Page 5 of Shooting for his Heart
“Are you being fucking serious right now?”
“Hell yes, I am! I’ve really heard enough of this. I make enough to take care of you and give you anything you could ever want, but nothing is ever good enough for you. You’re always running somewhere trying to chase a pipe dream but too busy to take care of your man,” he said, digging back into his food.
“You know what? Fuck this! I didn’t realize the sacrifices you thought you were making just by being what I considered a supportive boyfriend. I had no idea you were so ashamed of me, but believe me… it’s good to know. I’m sorry our relationship has been such an undertaking for you!” I stormed out of the kitchen.
Instead of going to our bedroom, I made my way to the front door. I needed to get out of the house before one of us said something we couldn’t take back. As far as I was concerned, Will had already reached that point. As I grabbed the doorknob to head out and go over to Jenna’s place to cool off, William stopped me and wrapped an arm around my waist. I snatched away from his hold, but he didn’t let go.
“I’m sorry, baby. You know I didn’t mean it like that. I wasn’t trying to hurt you. You know that. I’ve had a long-ass day. All I wanted to do all day was come home, eat, and cuddle up with my baby while we watch something good on TV. Can we still do that?”
I blew out a hot breath as I released the doorknob and sulked back into the house. Although I surrendered to his request, therewould be no cuddling and watching TV. I was done talking for the night, but this conversation was far from over.
“Maybe we can talk about your next move in the morning. It’s almost wedding season. I know how much you enjoy working on wedding parties, baby. I just don’t want you wasting months working on some movie set only to come back to this life and not appreciate it anymore. You would be missing a lot of work while you’re gone,” William said to my back.
Instead of cuddling up on the couch with him, I went to our bedroom, leaving him to his own devices. As I sat on the bed, I swept hot tears from my eyes. Once my vision cleared, I picked up my phone from the nightstand. I opened my email and read over the terms that Larsen sent. I didn’t need William’s permission to take the job. The only problem I had was that I needed to see how much the flight and accommodations to get to New Orleans would cost. If I could cover my flight, everything else would be taken care of when I got there.
Will slinked through our bedroom door, carrying the plate of food I abandoned when I came to mope on the bed. He didn’t say anything as he placed the plate on the nightstand and moved over to his side of the bed with his plate.
“Don’t even think about trying to get no pussy tonight.” I rolled my eyes, knowing he was trying to make a peace offering. The next day would probably come with some kind of gift. However, as his words from just a few moments ago replayed in my head, I wasn’t sure if it would be enough.
He’d insulted me by confessing that he was ashamed to take me around his colleagues. I always assumed that was the case, so I wasn’t even that surprised. Admitting out loud that he felt as if my goals were pipe dreams was like a punch in the gut. He didn’t even ask me about the terms of the deal before minimizing my opportunity. As I said, this would be huge for my career and evenbigger for my makeup line. The money I stood to make and the exposure I would gain were enough to make the decision easy.
William’s threat of ending our relationship complicated things, though. His comments pissed me off, but were they enough to make me want to end things? I loved him. I knew from his actions that he loved me too. We might have been opposites, but we were good together. I knew that I wasn’t a perfect fit into his world—nor did I want to be—but I had worked to tone my personality down so that it was easier to digest. I could admit that I was a lot. I never wanted someone’s opinion of me to hurt William’s business.
His lack of fully supporting me was another issue. It was hard for me to accept that he didn’t want me to scale my business the way I wanted to. As I lay in bed, trying to fall asleep, my wheels turned. Could I give up the chance of a lifetime to soothe his ego? Or would I take the job and find out just how strong our love was?
“Get up, guys,”I announced as I walked out of my bedroom.
The boys were notorious for sleeping in, but I wanted to make the most of the day since it would be at least two weeks before my sister Marshae could bring them on set to visit me. I opened the door to my oldest nephew Nicholas’s room and was grateful to see that he was sitting on the side of his bed stretching.
“Brush your teeth, then come downstairs for breakfast, buddy,” I instructed him before moving to his brother’s room.
Typical of Evan, he was lying in bed with a huge smile on his face, pretending to be asleep.
“Well, I guess since Evan won’t get up, there will be more pancakes for me and Nick,” I said.
I watched as Evan’s eyes popped open, and he sat up straight in bed.
“I’m up, Uncle Marty,” he said, doubling over in laughter as if he had pulled off the prank of the century.
“Brush your teeth, and come down to breakfast,” I repeated.
In the three years since I was rewarded with custody of my youngest sister’s sons, my life had changed tremendously. For one, I actually cooked. Secondly, my reclusive lifestyle included just about any little league sport, instrument, or activity that I could enroll the boys in.
I wanted to fill their lives up with enough things to keep them busy and well-rounded. I worked a lot when I was filming, and I didn’t want them sitting around waiting for me to have a day off so they could have fun. My sister, Marshae, was a godsend.
When I was toying with the idea of getting a full-time nanny for the boys, she quickly shut it down. Marshae was still a party girl like her twin Marcia, the boy’s actual mother, but she stepped up to the plate and picked up the slack when it came to getting the boys to their hobbies. She lived in my house with our nephews when I was away for extended periods of time. She would even bring them to see me when she was off.
The boys sat at the kitchen table, playing on their tablets while I finished making breakfast. It wasn’t long before I was telling them to put their tablets up and serving them breakfast. I found it helpful to set screen time limits for them instead of just taking the tablets. If they wanted to use their time up early, then it was on them.
“Uncle Marty, how long do you have to be gone this time?” Evan asked with a mouthful of eggs.
Nicholas looked up from his plate in anticipation of my response. We had discussed my plans extensively, but I knew the boys were wishing there might be a change. I always felt so guiltyabout leaving them. At the same time, I knew a movie set wasn’t a good place for kids daily.
Nicholas and Evan were seven and five years old, so there wasn’t much for them to do there. When school was out, I took them with me and paid someone to keep an eye on them. During the school year, though, I liked for them to have structure.
“Three months, buddy… but Auntie Marshae is going to bring you guys to see me in two weeks. By the time school is out, I’ll be finishing up.”
“How long before school is out again?” Evan asked with that adorable frown he wears when he’s trying to remember something.
