the line by playing with fire with a man who admitted to me he didn’t have it in him to move on.
I don’t blame him. Who can blame someone for being unable to move on from the person they loved and lost? But I should really get my shit together and listen to what he’s trying to tell me.
