Amy smiled. “I love you for saying that, but don’t you think that this mess with the photographers, the naked pictures…” She shook her head. “He’d be appalled.”
“At the people who did it to you, yes. But not at you! He admired people with spunk. Why do you think he married me? I was the same crazy woman at eighteen that I am now. And I refuse to discuss my age, so don’t ask.”
Aunt Darla opened her mouth but Rose shot her a look that clearly said “Don’t you dare.”
Her sister shut it without speaking.
Amy laughed.
“Amy, you’ve got the best of both of us-my crazy side and your father’s sensibility. He adored you and thought you could do no wrong, no matter what you did with your life.” Then she chuckled. “Although I must say, it’s a good thing those pictures aren’t really of you. That I don’t think he could have handled.”
Amy glanced at her mother and her heart was filled with gratitude.
As she looked at the mother she’d always loved and the aunt who’d always been there for her, too, Amy came to yet another epiphany. It wasn’t so bad to be like the two women sitting here.
She was glad her mother said her father would have approved of her choices. But in reality she’d already come to the conclusion, as she sat here with her mother and aunt, that it didn’t matter as long as she herself approved of her choices.
In moderation, what was wrong with having fun? Unlike her relatives, Amy knew where and when to behave. So she’d made love with Roper in front of a set of windows-in a locked room facing a wintry landscape where it had been very unlikely they’d have been caught.
And if they’d been photographed? Could it be any worse than the doctored pictures on the Internet now? Amy shook her head and laughed, feeling lighter than she had in ages. She wrapped her hands around her knees, rocked back and forth and thought of all the ways she’d tried to run from Roper. All the excuses she’d made.
And that’s what they were.
Excuses.
After being fired from her first job, she’d retreated home to lick her wounds-and she’d stayed there. It had been easy and fun and she never had had to worry about what people would think. Her job at the retirement community, by definition, allowed for the eccentric behavior of those around her.
Her move to New York had been more overwhelming than she’d expected, and she’d been running from her fear-fear of not being able to make it here-without knowing it. Not until Roper had pointed it out today. And even then, she’d refused to admit he was right.
“What’s so funny?” her mother asked. “First you weren’t happy we’re here and now you’re laughing.”
“I think I’m just realizing what a fool I’ve been.” About so many things.
“So is it good we’re here? Or not so good we’re here?” Aunt Darla asked.
Amy bit down on the inside of her cheek. “It’s good you’re here now…”
“But?” her mother asked.
“But next time can we schedule a visit so I can take some legitimate time off?” And give her time to plan some activities that would keep them busy and out of trouble.
“We can do that,” her mother said, nodding.
“And as far as tonight’s guest goes, I need you two to promise you’ll stay in the background and let me do the talking. Do you understand?”
They both nodded.
“Good.”
Between this afternoon and right this minute, Amy had come to some major conclusions about her behavior and her life. Both needed to change.
And Buckley was giving her a chance to do it publicly.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
ROPER DIDN’T THINK HIS DAY could get any worse. After leaving Amy for what seemed like the last time, he worked out, checked in with his coaches and headed home. He’d taken one look at the houseguests who’d just returned from their tour of the city and he knew he had to send them to be with Amy. She needed them-either for their moral support or to face her frustration with them and send them home. Regardless, it wasn’t his problem. Unfortunately, he still cared enough to want her to have her family around her if she needed them.
An hour later, his doorbell rang and he found himself face-to-face with the last person he expected to see-his brother. As much as he wasn’t in the mood for company, he hadn’t seen Ben in a while.
“What’s up?” Roper asked.
“Can we talk? And before you slam the door in my face, I’m not here to ask you for money, a job or anything else,” his brother said, red-faced.
Curious now, Roper swung the door wide and gestured inside. “Come on in. Can I get you a beer?”
“Why not.”
A few minutes later, they were settled in his living room with the TV blaring eSports Network behind them. “So what’s up?” Roper asked.
Ben shifted in his seat. “A few things. First is, I called some of those contacts you gave me a while back and set up some interviews for assistant coaching jobs.”
Roper couldn’t believe his ears. “That’s great!” He didn’t want to ask what changed Ben’s mind because he didn’t want to ruin this step in the right direction.
“I’ve done some thinking and I’ve been an ass,” Ben said. “Blaming you because my life didn’t work out the way I wanted.” He glanced down, not even chugging his beer the way he usually did. “A couple of the guys said if things work out and I prove myself, the head coaching position might become available. I know it’s because of you but I’ll take the opportunity and try.”
“What’s going on, Ben?” Roper had never seen his brother so subdued.
“There’s something that’s going to hit the news and you need to hear it from me first.”
“Can’t be any worse than doctored porn shots of me and Amy on the Internet,” Roper muttered.
“No, but it relates to it. Turns out my friend Dave, who’d been letting me bunk there until I convinced you to fund the gym, was behind those photographs.”
“What the hell?
Ben swallowed hard. “Yeah, well, thanks to me, he thought he knew you. My old, skewed perspective of you.”
“I don’t know what I want to know first. Why your view of me changed or more about Dave and the pictures,” Roper muttered. “I do know I’m going over there and kill him for what he put Amy through.” He flexed and unflexed his hands, anger coursing through his veins.
Ben rose and began pacing the room. “Hear me out first, then you can decide what to do. You know I was jealous of you. You know I thought fate gave me a raw deal and Dave knew it, too. Not only was he my friend, he’s a Renegades season ticket holder, too, and last season’s World Series disaster pissed him off big-time.”
“He wouldn’t be the only one,” Roper said, acknowledging the truth.
“But he was more out of control than I realized. You know those packages you’ve been getting? The letters? The media coverage of you lately, excessive even by New York standards?”
“Yes…” Roper knew where this was going and his head felt full enough to explode. “He’s been behind it all?”
“Anything I heard about you, things I griped about to him, he used against you, bro.” Ben strode to him. “I had no idea. You have to believe me. I was whiny and self-centered, but you’re my brother. I’d never do anything to hurt you. As soon as he told me, it was like this huge lightbulb went off in my head and I realized how messed up my own thinking has been.” Ben pleaded with Roper to understand.
And he tried. Man, Roper tried. Because this was his baby brother and he wanted to believe he’d changed. “Go on.”
