Chapter 3

BOOK 2: THE RUNNING BACK'S BABY

Zoe

I stared out the window as Dad drove us to wherever we were going to eat. I'd just come out of an hour long meeting with him that left me frustrated. I didn't even get to talk to him at home, because it was official business, I had to schedule this damn meeting and see him in his office for it, and here he was, strong arming me into going to lunch with him afterwards as if our conversation never happened.

I loved my dad, but there were times when I wondered if it would be okay that I didn't.

"Is there anything you'd like to eat?" he asked. "There's this nice restaurant a few blocks away, but if you like fast food, we can go for that."

"The restaurant is fine, Dad," I said with a sigh. "I don't eat a lot of fast food anymore, it's not really healthy."

Not to mention it set a bad example for the guys on the team, who all had strict diets and workout schedules, so they stayed in top form. I used to love fast food when I was a teenager, because then no one had to cook, but I grew out of it when I started becoming serious about joining a pro football team. I did eat fast food occasionally, but it was about all I ate in my time at college so I'd gotten over it.

"Okay. We'll be there in less than five minutes."

Silence settled between us again.

Five minutes later, Dad parked the car in front of an Italian family restaurant. We stepped out of the car and went inside. It was a bit early for lunch, so the place wasn't too crowded, and we found a small table for two tucked away into a corner, close to a window.

"It's been a while since we last came here, huh? You were still in college."

"Yeah," I murmured.

That was back in my first year, before I got really involved in school. The relationship between my dad and I was strained, because he was stuck doing a job, he wasn't confident in by himself, but it just got worse after that as I started focusing on what I wanted to do with my future and Dad focused even more on the team without me there to distract him. I knew what I wanted to do from my second year in college, but Dad thought I was kidding when I first brought it up, and now he all but dismissed it every time I mentioned it.

"Which pizza would you like?" Dad asked, picking up the menu.

The way this place made it was always incredible. I used to come with my family when I was younger, and I'd come here with friends and by myself often since college. I picked up the second menu to look it over.

"You used to like the one with pineapple on it, right? How about I order a large of that with a Coke for you?"

And a bottle of milk? I was surprised that he suggested Coke!

"It's okay, Dad, I know how to order for myself," I muttered.

He looked like he was about to say something, but a waiter stopped by our table, and he cut himself off. Dad made his order and got a soft drink with his medium cheese pizza. I was tempted to order beer, but went with a spicy sausage pizza and paired it with a glass of wine. Dad looked shock, like the idea of me drinking alcohol was foreign to him. I didn't indulge often, but I started drinking when the guys introduced me to beer after my twenty first birthday. This was something Dad didn't need to know, because I knew he'd give the guys shit for it.

"Should you be drinking wine?" he asked.

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. "It's not like I'm the one driving, Dad, and it's just one glass. I'm sure it will be fine."

I didn't bother telling him I was an adult and had every right to drink, because that was kinda obvious. Then again, if it was that obvious, he wouldn't be asking me. I didn't want to tell him to stop treating me like a child, because we usually ended up arguing, but there was nothing for us to talk about.

I sat for a second and blinked my eyes. I was trying too hard, trying to think of something to say.

The weather.

Too dull.

Sports.

No way!

I decided that it was too much work, so we fell quiet while we waited for the food to come out. I looked outside the window and saw out the corner of my eye as Dad got out his phone and started texting. I sighed and wondered why he'd brought me here at all. Awkward silences were common between us when neither of us had something to talk about, and I'd said everything I wanted to say to him at the meeting.

Dad and I didn't get to spend a lot of time together, especially since he was insistent on not taking me seriously every time, I told him what I wanted. The only time we got along was when we were doing our best for the team, because I would still go for it even in an unofficial position. He didn't mind when I showed up for practice, or hung out with the guys, much. He even let me work as an agent, but he wouldn't let me do anything else.

The food finally came, and I let out a quiet sigh of relief, because the atmosphere felt suffocating. Then I felt a little guilty after thinking that, because this was the first time in a while that Dad and I spent time together that had nothing to do with the team. I'd lived in the dorms through college and we barely got to see each other at home because we were both busy. Other than work, we didn't have anything in common, either, so while we saw each other nearly every day, there would be days we didn't say a single thing to each other.

I took a bite of my pizza and a sip of my wine, and decided it was perfect. Then Dad broke the silence.

"So," he said. "How have you been? I haven't seen much of you recently."

"I don't know, Dad, just busy. Practice is about to start so we'll see each other more often, but you're busy, too, aren't you. You're even dating."

He let out a tiny smile. "Yes. She wanted to invite you over for dinner, actually."

"When?"

"Whenever you're free."

We were quiet for a bit, and I thought as I ate. It was awkward for me that Dad and Howard's mom were dating, especially with what we had going on between us, only I'd slept with him before Dad even told me he was seeing someone. Being around his mom would be weird for me, but then I wondered if it wouldn't be weirder for Dad.

I turned to him with determination. I'd kept myself out of it because I knew Dad was angry, but I was done with his stubbornness, too. If he wasn't going to take me seriously, he could at least give Howard that consideration.

