Chapter 40
WARD
W ard ran the vacuum cleaner over the same spot on the carpet for the fifth time and finally just got down on his hands and knees and picked up the small furball that must’ve been Pretzel’s.
Great. What was the point of having an expensive machine that couldn’t even pick up a small piece of debris? He had half a mind to demand his money back and then remembered that he’d been paid to promo this thing and had actually got it for free. It bothered him that his name was being used to promote an obviously defective piece of equipment that people were going to pay their hard-earned money for, but Hannah had arranged this plus a whole other selection of endorsements, so he had to pretend it was the greatest thing since sliced bread.
Man, was he tired of pretending. He couldn’t wait for all this bullshit PR stuff to end so that he could go back to the way things used to be. He seriously hoped that next week’s event would in fact be the end of it and he was being welcomed back to the team in a blaze of glory.
But despite Hannah’s optimism, Ward had a feeling that things weren’t that simple. She didn’t know Craig Sumners like he did. If the team owner wanted Ward back on the team, he didn’t have to make a big public song and dance about it. There was more to this, he was certain of it. Which was probably why he’d come right out and asked Hannah to go along with him on the night.
As backup.
‘As a work thing, obviously,’ he’d insisted after, to save his embarrassment and also so she wouldn’t think he was hitting on her or anything. Ward sighed. As much as he wanted to sometimes. Most times. But he knew better than to rock the boat when things were on the right track, and she’d done so much to get him to this point.
He was almost afraid to get his hopes up about being welcomed back to the team, so he also knew that if things didn’t go as planned, having Hannah there would keep him on an even keel.
It was complicated too because he also recognized that what he felt for her wasn’t just attraction. She simply had this way of keeping him grounded somehow. A way of teasing out an inner, better side of him so that he didn’t have to feel so guarded all the time.
Lower the deflector shield …
And that was doubly scary, because Ward didn’t know what he’d do when all of this public makeover stuff did come to an end, and there was no longer a reason for Hannah to be in his life.
So he was in two minds. While getting back on the ice had been all he’d ever wanted, achieving that pretty much meant that he’d be saying goodbye to Hannah. Having overcome their initial teething problems, he’d since come to almost depend on having her around. A little too much if he was being honest about it.
But maybe she enjoyed being around him too, and their easy relationship would continue? Probably not. Women like her didn’t babysit guys like him unless they were being paid to do so. And yet, a part of him was almost certain that he and Hannah were more than that – more than just client and publicist.
But what did he know?
Went without saying that maintaining relationships had never been his strong point. Take Melanie for instance. An incoming call broke him out of his ruminations then and Ward tapped the earbuds he was wearing to block out the hoover noise.
‘Hello, stranger.’
The voice was low and throaty and immediately made his stomach tighten. Seriously?
It was almost like his thoughts alone had summoned a ghost.
‘Mel … hey. How are you doing?’
‘I’m good,’ his ex replied, ‘and from what I’ve been reading lately, it seems like you are, too.’
He chuckled. ‘Don’t believe everything you read.’
‘How’s the injury coming along? Physical therapy helping?’
Still numb with surprise, he sat down on the couch and leaned back against the cushions. As much as he hated to admit it, even hearing her voice brought back so many feelings that were hard to control.
‘Yes,’ he replied, ‘it’s coming along good.’
There was a long pause and then she added, her voice tentative, ‘And are you coping OK with the pain?’
He’d gone through the pain meds issue once before when they were still together. She’d been there for him – probably more than he had any right to expect her to be, and for that he owed her a debt of gratitude. Hell, he owed Melanie a lot of things.
‘I’m off the pills now,’ he told her. ‘Johnny set me up with a trainer who’s making sure I stay on the straight and narrow.’
‘Wow, glad to hear it,’ she said. ‘Out of all the people in your life, Johnny’s the best. The two of us always had something in common.’
That caused him to raise his eyebrows. ‘Really?’ he asked. ‘What do you guys have in common?’
There was another long pause. ‘We both always want the best for you, obviously.’
Out of all the words that could have come through his earpiece, Ward hadn’t been expecting that.
‘Forgive me if I find that hard to believe, considering that I haven’t heard from you in months.’
‘Well, work has been keeping me busy and I wanted to take some time out too. See what was going on with me and how I was feeling.’
‘Right. Well, just in case you’re interested in what I was feeling, I was feeling like you just walked out of my life and left me hanging. I was feeling like everything that you and I had been through didn’t mean a damned thing. I didn’t mind when you moved away, Mel, I understood that was something you had to do. But you cut all ties with me. You didn’t answer my calls, didn’t reply to my texts. Hell, you even blew off Johnny who you suddenly seem to like so much.’
There was a long pause and Ward wondered if he’d gone too far and she’d set the phone down.
Finally, Melanie spoke again. ‘I was scared, to tell you the truth. The thought that there might be something real between us scared the hell out of me.’
‘It scared me, too,’ he admitted softly.
‘So I know that when you get scared, the first thing you do is put as much distance between yourself and what’s scaring you. That’s what I was afraid was going to happen with us. I was afraid that one day, you were going to wake up take one look at me and decide I wasn’t what you wanted. I figured that you’d get bored and move on to the next girl. Like you always did.’
‘You didn’t know that, though. And you never gave either of us the chance to find out.’
‘I know,’ she admitted, ‘and that’s totally on me. I take full responsibility for that. Things are different now though. Things have changed.’
‘How?’ he demanded. ‘What’s changed?’
‘Well, for starters, it seems that you’ve changed,’ she pointed out. ‘I’ve been keeping up with all the stuff about you lately, seeing the pictures. I don’t know what got into you, but I gotta admit that I approve.’
He shrugged. ‘Bernie had a PR firm handle things for me and I guess they’ve gone a little bit overboard trying to change my image.’
‘I don’t think you can say “trying” anymore, Ward. They’ve done it. When I left, I was pretty certain that you’d just go back to your boozing and partying days and revert to the guy you were before we got together. And for a while, seems like that’s what happened. Yet somehow you managed to get your act straightened out.’
‘Yeah, well – a lot of the credit for that needs to go to my ballbreaker publicist.’ Melanie laughed and Ward found himself smiling at that achingly familiar sound.
‘So was she the one who took that picture of you grinning like a fool with those kittens?’
‘Yep, that was Hannah.’
There was a pause. ‘Hannah?’
‘Yeah, that’s the name of my publicist,’ he said, a little defensively.
‘Interesting …’
‘What’s so interesting about that?’
‘Nothing – it’s just I don’t think you’ve ever really shown that side of yourself to anyone, not even me. You’ve always kept the walls up. Looks like Hannah’s managed to work miracles.’
Ward snorted. ‘I’ve been working on myself, too. If I want to get back on the team I need to have this squeaky clean image, and that’s what I’ve been doing.’
‘Of course. Is she cute, by the way?’
This was where he had to be careful, he knew. It could very easily turn into a minefield he didn’t want to navigate. ‘Doesn’t matter,’ he replied his tone glib.
‘So she is important to you then,’ Melanie stated quietly.
‘What makes you say that?’
‘When I asked you if she was cute, you didn’t answer the question.’
Now Ward felt annoyed for some reason. ‘Mel, is there a purpose to this conversation or did you just decide to call and give me the third degree for no good reason?’
She exhaled. ‘Well, I suppose the purpose is that I’ll be in town next week. And I was wondering if we should maybe get together. For old times’ sake.’