Chapter 6
I saw the text before the start of the game.
Rowdy Ryann:
The test was negative.
Four words caused my heart to skip several beats and my stomach to cave in on itself.
The test was negative.
My brain had processed the information, but at the same time, my brain couldn’t process the information. I needed to dip off by myself for a minute, even though I really didn’t have a minute to dip off by myself.
I walked out of the locker room. I had no idea where I was going, because we were in the Londynville Lightning stadium and I didn’t know shit about their stadium.
I happened to find a semi-empty hallway around the corner from the locker room.
I put my back against the wall and a few seconds later, I slid down it.
That was how CJ found me—sitting on the floor with my head on my knees.
“BX, you good?”
CJ was the only person on Earth who referred to me as “BX” instead of Brix.
“Nah.”
“What the fuck is so serious that it has your big ass on the ground? Is it Beaux? Is it Grandpa Tony?”
“Nah. It’s Ry. The test came back negative.”
Next thing I knew, his tall ass was right next to me on the floor.
“Fuck!” he whisper yelled. “Fuck!”
He was speaking my exact thoughts, and I appreciated him for expressing the emotion that I couldn’t express at the moment.
I knew that if I let myself feel everything I was going to feel, I wouldn’t be any good to my team.
I needed to compartmentalize the information and the feelings into a vault, do my job, and deal with the disappointment afterward.
“I can’t sit in this right now and neither can you,” I told him.
“You’re right. Let’s go get this win, so we can get the fuck outta here and head home. My sister’s hurting. She needs us.”
The game was a blur, but we won it. Christian rode everybody’s ass about getting out of the locker room and on the bus that would take us to the airfield.
I was glad he took the lead on that, because I was too in my feelings to even deal.
Once we were loaded on the jet, I leaned my head against the window and zoned out until I dozed off.
A little while later, well into the midnight hour, the jet touched down in Chicago.
I jumped in my truck and made one stop before heading to Ryann’s.
It was late, I got that, but I wasn’t concerned about the time at all.
I needed to lay eyes on her. I needed to be with her.
I felt the pain, the despondency in the text.
I walked up the front steps of her modest home and rang the doorbell.
It took a minute, a couple more presses of the doorbell, but finally, she appeared.
She was dressed in a furry robe. Her sleep bonnet covered her hair.
It was the puffiness of her eyes and the redness of her nose that told the story of her heartbreak.
She opened the screen door, and I pulled her into the arm that wasn’t holding the bag. “Rowdy Ry, baby.”
We moved into the house, and I shut the front door with my foot so I wouldn’t have to take my arm from around her.
“Ry.” I wasn’t sure what else to say.
Turned out that I didn’t need to say anything else because loud sobs eased out of her mouth, drowning out anything I would’ve said.
Her body trembled in my hold. I set the bag on the floor, picked her up bridal style, and headed up the stairs to where I presumed her bedroom was.
Ryann and I weren’t on it like that. I didn’t know her house, but I was a smart dude.
I knew I could figure out which room was the primary bedroom.
Ryann loved pink—considered it her signature color.
The bedroom wasn’t pink like a child’s room.
It was sophisticated and minimal with touches of pink.
It looked like Ryann. I knew it was her lair.
I placed her on the bed while I started to strip out of my street clothes.
I watched helplessly as she balled into the fetal position in the middle of the bed.
Once I was down to my drawers and wife beater, I climbed in beside her, gathering her in my arms. As an athlete, I was all too familiar with the things that people said to try to make you feel better.
I didn’t say none of that shit. It never helped me after a tough loss.
I doubted it would help Ryann. Instead, I said what I knew to be true.
“I got you, Ry. I got you.” I held her body close to mine as she racked with sobs.
Once her breathing evened out and the rise and fall of her chest was steady, I made my way back downstairs.
I grabbed the bag of food that I’d set on the floor and took it into the kitchen.
At some point, when I wasn’t paying attention, CJ had given his wife the news.
