Travis’s voice was grim. “You can’t avoid the team doctors much longer, Chase.”
“I’m not avoiding them.” How many times could he stretch the truth in one conversation? He must have reached his own personal record. Chase loosened his smile into easy and relaxed like his carefree tone. “I’ve been a little distracted with my new wife.”
Elliot chuckled beside him.
Travis remained still, from his stiff arm braced on the light bulb–framed mirror to his subdued expression. The lack of movement intensified Travis’s voice, ensuring there would be no misheard words. No misunderstanding. No distractions. “This isn’t like the last contract negotiation. The last negotiation, you had no injury and your stats obscured your off-field antics.”
“I have better stats now than when I started playing. I’m repairing my off-field reputation. Check the social media likes. My approval rating is climbing,” Chase countered. Unfortunately, he did not have the same healthy shoulder. Or his youth. “As for my shoulder, I’ll be ready to play by the preseason opener.”
Travis nodded and held out his hand.
Chase reached out and shook it. “I’m counting on you to take care of me and my career.”
Travis clenched Chase’s hand and held on like a father about to impart an important life lesson. “Don’t let me down on your end.”
CHAPTER NINE
HIS TRUCK TIRES SQUEALING, Chase motored into the last empty parking space at Bright Heart Sanctuary. He grabbed the to-go bag from The Panini Parade, hotfooted it toward the entrance and hoped for a onetime miracle. Anything that put a hiccup in his grandmother’s typical morning routine: cappuccino sweetened with cream and sugar and a splash of hot milk, two almond biscotti and an in-depth review of the day’s headlines both newsworthy and gossip.
Ten yards from the entrance, his eldest sister charged toward him like a defensive back after the receiver. “I knew you’d come to Nonna’s first. You’ve ignored my texts and calls all morning.”
Chase deflected to the left, sprinted around her and rushed the glass doors as if the assisted living center was the locker room at halftime and he had twelve minutes to revise his game plan.
Mallory kept pace with him. “When I suggested you get a wife, I didn’t mean literally overnight.”
The miracle train had obviously departed the station hours ago. He lunged for the door and stretched his grin extra wide. “I was just following your advice.”
“You never listen to me.” Exasperation creased his sister’s forehead. Her voice was curt.
“That’s not true.” Chase urged Mallory inside the lobby. “I listened in high school and got myself a tutor. Then again, in college, I reached out for tutoring assistance like you told me to do.”
“You wouldn’t have passed high school without Nichole’s help. And she helped you stay in college long enough to get drafted.” Mallory wasn’t fading. “You had no choice.”
He had no choice last night either. Nichole had called him her husband. If he’d corrected her in front of Vick and Glenn, he might’ve ruined her opportunity to sell her program. As for convincing Nichole to continue their charade, his rationale sounded much less sensible and much more selfish without Nichole glowing in a wedding dress in front of him.
He picked up his pace, hurrying toward the front desk and the check-in station. The receptionist called her congratulations to Chase. He waved, offered the woman an appreciative smile.
The press had often labeled him selfish. He’d always pretended the label never stung deeper than a mosquito bite. More nuisance than liability.
But the label fit. He was selfish. That truth surged through him like a full body dunk in an ice bath, uncomfortable and cloyingly cold. “Mallory, don’t you have classes to teach? Dissertations to read? Or even patients to put to sleep before their surgery?”
“Never mind my schedule.” Mallory made a slashing motion with her hand. “What is this about you having a wife?”
“We have to talk on the way. Nonna prefers her paninis hot.” And Chase preferred to discuss startling and unsettling news with his grandmother after she’d eaten. She’d always been more receptive to his pranks and mischief between dinner and dessert.
“What’s really going on?” Mallory followed Chase down the corridor. “Who is this woman? Someone looking for their five minutes of fame, I suppose.”
“It’s not like that.” Mallory hadn’t recognized Nichole in the blurry photograph. He could salvage things. His family had always liked Nichole. “She’s not like that.”
“Then it’s true?” Doubt lingered in Mallory’s frown.
Carter Jones, one of the nurses, leaned on his medicine cart outside the elevators and held up two thumbs. Carter’s smile hooked from one ear to the other. “Pioneers are going to the big game this coming year. I can feel it already.”
The constant ache in Chase’s shoulder intensified. The speculation from the staff and the judgment from his sister hurtled toward him, pushing on him to falter. Chase beelined for the staircase, taking two at a time. “Let’s get Nonna her lunch.”
“You aren’t going to tell me anything, are you? That’s fine.” Mallory rounded on Chase outside their grandmother’s apartment door. “Nonna will get the truth out of you. You’ve never been able to lie to her.”
There was a first time for everything. His mother and grandmother had often recited that particular phrase after one of Chase’s adventures. How could he deceive Nonna now? How could he not?
If Nonna believed Chase, then surely his fake marriage had merit. If his grandmother called him out, then he’d end the pretense and find another way to help Nichole.
He opened the door and entered the one-bedroom apartment. Everything inside him stumbled. His mother and his younger sister, Ivy, sat beside Nonna at the square kitchen table turned crafting center. News traveled fast in the Jacobs family. He braced the cheer in his smile and his tone. “Hello, everyone. This is unexpected.”
“Not so
