Page 86 of Puck Drop
“Okay then, moving right along. Let’s see here, what’s next… Oh yes,” she laughs, but I’m not laughing with her. “You get caught having sex with her in the locker room!” She slams a hand on her desk, I’m guessing. “The locker room, Logan! And you get caught byher father!”
I am grateful that no one can hear this ass chewing that she’s giving me. I worry that she might be too loud and people can hear her from my phone even though I don’t have her on speaker.
“You end up surviving this disaster,” she continues. “You score a great deal with the Austin Aces,” she adds.
I finally find a spot for families to gather, I suppose, as they wait on news of their loved ones. Grateful that it’s empty, I go in, then start pacing by the large windows, continuing to listen to Leyla as she gives me hell. Every so often, I get distracted by the bright lights shining in the dark New York City sky. This hospital has great views, I think to myself.
“Are you listening to me, Logan?” Leyla snaps at me, and I jump.
“Yes, of course,” I assure her.
“Okay, good, because I have so much more that I need to discuss with you!”
There’s no wonder she is known as a force to be reckoned with. She sounds like an army general, and I am pretty sure all the players are scared of her.
“This girl follows you to Austin. She has no clue about life, but she trusts you enough to take care of her…”
Okay, now the conversation is taking an even more personal tone. I have to admit that I am surprised by how much she actually knows about my relationship with Elizabeth.
“And you break up with her?”
That is a hit I was not expecting. I press the heel of my free hand to my chest and stare out the window.I don’t know what tosay. I don’t even know how to react. I’ve been trying not to think about Elizabeth, but between Aunt Kathy and now Leyla, I can’t get away from this subject.
“I think it’s for the best,” I mumble into the phone.
“I’m sorry, I don’t think I heard you,” Leyla raises her voice at me. “Best for who?”
“For her,” I yell back, not caring anymore if the entire hospital hears me. “Her father hates my guts. I have nothing to offer her. I’m just holding her back!” I feel out of breath, but I continue. “I want her to do what she loves. She loves art. She can’t even focus and paint because she’s all depressed as fuck about her life!”
When I stop talking, the surrounding silence is deafening. Someone’s shoes squeak on the floor of the hospital, but farther down the hallway.
“I know that her father meddled…” Leyla speaks in a much gentler tone now. “He was wrong to do that. But he now understands that she is a grown adult who is allowed to make her own choices.” She pauses for a second. “And you, Logan Mantei, are her choice.”
Sighing, I kick my foot against the frame of the floor to ceiling window.
“I already told her to leave, Leyla.”
“You are her choice, Logan,” she repeats. “Don’t disappoint me again.”
She hangs up, leaving me to stare out the window once again. I realize that I’ve been hiding myself in Sebastian’s room for the last few days, trying to avoid the stupid shit I said to Elizabeth before we flew out here.
I don’t know if I can save it.
TWENTY-EIGHT
Elizabeth
It took quitea bit of coercion from Mona for me to make the decision to see my father. It’s not even that I don’t want to see him, but I’m nervous. The last time I saw him, it did not end well. I hated to see the disappointment in his eyes, while I was also shocked about how determined he was to ruin my relationship with Logan.
What Leyla told me yesterday threw me for a loop. If what she said is in fact correct, my father helped Logan to get a better position in the league, knowing that he would not have had much of a chance of advancement while still with the Sliders. He actually believed in him, and he thought he was a good goalie who just needed the opportunity to prove himself.
But it still doesn’t make sense that he disliked him so much for his own daughter. It makes me realize how immature I’ve been about life in general. In my opinion, and I’m sure he would disagree with that, leaving home and trying to survive on my own, has been the smartest decision I could’ve made. It’s taught me so much in a very short period of time.
Now that I can look at things from a different perspective, I have to agree with what Logan told me when I was devastated about losing my job. It truly was a lesson in life.
I still don’t know what I want to say to my father. On one hand, I want to thank him for the life he gave me and for helping Logan with his position on the Aces. On the other hand, I want to lash out at him that he never trusted me to make any decisions on my own. It makes me think that he never actually took me seriously.
I realize with a start that I’ve been standing in front of the door of my father‘s house for quite some time now. I took an Uber here, and after it dropped me off, I just wanted a minute to compose myself. Now I realize that it’s been ten minutes, and I’m still in the same spot. I didn’t tell him that I was coming, but based on my conversations with Leyla, I’m pretty sure she told him that she talked to me.
