AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Of course. That would be great. My friend eats early, so I should be home by four my time.”
“Four it is,” he said. “It was great talking to you.”
So that was it. He leaned forward to pet the dogs, thinking about what his next step was going to be. Unless the team found something for him to do, they would let him go. He hadn’t been in Michigan long enough to establish a network of friends and influencers there unless it was with football people and now Wendy. He didn’t know what to do.
The dogs perked up and jumped off the bed, and he knew that meant his mother must be there.
“This is such a nice surprise,” she said, hugging him at the door.
Taking her coat off, she looked around the house. “Charlie made some nice changes here. That actually makes me happy. The place is nice for my boys.”
“Pop said he sees Paul at Aunt Roberta’s. I don’t think you need to worry about him coming around here.”
“Yeah, he’s definitely a homebody now that he’s married to Emily.”
“I have news, unless Pop filled you in.”
“I haven’t talked to him since I told him you were home. Where is he, anyway?” she asked, looking around.
“He’s at Lila’s house. They’ll meet us later at Uncle Mike’s. You know about Lila, right?”
“Yes, I know about her. She’s not that much older than you are.”
“She’s thirtyish,” Oliver said loyally. “Anyway, you have Harry, mom. You’re happy. Let Pop find some happiness, too.”
“Hey, you don’t see me standing in his way.”
“So do you want to hear my news?”
“Let’s go in the kitchen and sit.”
They walked through the dining room to the butler’s pantry, and Clare opened the wine cooler. “I’ll buy him a bottle to replace this. Are you drinking these days?”
“I’ll try a glass of wine. I don’t drink because of the game, but it looks like that reason isn’t valid anymore.”
“I’m so sorry, sweetheart. You have really been through it. You wanted to play football since you were a little guy. We have videos of you running with the ball when you were five years old. It’s so cute. I was against it, but you know that story.”
“It didn’t take long for you to get on board with it, Mom. You’ve been my biggest supporter.”
“I wanted my boys to be happy. Paul wanted fire service and you wanted football. I wasn’t completely on board with Paul’s choice. It scares me. Your Aunt Roberta didn’t give her boys much choice. They were all going to the fire academy no matter what.”
“I think they wanted it, Mom. I remember when we were kids playing together, we played fireman. It was like other kids playing hide-and-seek or tag; we played fireman. I liked that, too. But I liked football better.”
“So what’s your news? We keep getting sidetracked.”
She opened the drawer where she had always kept the corkscrew, and there it was. Charlie really hadn’t moved much around since their divorce. Reaching into the cupboard, she pulled out two wineglasses, handed them to Oliver, and proceeded to uncork the bottle.
“Let’s go sit.”
“I called Joanne to let her know I was home, and she came over. We knew this was coming, that we would break up. We’ve talked around it since I got hurt. We didn’t want to jump into anything.”
“Are you upset?”
“No. Not at all. I’m relieved. I immediately sent Wendy Adams a text letting her know I wanted to see her.”
“She’s the—”
“The nurse. The blonde. We hit it off. We just did FaceTime a little bit ago. I’m going to see her when I get back.”
