My phone rings again, and I click the call button. “Nick, I don’t have time...”
“You’re right, you don’t. I don’t know what’s happened to you since yesterday, but you better get your shit together. This is the game that will seal your bid for the playoffs. You can’t just blow this off.”
“I don’t care about the fuckin’ playoffs,” I yell into the phone. Nick gasps, and I know he’s probably freaking out right now. I’ve never acted this way. I’ve always been his ideal client. Work hard, not a lot of partying, good reputation, responsible. And I’m about to blow it all up. “I don’t care, Nick. I have something I have to take care of.”
“Shit, Josh. You can’t do this. You have the sponsor a kid night at halftime tonight. You have twenty kids that are going to be at that game. When you did this last year, you raised almost twenty million dollars. You can’t just blow this off. Not last minute like this.”
“I can’t go...” I start to tell him there’s no way I can play tonight, but the fact that tonight’s game is where most of the charity’s money comes in, I know I can’t just blow it off. “Fine. I’ll go. But I need you to get me a private investigator to meet me at the airport and then get me on another flight. I’ll make it there by game time.”
I hang up the phone, not willing to give any more details to Nick. I’ll go to the game. I’ll get a PI to find Violet, and we’ll be back together by tomorrow. There’s no way I’m just letting her go... not now... not ever.
Violet
Two Months Later
I’m a genius, if I do say so myself. I’m looking around my little diner, and seeing the couples in the room all happy and enjoying their lives makes me smile. I’ve helped the majority of them get together, and I swear I should open a matchmaking company. I could make a killing.
My friends Evan and Sierra are sitting in the corner, and they can’t keep their hands off each other. I get a small thrill knowing that I brought them together. I’m sure there’s going to be an announcement soon about upcoming nuptials, and I’m sure I’ll get to be a bridesmaid... again.
Without thinking about it, I put my hand in the front pocket of my jeans and run my fingers across the smooth metal ring that I carry there every day. It’s great seeing all the people of Whiskey Run finding love, it really is. But there’s a part of me that is bothered that I’ll never have that. I won’t ever go to sleep in my husband’s arms or wake up with him next to me. No, as a matter of fact, I probably won’t even be married much longer.
Two months and I swear I can still remember what it feels like to be in his arms. I wake up every night covered in sweat because even in my dreams I’m reliving that one night with him.
I turn and wipe down the counter, not wanting Sierra to see me upset. She knows a little about things. Well, she at least knows I’m married, but I never told her the details. I couldn’t. I am so embarrassed; I feel my face heat just thinking about it.
The bell over the door chimes, and I turn with a smile plastered to my face, ready to welcome the newcomer. But instantly my smile drops because in walks Josh Chambers, the running back for the Jasper Eagles... and my husband. I drop the cloth in my hand, and all the blood drains from my face. I grip the edge of the counter to try and stay upright.
He looks around the diner before his gaze finally lands on mine. There’s a hush in the diner. Everyone knows who he is. He’s a football legend. The youngest player to ever had made it to the big game and score the winning touchdown. Little Tommy, who’s in one of the booths, rushes toward him. “Mr. Chambers, can I have your autograph?”
Tommy’s mom is behind him with a pen and napkin, and Josh takes it, signing his name but never taking his eyes off me. I’m about to bolt. I know it, and I’m sure he does too. He smiles for the kid, pats him on the head, and walks toward me.
“Hello, Mrs. Chambers.”
I wince when he calls me by my married name. I look around the diner, and sure enough, everyone is hanging on every word.
“What are you doing here?” I ask him and then hold my breath. He must have finally received the copy of the divorce papers. But that doesn’t explain why he’s here. All he had to do is sign them and send them back. I put that in the note.