I frown. “You mean call him right now? Are you serious?”
As if in answer to the question, Kaylee pulls out her phone. “What’s his name?”
“Um, Chad Lowe. He’s a pretty big name in the sports agent industry from what I understand. Jake swears by him.”
“Chad Lowe?” Kaylee asks.
“I think so.”
Kaylee slides her phone over so I can see a picture. “Oh yeah, that’s definitely him.”
“So, call him?”
“This time of night? He’ll never answer.”
Fi shrugs. “Worth a try. You show him, Angie. Believe me, I’ve been in this position before and it always makes me feel better. Sure, he’s not Jake, but you do not want to see Jake. You hear me? You stay far away from him. That means you gotta find somebody else to take it out on. And for better or worse, Chad Lowe’s the only other person involved.”
“Alright,” I say, not believing I’m actually going to do this. The fact that I’m even considering it must be because of the Beaky Tiki Punch. I tap in the number that Kaylee found. Then I stare at the numbers. Then I hit the call button.
I wait and listen. It rings. It rings again. All of a sudden I feel silly. He’s never going to pick up and even if he does, I have no idea what I’m going to say. This was not as good an idea as I thought ten seconds ago.
“Hello?”
The second I decide to hang up, he actually answers, throwing me off guard.
“Um, hello?”
“Who is this?” his voice is terse.
Fi and Kaylee nod, egging me on. I can’t believe this is happening.
You can do this, Angie. It’s his fault for answering. “Hello, Chad, it’s Angie. With Jake Mann. We met at the workout at Riley Field the other day.”
“Oh, hello, Angie. I remember. It was nice meeting you.”
Oh shit. He sounds nice. And friendly. And he remembers me. I waver, but the looks that Fi and Kaylee give me remind me why I called him in the first place. “Look, Chad. I saw the text you sent Jake this morning. Uh-huh. The one about using me to make Jake look better so that he could land another team.” I can’t believe it. I said it out loud. What’s he going to do now?
“Yeah, that was brilliant. All he really needed to do was stop getting bad press, but getting good press by dating his high school sweetheart and helping out in the community? That part was genius.”
I take a deep breath, trying to formulate a thought about some of us not liking the idea of being used as nothing more than a bargaining chip in high priced sports negotiations.
Some of us are human beings with feelings, Chad. You ever think of that? I consider telling him it was all a rouse, a scam. That Jake only did that to fool the other teams into taking a chance on him.
But while I’m still thinking, Chad continues. “Hey, since I have you on the line, will you tell him that the Eagles want to fly him out? They need a viable tight end pronto since their starter went down. This is it; the opportunity Jake’s been waiting for. This could be a legitimate long-term gig. Chilling out helped teams to listen to reason, but that workout was classic Jake. I haven’t seen him like that in years. The fire was definitely gone. Whatever he had going for him these last few weeks? Tell him to bring it with him. It’s his only chance, and probably his last one.”
I don’t feel angry anymore, I just feel sad. Maybe Jake and I aren’t supposed to be together. Maybe we just have shit timing. Either way, I don’t feel right standing in the way of his dream. I’m also not speaking to him, but Chad doesn’t need to know that.
“Hey, Chad,” I say, finally getting a word in edgewise, “I think you should be the one to tell him.” Then I hang up.
“What’d he say?” Kaylee asks.
“He said Jake pulled it off. He’s going to get one more shot at the NFL. And I’m not going to stand in his way.”
Fi pulls at her ponytail. “What did Jake say about it?”
“He doesn’t know yet. It’s just as well what happened this morning. If it didn’t happen today, it would have been tomorrow or the day after that. I should have known it was only a matter of time and then he’d be gone again.”
“You had no way to know,” Kaylee breaks in, “this time he had me fooled too.”
Chapter 42
Jake
The next morning I wake up hungover. Bill’s words are still echoing in my head from the night before.
Groaning, I get out of bed and make some coffee. It sucks because the coffee reminds me of Angie. Breakfast reminds me of Angie.
I take some aspirin and start to feel a little better. Looking out the window at the ocean also reminds me of Angie. Maybe coming back to St. Tropic was a mistake.
Everything about this damn town reminds me of how much I care about Angie. I fucking dreamed about her the whole time I was gone.
I had her. And it was all I hoped for and then some. But now she’s gone again. And now I realize that the empty feeling I fought the entire time I was gone was because I missed her. All the trouble I got into, all the reckless choices I made. It wasn’t her fault, of course. It was because I couldn’t be honest with myself about my feelings.
Because I refused to think more than ten seconds into the future. And now I’m looking at a permanent future that doesn’t have Angie in it and my gut is all twisted up into knots.
My cell rings. Maybe it’s Angie. I leap over the coffee table to get to it as quickly as possible when I realize it’s not
