Page 209 of Scoring the Player
I’m here for Anaïs.
I ring the doorbell and wait.
I don’t need any fingers to count the times I’ve been here. They moved to New Jersey after I joined the league. And nothing, I promised myself, except for Mom falling sick, would ever make me cross the threshold. I understand Anaïs’s choice to recover here, and that she’d only choose it if she had nowhere else to go. I offered to pay for an at-home nurse, but us and strangers—nah.
Plus, Mom, in a head-scratching reversal, decided once we were older and out of the house, that she’d actually give the nurturing mother bit a shot. I’ve never had use for it personally, but Anaïs allows it for rare times like this when she physically needs the help. I hate thinking about all the ER visits she sat alone in the waiting room.
The door opens. “Arnaz!”
My eyes widen at Mom’s outfit.
Chanel makes velour sweatsuits now?
“Come in. How was your flight?”
Is that tomato sauce below the hooded neck?
“G-good,” I reply, bending down to unlace my boots.
She looks behind me. “Will Salem be joining us?”
“What? Why would he?—”
“Hi, son.”
My gaze remains trained on Mom. “Carter.”
The air shifts as Mom goes rigid.
I straighten. “Can you take me to Anaïs?” I ask her.
“Maybe we can talk before you leave?” Carter asks.
“Mom?”
“Y-yes.” She blinks rapidly. “This way.” She shoots him a tense smile, then says to me, “Are you hungry? I made Bolognese.”
She cooks now? I’d look around for tells of hired help, but then I’d have to look in the direction of Carter.
“I’m good.”
I’m starving, but I’ll order something for me and Anaïs.
We enter the elevator in silence, but before it even starts its ascent, she’s breaking the quiet. “You know, Arnaz, maybe you can just hear him out before you leave.”
“I’m here to see Anaïs, and then I’m gone,” I reply tersely.
“God, you’re so much alike.”
“What?” I glare at her. “I’m nothing like him.”
“I just meant?—”
“Stop. Please.”
“Okay.” She raises her hands. “Okay.”
When the elevator comes to a stop, she leads the way out. “Your room is here. And Anaïs’s is right next door.”
