Scott sighed. “Naomi is my decorator, and she has been my lover for a little while. We were keeping it under wraps for just this reason. I didn’t want the press or the public involved. I just wanted to keep her to myself, and keep our relationship to myself, and now the whole world is pointing fingers and judging and blowing up.
Yeah. That is me in the photo with her at the obstetrician’s office. We were walking out because she is pregnant with my baby… or at least, we think she is. She was there to get a paternity test. I’m sure it will wind up being mine, but we still had to get the test.”
Jennifer looked at him with wide eyes. “You and Naomi are seeing each other? My god! I never would have guessed! She never said a word about it and we talked forever!”
He shrugged. “Well, that was decent of her to keep it quiet, but now everyone knows.”
Her eyebrow lowered and she leaned forward on one elbow. “Wait a minute… so this woman Cora is pregnant with your kid, and Naomi is pregnant with your kid, and you are supposedly engaged to me and everyone knows it?”
He closed his eyes and nodded. “Yeah, that sounds about right.”
She shook her head. “That’s about the worst mess I’ve ever been in… almost. I might not top it, but I could come close.”
He opened his eyes and turned his head to look at her. “You could? How? What happened to you?”
With a sad sigh, she looked down at the water bottle in her hands. “My ex-boyfriend David got out of jail and showed back up at my house. He wanted to get back together with me, and we got into this big fight, and I left and he followed me. Of course there were reporters just waiting for me to leave my gate, and they followed us and then when I stopped at Madge’s café for a salad, he came in behind me and we got into another fight, and the paparazzi got photos of it, and it hit social media. He got arrested again.
It’s all over the place now, and my people are pushing me to go with this engagement with you; they were on the phone with me all morning. I argued with them like crazy that you and I can’t be officially engaged, but they are pushing so hard for this. They think that it will fix my publicity nightmare. I’m so sorry, Scott.”
“Yeah, my agent has been all over my case about saying that we’re engaged, too. He was talking with me about it yesterday, as a matter of fact. I’ll be honest; I wouldn’t be surprised if this was his idea…” He tapped the newspaper with the tip of his finger. “I’m really sorry about David. I know how much he means to you. That’s sad news.”
She nodded. “It is sad, but I’ve tried to help him. There’s nothing I can do. He has to make that decision on his own. No one is ever going to be able to make it for him or do enough for him that it will change him. He has to change it himself on his own. I don’t think that day is ever really going to come, but I wish that it already had.”
“I wish that for you, too. Or at least that you could find a good guy. You sure as hell deserve one.” He smiled at her and took her hand in his.
“I have one!” She gave him a half-hearted smile in return. “I have you.”
He nodded. “We’re lucky. And now it looks like we’re engaged. So… what do you want to do about this?”
She knitted her brows thoughtfully. “Well, my people are pushing me to go forward with the engagement and make it real, because they tell me it’s going to get rid of all of the bad publicity that I’m getting from the ongoing disaster with David. I think it’s extreme, but that’s what they are saying to me. What is Harold telling you?”
Scott raked his fingers through his hair and gazed out over the sunlight glinting off the turquoise blue water in his swimming pool. “Harold said that most of my sponsors are talking about leaving me because I got two women pregnant… or I might have, and I’m not the upstanding family man that I ought to be.
They think my morals are compromised. So that’s a big chunk of my income. Then, the team owner is talking about getting rid of me because he feels like I’m making his ball club look bad. I know what they are saying… I mean, I get it. Any guy who got two different women pregnant at the same time can’t be a good guy, right? Except… I didn’t know.
It wasn’t like I was playing them or cheating on them or anything. I had a one night stand with Cora, and that was it. Then I met Naomi… and sparks flew, and just as things were getting good for us, Cora shows back up and tells me that she’s pregnant.
I was drunk the night that I had sex with her. I barely remember it. Naomi and I have had a lot of problems, but she is an amazing woman and I care so much about her. She came to me and told me she was pregnant and Harold insisted that she get a paternity test.
Now they are both getting the test, and we’ll see how it goes, but I can absolutely understand why the sponsors and the team owner are ready to back off from me. The problem is that it’s my whole career. I’m on the edge of losing everything I’ve worked my whole life for.”
In his heart, he was terrified of losing it all, and the idea of it almost paralyzed him. He looked over at Jennifer and frowned.
“I have a lot in savings; I mean, I’d be okay, but… where would I go from here? What would I do if I lost all my sponsors and my place on the team? I don’t want to move from here. I love this house. I love this city. This is where I want to live, and I guess raise a family. I don’t want anything to change. I can’t lose it all because of everything that’s going on right now. I can’t risk that. Does any of that make sense to you?” He looked at her imploringly.
“It makes perfect sense,” she answered with a sigh. “I’m not in the same boat, but I’m definitely taking a hit with all of David’s nonsense.” She pursed her lips and looked carefully at Scott. “So, what if our people are right? What if it would be better for us both if we got engaged?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know if it would work, and that’s a big gamble if it doesn’t. We go public with an engagement, then we have to follow up with a wedding, and we have to act like we’re really married in public. That means no outside relationships for us, because that would be an even bigger problem, and we would be living a lie every single day.
I love you, Jennifer, and you’re one of my best friends, but that’s a big step, and I’m not entirely sure it’s a step in the right direction. On the flip side though, if we don’t do that, we could both take huge hits with our careers. Neither one of us wants that.”
She nodded. “I know what you mean. This is a tough one. So, what if we sleep on it? What if we give it some thought and get back to each other on it? What do you think?” She looked at him earnestly.
He smiled at her. “Yeah, that sounds like the best plan for now. Let’s give it some thought. There’s a lot riding on it, no matter which way we go.”
She stood up and he followed suit. “Okay,” she said, reaching her arms around him for a hug. “I will call you soon, or you can call me. For now we’ll just leave it in limbo. If anyone asks, just don’t answer them, or tell them there’s nothing that is being made public at this time.”
He agreed and walked her to the door, waving goodbye to her as she left. After he closed the door, he went back to the patio and sat down in his chair once more, looking at the newspaper that was still laying on the table.