Chapter 58
Ben
Ben was going out of his mind. It had been over twenty-four hours since he’d spoken to Melody.
He’d tried to reach out to her first via text and then via phone call after he’d stepped out of his meeting with Coach Dodds, her dad, and Shawna, but nothing.
He hadn’t received an answer to his texts and his calls had gone straight to voicemail.
When he awoke the next morning, still without a word from Melody, he’d wanted desperately to drive over to her place and both check in on her and address the Cynthia Hargraves issue head on.
But he couldn’t. After the night he’d had, it was all he could do to drag himself out of bed after less sleep than he cared to contemplate and be ready for the car service that would take him to the airport for his flight to Winnipeg.
It was at times like this that he hated his job, hated that it was keeping him out of town and away from the woman he loved. Was she sick? Was she hurt? Had she believed Cynthia Hargraves’ accusations?
At this point, he doubted the latter. It had now been hours since his post-game press conference denying all intimate involvement with Cynthia Hargraves.
The story might not have aired until late at night, but considering how heavily his story had been covered by the media, surely she would have seen it by now and had any misgivings laid to rest?
Luckily for him, though he hated to think of it in such terms, he also had an alibi for the night in question. He’d been having a public dinner with his agent at the time Ms. Hargraves claimed to have spent in his company.
Not only had his agent stepped up to offer his support, so had the restaurant owners.
Perhaps it was convenient they’d chosen a small mom-and-pop restaurant because the owners had been working that night and asked him if he would mind posing for a picture of him enjoying his lasagna.
They had shared the photo to their Instagram account that same night, which made it conveniently date-stamped.
Ben was touched by the outpouring of support he’d received since the original story had run.
According to Shawna, whose job it was to know such things, the hashtag #WeLoveYouBen was trending all over social media alongside fan pictures and positive accounts of his character by everyone from fans who he’d taken the time to talk to over the years to former teammates.
Tali, who had a huge social media following on account of her modeling career, had also posted a picture of him carrying her off the field when she’d sprained her ankle during a high school soccer game.
She’d captioned it “Benji will always be my hero.” As of this morning, the post had over three hundred thousand likes.
It had also been shared close to ten thousand times.
Between the passage of time and the ongoing media coverage, Ben was really starting to worry.
While he would have been upset to learn that Melody had believed him to be the type of man who would get a woman pregnant and then abandon her, he would have at least drawn comfort from knowing she was okay.
As things currently stood, he didn’t even know whether she’d made it home safely from his place. She could have slipped on some black ice or been mugged on the “L.” If someone had run off with her purse, no one at the hospital would know who to contact.
As soon as Ben’s thoughts started to spiral, imagining worst-case scenarios, he knew what he had to do. He was sure he was crossing any number of lines, but he was going to ask her dad if he knew she was okay. It wasn’t Ben’s favorite approach, but it was either that or lose his mind.
It was early afternoon by the time Ben finally tracked down Coach McGuire. He was in one of the hotel restaurants, thankfully alone.
“Coach?” Ben asked as he neared the small table. “May I have a word?”
Coach McGuire’s eyebrows lifted over his coffee cup, but he nodded in the affirmative. “Take a seat,” he invited as he set down his cup and gestured to the seat across from him.
“Is everything all right?” Coach McGuire inquired with apparent concern. “I heard everything went well with the press conference.”
Ben nodded. “It did,” he confirmed, “but that isn’t exactly what I want to talk to you about.”
“Oh?” Coach McGuire replied, looking somehow both curious and guarded.
Ben’s lips twisted at the discomfort he currently felt, but he took a deep breath and marshaled on.
“I don’t really want to involve you in this, but I haven’t heard from Melody since before the story broke, and I’m worried.
” Ben paused before adding, “She hasn’t answered any of my texts and my calls keep going to voicemail. I just want to make sure she’s okay.”
Coach McGuire frowned in a way that was both worried and thoughtful. He didn’t respond beyond that, electing instead to pull his cellphone out of his pocket. He proceeded to dial a number he clearly knew by heart.
Ben’s heart sank a little when he noted that it wasn’t Melody’s.
“Olivia?” Coach McGuire confirmed after what Ben imagined was only a couple of rings. “Hi, honey.”
There was a moment of silence, suggesting that Coach McGuire’s wife was talking.
“Sure, let’s do that,” he responded. To what, Ben didn’t know.
Coach caught Ben’s eye before saying, “I was just wondering if you’d heard from Melody. She hasn’t been answering her phone.”
Ben couldn’t help but wonder whether Coach McGuire had deliberately left off the fact she hadn’t been answering his calls specifically. Did Coach know or suspect something he didn’t?
Whatever Mrs. McGuire said must have been reassuring because Coach McGuire visibly relaxed back into his chair. “She broke her phone,” Coach appeared to repeat back to his wife, though Ben knew the words had been for his benefit. “That would certainly explain things.”
Coach McGuire continued his conversation with his wife, but Ben didn’t take note of the words.
His adrenaline was finally letting down.
He had a niggling feeling there were still issues that needed to be discussed and resolved, but at least Ben knew Melody was safe. That would have to be enough. For now.