“Kyle…” I start, ready to refute his claim.
“I’m telling you the truth, Rose. Brody didn’t do anything wrong. He was devastated about you being gone and went drinking to blow off steam. Kaden set him up.”
I want to believe him, but he’s Brody’s best friend. Of course he’s going to stand up for him. Besides, what does that really matter? We both want different things out of life. Brody likes being on the road. He wants to be famous.
I want to keep building my graphic design business and raise kids and have a family and roots.
“Kyle, I appreciate you calling. I do. And really, I always liked you. You were always good for Brody, and I know you always have his back. But it doesn’t matter now. I don’t want that life. I don’t want to wonder when he goes out to a bar with friends is he with another woman or not. It’s just too much to deal with.”
“He needs you, Rose.” I can hear the sincerity in his voice. If nothing else, I’m glad that Brody has a friend like Kyle. He didn’t have to call me and try to make things right. Heck, he’s single. He could be living up the single life with Brody right now instead of trying to get us back together.
His words play through my mind most of the day, and it softens my heart enough that I answer the phone the next time that Brody calls.
“You answered!” he says, surprised but doesn’t wait for me to respond. “I wanted to remind you that I’m in Knox. I don’t have to be back until tomorrow around noon and I want to come see you.”
I remembered that he was playing in Knox this week and since it’s only an hour away, I wondered if he would be stopping by.
I start to tell him no, but he continues. “C’mon, Rose. We’re still married. We have to talk sometime.”
“I don’t know.”
“Please. We need to talk. I can be there in an hour. This is important to me.”
I don’t want to, but I know I do need to talk to him. There’s so much I need to tell him and my stomach churns, wondering how he’s going to handle the news that I’m pregnant. “Fine. You can come and stay at my place, but you have to sleep on the couch.”
He doesn’t like it, I can tell, but he agrees. I’m not letting him back into the bedroom. After all, he went out with Kaden knowing that Kaden was all about booze and women. “Kyle called me. Told me that he came and picked you up that night and took you back to the hotel.”
He gives an aha like he’s got me. “See, I told you that I didn’t cheat on you.”
“Brody, you just don’t get it. I can’t count on Kyle to always be there and stopping you from breaking your marriage vows. You were out at a bar, half out of your mind. It was all over the news. If Kyle hadn’t shown up, what would have happened? How can I trust you after that?”
He wants to argue; I know Brody, and it’s killing him not to. But all he says is, “We’ll talk about it when I get there. I love you, Rose.” And he hangs up. I have exactly one hour to get ready for a conversation that I know for sure I’m not prepared for.BrodyWhen I got here, she didn’t want me to hug her. As a matter of fact, she’s made a point to stand or sit as far away as possible from me. “Rose, you have to forgive me. Nothing happened. I’m not going to drink anymore, I’m not going out to the bars anymore, I’m not going to do anything that is going to even make you question whether I’m faithful to you.”
I push for her to forgive me. At this point I’d promise her anything.
“I’m scared,” she tells me. “It’s not just that, Brody. You should be able to do what you want. If you want to go out, you should be able to. You should have everything you would ever want. You’ve worked hard to get where you’re at, and you deserve it all.”
“I want you. That’s all I want, Rose,” I tell her honestly. I rub my hands up and down the sides of my legs because I’m itching to hold her. “I would give up baseball in a minute if that’s what I needed to do to make this right between us. I thought baseball was everything,” I tell her, walking over to her and sitting next to her on the couch. I don’t reach out for her, even though I want to. “But baseball means nothing to me compared to you. I need you, Rose. I want to be married to you. I want a family with you.”