“When are you going to retire, Mom? You deserve a break.”
She rolls her eyes. “I’d be so bored. Maybe I’ll wait until Raul retires. Imagine if we did it at the same time. We’d have so much fun!”
“If we’re both retired, there would be nothing stopping me from finally getting that ring on your finger,” Raul says, and then Mary leans in and kisses him.
If Taysom is bothered by the gushing and affection that his mom is displaying, he hides it well.
They say their goodbyes and turn to the counter to pick up their order.
“Do you remember my mom from before?” Taysom asks after we sit back down. He’s trained on me, watching me closely. He doesn’t even seem to see that the cashier has brought our food to us.
“Thanks!” I say to her breezily, laying it on thick. I don’t know what has gotten into me, but I suddenly want her to know that he’s off-limits—because of me.
Not that that’s true. But she doesn’t have to know that.
“I remember seeing her at the high school football games. She and my parents would talk sometimes. She seems really happy.”
Taysom gives a small smile. “She is. Raul’s a great guy.” He divides the tacos and sets the nachos in the middle of the table.
“That’s too bad that they can’t seem to manage to get engaged. She obviously wants to marry him.”
Right as I say it, though, I cringe. Maybe I’ve overstepped.
Chapter 20
Charlotte
“Sorry,youdon’tneedto talk about it.” I unwrap my first taco and groan as I bite into it. Crunchy, meaty, cheesy perfection.
“No, it’s fine. I want you to know. My dad’s been married and divorced since he divorced my mom. It happened after I joined the NFL.” He shakes his head and eats some of his taco.“I don’t know. It’s like he became a different person. He was getting interviewed all the time about me joining the NFL and everything and he…it sounds weird to say it went to his head, but I don’t know how else to describe it.”
“He changed after you went pro?”
“Yeah. It’s bizarre. They’d been divorced for a long time and neither of them had remarried. My mom hadn’t dated at all. My dad seemed to go on dates, but nothing too serious.” He dips a tortilla chip into the creamy queso sauce. “And then, when I started playing professionally, he started dating a lot. He got remarried during my first season with the Wolves. I think it was hard on my mom.” He eats the chip and now it’s his turn to moan.
I nod. “That makes sense.” I wipe my chin with a napkin.
“She doesn’t love him anymore. I’ve known that for a long time. But there was just something about it that made her sad. Maybe that he was moving on and she hadn’t found anyone? I don’t know. She didn’t seem interested in dating until she met Raul at a conference for work a couple of years ago.”
“Where does he live?”
“New York City. He keeps trying to convince her to give the big city life a try.”
“Why does she keep turning him down?” I unwrap my second taco. It’s al pastor with pineapple.
“She doesn’t really say. And it’s never a hard no. Just a ‘not yet.’” He shakes his head. “I wonder if it’s because Raul travels a lot for work.”
“And she doesn’t like that?”
He takes another bite, chews, and swallows. “My dad traveled for work and it’s what broke up their marriage. I remember hearing them fight about it when they thought they were being quiet.”
“Oh, no.”
Taysom shrugs. “It happens, but I think that’s why she won’t marry Raul yet. Maybe she will once he retires, like they said.”
“And I take it he proposes a lot?”
“He’s asked her three times because he’s a romantic. He’s very good to her and I’m glad. Still, I worry about her. I hate the thought of getting traded and leaving her here by herself.”
