“What about your job?”
I scoffed. “I’m pretty damn sure my job is safe, and if it isn’t, you’ll hear from my attorney.”
Brendan stood there for a second, with his coat hanging from his hand and his head shaking. He finally stepped off the porch and walked to his car. I didn’t care if he looked back or regretted what he’d said. I had others to care about now.
There wasn’t a doubt in my mind that Cutter had heard what Brendan said. Before I left to go look for him, I called his phone and was sent right to voicemail. I sent him a text, letting him know I wanted to talk.
I went back to the kitchen and pulled the contact list from the phone. My first call was to Jayden, asking if Cutter was with him.
“No, ma’am.”
“If you pick him up, please let me know. Okay?” He said he would.
I got in my car and began driving without having a clue as to where I was going. I kept calling Cutter’s phone, but nothing. Up and down the road I went, driving into town and through various neighborhoods.
Two hours later, I pulled into the driveway and resigned myself to waking Miri to tell her I’d lost her son.
Chapter 19
Weston
I thought I had waited long enough before returning to the gym to see Antonia and her boyfriend. When I opened the door, our gazes met, and there was no turning back. I saw avoidance, though, and I remembered how, when my relationship with Brianna had started to fall apart, I’d mastered the art of avoiding everything.
Antonia came toward me, completely unaware of what I was feeling, which was my fault. I needed some time to take the sting out of what I’d seen tonight.
I had hoped, when I looked across the gym to see her, that she’d be there and maybe wave at me. It was stupid of me to think she would even be interested in me. I probably had ten years on her, and I was a teacher. There was no way I could compete with the big corporate men in Boston.
Except, financially I could. Although I suspected Antonia didn’t believe me when I’d told her I used to be a professional baseball pitcher. If I wasn’t a sports fan, which she clearly wasn’t, I doubted I’d believe me either.
I shook my head and chided myself for even having those thoughts. We’d known each other for a week, and loosely at that. There was noreason for me to think Antonia was even interested in me. I was the one who was attracted to her.
She called my name, and my heart sang happily at the sound of her voice, but my mind screamed to keep walking. I couldn’t. My emotions were mine, and not at all her fault.
“Oh, sorry. I didn’t see you. What’s up?” I hated lying, but I couldn’t think of anything else to say. Even this felt wrong, when I wanted to point at the man she was clearly with and ask who he was, even though I knew. Cutter had told me before the game started that Toni’s boyfriend was going to keep his stats for the game.
Wasn’t that special?
“Uh ...” She looked back at the Vaughns before looking at me. I could see it in her hazel eyes, the confusion. My sour attitude came off me in waves. I was sure of it. “I wanted to remind you about dinner.”
“Dinner?” Hell yes, I wanted to have dinner with her, but not with her boyfriend there.
“This morning, I invited you to dinner with us. Actually, it wasn’t dinner, but you were going to come over and fill me in on the travel stuff. I think we’re getting sandwiches. What can I get you?”
I couldn’t stand there and look at her, not without being pissed. She was the first woman I had met since Brianna, and I liked her. It was a schoolboy crush, the same I warned my boys about, and yet I had fallen quickly. Her boyfriend walked toward us, and I had zero desire to meet him.
“Maybe some other time.”
I greeted parents in the hall, and instead of leaving, I went toward my office. In there, I kept the lights off and the blinds pulled, needing some space to clear my thoughts.
Of course, they were about Antonia. From the first time I’d seen her across the gym, I’d had this wild attraction to her. It had only increased when she came into my office the next day and told me about Miriam.
This woman was putting her life on hold to take care of her friend’s kids and planned to raise them after her friend died, whichonly increased my attraction to her. I really thought that after breakfast this morning, I would be in the clear to ask her to lunch or dinner, or just spend time with her at the house.
When I invited her to use my home gym, I meant it and hoped she would take me up on my offer. It was there for her to use whenever she needed to get away or wanted to exercise without the gym bros staring at her.
I needed to heed my own invitation and hit the weights or the heavy bag when I got home. My gym was the perfect place to let go of whatever was building inside.
An hour after the game, I finally left my office. The coast was clear; all the players and parents had gone home, and I was certain I wouldn’t run into Antonia. I assumed she’d be at Miri’s, eating the sandwich she said they were going to get for dinner.
