I didn’t want to watchthatinterview again, now.
Instead, I tortured myself by pulling up new pictures of Miles and Avery, enlarging them to try to decipher the expressions on Miles’s face.Telling myself he couldn’t possibly love her.I didn’t even have the grace to try to be happy for the man I once loved.I got fuck-all sleep that night.
Chapter 2
Miles
My phone rang at one a.m.I groaned, checked the screen, and answered.“Hey, woman, is there a reason you’re waking me in the middle of the night?”
“Fuck!”Rachel’s voice blasted my ear.Then at lower volume, “Fuck, I miscalculated the time zones again, didn’t I?”
“Yeah.”But I stuffed a pillow behind my shoulders and sat up.“How are you doing?How’s Japan?”
“Japan’s great.How I’m doing is humiliated and worried and so, so sorry.What the fuck was Avery thinking?”
“I’m not sure she was thinking.You know Avery better than I do.”
Rachel groaned.“Yeah.She dives into everything, sure it’s the best idea on the planet.I love her spontaneity but…”
“I’m not the biggest fan of that right now.”
“I bet.”She sighed.“Why didn’t you head her off?Tell her it was a terrible idea to pretend to be engaged to a gay man who came out— with a hell of a lot of courage, I might add— barely a year ago.”
“Didn’t take that much courage,” I hedged.“I’m not a pro player anymore, just a high school teacher.”
“Not arguing about that again,” Rachel said in a tone that suggested she was prepared to argue, if I pushed her.“But Miles, what the fuck?You went along with Avery’s ridiculous idea?”
“It was that or call her a liar to her father’s face.”I closed my eyes.“She didn’t ask me first.We were at that stupid pretentious party, her doing the dutiful-daughter act and me cadging donations for my afterschool program.Her dad came over with a couple of his friends, guys just like him, all ten-thousand-dollar tuxes and piggy faces, and he started introducing her with ‘my lovely single daughter, so scatterbrained, needs a husband to settle her down, my sole heir.’Not sure if he was trying to peddle her to them directly, or they had sons the right age.”
“She hates that.But if she doesn’t go to those events, he gets nasty.”
“I know.You should’ve persuaded her to take some of my money and move out.”I’d played eleven seasons in the NFL.I could afford to subsidize Avery until her art took off.
“She won’t take your charity.”Rachel sighed.“She wouldn’t come on tour with me either.”
“Well, she practically lives in her studio.”The big mixed-media pieces Avery created would be impossible to work on in hotel rooms and planes and trains.Her studio was a separate custom building on her dad’s estate.
“Yeah.Um.I asked her to marry me.Before I left.”Rachel hesitated.“Don’t judge.I know she’s ten years younger and a thousand times more attractive and could—”
“Shut your face,” I interrupted.“You’re a catch and perfect for her.Uh, she did say yes, right?”
“She did.”I could hear the smile in Rachel’s voice.
“Congratulations!”
“But that’s probably why marriage and weddings were on Avery’s mind.Her dad will disown her the moment he finds out about us, of course.”
“Yeah.So she said.”I frowned, thinking of that mean old man and how he tried to crush the individuality out of Avery.I’d had a friend, growing up, who’d lived under the thumb of someone like her father.That guy hadn’t come out undamaged and I wanted better for Avery.
Rachel continued, “So she just, what, asked you to marry her right there at the party?”
“Did you ask her about it?”I hedged.
“Her phone’s off.Has been the last twenty-four hours.I assume she’s in her studio…” Rachel’s voice went thin.
“You want me to check?”
“Would you?I worry.Although she should be safe.Her dad’s probably thrilled to death about the engagement.”
