Chapter 29
Victoria
I’m just leaving for work on Saturday morning when my father stomps into the kitchen. He looks annoyed and holds out a newspaper.
“What is this, Victoria?”
I glance down and see a picture on the front page of the sports section.
Me, Juliet, and Hana, at the children’s hospital, with our arms around each other.
The headline reads, “Knights Offer Sweet Treats to Children in Hospital.” The caption beneath our picture says “Juliet Elliott, Hana Barbeau, and Victoria Denali, partners of players on the team, serve gourmet cookies and cupcakes during the event.”
“So?” I ask with a frown. “It was a charity function. What’s wrong?”
He grunts. “It calls you the partner of someone on the team. Do you know how that makes you look?”
I cock my head. “No?”
He sighs, putting down the newspaper with a thumb.
“You’re not his wife—you’re just his current plaything.
You really think he’s going to marry you?
Come on, you know how these guys are. Even the married ones cheat.
Is that who you want to be? The whole world now knows you’re some kind of puck bunny. ”
“He loves me,” I protest angrily. “And I am not a puck bunny!”
Dad rolls his eyes. “He’ll tell you whatever he wants to hear to get you into bed.”
“He could get anyone he wants into bed. He doesn’t need to lie to me.”
“That’s my point—he can and will fuck anything that moves. You’re just a place warmer.”
“For what?”
“Victoria, stop being na?ve. You think you’re special? You’re cute enough, but guys like him date movie stars, supermodels, other athletes. Not average-looking middle class girls studying accounting.”
I blink.
Average-looking girls studying accounting? Is that all I am? Not to mention nothing more than merely someone for guys to fuck. That pisses me off.
“No one is going to want you if you continue down this path.”
“I don’t want to see you get hurt again,” he continues. “He broke your heart four years ago and he’s going to do it again. That boy doesn’t deserve you.”
Ugh. My father can be blunt to the point of rudeness. And he’s the only person trying to break my heart at the moment.
“You’re being really mean right now,” I say quietly. “And I have to go to work.” I grab my bag and stalk out the door to my car.
I’m so angry my hands are shaking as I grip the steering wheel.
Average-looking? My own father thinks I’m average-looking? I mean, I’m certainly not a supermodel but Jordan has always told me he thinks I’m gorgeous. I don’t believe he’s only with me for sex, but I do know that cheating is rampant among professional athletes. As is divorce.
Am I setting myself up for heartbreak?
Because I don’t know if I’d recover from losing Jordan a second time.
I was so devastated the first time. I couldn’t eat or sleep or focus on anything.
It’s a damn good thing I was a straight-A student who got an exam exemption.
I probably would have failed all of them if I’d had to take them.
I couldn’t even bring myself to go to prom with my girlfriends.
My parents wanted to throw me a graduation party, and I declined. I was a wreck.
And now that I’m thinking back, the reason for all of that was my father. He’s the one who caused my heartbreak with his threats and manipulations.
It took the whole summer for me to get to a place where I could leave the house and think about school again. At that point, I threw myself into my studies and did everything in my power to forget Jordan Palmer ever existed.
Now that we’ve been together again, I don’t know if that’s possible.
There’s a part of me that can’t help but wonder if my dad is right—that Jordan is going to hurt me again. But at this point, we’ve come too far to walk away. No matter what happens, I can’t picture my life without him in it.
It drives me crazy that my father is getting in my head. He’s doing it on purpose, but there is a hint of truth to the things he said. I’ve never understood what Jordan sees in me; the chemistry was just there, like magic. I never questioned it then, but I’m older now. Just not necessarily wiser.
I’m still mulling it over when I get to work. My boss is doing payroll and she glances up with a smile.
“Hey. How are you?”
“I’m all right. How about you?” I stick my bag under my desk.
“It was busy yesterday so I’m trying to get payroll done before I leave today.”
“Well, I’ll handle it out front and leave you to it.” I grab my name badge and clip it to my blouse before making my way to the front. We haven’t opened yet so I unlock the front doors and then turn on the register. I’m so lost in what I’m doing I don’t even notice when customers come in.
“Victoria.” I look up, startled, and see Juliet with two other wives from the team, whose names I don’t remember.
“Hi!” I smile and walk toward them.
“I’ve been meaning to stop by,” Juliet says. “I used to shop here all the time and then I had to go and get pregnant.”
“You’ll be back to your old weight before you know it.”
“I hope so but I’m not holding my breath. Anyway, I don’t know if you’ve met but this is Zoe, she’s married to Slava Yegorov, and you remember Eden.”
