Chapter 16
CHAPTER 16
LAW
Though I hate doing it, I call my mom a few days after my date with Carlie to pass on what she’d told me. In any other circumstance, that’s a story I’d keep to myself, but Mom and her staff will keep digging if I don’t make sure she knows there’s no reason to.
“It looks bad,” Mom says when I finish telling her Carlie’s side of the story. “There’s no way she didn’t have some clue that he was into something shady.”
She, of all people, should realize how easy it is to put on a facade to the world that’s completely fake. I swallow a huff of annoyance. “He had a separate apartment and a different phone, and he was very careful not to intermingle his worlds.”
She lets out a scoffing breath. “It’s better safe than sorry. You’re a public figure?—”
“ You’re a public figure. I’m a football player, and no one will care if my girlfriend’s ex is in prison.”
There’s a long pause, one in which I know Mom is breathing deeply to keep from snapping at me over the phone. “You’re not going to play football forever, and the image you curate now will follow you for a long time.”
“I’m well aware that my football-playing days have an expiration date that I have no control over. I also know that I will never want a political career.”
The frustration between us is almost tangible. My dad was in politics, and my grandfather was in politics. It’s practically a dynasty, Mom likes to remind me. But unless she talks Malcom into it, it ends with her.
“Don’t cut off your options out of spite, Lawson. You never know how you’ll feel about this in a few years … or ten years, even.”
“I know.” Time to end the conversation. “I have to go now, Mom. Please tell your staff not to invade Carlie’s privacy any more.” I hang up before she decides to press forward with more arguments.
Thankfully, a text from Carlie is waiting when I hang up the phone.
Carlie
Do you want to come over and see my awesome house and meet my brother? I’m off for the afternoon.
Well, you know. As off as I can be. Chad could get called in at any moment.
Law
I’m on my way.
Carlie has popped in here a couple times since she started working for Chad, once with the girls as a distraction. It sounds like the first few days have been rough for them. They’re used to their aunt or grandma being the ones to swoop in. But they like Carlie—who wouldn’t? That was evident by the shy smiles they gave her every few minutes while they were at my house.
There’s a gate in the fence on Carlie’s side of the trees in Chad’s backyard, so I use that. She’s sitting on the small porch with a man that looks more like Jenna than her when I approach, and she waves, sitting forward when she catches sight of me. The man sets aside a laptop on the outdoor couch he’s sitting on and sits up too, eyeing me.
“Hi, I’m Law,” I say, putting my hand out when I reach them.
“Caleb, Carlie’s brother.” He smiles when we shake hands, no protective big brother vibe that I can detect.
“You sleeping in the loft?” I ask, nodding toward the house.
He chuckles and shakes his head. “Carlie thought that maybe having a weird guy around the yard might be too much for the girls right now.”
“Chad told me I could use the guesthouse as though it’s my own apartment when it comes to guests—as long as I’m protecting the girls, of course—but it seemed like a good idea to wait on this.”
“Probably,” I agree. It’s also good to know that Chad’s not going to be a stickler about me hanging out with Carlie over here.
“I’m staying in her old room with my grandma,” Caleb says. He picks up his laptop when he sits down, indicating I should sit, which I do. It’s hot outside, but the shade from the trees makes it bearable and almost nice to sit outside and enjoy the day.
“We’re trying to decide if leaving Mom’s basement to room with Grandma is a step up or not,” Carlie says in a teasing tone, grinning at her brother.
“She’s not setting me up with Dallas’s top executives, so I’m calling it a win.” Caleb holds up his hand for a fist bump.
“I figured you’d be over here!” a voice calls out from the gate, and we all turn to see Ivy striding toward us. There’s a slight shift to the way Carlie’s sitting—not tension exactly, but maybe caution. She can’t still think that there’s something between me and Ivy, can she? Or is it the way that Ivy is zeroed in on her brother? No protective big brother vibes, but maybe some protective sister ones. I like it.
Caleb stands again as Ivy approaches, smiling.
“You must be Caleb,” Ivy says. “Nice to meet you in person.”
“And you’re Ivy?” he guesses, taking her hand and holding it for several seconds longer than he did mine. I turn to share a smirking look with Carlie, but her gaze is intent on Caleb and Ivy.
“Yep.” When Ivy pulls her hand away from his, she still smiles up at him for a moment, before looking between me and Carlie. Instantly, Carlie’s expression transforms into a smile. “I came over to see if you guys wanted to go grab something to eat,” Ivy says. “Carlie? Law? And of course we want you to come, Caleb.”
Carlie shakes her head. “I need to stick around here. Chad got called in last night and was gone until around nine a.m. He’s going to need to sleep eventually. I already planned on going over to do dinner with the girls.”
Ivy glances at me. The look in her eyes says she wants me to play wingman, but Carlie and I haven’t really spent time together since we had dinner at my house. Plus I have a mini training camp next week, and I won’t have much time to hang out. I really want to get our relationship off the ground. Right now it feels like we’re friends on the precipice of something more, but still just friends.
“I’m out. I’ll keep Carlie company until she has to go.”
Ivy’s face falls, but Carlie speaks up. “You should go with her, Caleb. Law and I are clearly party poopers.” The siblings share a look, probably communicating silently the same way I do with Ivy. I hope Carlie understands that Ivy really is like a sister to me.
“Yeah, okay,” he says. “I’m in.”
