The Player and the Single Mom

“Because if you hurt Sera it’s coming down on me too.”

“Sera is not interested in me.” Then I deftly changed the subject. “I’m glad Dak canceled his party this year and we’re back in Nashville. You know I don’t like New York City. Too damn crowded.”

My best friends from our years playing football at LSU, aka The Legends, had just spent four days together skiing in Vermont. It had been a good time to catch up with all my buddies and celebrate their changing lives, but at the same time there was nothing fantastic about being the only single dude surrounded by couples all loving on each other.

I could handle the ribbing from the guys. It was all in good fun.

But crawling into bed alone in a fifteen-hundred-square-foot Moroccan themed cottage with a motherfucking hot tub on the screened-in porch while knowing full well all the other guys were getting laid was not exactly my idea of the perfect vacation. An idea was forming now how I could make up for those lonely nights in cold Vermont.

“Now that Train has a baby, I guess things are changing. This is a little more low-key than some of our New Year’s Eves in the past, but I have to admit, I kind of like this vibe. Plus, what my lady wants, my lady gets.”

“I’m glad you’re happy,” I said, and I meant that sincerely. I was happy for all the guys. I was just ready for my own love life to take a turn for the better, and I wanted Sera for the job.

Her response to me had been encouraging and I was ready to go back in the ring for another round.

I clapped Miles on the shoulder and told him, “You shouldn’t spend your whole night by the food. Mingle a little, man.”

He waved me off, his mouth full of shellfish.

I finished my beer, put it in the recycling bin Toni had set out, and grabbed another one from the fridge. Then I started toward Sera, making an effort to stop and talk to people here and there along the way for five minutes or so. This was the perfect sized party. There were about thirty people, enough to get a little lost in the crowd, but not so many that it was a sweaty press of bodies everywhere you turned and you couldn’t talk without shouting.

Twenty minutes later I sat down on the couch next to Sera. She was talking to a woman I didn’t recognize. I fiddled on my phone, finding what I was looking for, before exchanging a few words with MacKay Lennox, who was in a leather chair a few feet away from me.

“How’s it going, Mac?”

“Fucking foot is killing me,” he said, grimacing a little and stretching out his leg.

He had a football injury from his rookie season. It had taken him out of the game and into retirement after just eight games as a pro. He still had a limp from it and residual pain.

“That sucks, man. Need me to grab you a drink or anything?” Mac was also fresh out of a breakup with his girlfriend, Mary Frances, who no one had liked. Well, besides Mac, that is, and that had been a mystery to all of us. At any rate, the guy wasn’t having the best year.

“I’m good.” He picked up his glass and lifted it in salute. “Here’s to a new year. Can’t get any worse than the last one.”

“To a new year.” I raised my beer bottle. I nudged Sera’s leg with my knee. “Right, Sera?”

“What?” She looked over at me, glancing down at our legs touching. She shifted hers away. “What are you talking about?”

“Here’s to a better year than the last.”

“Oh. Right.” She bit her lip and looked over at Mac. “Hey, do you mind if I borrow Cash for a minute? I need to ask him about the kids’ riding schedule.”

Interesting. I liked the sound of that. She wanted a private moment with me.

“He’s not my date,” Mac said. “Take him for as long as you want.”

Sera laughed a little too boisterously.

“The joke wasn’t that funny,” I murmured to her as we stood up.

She shrugged. I gestured for her to go first as I glanced at my watch. Twenty minutes to midnight. Sera picked a spot in the corner of the living room right by the door to Miles’s gaming room. No one else was standing in the immediate vicinity.

“So… about that thing you were, um, suggesting,” she said, looking everywhere but at me. “How would that work? I don’t exactly have a lot of free time.”

“How does five days at a resort in Mexico sound?” I asked.

Her head swiveled and she gawked at me. “What? Are you joking? How the hell would we do that? Why would we do that?”

“I feel like you need a vacation.” I unlocked my phone and opened the tab I had been looking at. “How about this place?”

Sera took my phone and started scrolling through the resort gallery. “Holy crap, this is gorgeous. Oh my God, Cash, it has swim-out rooms. Like you step out of your room and just jump in the pool. That’s insane.”

“You like it? How does mid-February sound?”

She lowered the phone rapidly. “Who is supposed to watch my kids?”

“Your sisters. Tell them you need a vacation by yourself or you’re going to lose your mind.”

“That’s not inaccurate.” Sera lifted the phone again and swiped through a few more pictures. “This resort looks like heaven on earth. Food that someone else has cooked. Crisp, clean sheets. No one saying “mom” on repeat.” She put the phone to her chest like she wanted to cuddle the concept. “Cash. I can’t afford this. I can’t even afford the free welcome drink at this place.”

I raised my eyebrows. “Sera. I’m inviting you as my guest. Obviously I will pay for it. And it will be our little secret if you want. No one has to know.”

“You don’t mind keeping it a secret? And we’ll do what you suggested earlier?”

I nodded. “Oh yeah. We’ll do it. All of it.” I wanted to touch her, but I was aware there could potentially be eyes on us. I wanted to brush her hair back and kiss her. I had preferred her natural blonde, but she was beautiful as a brunette too. More mysterious.

“Friends with benefits?”