Double Score

He jogged back toward the tunnel.

I let them load me into the back of the van. They could have slowed down. My knee was already busted. Getting to the hospital wasn’t going to change that.

I stared at the ceiling as the ambulance whirled out from under the stadium.

34

Vanessa

“Where did they take him?” I was frantic, but I had to keep my composure in front of my grandparents’ friends who now filled the family box.

Steve had stopped by to see if I wanted to release a statement about Isaac before we had a hospital report.

“He’s going to the beset hospital in Austin,” he replied. “He’ll have the best treatment. You can count on that.”

“Text me the address.” I grabbed my bag. “I need to go.”

Grammy’s hand landed on my wrist. “Why would you do that?”

I looked at her. “I-I need to make sure one of our players is ok. He doesn’t have family here.” I would come up with twenty more excuses to get there if I had to.

She turned back to the game, talking to me over her shoulder. “We’re on the ten. Sit down, Vanessa. Someone else from the office can check on Price.”

I glared at the back of her head.

“He’s my player,” I retorted. “Steve, can you have a car take me?”

I was too rattled to drive. I had seen Isaac’s injury replayed on the jumbo-tron. I saw the pain he was in. I had to get there.

“Of course,” Steve responded. He retrieved his cell phone.

“Your fiancé is on the field,” Grammy quipped. “I’d think you’d want to watch him.” She motioned for me to lean down. I bent my ear toward her ear. “It won’t look favorable if you leave during this game. You can check on Isaac Price’s condition later. Steve will update you.”

I felt the walls of my chest tighten. My ribs were strangling my lungs.

In that moment, I felt as if I hated her. Hated what she had become. All the things she never did. Maybe all the things she did.

She was a poor substitute for a mother. I wanted to tear out of here and be next to Isaac. What if he needed me? What if he was out of it and someone needed to make a decision? What if he needed surgery?

Grammy couldn’t possibly relate to what I was going through. How my heart was thundering in my chest.

Her attention was back on the game. She leaned next to one of her friends to point to something on the field.

I bit my lip, biting back the tears of frustration. I knew she was right. I knew the optics were terrible. No owner would leave during a game-scoring play, especially not an owner engaged to the man who was about to score the touchdown.

The woman who had raised me, hadn’t prepared me to be an owner. Neither had my grandfather. They prepared me to be an owner’s princess. To be the wife of a great man. Someone who would need my support. Someone who needed me to sit quietly and smile sweetly, giving him all the support in the world. They raised me to be the kind of woman to look one way, while I felt completely different on the inside.

Because wasn’t that who she was? She had been walking around, holding bitterness and resentment for her husband’s lies, while basking in the attention of being a lonely widow. She basked in the sympathies. The flowers people sent. The endless lines of muffins and cakes she adored. To her, it meant she was still remembered. She was still important to Austin.

I hadn’t seen it until now. She resented me. She was no longer the owner’s wife. She was no longer the queen of the Warriors kingdom. My ascension to the throne had kicked her off hers.

I took a step back. The nausea rolled through me. I clutched my stomach.

Steve looked worried.

“You ok, Vanessa?”

I nodded. “Just exhausted and worried. There are a lot of implications for Isaac’s injury,” I whispered to him as if I was taking him into my confidence. As if I was thinking about the team and not the man I loved. “Look, I can’t go before halftime. But can you get to the hospital now?” I asked. “Stay with Isaac. Tell him I sent you.” I eyed him. “And I’ll be there as soon as the game is over.”