Page 34 of Spending Forever With You

As bad as I wanted to ignore it and throw it away, my stomach growling had me snatching the bag up, going to the microwave then to the freezer to get my shake.

Yes, it was a sweet gesture, but I hated it because he did it. I didn’t want Luke being nice and doing stuff like this. I wanted us to be strangers, or enemies that we needed to be, to keep this strictly transactional and not involve emotional interactions that no longer existed in our space.

Hollis, but y’all aren’t enemies.

An hour later I made it to the game, making it to the WAGs section and immediately wanting to go home. This hadn’t been my crowd, even when I was actively married to Luke. Typically I sat in the stands with the general population, enjoying the game with the people who came to be more than just seen.

At first I walked in unnoticed by anyone until I went to the bar for a drink when someone called out to me.

“Um… excuse me, this section is for the family and wives of the players.” I turned to see Shepherd Rowe’s wife Angie. I recognized her from the pictures I had of her in my phone.

“Oh yes, hi. I’m Hollis, Deacon’s wife.” I went to flash my ring finger until I realized it was bare. We’d skipped that step. Hurriedly I tucked my hand into the back of my shorts.

“Oh hey, he did mention to Shep that you were coming and asked if I could welcome you. Well come on, let me introduce you to the ladies. I promise we don’t bite.”

“He did?” My voice went up a few octaves as I grabbed my drink, following her to the blue bleachers.

“Of course. He said you might be overwhelmed since you don’t really come to the games. I will admit, I was surprised to hear that he’s been married for a long time now.”

“Yeah, feels like it just happened yesterday.” We shared a chuckle as we approached the other ladies.

“Trust me I get it. Anyhow, this is Kim, she’s married to Rando. Ciara is married to Diaz, Lani is with Walter, and Joy is married to Kordell, the general manager. Y’all, this is Deacon’s wife, Hollis. Be nice and say hi.”

All the ladies turned to greet me, waving, with me doing the same. I noticed it was a diverse group of ladies.

“Hi, welcome!” one of them said.

I looked around, wondering why Angie hadn’t done the whole section, but didn’t say anything as I took my seat.

“And before you say anything, yes, I’m aware there’s more of us, but this is who I fuck with. These are the cool ladies. The other ones get catty and talk too much about shit they don’t know.” She raised her voice slightly, letting it be known that she was, in fact, talking about them. I smirked. I liked her style.

“Oh trust, I get it. That’s probably why I never entertained this box. When I attend, I’m typically in the crowd blending in.” I snorted, thinking back to the last game I came to, doing just that.

“I bet that is peaceful. Why the change?” she asked.

“Girl, that husband of mine. He said it was time to mingle. He said people think we’re single because I’m antisocial.”

“I mean, we definitely thought he was, especially after the Talisa Storm incident came and went,” Kim said before she jumped up and yelled, “go baby.” I looked down at the field and noticed a player in the midst of stealing third base.

I took a sip of my drink as I tried to remain calm at the mention of a bitch who left a nasty ass taste in my mouth.

“A minor lapse in our story by an irrelevant groupie ass hoe who tried lying on dick.” My smile was wide.

I heard someone behind me clear their throat, which had me turning to see a group of bitches whispering amongst themselves then offering fake ass waves and smiles. I rolled my eyes then turned around.

I hated being the topic of discussion in a room of hating ass women who had nothing better to do. I could imagine the long ass comments and posts I would be a part of because of Luke, which pissed me off.

“I need names, Angie.” That was all I said before I had everything. I vowed once I got wind of a girl from high school talking shit about me and Luke all those years ago when we got divorced. A bitch would never ever have one up on me to the point that she could run my shit down when it came to a nigga, especially not him.

Once the game was done, we walked toward the locker rooms where the press were. While the other ladies waited on their men, I texted Mariah to start digging on these players and their wives. My goal was to have something by the end of the day.

Mariah: Ooh, I got something on the Harnett one and it’s good. I was going to run it by Omar.

Me: Send that shit tonight!

Mariah: I got you.

I closed the text thread just as Luke was making his way over to me.