“What is this site?” I asked, scanning the screen for answers. “Oh my God, she’s a swimsuit model?”
“Wait, just hold on a sec. This is the first link that came up,” Lauren said, hitting the back button. “This might not be the Kendall that he was seeing. We need to look more.”
Right under her modeling website was a link to a news article. Lauren clicked on it and within seconds, the caption screamed at me.
AMERICA’S NEWEST COUPLE? SUPERMODEL AND HOCKEY SENSATION SEEN OUT FOR THE SECOND TIME IN A MONTH.
My heart sank when I saw the picture under the caption. Kendall and Brody were sitting together at a baseball game, a month ago, exactly two weeks before we met. A hunter green baseball cap that I’d become very familiar with the last couple weeks was perched comfortably on top of her head. They were laughing, sharing a soft pretzel. They weren’t overly affectionate to each other, but now I would never get the image of her wearing his hat and them having fun together out of my head. This was exactly why I didn’t want to look her up in the first place.
“Okay, I’m done. Can we please be done now?” I blurted out in frustration, spinning on my heels and marching down the hall to my room. I may have been a twenty-four-year-old mother of two, but that didn’t mean I wasn’t entitled to a hissy fit every now and then, and now was that time.
“Hey, it’s me.”
“Hey man, I’ve been meaning to call you,” I said into the phone.
Andy and I hadn’t talked in over a week since I told his wife off and walked out of their house. I definitely didn’t want to have this conversation while I walked up and down the aisles of the grocery store, but I didn’t want to put it off any longer either.
“I know, I should’ve called you too. This week is kicking my ass.” Andy sighed on the other end of the line. “Listen, Brody, I’m so sorry for Blaire. She clearly had way too much to drink and acted like a total bitch—not that the alcohol was all to blame.”
“It’s over, no big deal,” I said, wanting to put this behind us.
Listening to my best friend apologize and make up lame excuses for his wife’s ridiculous behavior made me uncomfortable, but he had to know I was serious about what I said.
“I meant that last part though about our relationship. I’m hoping to keep Kacie around for a long time, and if Blaire ever treats her like that again, our contract will take the hit.”
Froot Loops or Cap’n Crunch? Fuck it, I’ll get both.
“I know. I reamed her ass when you guys left, not about the contract though, more about being a decent human being. I hope it worked, I don’t know.”
He sounded defeated and for a moment, I pitied him, but he made the choice to marry her. She acted the same way in college, better than everyone, no filter, didn’t care how she treated people … if I were Andy, I would have transferred schools and gotten as far away from her as possible.
“I hope so too.”
“Listen, the other reason I’m calling … I have to make our reservations for that dinner in two weeks.” His tone instantly switched to all business; he was good at that. “You’re in for sure, right? You better be.”
“What dinner?” I was clueless as to what he was talking about.
“The 12th Annual Wild Kids Charity Dinner.”
That’s right.
“Uh, I forgot about it, to be honest.”
“Well, good thing I reminded you then. You have to be there, Brody, you’re the captain of the team.” Andy sounded irritated, but he usually was when I blew off things I needed to go to, or forgot to sign important papers, or got arrested for swimming naked in fountains.
“I’ll be there, I’ll be there.”
“How many should I RSVP for? One or two?” he asked cautiously.
I didn’t hesitate with my answer. “Two.”
A few more minutes of mindless chit chat and Andy and I were right back to normal, like nothing ever happened. We hung up, I tucked my phone in my back pocket and picked up really cool glow-in-the-dark sidewalk chalk I thought the girls would love. I tossed it in my cart and heard someone snicker from behind me.
“Don’t you think you’re a little old for sidewalk chalk?” A familiar voice cooed at me.
I spun around and locked eyes with Kendall.
“Hey,” I said nervously.
“Hey? All I get is hey?” She strolled up to me, planting a kiss on my cheek.
“How … how have you been?” I stammered, praying like hell no one around us had a camera. The last thing I needed this weekend while I was up at Kacie’s were pictures of Kendall and me in some damn gossip magazine.
“I’m great, I miss you.” She pouted, her hands ran softly down my forearm. “I’ve texted a few times, never heard back.”