Page 54 of Penalty Shots

Keelan is here to get things started. And I really wish I could stop being so obvious that I might be even just a little excited to see him. But as I walk to the door, I struggle with what I'm going to say after he had his face buried between my legs last night and his fingers inside me.

Hi, Landry. Good to see you. Weather's nice. Thanks for making me come back-to-back in your sister's guest room…

No, definitely not that.

I walk to the door and pull it open. And both fortunately and unfortunately I won't have to figure out what to say to him after all.

Standing in front of my door, eyes sunken, flowers in hand, and hair mussed like he's been pulling at it the whole way here, is Redmond.

My chest constricts at the sight of him. "Wh—" I can't form words. "What are you doing here?"

He places a hand on the doorframe and attempts a smile. "Hello, Rina." He looks down at the bouquet of flowers—beautiful and bright, with some that are out of season- meaning he must've spent a small fortune on them.

He holds them out to me. "For you," he says gruffly.

I look back at Toby who's temporarily halted his clacking and is now watching me and my ex with rapt attention.

I push Redmond back into the hall and shut the door behind me, glancing down both ends of the hall to make sure nobody is around.

"Why are you here, Redmond?"

"What? Can't a man come visit his wife while he's in town?"

I give him a look that can't be mistaken for anything other than utter annoyance. "You lost the privilege to call me your wife."

He drops the hand holding the flowers. "That's what are you, Rina."

I scoff. He can't be serious.

"Really? Iwasyour wife. You were the one who decided you didn't want that anymore… or did you forget?"

He reaches for me. "Rina…"

"No. I'm done, Redmond. I'm done with your little temper tantrums and making me look like the one who wanted out of this marriage. I know what you're doing."

He cocks his head. "Please, womansplain to me what it is you think I'm doing?"

"Womansplain?!" My nose scrunches up at the word.

"Yes, you're going to do it anyways. You're going to tell me all the reasons why I did what I did because you're Rina Lopez and you know everything and I'm nothing but a dumb jock who has to listen to people like you all day so that my career stays intact."

I laugh. "Wow. Looks like you don't need me to explain anything after all."

"Look I came here to try to work things out, okay?"

"You want to work things out? Then let's finish this thing, Redmond. Because I currently have two hundred dollars to my name, and that's hardly going to make a dent when my mortgage is due, so…"

He looks at me solemnly. "I'm sorry I had to do that."

"What? Hold my money hostage until I acknowledge you. Real manly, by the way."

"Do you always have to be so sarcastic?" He looks at me, disappointed.

"Sarcasm is a sign of intelligence. You'd get it if you were."

He sucks in a deep breath and lets it out. "It was the only way to get your attention, Rina. All you care about is work and this damn team—"

I hold a hand up to stop him. "I cared about starting a family… with you! But you went and shit on that dream, didn't you? So don't do that, Redmond. Don't pretend like you actually want this to work. This is about your image."

---