Page 45 of The Marriage Game

“Only joking.” He settles his palms on his massive thighs. “I’m here with my wife for the marriage retreat. My leaders in business conference isn’t until next month.” He winks. “I own quite a few chain fast food places now that I’m retired from the game,” he expands unnecessarily. Nobody asked, Tucker.

“Oh that’s nice.” Jill looks around. “And where is your wife? I’d love to meet her.”

“Bathroom,” he answers promptly. “You are gonna love her, though. Amelia is my ray of sunshine. Ya feel me, man?” he says with a head bob in my direction. “I bet you feel that way aboutthis one.” He slings an arm around my wife’s shoulders, giving her a little squeeze before releasing her. My hands ball into fists.

What is wrong with me? The man is simply being friendly. He’s happily married. So he dated Jill twenty years ago? Not like they ended things on a high note, what with him calling her a vulgar name then his teammate landing me in the hospital with a concussion.

“Hey, by the way, how’s your head, man?” Tucker moves onto the next subject, his mind seemingly on the same trajectory as mine.

“My head?” Somehow those are the first two words I manage to contribute to this conversation. But c’mon, he’s not actually worried about my head. He’s just trying to remind us all of how I tried to punch him and got knocked out instead.

“Yeah, you know.” He taps his own head. “No permanent damage from what happened I hope.”

Wow. The gall of this man. “Uh, no. Just a minor concussion,” I tell him. “I’m sure you’re all too familiar with those in your profession.” There. Look at me sounding completely okay with him having had a very successful career as an NFL quarterback.

I’m not threatened by his success.

“That I am,” he says jovially. It’s weird, actually how cheerful he is. I know I only met him twice, but neither time did he give off the same golden retriever energy that he is now.

And I don’t mean golden retriever in a good way. He’s like a golden retriever who won’t leave you alone even though you already threw him his ball a hundred times.

“Of course, that was years ago and my offensive tackles kept me from taking too many hard hits. This brain of mine is going strong.” He taps his head again. “Anyway, what about you two? How’s life been treating you?” Tucker gives me a smile so fake it might as well be painted on clown style. “Still doing the whole lawyer thing?”

The whole lawyerthing? If I was feeling prickly before now I’m feeling downright defensive. He acts like being a lawyer is nothing special, and I suppose it’s not compared to being one of the most well-known quarterbacks of the last twenty years.

“I’m actually finishing up my fourth term as a state senator representing Arizona’s 9th district,” I inform Tucker.

“Yes, and he has done so much good for our district,” Jill adds. “He really prioritizes the needs of the people.” She turns proud eyes on me and something settles inside me. Jill’s approval has always had that effect on me. Impressing her, making her proud—that’s what truly matters to me.

Which is why this Tucker guy is freaking me out so much. What if she’s busy imagining the life she could have had as a famous quarterback’s wife?

“State senator,” Tucker lets out a low whistle. “What’s the difference between that and a real senator again?”

My smile tightens, but Jill answers before I can. “A state senator is part of the state government and aUSsenator is part of the federal government. Initially he considered the federal government,” she goes on, “but by choosing to be a state senator, Max helped ensure that he’d be able to be more present with our family. Less travel and such.”

I frown. Wow. Is she really choosing now to make a subtle dig about how I haven’t followed through on those intentions of mine?

“Got it.” Tucker nods in understanding, still looking perfectly friendly. “Good for you, man. That’s cool. A state senator. Didn’t even know we had those.”

This should make me feel better—at least I’m still a mile smarter than Tucker—but instead it makes me say loudly, “Yes, well I plan on being Arizona’s next attorney general, which I’m sure you've heard of.”

Next to me Jill sucks in a breath, but Tucker is robbed of responding by the appearance of his wife.

“Baby,” she cries, looking petulant as she squeezes past a few other couples to get to us. “you made friends without me?”

“Aww, Amelia, baby, don’t worry. These are old friends of mine. They’ll be your friends soon too.”

Will we? I’m not so sure. In fact, there’s a definite chance that I’m going to take Jill and book it the heck out of here because in a very creepy twist the woman making her way toward us looks like she could be Jill’s sister.

Evidently Tucker has a type.

“Hi, I’m Amelia,” she says when she reaches us. She waves then sits down and pecks Tucker on the lips. At least I thought it was going to be a peck, but Tucker reaches up and grabs hold of her, turning the kiss into a full-on makeout.

Eyes wide with shock, I hurt to avert my gaze. Jill’s eyes are equally wide and she quickly busies herself writing something in her notebook.

“Tucker,” Amelia chides when the two of them finally unsuction from each other, “we’re in public.” There’s no real censure in her voice, and I find my irritation—I refuse to think of it as insecurity—growing. I can try to handle the fact that Tucker became a household name and that he married a woman that looks like a less attractive version of my wife but there’s no way,no waythat I can let Tucker leave this retreat thinking he and his wife have a better marriage than me and Jill. He’s too much of a jerk for such a thing to be true.

The hesitations I was feeling about our plan to prove to Dorothy that she’s wrong about us vanish. I’m ready to double down on this plan of ours. While I’ve been busy coming to this conclusion, Jill has been meeting Amelia. I reach over and take Jill by the hand, letting my thumb stroke over her skin.

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