Page 23 of Her Football Star Ex

Iwasall dressed up.

But before I could figure out what to do, Jaxon turned to Dave with a big smile on his face and said, “Hi. I’m Jaxon.”

I looked across the table to Dave to see his reaction to all of this. He smiled at Jaxon and held out his hand. “Hi, Jaxon. My name is Dave.”

Instead of giving Dave a handshake like he had probably expected, my son slapped his hand and gave him a high five instead.

Dave seemed to catch on quickly enough, though, and followed it up with an exploding-knuckles gesture, which brought a bigger smile to my son’s face.

“Okay, buddy,” I said, noticing Vincent was only a couple of feet away now. “It’s probably time for you to go back to dessert with your daddy and Cole.”

I gave him a little nudge, but instead of moving, his shoulders slumped and he pulled on my arm and whined, “But I want to be with you.”

I bent closer to Jaxon’s ear, desperate to avoid a scene, and whispered, “We can have dessert together tomorrow, okay?”

He pouted his lips into a frown and breathed out of his nose loudly, but a moment later, he nodded his head slowly and said, “Okay.”

I gave him one more hug and kissed the top of his head. “Have fun with your daddy.”

Vincent had reached us by this point, and when our eyes caught, he mouthed, “I’m sorry.”

“Let’s leave mommy to finish her dinner with her friend.” He grabbed Jaxon’s hand, his cheeks slightly pink from what I could only guess might be embarrassment over having to chase his son through a restaurant. His gaze briefly caught mine again before he nodded to Dave and said, “Sorry to interrupt your meal.”

And as Vincent and Jaxon walked back to their table, I looked at Dave to see what he thought of all this. Then I saw recognition dawning on his face.

His mouth dropped open. “Your ex-husband is Vincent Lake?”

I pressed my lips together and nodded. “Yes.”

He blinked his eyes a few times and craned his neck over his shoulder to watch Vincent and Jaxon slipping back into their booth. “I saw something in the news a while back about him splitting up with his wife, but…” He turned back to me with wide eyes and shook his head.

“Yes?” My heart was beating rapidly in my chest as I waited for whatever he had to say about it.

Did he believe the rumors that had been spread about me? How I had had a mental breakdown and was now practicing witchcraft in my back yard at midnight?

Or the one where I had slept with multiple teammates of his and he’d caught me in the act?

Or maybe the one where I had become addicted to plastic surgery and Vincent refused to foot the bill for any more?

Vincent and I had never gone public with the real reasons behind our divorce, mostly because it wasn’t any of their business.

But also partly because even though I hated what he’d done to us, I still cared about him enough that I didn’t want to have a part in the media raking him over the coals.

Having my name dragged through the mud was just a fun side effect of not addressing it.

I looked down at my plate as I waited for Dave to show me in real time just how any future dating prospects would respond to discovering who I had once been married to.

“I-I’m suddenly…” He cleared his throat. “I’m suddenly not so sure I’m the best fit for you.” He set his fork and knife down on the table, like he was ready to just end the meal right then. “I have a feeling you might be used to a lifestyle I would never be able to provide.”

So he must have read the tabloid article about how I had demanded ten million dollars a year in child support and alimony.

Oh well. I supposed I’d already figured things wouldn’t work out after hearing he wanted a basketball team of children. Maybe this was for the best.

Sure, I could tell him that I hadn’t asked for anything more than the house and my car, because I was a grown woman with a career and could take care of myself, thank you very much. But I didn’t need to defend myself to him.

For a lawyer, he was awfully quick to believe the first story he’d come across.

So I said, “I understand.”

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