Chapter 37 – RHETT
RHETT
By the time I wake up, Quinn is gone. I didn’t even hear her leave. I’m immensely disappointed until I find a note stuck to the bathroom mirror that asks me to meet her at five at the address she wrote down.
She’ll be at practice tomorrow, and I believe she’s traveling with us for the game on Thursday, but now I can’t wait for tonight. Especially when the day drags. Crew tells me he wants to wait till tomorrow to go over to things, and I agree with him since I want to get out of here on time.
We talk through every game element and go over film for Buffalo. It’s hours of sitting and talking when we’re already exhausted from the long time away and the late return home.
I dismiss the team with a warning about a tough practice tomorrow, and the players funnel out. Before Russel can disappear, I move in front of him.
“I need a word with you.” It’s not a question or an option, and he clearly reads that.
I head for my office, and he follows. The door shuts with a loud click, and I turn on him and start in on him immediately.
“You had your phone during a game?”
He rolls his eyes, curses, and cocks a hip with a scoff like he’s fifteen again, and I asked him to clean up his room.
“Fucking Crew,” he growls.
I point at him. “No. You don’t get to do that to him when you’re the one who broke the rules. Rules governed by the NFL that, if broken, can get you in a hell of a lot of trouble. He only told me. No one else. Why did you have your phone?”
He grunts dismissively. “Because Mom is sick. Not that you’d know or care.”
Instead of addressing his childish behavior, I say, “What’s wrong with her?”
“Pneumonia. She was in the hospital, and I got a text from her husband that the nurse needed to speak with me. I called from the bathroom. That’s it.”
“You understand the risk you took with that, right? Not only could you be fined substantially, but the NFL would also look into your game conduct and the team.”
He winces before it clears, but instead of continuing to act like a child, he simply nods. “I understand.”
“I won’t say anything this time, and Crew won’t either. But let it be the last.”
“It won’t happen again.”
Relief hits me. “Good. Okay. Is she doing better?”
“She’s home now.”
“I’m glad to hear it.”
“Like you give a shit.”
I grunt, my hands going to my hips, and my frustration mounting over.
“You truly never got the bigger picture, did you? You never saw any of it. You only believed what she told you without fact-checking any of it with me. I don’t know what you’re doing here with this team if you want so little to do with me. ”
“Now you want to get to know me?” he gripes incredulously. “You were never around—”
“I was always around,” I snap, cutting him off before I temper my tone.
“Always. You have no idea how hard I tried to know you and be all the things I could be to you. Your mother made that nearly impossible. Regardless of that, I went to school events whenever I could, I made all of your games, even through college, and I paid more fines than I can count for having to fly separately from the team to away games or getting to practices late. I stayed with a shitty team and turned down others to stay in Florida with you. I became a college coach to stay there even when the NFL was what I wanted. You had everything you needed and a hell of a lot more. Concert tickets for you and your friends, and a new car when you got your license. I did everything I could for you, but it was never enough because I never married your mother, and she was bitter about it. Nothing was ever enough for her either. Did you know she didn’t get married until the day you turned eighteen because what I paid her in child support was too good for her to give up?
I took excellent care of your mother. But I didn’t love her anymore, and I wasn’t going to marry her.
You can hate me and act as if I owe you something I never gave you, or you could try believing that I love you and always have. ”
“Do you know what it was like growing up with a great Rhett Jones as your father? Do you know what it’s like to never be able to live up to your greatness and always be cast in your shadow?
Why do you think I didn’t want people to know you were my father?
I had to make a name for myself aside from being your son. ”
I huff. His words crack across me like a whip, the sting just as fierce.
“That didn’t come from me. I never made you feel that you were less than the amazing person that you are.”
He continues as if I didn’t speak. “So perfect, Dad. Always following every rule. There’s no one who can live up to that. Certainly not me.”
I shake my head and plant my hands on my desk, feeling as though I’m going in circles.
“Russel, I’m far from perfect, and at some point, you’re going to have to stop blaming everyone else for the choices you make or the things you do.
I love you. I’ve always loved you, and I’ve done everything I could to make you feel that.
You’re an adult now. You’ve made a name for yourself, and you’re here now playing for me, which was your decision.
I want a real relationship with my son, but I’m not going to give you a free pass for your shitty behaviors simply because you are. ”
I stand here, breathing hard, waiting for him to hopefully see all that we could have together.
It twists me up and reminds me that what I’m doing with Quinn is not only wrong but will push him even farther from me.
And I still, even after all these weeks with her, have no clue what to do about all of that.
I’m in love with her. She’s undoubtedly the love of my life.
What does someone do in a situation like this?
“I don’t know what to tell you.”
I nearly laugh at that. That’s all he has to say? “How about that you’ll try?”
He hitches up a shoulder. “I’ve been trying.”
He hasn’t. He barely speaks or tolerates me. I have no idea why he wanted to come here and play, other than maybe the situation in Dallas was worse than he let on, and he truly needed to get out and figured this would be the easiest place to go where he could win and get paid.
Feeling nothing short of defeated and truly, a bit brokenhearted, I simply nod. I can’t force him to give a shit about me or want to be part of my life. I’m here. He knows it. He just doesn’t want it.
I shuffle whatever bullshit is sitting on my desk just to have something to do so I don’t run over there, grab him, and shake him for being so closed off and resistant. He wants me to only be his coach. Then that’s what I am.
“Okay. Remember what I said about the phone during prohibited times. That’s two strikes now. Don’t make it three. See you tomorrow.”
The door shuts behind him. It doesn’t even slam. I barely stirred any emotion in him at all.
I sink into my chair and put my head in my hands, not knowing what else to do. After a beat, I check my watch and realize the time. I need to get going if I want to make it to Quinn on time.