We weren’t able to have our phones during half-time, so I didn’t see the text she’d sent until after the game.
Gensie:
Stop by and pick up this package I have for Ry. I’m guessing you’re seeing her tonight.
Me:
What kind of package is it, Gensie?
Gensie:
Dinner.
Or breakfast. She can eat it for either one. She probably hasn’t eaten. She’s sad right now and it’s a sad that goes all the way through you. I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy.
Me:
I’ll stop by and grab it.
And I had. I’d followed CJ to their house and Gensie met me at the door with a bag. There was shrimp and grits, a roasted chicken, and Gensie’s specialty, seafood salad. I unpacked each dish, laying them out on the island. My phone chimed just as I was about to put everything in the refrigerator.
CJ:
How’s my sister?
Me:
She’s asleep. She’s unhappy.
CJ:
I know she is. Did you get her to eat anything?
Me:
Didn’t even try. Just let her cry herself to sleep.
CJ:
Damn.
Me:
Pretty much.
CJ:
If she wakes up, tell her not to show up here in the morning. I’ll stop through tomorrow to check on her.
Me:
Cool.
“You told me you had me, but when I woke up, I was alone.” Her voice broke into the silence.
I forgot about the food and came from behind the island to meet her in the middle of the great room. “My bad. Gensie sent this food for you, and I wanted to get it put up.”
“She sent food?”
“Yeah. You hungry? When’s the last time you ate?”
She had to think about it, which I didn’t like. “Uhm, earlier. When Zyah, Genesis, and I left the doctor’s office.”
“So, like yesterday?”
She looked up at me with a sheepish expression.
“Off your feet, Ryann. Have a seat.”
She hustled and made herself comfortable on one of the stools at the island.
“What would you like?” I listed her options.
“Seafood salad.”
I moved around her kitchen until I found the plates. I took one down for each of us, then proceeded to make two seafood salad sandwiches. I added chips to each of our plates and grabbed us both a bottle of mineral water from the fridge.
“CJ wants me to let you know not to come in tomorrow... well, later on today. Like me, he thinks you should rest. He said he’ll stop through to check on you.”
“Okay.” She took a tiny bite from her sandwich.
I let her make it. She didn’t need me fussing at her, even though I thought she should eat.
“We have nine embryos left.”
“We do.” I wiped my mouth with a napkin.
“When the doctor clears me, I wanna try again.”
I put my sandwich to my lips to hide my smile. There wasn’t much I liked more than a woman with a fighting spirit. “I’m wit’ it.”
I stayed the night with Ryann. After we ate, the two of us climbed back into her bed and I held her until we both knocked out. Later that morning, after the team meeting, film review, and time spent with the trainer, I got into my truck. I immediately dialed my personal assistant, Malakai.
“What’s up, Brix? How can I be of service?”
Malakai was a young dude that had come into my employ through a mentoring program.
He’d been with me for four years while he went to college part-time.
We had a good rapport and I liked him. I was that professional athlete with the rare opportunity to play in my hometown, so I was big on giving back to the city.
Being able to hire a local kid did my heart good.
“What’s up, Malakai? I need you to call around and see if there’s a local florist that has the product on hand to send Ryann about ten to twenty dozen pink roses.
If they don’t have pink roses, then I need pink flowers.
Ten to twenty dozen bouquets. If somebody can do ten, call around and find another florist to do the other ten.
And make them send you a pic of the bouquets.
I don’t wanna pay for no flowers that look half dead.
I’mma send you the address of where I want them delivered. ”
“Okay.” He sounded hesitant.
I didn’t owe him an explanation, so I surely didn’t offer him one.
“That lady, Tiffany? She called about the collaboration. If you still want to work with the facility, she wants you to call her today. They have a candidate that needs placing immediately.”
“Cool. I’ll call her now. Thanks.”
I ran around handling business, but I always knew that my last stop before I headed home would be a stop by Ryann’s. I needed to check up on her and possibly cheer her up.
