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Quentin
I’mat Cooper’s tonight, playing a round of pool. He’s kid-free because his daughter’s mother gets her every other week, and I’m doing my best to carry on with the list Madison’s given me—one of which is to try to make friends with some teammates. Given my offense is the least likely to hate me and the most likely to try to make things work, at least the ones not named Westfield, Cooper and I have formed a loose alliance of shooting the shit on his free nights.
“You ever want a woman you know you shouldn’t?” he asks abruptly after he shoots and misses a pocket. The question hits home hard, and I look over at him, but it’s obvious his focus is elsewhere, and whatever this question is—it’s got nothing to do with me or Madison. My answer, however, absolutely does.
“Yep.”
“Did it turn out well?”
“No. It was a fucking disaster.” Now we both know who I’m talking about.
“Was Madison worth it?”
“Absolutely.”
Cooper grins and takes a sip of his beer. “That’s what I’m thinking. Might end in disaster but if the middle part is any good, then it might all turn out, right?”
“Right.” I take a swig of mine. “You got someone in mind?”
Cooper leans on his pool cue.
“I shouldn’t say. It’s fucked, honestly.”
“Keeping secrets from your QB now? And here I thought this friendship was headed somewhere.”
“Secrets.” He makes a derisive clicking sound. “I guess it is one.”
“You’ve been keeping mine. So I figure I owe you.”
“I could use some advice.”
“Shoot.”
“It’s Trixie.”
“Trixie?” I frown.
“Madison’s friend. Xavier’s sister?”
Then I put two and two together. “Bea?”
“Yeah. Sorry. I mean Bea. Lizzy calls her Trix, so I started calling her Trixie as a joke and it stuck.”
“Oh, right. I heard Madison say something about Bea and Lizzy getting along.”
“Yeah. When Tr—Bea used to come to holiday stuff with our parents or visit with Rob. She’d spend time playing with Lizzy and listening to all her stories and stuff. Lizzy just loves her. Thinks she’s the coolest. I feel invisible when Trix—Bea…fuck, you know who I mean. Whenever she’s around Lizzy’s thrilled so… I’ve been thinking about asking her if she wants to stay with us. I know the hotel is wearing thin on her, and Madison hasn’t made up her mind if she’s staying in the cottage or getting an apartment. I think she’s hoping Madison will get a place with her.”
“I wish she would. Anything that would make them more likely to stay…”
“But Bea only has part-time work with the team. She needs something else, and I guess her and Madison’s plan isn’t exactly going as well as they hoped.”
“What plan?”
“I don’t know. She hasn’t told me a lot. Just that there is one, but it’s going very slowly.”
“Ah.” I’ll have to find out more about that.
“So I’ve thought about inviting her to stay with Lizzy and me to take some of the stress off, and I thought it might be nice for Lizzy to have her around since she likes her so much.”