"And Howard?"

Dad froze then looked up with a frown, setting his glass back down. "What about Howard?"

"Will he be present at this dinner? I assume his mom would want him there as well?"

He sighed and picked his glass up again, taking a sip. "He will probably be there, sure. He does live away from his mom, though, and he might be busy."

I narrowed my eyes at him, knowing he would prefer if Howard was busy and wouldn't show up. He couldn't outright show hostility toward him with his mom there, after all. Howard might have fucked up, but his mom was still his biggest supporter, and a part of me envied him that.

"Why won't you just give Howard another chance?" I asked. "I know he's been asking."

He scowled. "Howard is a loser, and I don't want a loser on my team. I also don't want you getting close to him again. I know you're the one who head hunted him for the team, but it was a huge mistake, so just forget about him."

I scowled back at Dad. I was a little surprised at the wave of anger that washed through me. It wasn't as if I didn't know what he thought of Howard, but hearing him talk about him that way upset me.

"That's out of line, Dad. It's also not fair, he has been trying–"

"He shouldn't have made the mistake in the first place, Zoe. If we let a druggie onto the team, do you know what would happen? If it gets out, our reputation will be ruined. If he wants to ruin his own life, that's fine, but I won't let him take my team down. I know you meant well when you asked him to join, but we'll just look for a different running back. Don't bring this up again."

I opened my mouth to argue, only to stop. Even though I was grown up already, Dad was still treating me like a kid. Even in our meeting earlier, he hadn't taken me seriously, if I continued arguing, he'd just shut me down. Obviously, he couldn't deal with the fact that I was grown up, with thoughts of my own and dreams of my future that didn't align with his own.

My frustration at him made me snap. I looked down at my mostly eaten pizza and half empty glass of wine. I stuffed my mouth with what was left, because it would be such a shame to waste it, then I knocked back the wine. Dad just watched me in surprise as I quickly finished my meal then jumped up, dropped some bills on the table to cover my cost and walked out. I assumed he was too surprised at my behavior, or too exasperated, to call me back.

I got outside, and I paused. He drove me here, so I'd have to get a taxi, but I didn't know where I wanted to go. Should I go and look for Howard so we could talk? But I didn't think I could put up with him, either, in my current mood. I didn't have many friends to hang out with, and they'd all be busy in the middle of the day on a weekday, so the only option was to head back to home. Dad wouldn't come back until late at night, or he might decide to stay over at his girlfriend's home, so I wouldn't have to worry about seeing him.

Instead of flagging down a taxi, I started down the sidewalk. A walk would do well to clear my head. A family of three walked past me. The mom and dad holding a little girl between them as she chattered happily, and I felt my eyes sting at the picture.

Mom, I miss you...

Right now, it was only Dad and me, but it wasn't always like that. Everything was so much easier when she was around. Even though she had been ill for so long before she passed away, Dad and I still got along easier when we were both worrying about her rather than trying to interact with each other without her there.

It wasn't that my dad didn't care about me, I knew he did. He cared about Mom as much as I did, and we both grieved when Mom finally succumbed to cancer five years ago now, after a long fight. The time when we were happy, before her cancer was diagnosed, was back in my senior year of high school when I was just eighteen. Things just slowly deteriorated from there.

We never talked about Mom's death. Actually, I just thought Dad and I didn't know how to talk to each other, period. It just wasn't as obvious before, but I could remember up until high school, whenever I sat with Dad in the same room and Mom wasn't there, he'd ask some off handed questions about school, then we'd sit in silence while he focused on TV or his newspaper, or I was on my phone. The only time we weren't sitting together in the same room in awkward silence, was when there was a game on TV.

Mom and I had been close. I'd loved football from a young age, and I hadn't been good at making friends as I focused so much on the sport, so Mom was the only person I could confidently call my best friend for the longest time.

It had definitely come as a surprise to me when Dad told me he was in love with Howard's mom, Katie. I was happy for him, that he was finally moving on with his life, which was why I was so careful to keep the thing between Howard and me under wraps. He was going to ask her to marry him, and I didn't want to ruin things for him.

So why doesn't he show the same kind of consideration for me?

I wanted to be the team's General Manager. I was definitely qualified for the position, and I could always apply to another team if I wanted, but that wasn't what I wanted. I didn't want to work with any team besides the one that I loved, the same one Dad had put so much effort in, and the same one Mom supported with us even though she didn't know a thing about the sport or love it nearly as much as Dad and I did.

Dad was very influential. He had a lot of money that he'd worked for years and invested like crazy to earn. He didn't even need to be the team coach, but he loved being hands on with the players. Why couldn't he think that I felt the same way, even though I'd told him over and over already? He'd offered to let me do whatever else I wanted besides the one thing that I asked him for, but I just wasn't interested.

If Mom had been there, I didn't doubt that she would have mediated for me. Without her, I just didn't know how to get through to him. Then again, if Mom was around then we wouldn't even be having this argument and it wouldn't be a big deal that not only was Dad hooking up Howard's mom, but I was hooking up with Howard too.