“Of course, hi!” I say warmly. “I’m sorry, I’ve met so many people the last few weeks, it’s hard to remember all the names.”
“No problem at all!” Zoe grins. “And I already see things I want to try on.”
The ladies disperse, and I follow them around, giving suggestions and showing them clothes I believe will look good on them.
The store is trendy, with a nice mix of styles for both younger and older women.
We also carry sizes from extra small to 3X, depending on availability from the manufacturer, which I love.
“This is a must,” Zoe says, holding up a fringed red leather jacket.
Eden rolls her eyes. “You and your love of fringe.”
“Hey, you can be frumpy if you want—I like fringe. And Slava loves it.” She wiggles her eyebrows and we all laugh.
“There’s a matching skirt,” I stage whisper to her.
Zoe’s eyes widen. “Show me!”
They spend the next hour shopping and when it’s all said and done, they spend nearly three thousand dollars. We get a ten percent commission on any sales over five hundred dollars so this will be a nice one for me, though I feel a tad guilty since they’re my friends.
“Thanks for your help,” Juliet says when I’ve packaged everything up.
“We have a book club,” Eden says. “Do you like to read? You should join us.”
“I’d love to,” I say, “but I probably won’t have time until I graduate in May.”
“Oh, that’s right around the corner,” Zoe says. “What’s your degree in?”
“Accounting.”
“You should work in design,” Eden says. “You have a great eye for clothes.”
Yeah, that was the plan.
Until my parents derailed my dreams.
“I thought about it,” I admit, “but I was trying to be practical.”
“Practical is boring,” Juliet says. “I did the practical thing too. Until I met Vaughn. But I always wanted to bake and now I get to do what I love. You should too. Life is too short to do something that doesn’t make you happy.”
“I can always go back to school,” I say lightly. “I’m just trying to get through this semester.”
“We’ll have to celebrate when you graduate,” Zoe says. “We can do a champagne brunch!”
I grin. “That sounds awesome.”
“And you’re going on the New York trip, right?” Eden asks.
“Oh, yes, I think so.” I’d almost forgotten about that. I need to talk to Jordan about the logistics.
“It’s going to be a blast,” Juliet says. “I’m really bummed that I’m going to miss it. I’ll either be due any day or will have just given birth, so I’m going to have to live vicariously through you guys.”
“I can’t wait,” Zoe says. “I get to spend money and Slava gets to do butt stuff.”
My cheeks feel like they’re on fire but the other girls are obviously used to her making comments like that.
“Ignore her,” Eden says when she notices my discomfort. “She lets him do butt stuff even when she doesn’t get to go shopping.”
“I get to go shopping all the time,” Zoe says primly. “And now you know why.”
“You guys are gross,” Juliet says, playfully wrinkling her nose.
“Whatever.” Zoe waves a hand. “You’re missing out.”
“Okay, there are shoes in our future,” Juliet says solemnly. “So, we have to go.”
“Have a good time shopping!” I call after them, my face probably still bright red.
“Next time, you’ll come with us.” Zoe winks.
They wave and disappear out the door, leaving me both happy and wistful.
I wish I was off so I could go with them, but I also love working with and dressing women in clothes that make them feel as good as they look.
I wanted to design my own line once upon a time, and working at a boutique like this allows me to feel like I’m still at least a little bit involved in the fashion world.
It’s not the same as going to the Fashion Institute but my parents would never have paid for that.
And for the first time in a long time, I’m resentful about it.
“Did you just have three-thousand dollars in sales?” Terri comes out from the back with her hands on her hips, a smile playing on her lips.
“I did.” I smile. “Some of the wives of my boyfriend’s teammates came in and shopped till they dropped.”
“Good for you! There will be a nice bonus in your next check. You do have a knack for how to dress women… What did they buy?”
I show her the receipts and she nods. “I need to re-order those cold shoulder blouses with the tapered sleeves…”
She bustles into the back, calling over her shoulder, “You really should be working in fashion, Victoria. Your skills are wasted here in retail, much as I love having you.”
I sigh.
I’d love to work in fashion too, but those jobs are few and far between.
Accounting is a much safer option.
Isn’t it?
Maybe I should be thinking out of the box. It’s not like my degree will go bad, but if Jordan and I are together, why can’t I explore a job in fashion?
I’ll have to feel him out, see what he thinks. This could be exciting, an option I never imagined would be available to me!
And I’m excited just thinking about it.