Being a parent doesn’t get easier, no matter how old or grown your children are. We’re always reaching for them while they’re pulling away. I’ll just have to keep fighting.
I climb into my car and speed all the way up toward the New Hampshire border.
When I get out of my car, I tilt my head curiously at the sign.
Inner Snow Experience Labs.
Okay. I have no clue what I’m in for, but I’m ready for whatever she has.
I open the door and fuck me running, it’s not what I expected at all.
There’s a small lobby with some chairs and sofas that look out through floor-to-ceiling windows onto an enormous indoor ski and snowboard mountain, I guess you’d call it.
There are all kinds of runs and stages with different equipment, most of which I have no clue what they are.
I step closer to the window and squint. On the far side of the massive indoor arena is a huge fenced-in trampoline, and Quinn is jumping on it with something attached to her feet as she flips and twirls through the air.
“Hi, may I help you?”
I twist my head to the young girl behind the counter. “Hi. I’m here to see Quinn Reyes.”
“Oh yeah. She’s on the trampoline. You can go back.”
She points to a door, and I enter the park. There’s a long staircase down to the ground, but from there it’s almost entirely uphill until I reach the trampoline area. There are snow machines off to the side, and how cool is this?
A woman is standing on the edge of the trampoline watching Quinn go.
“Riiight. So are we calling that a 1620?”
Quinn flips her off as she hits the trampoline, bounces, and flies into the air again. She has some sort of weird board attached to her feet. It’s not a snowboard. It’s smaller but maybe meant to simulate a board on her feet if she were actually on the half-pipe.
Neither has noticed me yet, and it’s fantastic because it allows me to watch Quinn go.
I’ve seen her gold medal runs on YouTube no less than a dozen times, but it’s not the same as seeing her in person.
She really is extraordinary. Her talent.
Her intelligence. Her wit. Her sarcasm. Her drive. Her smile. Her hair. Her everything.
She flips and twirls and spins through the air, and after a few minutes, when she’s literally upside down in the air, she spots me.
“Rhett!” She lands and bounces a few more times, stopping her momentum from going back up. A smile hits her face like I’ve never seen before. She’s out of breath and in leggings and a sports bra, and my stupid dick is already reacting.
“You’re amazing.”
She waves me away. “I’m just having fun. I get to do that now.” She arches a brow and glares at the woman who was with her.
The woman laughs. “Yeah, yeah. It’s not too late to reconsider coming out of retirement.”
Quinn flips her off, and the woman laughs harder.
“I’m Ashley. I used to train this brat. Welcome.”
“Thanks. This is a very cool place.”
“It’s my second favorite place outside of the OR.” Quinn snaps herself out of her small board and comes over to me. “Do you want to ski?”
“Ski?” My eyebrows hit my hairline. “There’s no snow.”
“We simulate it,” Ashley informs me. “We make our own snow all year round, but one of our coolers is busted, so we’re stuck with simulations until we get it fixed.”
“I’m in. But I should also tell you that while I do ski, I didn’t start skiing until I moved to Colorado, and by then I was already very much an adult. I’m an okay skier, not a great or probably even good skier.”
“We can make the simulator like a video game rather than actual skiing if you’re more comfortable with that,” Ashley informs me.
“Yes. I think that’d be better.”
Quinn comes out of the net around the trampoline. “I’ll show you. It’s fun.”
I get strapped into two booties on an arched track with a giant screen in front of me.
“Do you have a slope?”
“A slope?” I ask Ashley.
“A mountain you’ve always wanted to ski.”
“Oh. No. Teacher’s choice.”
She smirks, and suddenly I’m in the French Alps skiing down some insane mountain. I swoosh back and forth on the track. That is, until I crash into trees. Not a great start, but it makes Quinn laugh.
“You can do better?” I challenge.
“I can definitely do better. I didn’t start on half-pipe until I became a bit of a daredevil and thrill seeker.”
“Why am I not surprised? Okay, can I start over?”
The two of us go back and forth for over an hour. She kicks my ass up and down the slopes with her board. It’s insane how good she is. Yes, I know she was in the Olympics and won gold, which means she was the best in the world, but it’s another thing to see it and be part of it.
I take her hand as we leave the arena. “Thank you for taking me here. It was a lot of fun.” And a great distraction from the last twenty-four hours I’ve had.
“I’m glad.” She arches up onto the balls of her feet and plants a kiss on the corner of my lips. “Wanna come over for dinner and sex?”
I bark out a laugh and take her in my arms. “Yes. I definitely want to come over for dinner and sex. And sleeping? What about that?”
“You can stay over.” She makes a feigned sarcastic noise. “I guess.”
I kiss her lips. “Do you remember me coming home last night?”
She gives me a sheepish look. “Barely. Sorry. I totally broke into your house with the key I never gave back and like a little stalker slut, got naked in your bed, touched myself with your pillow over my face, and fell asleep.”
And now I’m hard as stone. Awesome. Making it through dinner without mauling her will be a miracle since I haven’t really kissed her, let alone had her, in nearly two weeks.
“I was planning on waking up and climbing on top of you when you got home, but yeah, that didn’t happen.”
So she didn’t hear what I said. It wasn’t her pretending she was asleep to evade it. I’ve already told her that I’m falling for her. She knows I’m more than a little enchanted by her spell. She asked that we wait until the end of the season, and given everything that’s going on, it’s smart.
But it doesn’t mean it’s easier this way.
“You can make it up to me. I’m ordering pizza though.”
“Pepperoni for you and mushrooms and olives for me.”
“I’m on it. I’ll see you there.”
I give her a quick kiss and follow her home. This time, she doesn’t fall asleep until she’s sweaty and smiling. Until we’re both sweaty and smiling. And the moment she falls asleep, I tell her again. Because not saying it is becoming more and more impossible.