Only One Chance (Only One 2)

“You still coming?” he asks, shocked now.

“It’s the team Christmas party,” I tell him. “Of course, I’m coming.” I don’t tell him that I won’t stay long, or that I was going to attend with Layla on my arm.

“Okay, I’ll see you then,” he says, and I make my way home. I shower in the spare bedroom and even sleep in the bed.

The next day, I force myself to get up and get ready. I slip on my black suit jacket and look at myself in the mirror. The team Christmas party is the place where we let loose and just have a great time with each other. It’s always a blast, and I was looking forward to attending it with Layla. I shake my head. Grabbing my phone, I put it in my inside pocket and make my way over to the arena. I arrive at the same time as Ralph and Candace.

“Hey,” I say, pressing the button to lock the car door. “Look at you two.” I smile at them. “Parents gone wild.”

Candace smiles at me. “It took a lot to get my ass out of sweats tonight,” she jokes.

“Who is watching Princess Ari?” I ask. They both look down, and my heart sinks.

“Auntie Layla needed some cheering up, so …” she says, looking at me and then down again. I see that she wants to say something, but instead, she blinks away the tears. “Miller,” she says my name, and I shake my head. I try not to be affected by the fact that she needed cheering up. I try not to think of her at all. But every single time I force myself not to think of her, the only thing I can think about is her stumbling. Fuck, I should have gone to her. I shake my head. She doesn’t want me.

“It’s fine,” I tell him, putting my hands in my pockets and ignoring the pain in my chest. “It’ll be fine. Now let’s get in there,” I say, pulling open the door and seeing a winter wonderland theme. “It looks like Frosty the snowman barfed all over the place,” I say, laughing, and I look around. “I’ll catch you later,” I say, walking away from them. I don’t want them to look at me with pity. I walk over and see some of the rookies with girls. I nod at them and walk away but then am called back by one of the girls.

“Hey, can we get a quick picture?” one of them asks, and I want to say no. But I smile and nod my head, putting my hands in my pockets and trying to stand as far away from her as I can. She thanks me, and I just walk away, running into Manning.

“Hey,” he says. “Where’s Layla?” I look down at the floor and then up again. “Oh, shit.”

He slaps me on the shoulder. “I’m so sorry, man. I didn’t know. But …” I’m sure he wants to ask when this happened, and I just shake my head.

“It’s all good. It is what it is,” I tell him, trying to ignore the pain from my chest. Fuck, this is going to be harder than I thought. This whole getting over her is going to be rough. “How do you do it?”

“Do what?” he asks, looking around.

“How did you stop loving her?” I motion with my head to his wife.

“The question you should be asking me,” he says, “is when did I realize I was in love with her. The answer to that is never.” He shakes his head. “I don’t think I ever loved her. Liked her, sure, I’ll give her that. But love?” He shakes his head. “Never.” I look at the floor and then up again. “Shit, she’s coming this way.”

“There you are, sweetheart,” she says sweetly and slips her arm in his. “I was looking for you.”

“Where the hell do you think I’m going to go?” he says and tries to get away from her.

“I’ll see you guys later,” I say and make my way around, saying hello to everyone I need to say hello to. We sit down and eat, and as soon as the plates are cleared, I make my way out.

Being here is more than I can handle. I make my way home and stop in the middle of the driveway when I see two cars parked there, and I walk into the house and stop when I hear the soft Christmas music. “Shit,” I say, walking into the great room.

“Hey,” the interior decorator, Judy, says, “we are almost finished here.” I look around and see that they transformed the great room into a Christmas wonderland. The tree stand in the corner almost touches the ten-foot ceilings. There are little trees everywhere with lights on them. The fireplace has a garland handing on it with an “Our First Christmas” frame that I told her to put up. Three white socks hang on the fireplace with fake candles flickering around.