Ivy suggests a couple places, and Carlie adds in her ideas. I watch Carlie and wonder if the other two see that there’s a very slight edge to her smile. They tell us goodbye and head back through the gate toward my house, where I assume Ivy’s car is parked. I pat the seat next to me once they’re gone.
“Actually, you want to go inside? It’s getting really hot out here.” She stands and leads the way into the house. When she sits down on the couch in the living room, I sit right beside her.
“Everything okay?” I ask, looking pointedly toward the door and the direction where Ivy and Caleb just left.
She sighs. “Yes. Totally fine.” She adjusts so she’s facing me, her legs crossed in front of her. “No offense, Law, I just don’t really know Ivy yet. She’s probably great.”
“She is,” I promise her.
“And Caleb wanted to go.”
“I wondered what that silent conversation was about.” I smile at her.
“Oh, I’m guessing similar to the one you and Ivy had a few seconds before,” Carlie challenges.
I laugh. “She was begging for a wingman.”
“And look at what we maneuvered instead.” She puts a hand on my knee. “Alone time. Although I did kind of want you to hang out with Caleb. But there’ll be plenty of time for that.”
Maybe she’s just thinking about how Caleb will be here for a while, but I like how it’s a given for her that she and I will have plenty of time as well. “How were the girls today?” I ask.
She frowns but then shakes her head. “They were better, for sure. They’re getting used to me, and that’s good. I want to take them over to Chad’s sister’s sometime this week for dinner or something. Give them a little of their old routine.”
“Chad says they’re in love with you, so I’m sure you’re going to have them behaving like angels in no time.”
She nudges me softly, but beams. Then her face goes serious again. “Can I ask you something about Chad?”
“Of course.” I make sure my voice is neutral. I’ve gotten to know Chad pretty well since I moved here back in February. He was helpful and friendly right from the get-go, inviting me and Ivy over for dinner and barbecues or just to watch some kind of game. Looking back now, I see that he needed—still needs—time to decompress from a stressful job and a stressful marriage. Maybe more so because of the latter.
But that doesn’t mean I know everything about him, and what if I let Carlie walk into a dicey situation just to be able to hang out with her more?
She brushes at nonexistent lint or something on my shorts, smoothing out wrinkles and not looking at me. “He never talks about her, about Shelby, and I get that. But …” She pauses and chews on her bottom lip. “He’s erased her from that house. No pictures anywhere that I can tell—and I’ll admit that my curiosity got the better of me. I was thorough. Do you think that’s normal?”
That wasn’t what I was expecting, so I have to take a second to gather my thoughts. “When my brother’s girlfriend broke up with him last year, he completely ignored any mention of her. And from what I can see of his life, he’s erased her too. Deleted her number, no pictures on his phone, you know.” Not saying her name feels kind of like a lie, even though it’s normal that I wouldn’t mention Malcom’s ex by name. Maybe it’s because it almost feels like I’m doing what Malcolm did. Ignoring her. But that whole thing is complicated, and I don’t need to bring that into what Carlie’s concerned with now.
“But did they have kids together?” Carlie asks.
I have to laugh. “No. They didn’t.”
She lets out a long sigh. “That’s why I keep going back and forth. On the one hand, it seems kind of like a normal way to grieve a relationship, right? But on the other hand, it can’t be healthy for the girls, pretending like she doesn’t exist.”
“Probably not.” I have to agree on that, but I hate the frown that’s still pulling down on Carlie’s expression. “Hey. Maybe he talks about her when you’re not around. Maybe he’s just really private about all this.” I get that Carlie’s intense interest is a response to her own past and also because she cares about the girls, but I don’t want her to get stuck on this.
She nods, and some of the tension in her face releases. “Yeah. Maybe. I hope so. That would make sense.” She leans toward me more, and after a moment, a real smile takes the place of the concern. “So, you’re in training camp next week. Are you excited or dreading it?”
A part of me latches on to the idea of dreading it. New team. My rivals, if I’m being honest. I quickly push that all away. “Excited.” I nod decisively.
She raises her eyebrows, and not since I first met Ivy has someone been so intuitive to my thoughts. My smile was good, wasn’t it? “You sure about that?” Her tone is teasing, but her eyebrows are still calling BS.
“Of course. I’m ready to really get to know my teammates and get out there and start figuring things out. Jett’s going to make me a star, no doubt.” All truths that I believe.
“But you’re still a little nervous.” She pokes me gently in the side, and even though it feels like a friendly gesture, I remind myself that initiating contact like this is a flirty move.
“Maybe a little, but not much. I’ve already done a few team activities with these guys, so it’s not really like the first day of school or anything.” I lean back further into her couch and pull her closer, so she’s resting under my shoulder. She doesn’t resist at all, only shifting so she can tilt her head up to look at me. My heart rate ratchets up with hope and expectation when she wraps an arm around me, going full-on snuggle.
She laughs. “Team activities? Like trust exercises and meetings and stuff?”
“No. OTAs are like low-key practices. No contact, getting used to each other.”
She frowns again, but her eyes sparkle now. “So no potluck picnic?”
“No, unfortunately. But I wouldn’t say no to someone organizing that.” I look at her pointedly.
She waves her hand around her house. “I’m sure fifty or so burly guys could totally squeeze in here.”
“Fair. How about a potluck picnic for two sometime?”
The way her eyes light up sends a zing through me. The delight there is catching. “I love that. Tomorrow? We each bring something.”
I choose my words very carefully. “It’s a date.”