“Brix!” she exclaimed with a bright smile on her pretty face when she opened the door for me. “I can’t believe you.”
I stepped inside the foyer and was immediately bombarded with the sight and scent of several dozen flowers.
CJ approached me holding out his hand for dap. “You got my sister’s spot looking like a flower shop.”
I slapped his hand and gripped him up. “Just a little pick-me-up. Just a little pick-me-up.”
“Yeah.” He grinned his appreciation for me sending something to cheer his sister up. “She was grinning and giggling. Every time the delivery guy came in with more vases, she basically jumped up and down.”
I looked around. There were vases on every flat surface, even the island. “Damn, this is a little bit of overkill, huh?”
“Yep,” CJ said.
“Not at all,” Ryann said at the same time. “I love it.”
“Good. I’m glad.”
“What’s in the bag?” she asked me.
“Yeah. Well, I’m working with this organization that provides foster homes for misplaced puppies. They want me to be the face of the campaign. I went by today to see the puppy they want me to shoot a video with for their website and…” I unzipped the carrying case and pulled out the little puppy.
“Oh shit!” Christian chuckled at the petite stature of the dog.
“Oh my goodness!” Ryann practically lunged at the puppy.
I deposited her into Ryann’s waiting hands.
She hugged the excited puppy to her.
“You need to be cool, Ry. That puppy’s gonna pee on your ass. You know puppies get excited and get to peeing.”
“Stop being a hater, Christian. I can take a shower,” she insisted.
“And on that note, I’m out. I don’t wanna see you at the house none this week,” CJ told her. “We’ll talk this weekend about when I’ll expect you back on the job. For now, just chill.”
She hugged him, careful not to crush the pup, then she let him out of her house and locked the door behind him. “Who is this? What’s his… her name?”
“That’s Mocha. She’s a girl. She’s a Yorkie Poo. She’s half Yorkshire Terrier and half Poodle.”
“Is she mine?”
I watched her love on the puppy who was excitedly receiving all of the love Ryann was giving her. “She’s a foster, Ryann. If you wanna be her foster mother, you can. I’ll have the lady from the agency, Tiffany, send over the documents for you to sign.”
“How long does fostering last?”
“It normally lasts until they’re able to place the dog. Mocha actually has a family. It’s a newlywed couple. The husband was recently deployed. The wife is coming back to get her once they get settled in military housing.”
“So how long could I have her?”
“Between two and three weeks.”
“I’ll do it!”
Mocha tried to lick Ryann’s face until Ryann finally put her down. I went into the carrying case, pulling out the dog’s collapsible travel bowls, food, and potty pads.
Ryann looked up at me with soft eyes before throwing her arms around my waist. She rested her head against my upper stomach area due to the difference in our heights.
“Brix, I really appreciate you. The flowers, the food earlier this morning, the company. You’ve really gone outta your way to make me feel better about the IVF failing. Thank you.”
I hugged her tightly. “You’re good. I know I’m not your man, but I am the man that’s in this thing with you. It’s my job to pick up the pieces as best as I can when shit falls apart.”
“Thank you.” She snuggled into my chest, and I held her for a few moments longer. “Hey, Brix.”
“What’s up?”
“Let’s take her for a walk.” She bounced out of my embrace, bending down to scoop up Mocha.
The walk Ryann requested ended up turning into a visit to the local dog supply store, where she bought way more stuff than she would need to foster for two weeks.
But since I knew what it was, I let her make it and didn’t say a word.
When the cashier told her the total, I even gave her half the bread to pay for the items.
Back at the house, Ryann fed Mocha, then fed us from the food that Gensie had sent over with me. The two of us ended up on the sofa watching television while Mocha drifted off in her newly purchase dog bed.
“She has the right idea.” I gestured toward the puppy. “It’s been a long ass day.”
“No lies told,” she mumbled.
I stretched my long body out as best as I could, resting my head in Ryann’s lap. With her fingers running through my hair, I was out like a light in no time.