For the first time since he arrived, he looks properly chastised.
“Jameson, look,” I address him. “I was an ass when I played. Really. A terrible person and I regret most of my playing days. The team rewarded bad behavior like that and I fed into it. Thought it made me a badass. But my life changed.”
“When?” he asks, leaning across the table.
“When I found out Missy was pregnant.”
He huffs a deep breath. I chance a glance at Sutton. A warm, motherly look is on her face. One that tells me she knows exactly what happened when I got the news.
“What happened next?”
“It took a while, but I finally got her to consent to a DNA test. I wanted to be sure he was mine. I made some choices I wasn’t proud of, but the minute I knew Troy was mine, I gave everything up for him.”
“That must have been hard.”
I scrub a hand over my jaw. “Actually, it was the easiest decision I ever made. It was the spring after I got into that fight with Alex Young. I was making some bad choices, and if I kept going down that route, I don’t know what would have happened. So I changed everything. Moved out of Vegas and took a job at a local high school coaching football. I hoped to teach young men to be different from me. To make them better.”
Jameson is quiet, taking me in. I have no idea if he’ll believe me. I only hope he at least gives me a chance.
“Have you apologized? To this Alex Young person?” Jameson asks.
I shake my head. “No.”
“Why not?”
“Because would I be doing it to make myself feel better, or him? I figure the best thing I can do is to change my thinking. My actions. Make the world a better place so people like Alex can feel safe from people like I used to be.”
I stand, dropping a twenty onto the table for my drink.
“If you never want to see me again, Sutton, I understand. Neither of you have any reason to trust me. I can only show you in my actions. I hope I have the chance to show you that I’ve changed. If you don’t want to give me that chance, I’ll walk away, and that’s something I have to live with.”
Both of them stare at me as I leave the diner. There’s not much more I can say. I can rehash my past as much as I want, but it won’t do me any good if they won’t believe me. I guess I’m at Jameson’s mercy if I want a future with Sutton.
I take in a deep breath of salty air as I push open the door to the diner. Night has fallen, the sticky humid air clinging to my skin.
I pull my jacket off and head toward my car.
This was not how I expected my night to end. Fighting to have a future with the one person I can see having one with.
“Wait.”
It’s not the voice I expected to hear. I spin on my heel, and Jameson is there. Standing here, he’s the same height as me. Instead of anger now, there’s a softness to him. One that I’m hoping bodes well for me.
“Yeah?”
“Look, I didn’t come out until a few years ago. I take issue with people who try to keep people like me in the closet.”
“I’m not?—”
He holds up a hand and I stop talking.
“It’s hard to change that mentality. To think everyone is against me.”
I shove my hands in my pockets as he continues talking. “I can see that you’re not.”
“I promise, I’m not.”
Jameson takes a step closer, puffing out his chest. If he wants to be intimidating to me, I’ll let him.
