Chapter Fourteen
Theopening and closing of the front door startled me awake. I sat up stupidly thinking Trip had come back to make everything better. It had been over a week since he’d slammed his way out of my life. A long miserable week.
The amount of times I snatched my phone to text him was ridiculous. What was worse was every time my phone rang I lunged at it, hoping it was Trip. And I was disappointed each time.
My plan with Coach Rutching was coming along with revolting ease. Surprisingly, Claire unintentionally helped me come up with a legitimate plan. Claire assumed my flirting with Coach Rutching was my way of keeping my starting pitcher position, and she began a little flirting of her own. Not so quietly telling me two could play at my game. Clarity that I didn’t have to put myself in the compromising situation and still get Coach in trouble hit me like a sledgehammer.
Thank you, jealous Claire.
Coach Rutching must have felt like he’d landed in heaven. Having both of his pitchers vying for his attention, fawning all over him as if he were the last piece of chocolate inflated his ego to an enormous size. The way he preened around the locker room and field was pathetic.
Renee sniffled and it was then I noticed her red swollen face, washing away my thoughts of Coach Rutching. I jumped off the couch to comfort her.
“Hi, Aunt Kenna,” Norah said, holding her mom’s hand and looking at me with big, fearful eyes.
“Hey, squish.” I picked her up and sniffed her neck, making her giggle. “Go get a juice box, squishy face.”
Norah struggled to get out of my grasp, laughing as I kept latching onto her, not letting her get away. When she finally escaped and ran to the kitchen I gave my full attention to Renee.
She looked awful, or at least as awful as someone as gorgeous as Renee could look. Her eyes were smudged with black at the bottom and her trembling bottom lip was proof she was trying to hold back tears.
Fear rippled through me, wondering if Trip told her about Coach Rutching. With nervous hands I led her to the couch, my mind racing with what could have caused her so much stress. Norah ran out from the kitchen with a juice box and an apple.
It was then I noticed Norah was dressed for school, and if we didn’t leave soon she’d be late. I glanced at the clock and Renee caught my cue.
“I was wondering if you wanted to go with me to take Norah to school. It’s been a while, and I figured we’d brighten your day,” Renee announced, trying to infuse some cheer to her voice.
“That sounds perfect. I couldn’t think of anything else I’d want to do.” I grabbed my sunglasses and slung Norah on my hip as we walked out of the apartment.
Once Norah skipped happily out of Dora and was safe on school grounds I turned the radio off and waited for Renee to tell me what was going on. When she stayed quiet my anxiety ratchet up another notch.
“Do you want to go back to the apartment?”
Renee shook her head and bit her lip. Not knowing what else to do, I drove to a drive-thru coffee shop, giving her time to get her thoughts in order. After handing her coffee I parked, waiting until she gave me directions on where she wanted to go or what she wanted to do.
“The wedding’s off,” she finally said after taking a large sip.
“What happened?”
Shit, I was afraid something like this was going to happen. Even though Renee was letting Brian through her walls she still had unresolved issues. Brian seemed to understand her insecurity and handled certain subjects delicately. It appeared as if he’d misstepped, hurtling Renee back behind her wall.
Now it was up to me to decide if Renee was overreacting and I needed to calm her down long enough so she could talk to Brian and work things out, or if I needed to find a hole in the desert where his body would never be found.
“He’s cheating on me.”
Images of the Nevada desert flitted through my head. “Did Norah see?”
Renee’s head snapped toward me. Her eyebrows rose over her sunglasses. “What? Why would Norah see?”
“So she was at school when you caught him?”
“Kenna, I didn’t catch him in the act.” Her voice went shrill as she realized what I was asking.
“What exactly happened?”
I needed to walk on eggshells on this subject. If she thought for one second I felt she was overreacting, or I was doubting her, Renee would clam up. But sitting next to her while she pulled herself together was torture and I was at her mercy.
“I overheard him on the phone. He’s been acting really weird ever since he proposed. When his phone would ring he’d step out of the room to answer it. At first I assumed it was baseball business and didn’t think anything of it. But then I noticed he was becoming super stressed out and then he’d get a phone call and it seemed to calm him down.”
