We go around the room, the three of us signing the gear and chatting with Bentley and his mom. She’s a redhead with pale skin barely darker than her son’s and tears in her eyes. She laughs and smiles, but she’s barely holding it together. The excitement on Bentley’s face is killing her softly. When Kevin, the intern, lifts the camera to take a picture with us surrounding Bentley’s small body inside that huge bed, I pull her in under my arm. I bring her into the picture because she needs to have it. She needs to be able to remember how she feels right now; relieved and light, even just for a minute.
And we did that. We brought that to her and her kid, and that’s a better payoff than all of the endorsement deals in the world.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
LILLY
November 22nd
Canter Apartments
Los Angeles, CA
“It’s looking like another beautiful day for football at Charlie Windt Stadium here in Los Angeles, California.”
“You’re right there, Allen. It’s perfect every time. They must special order it.”
“Either that or it’s some of that Hollywood magic they’ve got out here.”
“Are they supposed to be funny?” Rona asks curiously.
I snort. “They certainly seem to think they are.”
She plops down on the couch next to me. She’s dressed for work. Khakis and a green cardigan. Her dark hair is held back by a white bandana tied off center on the top of her head. She looks friggin’ adorable.
“How long until kickoff?”
I check my watch. “Another twenty minutes.”
“Ugh, I’m gonna miss it.”
“Do you want me to DVR it?”
“I don’t care that much,” she laughs. She settles back against the seat, eyeing me cautiously. “So what’s the deal? It’s Sunday. Why aren’t you watching your boyfriend play from your parent’s house?”
My heart hammers at the word; boyfriend. It makes me excited and so insanely uncomfortable.
“He’s not my boyfriend,” I protest weakly.
“Oh, come on. He’s there opening the bakery with you almost every day. He’s not seeing anyone else. You’re his girlfriend.”
“Or he likes scoring free scones in the morning.”
“Or he likes the way you dry hump.”
I close my eyes on a sigh. “Why do I tell you anything?”
“I wonder that every single day. When are you going to give it up to that boy for real?”
I open my eyes to glare at her. “We’re taking it slow. Leave me alone.”
“You’re taking it really slow.”
“Compared to you and Matthews, yeah.”
She rolls her eyes. “That’s not even comparable. Kurtis was a onetime thing.”
“That’s happened three times!”
“Okay, yes, that’s true, but I mean the essence of the encounters has a very singular feel to it. Like every time feels like it’s the only time.”
“That sounds so insane, you know that, right?”
“No. It’s solid. It’s science.”
“Wow.”
“Yeah.”
“How is it, though? The singularities?”
Rona grins mischievously. “Fucking awesome. That man can… oh my God, that man can everything. Literally everything and so damn well. I can almost get past the fact that he doesn’t talk.”
“Like during sex?”
“Like during life,” she says emphatically. “I have spent hours with him and I know next to nothing about him. I feel like we talk so much, but then at the end of it I think back and I can’t nail down more than a few things that he said.”
“So he’s a good listener? That’s good, right?”
She curls her lip back distastefully. “I don’t know. I think it’s less about listening to me and more about not having to talk. If I’m flapping my gums I’m not asking him to say anything, and I think that’s how he wants it. He’s not big on letting people in.”
I nod in agreement. “Colt said no one knows jack about him. Sloane’s agency represents him and his agent, Hollis, is the only one who knows anything. Even his address. It’s not stored anywhere. Hollis just knows it and he keeps it quiet.”
Rona laughs in amazement. “I don’t know where he lives either. The man has been inside me and I don’t know his zip code.”
“Damn, son. That’s a hard truth.”
“Sure as shit is.” She rolls her head toward me impatiently. “So, you didn’t answer me. Why aren’t you watching this with your dad?”
I pluck absently at the edge of the pillow on my lap. “My mom called this morning. She said they had a rough week. They’re both exhausted. She asked Michael and me for a raincheck.”
“Sorry, Lil,” Rona says softly.
I shrug, the movement jerky. “It’s cool. If it’s not good to be over there then we shouldn’t be.”
“I know but… it’s happening more often, isn’t it?”
“Yeah,” I whisper, not meaning to. I clear my throat, digging for strength. “It is.”
Rona reaches across the couch to put her hand over mine. She squeezes it gently.
“Life is a motherfucker.”
I chuckle despite myself, grateful for the brevity. “It is indeed a motherfucker.”
“—Avery is going to show us some of that super speed of his today?”
“You know he will. In fact, Becky was down on the sidelines with him earlier and he said he’s got a surprise today, even for him. Now, normally we see him down there devouring a Snickers bar, but today he says he’s trying something different.”