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“That’s a waste of money,” Cooper says. “And this one has diapers and formula to buy.”
Jackass.
“Bryce is coming this weekend,” Miles says. “You should invite Adeline. Bryce really wants to meet her—officially.”
“So does Ellery. Not to mention, we want to meet Clover. Tell me your brother isn’t going to be her godfather?” Cooper puts his legs up on the table and tosses the playbook next to his feet. I’d hate to be the fucking quarterback.
“I don’t even know if we’re having godparents. Do you think you’d be the godfather if we were?” I ask Cooper.
“I’m happy being the honorary uncle,” Miles says. “I’ve got my nephew now, and I’m his godfather.”
I’d be happy with either of them being Clover’s godfather or honorary uncle, but I haven’t talked to Adeline about any of that yet.
“Let’s get back to when Adeline’s coming downtown.” Cooper’s shit-eating grin is annoying.
That’s a long day for Clover, or if she spends the night, it’s a lot of shit to pack for one night, and I haven’t gotten anything set up for Clover at my place yet. I FaceTime them every night, and that’s enough for the time being.
“There’s too much press around here. Plus, the fans are all up in my business. I’m getting enough questions about the two of them. I don’t want to expose either of them to that.” I miss the little bubble we had at Adeline’s.
“What are your plans for the season?” Miles asks. “Maybe you should talk to Jones or Miller, they’re new dads.”
“Oh, you could all join a club.” Cooper laughs.
“I wish I had my game console just so you’d shut the fuck up.” I leave the room, sliding by some other players coming in.
I’m about to head to my room when Ronnie Michaels, our GM, whistles and waves me down the hall. Great.
I follow him into his office here at Halas Hall, where training camp takes place, and he sits on the couch. The man never wears shoes and always has on funky socks. These socks have a dog’s face on them. He catches me looking and wiggles his toes. “My kids got them for me. They’re our dog’s face. Wife got the dog in the divorce, so they thought I’d miss seeing him.”
I nod. “Nice of them.”
“Listen, Siska, I’ve been meaning to talk to you. As your general manager, I feel as if it’s my duty to provide you some guidance on this new life path you’re on. You got a woman pregnant from a one-night stand… you’re not the first in the league, and you’re not gonna be the last. But this whole hiding-out thing isn’t going to work. The more you hide, the more the press and everyone else wants to find out.”
“I’m not hiding. Adeline just doesn’t live in the city, and the press doesn’t come out to where she is. The town itself, surprisingly, has enough respect for us that we’re rarely photographed.”
Being in Adeline’s small town was nice. At first, me being there was a novelty, but even before I came to training camp, we’d take walks with Clover, and people would wave hello and carry on their way. Sure, there was always the one guy or kid who asked me about the league, or the nosy person who wanted to see Clover, but that was far and few between.
“Family day is this weekend, and I think you should consider inviting them.”
PR does a great job of arranging games and things for the kids, but this is not the year for me to bring her. Clover will come in maybe two years.
“Yeah, Clover is basically a newborn still. I’m not asking Adeline to do that. And honestly, I couldn’t give a shit what the press wants.”
Ronnie stares at me for an uncomfortable minute. “Okay, it was just a suggestion. Are you going to stay out in no man’s land forever or return to the land of the living?”
“Boy, I can’t imagine why you’re divorced,” I say, instantly regretting talking to him like that.
Rumor is Ronnie’s wife wanted to move out to the suburbs for the kids, and he didn’t. It was one of many reasons why they got divorced. But my frustration has nothing to do with him, so I shouldn’t take it out on him either.
“You never even married your baby mama, so I don’t want to hear it. You have no idea what marriage is.” He laughs, then starts telling me some story.
I zone out. There was a time when I thought marriage would be for me. A time when my mind roamed to imagining a woman in white walking down the aisle to me. But that was a long time ago.
I enjoy Adeline. We’re almost like best friends.
Huh. Maybe the whole Ellery and Cooper thing makes more sense now. Then again, it’s the way Cooper looks at Ellery as though she’s his fucking world. Yeah, Adeline and I are rocking this whole living together-slash-co-parenting thing, but I can’t let her become my whole world.
“She was sucking me off, and bam, I was cool being divorced.”
