Page 23 of Clear Shot
He shakes his head. “There’s a big difference between her brother and her husband. Especially considering your circumstances. There wasn’t even an engagement, or fancy proposal—just a decision you made out of practicality.”
Fuck.
This is partly why he’s such a good coach—he’s extremely intuitive.
“Look, you can tell me to mind my own business,” he continues, “but I’m coming to you from a place of experience. The divorce rate among professional athletes is high, and you already have one of those under your belt. I’m just trying to give you some brotherly advice. Do with it what you will.”
“I appreciate the advice, Coach. It is a little overwhelming since everything happened so fast.”
“Pick up flowers on your way home,” he suggests. “Make plans for a romantic dinner on your next night off. In addition, make sure she feels at home with the other wives and girlfriends. Those relationships can make or break a new marriage like yours.”
“She has Sloane and Claudia, Zoe and Eden… she’ll be fine in that regard.”
“Good. The wives are the ones who hold us together when we’re traveling and focused on our game. Those relationships are almost as important as yours. Don’t ever forget that.”
Good to know.
I’ll have to be extra careful with the rumor mill because even though some of the WAGs are great women, there are a handful that can be problematic.
“Thanks, Coach,” I say. “I appreciate the advice.”
“You’re welcome.” He claps me on the shoulder and then calls out a greeting to the others in the room, leaving me to my thoughts.
I haven’t had time to think about what our day-to-day life is going to be like, and right now, things are platonic. We’re going to start dating, which seems a little like closing the barn door after the horses get out, but there are extenuating circumstances.
My job now is to make her life—and our relationship—a positive experience. Part of what’s frustrating to me is that I can’t picture what our future is going to look like. Do we just shake hands and walk away a year from now? Does she move to Silicon Valley or Philadelphia or Timbuktu when she gets a job?
It’s all a blur in my head, which I don’t like.
I need to be able to look toward the future.
Instead, I’m in a holding pattern.
I have to date my wife.
No sex until we get comfortable—whatever that means.
Misleading our friends.
And we still don’t know what we’re going to tell our families. She asked Johan not to say anything to their father, stepmother, and grandmother until she and I have had time to come up with a story because they’re going to be upset about missing the wedding.
My dad probably won’t give a shit but I have to tell him at some point. We’re not close and his excessive drinking makes it hard to have serious conversations with him. It’s gotten so bad I can’t even invite him on the Dad’s Trip anymore because he drinks until he passes out.
Everything is suddenly a lot more complicated than I anticipated, and I don’t like complicated. In my head, this was supposed to be simple. Marry her, give her time to get a job that will provide her with a visa, and then quietly end things.
Yet when I look down at the wedding ring on my finger, the thought of taking it off in a year or so confuses me all over again.I was positive one marriage was one too many, but I think I may have been mistaken.
Because with Hana, everything I thought I knew about love and marriage goes right out the window.
Chapter 9
Hana
With Aidenat the morning skate and a game tonight, I’m left to my own devices. I’m in limbo, it seems, until the paperwork goes through for my visa. I don’t understand how it all works but Aiden told me he would make sure it gets done.
So I putter around the apartment when he leaves, trying to figure out where everything is and how to make it feel more like home.
He has no pictures of friends or family, just a few random pieces of art on the walls in the living room, so I dig out my own framed photographs.
