Chapter 21 Olivia
TWENTY-ONE
olivia
Nate and I spent the rest of the road trip flirting back and forth. On their last day in Chicago, news broke that two of the Minutemen had been arrested for sexual assault. Tucker Milligan and Elijah Griffen had both been accused of rape.
Me: What do you need?
Lindy: I don’t know.
Me: Do you need me to take the girls?
Lindy. Maybe. I need a way to shield them from this.
Elijah deserved the consequences brought on by his actions—but Lindy and the kids?
Me: Are you all okay?
Austin: Yeah. Headed back to Boston this morning. Down a shortstop and third baseman.
Me: Are they off the team?
Austin: Suspended. We’ll have to see what happens in the long term.
Nate: Looks like I’ll be moving to shortstop.
Me: Isn’t that your primary position?
Nate: I’ll play wherever they put me.
Austin: Nate’s a better shortstop than Milligan. Bro, don’t be humble here. I don’t think we have any options for third.
I let Austin and Nate go back and forth in our group chat, since I only partially understood what they were saying. When Lindy arrived with the girls, I followed her to the backyard, where the girls blissfully played in the pool with Cooper while I did my best to comfort her.
“Can Kelsey come over?” She referred to Kelsey Drummond, the wife of another player, Sam Drummond.
“Invite anyone you need.”
Kelsey Drummond arrived shortly after. Her toddler son was with her, but she promised his father would pick him up as soon as he was able.
“Eh, can he let him stay? Ivy will be happier with Crew around.”
I watched the two women quietly and gave them space.
Kelsey had recently married the ace pitcher for the Minutemen after spending a season traveling with him and her baby boy.
Her son’s father played hockey for the Colorado Blizzards, and they had all developed a very healthy co-parenting relationship.
One that would make anyone in a similar situation jealous.
“I texted Tom, and he doesn’t want to give up his time with Crew. But he’d be happy to help wrangle the kids in the pool.”
“Do you trust him to watch them all?” Lindy asked.
“Absolutely.”
“Shit, Kelsey. I’m such a terrible friend. I haven’t even checked in with you about the nanny search.”
“Lin, today can be about you, okay? What do you need?” It was as if Kelsey’s question had given her permission to break.
“How do I even answer that? Part of me doesn’t believe it. But things have been different this season. I thought maybe he was having an affair—my God, Kelsey—I would prefer an affair. Do you think he did it?”
Kelsey met my eyes over Lindy’s heaving shoulders, and I turned my focus on the kids. My fury at Elijah knew no bounds in that moment. What the actual fuck was he thinking? He had the perfect family waiting for him here at home—and he risked it for what? A blowjob?
“I don’t know,” Kelsey answered.
“What does everyone on the team think?”
Kelsey sputtered. Even with the brief exchange I had with Nate and Austin, no one on the team was shocked. Whether that meant they all thought Tucker Milligan was the problem, or that Elijah was, they saw something they hadn’t shared with the wives and girlfriends back home.
“That’s not something Sam and I talk much about.” And even if they did, Kelsey wasn’t spilling the beans. It wasn’t her place to report Elijah’s misdeeds to his wife.
Lindy sighed. “I get it. I know this business blurs the lines.”
These women developed genuine friendships with each other, but there was an unspoken rule; girl code didn’t exist. You could never jeopardize your husband’s career by divulging an affair to another WAG. Millions of dollars were at stake.
“I’m here for you now, though. No matter what.”
I wondered what would happen with the podcast or massive social media following that Lindy had amassed. Would people be interested in her as she navigated through this nightmare?
People loved watching others fall, and with what I knew of Lindy, she was genuine and didn’t deserve to be the train wreck everyone gawked at as she pulled her life back together.
I checked my phone to see if there was anything from the guys.
Nate: Just landed. See you soon.
That was about fifteen minutes ago. Of course, Nate would text first; Austin had never been good at checking in.
Sophie: Girl, dish it out. What’s happening with my Minutemen?
Me: Photo of two women, a man, and kids playing in the pool.
Sophie: Who is that specimen tossing those babies around? I swear, I just ovulated.
Me: Kelsey’s son’s father.
Sophie: The hockey player? Is he single?
Me: Don’t know. My interest lies elsewhere.
Sophie: Yup. Your spare bedroom. Get it.
Me: I plan to.
Sophie: Happy to see the change in attitude.
The flirting with Nate had ramped up throughout the rest of the road trip. We’d covered the basics like birth control and STI tests, but neither of us had come up with a way to get time alone without the rest of the people in the house figuring out what we were doing.
I heard the car pull up, and a thrill ran up my spine. Yes, even with my friend going through the hardest day of her life. Maintaining focus on this conversation was a challenge when all I wanted to do was to greet Nate privately and passionately after his long road trip.
“Did you call an attorney for him?” Kelsey asked, and I did my best to be supportive but not nosy.
“No, he hasn’t even called me. His one call was to his agent.” The devastation she felt that he hadn’t called her—like his avoidance was an admission of guilt. “He’s avoiding me.”
“Hey,” Tom, Crew’s father interrupted, “do you want me to bring all the kids back to your house? They seem to be done swimming, and you guys seem to have more to talk about.”
“Really? You’d be willing to do that?” Lindy seemed genuinely surprised that Tom had offered.
It hadn’t been long into my relationship with Lindy when she had confessed that she had never had help with the girls.
Her family was on the West Coast, and they had thought she was making a mistake marrying Elijah.
Maybe they had been right about him—but to leave her alone?
So much was wrong with that scenario. Her family hadn’t been the only one to let her down—even when he played the doting dad, Elijah never lifted a finger.
Tom had an armful of Lindy’s little ones and Kelsey’s boy Crew as Austin and Nate busted out onto the patio.
“Hi, honey, I’m home!” Nate called out while Austin gave him a playful tap on the back of the head.
Austin’s eyes flew to Lindy, then to me. I tried to harness all the twin communication skills we’d learned over the years, but the man was dense. “What’s going on here?”
Thanks, Austin.
“Pool party,” Kelsey said smoothly as I shot my brother a brutal glare.
“I’m just headed out, but nice to meet you, Austin. Tom Campbell.” Tom struggled to extend his hand to shake my brother’s and almost dropped his son in the process. Austin ended up with Ivy and Hazel in his arms as a trade-off.
“Mr. Austin?” Junie pulled at my brother’s shirt.
“Oh, hey, Juniper. What’s up?”
“Can you try to be nice to my mom? She’s sad about something, and she won’t say why. Mr. Tom is going to bring us home, and we’re going to make her cookies.”
Austin swallowed and passed the two small girls back to Tom. “I’m sure your mom will love the cookies, Junie. That’s so thoughtful.”
My heart broke—it broke for Lindy—but it also broke for her little girl, who wanted to make her mom feel better—and for the simplicity of that time of life where a batch of cookies would make everything better.
And there would eventually come a day when Junie would understand exactly what her father had been accused of.
I hoped that man’s life was every bit of the hell he deserved.
Once the other kids left, Cooper slunk off into the house to play video games. Today was not the day when I had any intention of curtailing his screen time.