Reed's Reckoning

“I wish I was, honey, Sarah wanted me to know because she knows how close we are.”

“Well, this is preposterous! I’ll be calling Phillip Green tomorrow and letting him know his assistant is a twat and needs to be reminded of confidentiality.” Katy hisses.

“No, Grandma,” I shake my head. “I’ll talk to him. Regardless of if it’s true or not, Phillip will never put up with it. His assistant may hate me when I’m done, but I can’t allow her to ruin the reputation I’ve built.”

She opens her mouth to argue but then smiles wickedly. “Okay, Ari, you handle it your way. But I expect to hear tomorrow night what happens to the little b-i-t-c-h.”

Luke and Reed laugh loudly at her use of spelling and Davis joins them. He has no idea what he is laughing at but his giggle is so sweet, I forget some of the hurt from a few minutes ago. Then I think about Sarah and what’s going on with her.

“Luke, what happened with Sarah? I thought you two hit it off pretty well.”

He looks around the table uncomfortably until his eyes land on mine. “It didn’t work out.”

“Obviously, but why?”

Something must click in both Reed and Katy’s head because they start nodding in understanding.

“You try and set her straight before you ended it?” Reed asks him.

“Nah, man. She was pretty out of line. Not sure it was worth it.”

“Her loss, sweetie, she’ll regret it.” Katy tells him softly.

“What am I missing?” I ask.

“Sarah couldn’t handle my relationship with you and Davis. Then when Reed came back into your lives, she became irrational.” Luke answers me.

I open my mouth to argue but he cuts me off. “Ari, don’t. Don’t argue, don’t feel bad, and don’t ever talk to her about it. It was my choice. Truth be told, it wasn’t entirely about you. She wanted more from me than I was willing to give and she started to harp on how now that Reed was back, I could back off. What she couldn’t understand was Reed or no Reed, you and Davis are my family.”

“That’s absolutely ridiculous.”

“Maybe, but it’s done now. I’m serious, Ari, don’t mention it to her.”

I nod my head even though I don’t want to agree. Reed’s phone rings and he excuses himself to answer. Katy and I discuss our annual Fourth of July barbeque and the guest list this year. When Reed comes back, he is smiling widely. He picks Davis up and sits him in his lap. “Well, that was my coach. The therapist has cleared me for training camp the second week of July. The rookies are already here and scrimmaging.”

“That’s great!” I scream a little too loudly. Luke slaps him on the back and Katy squeezes his hand. He leans over and kisses me quickly.

“That’s not all. There’s a player party on Saturday night in Jacksonville. I’d like you to come with me. I think it’s time we also talked to my agent and the team PR rep.”

Party, agent, PR rep keeps replaying in my mind, and I stay silent. Katy notices my inner freak out and speaks first. “I think it’s a wonderful idea. I’ll watch Davis.”

“Katy, do you think you can take him through Sunday night? We’ve been invited on a friend’s boat Sunday too. I really want Ari to meet a few of the player’s wives.”

“Wait—what? I can’t leave him overnight.” I interrupt.

“Why the hell not? I’ll be around and I’ll take him to the beach on Sunday. I don’t have any plans on Saturday so I can even stay over in case Katy needs to drive somewhere.” Luke answers.

“But—what about Sunday? It’s Father’s Day.”

Reed’s face falls and he pales. Shit! I didn’t think about how hard the day must be on him. Especially knowing how much he loved his dad.

“Ari, come with me.” Luke gets up and watches to make sure I follow. When we get far enough away from the table so no one can hear, he corners me. “Don’t do this.”

“Don’t do what? I haven’t done anything.”

“No, you’re about to. Reed Matthews is back. He looks at you like the sun shines at your feet. He wants to introduce you to his life. Don’t give excuses and put up walls. Davis is young and I’ll help him make something for Reed. It’ll be a good project for us. Give Reed this weekend. Go with him to the party. Go on the boat. Meet his friends. He’s ready to announce to the world that he is a dad. He needs you by his side. He’s been around for weeks now giving you the respect and time you need. I saw the anger when he found out about Jack. He’s committed to this relationship, Ari. Do you feel the same?”

His hard stare penetrates my heart. Everything he said is right. I slowly nod my head and grin at him. Throwing my arms around his neck, I hug him tight.