Page 55 of Comeback
“Yeah.” He scoffed. “So did I.”
“Jack …” I panted for air. “You’re being weird and short again and I don’t understand what you’re saying.”
He huffed and puffed, trying to find the words.
“Remember how I told you my fiancée was having anaffair?” he asked finally, his voice straining.
“Yeah,” I said—and with a sudden gasp I realized what he was telling me.
“Yup,” Jack said. “Megan was cheating on me with Soupy.”
Chapter 23
Jack
I’d parked at the curb outside Emma’s house, but she wasn’t in a hurry to get out—she’d finally gotten me to open up a little. The engine idled while we talked. In the rear view mirror, I saw Mackenzie losing a battle to heavy eyelids.
“Wow,” Emma stammered. “I’m so sorry.”
Truth is, she was the first person I’d ever told. It wasn’t exactly something I liked to think about, much lesstalkabout.
“Yeah,” I grumbled. “So now you know.”
“Did you find out about the affair before or after he died?” she asked.
“The night of,” I said. “Like, an hour before he died.”
“Wow,” she said again. “That’s …crazy.”
“Yup.”
“How did you find out? Did you catch them?”
“Nah.” I blew out a gust of air. “He admitted it to me.”
Her jaw dropped. “And then he got into a car crash an hour later?”
I nodded. “Yup.”
“Damn! How did that happen?”
The memory made me draw a breath through my gritted teeth. I thought I wouldn’t be able to tell her—the memories were buried too deep, my feelings guarded under lock and key—but Emma gently stroked my hair, patiently waiting,trustingthat I would be able to tell her.
Soon, a funny thing happened. I worked up the willpower to speak.
“The whole team was at my house that night,” I said with a heavy breath. “We were celebrating, because we’d just won the Western Conference Finals. We had one more round to go to win the Cup. So, everyone was pretty wasted.”
“Wait, do athletes really party like that in the playoffs?” she asked.
“After a playoff series victory, yeah—it’s good for morale to let loose and have some fun. It brings the boys together, too. Besides, there’s a few days of rest before the next series starts, so it’s not like we’re showing up hungover for the biggest game of our lives.”
“I see. I was just curious—go on.”
“We had a special group that year. There was thisfeelingall season long that we could go all the way, that this was finally our year to win the Cup. And we all loved each other so much, and trusted each other so much—that was a big part of why we made it as far as we did. So, that night, the whole team got sauced, and we were all telling each other how awesome they were, how great they played, how much we loved each other.”
“Aw,” she said. “Cute.”
“Yeah. But maybe all that bonding stuff went to Soupy’s heart and made him feel guilty. Because later that night, he pulled me aside and told me the truth. I think, in his mind, he kinda expected me to be able to forgive him—because that was the feeling in the air that night, you know?” Guiltily, I frowned. “But … I didn’t react the way he expected. I freaked out on him.”
