It wasn’t my intention to make her sweat it out. I just needed some time to think before making any more decisions.
Also, my knee was in serious need of some ice.
It was a good thing the house was warm, because needing to put ice on an injury in England in December was torture. On crutches, I still couldn’t get the ice on my own, so I swung through to the living room where Hunter and McCoy were talking – predictably – about women.
“It’s just like being in the locker room,” I said as I entered.
The guys looked up at me, and McCoy said, “Hey, what happens in the locker room, stays in the locker room.”
It sounded like a joke, but it was a real rule. I never participated in the guy talk, but it was always entertaining to listen to. During my first season, I’d heard way more than I ever needed to know about the wives, girlfriends and conquests of my team mates. It was actually hard to look some of them in the eye.
“Everything okay with Georgia?” Hunter asked.
“Yeah. We’re good. I do need to talk to Izzy, though. And I need to ice my knee.”
Radleigh stood up. “You’re right, you need to rest. Do you need a hand with anything before I go?”
“I got it covered,” Hunter said. “You sure you don’t want to stay for dinner again?”
“Thanks but I plan to spend the evening talking to my woman on the phone.”
“I guess you want me to keep that quiet too?” I laughed.
“Yeah,” McCoy replied. “That and every uncool romantic thing I said about Leah this afternoon, too.”
“As much as I’d love to tell her you’re pining for her, I’ll keep my mouth shut.”
“Okay, I’ve had enough of you punk ass kids now. I’m going back to the hotel. Hunter, tell your girl I said goodbye.”
He winked, and Hunter said, “Sure. If I tell her that, she’ll be thinking about you for the rest of the day instead of me! Even I can’t compete with the great Radleigh McCoy!”
McCoy turned to me. “I like this guy. Can you bring him to L.A?”
“You like him because he’s a young version of you,” I pointed out.
“Can’t deny that.”
“I’ll be in L.A as soon as I can,” Hunter said, laughing. “When I graduate high school, I wanna go to UCLA.”
“I hope you get in, man.”
“Thanks.”
I started to make a move towards the door, but McCoy said, “Stop. Get some ice on that knee, I can see myself out.”
“Okay. Are you coming by tomorrow?”
McCoy nodded. “Yeah, but if everything’s good here, I’ll probably drive back home after.”
It took a lot of strength not to mock him about calling Leah’s place “home,” but I managed it.
Just.
After McCoy had gone, Hunter told me to go wait in my room while he got me some ice, and I agreed because I really needed to talk to Izzy.
I could hear her and Willow giggling as I reached her bedroom door, but I knocked anyway, knowing Hunter would want to spend some more time with Willow before everyone came home for dinner. Isabelle called for me to go in, but her eyes filled with uncertainty when she saw me.
“Hi,” she said. “Everything okay?”