Page 66 of Fair Play
“She’s been straight out,” I say casually. “Busy as hell. Nita, her boss, is helping her with this project she has for her finance class, so she’s always at school or the diner.”
“Oh. Cool.” He opens the fridge. “Fuck, I need to eat something.”
“I think there’s some pot roast in the freezer,” I offer. “You can just throw it in the microwave. Billie freezes stuff for nights like this when she’s gone all day.”
He hesitates. “I don’t want to eat her stuff.” He pauses. “And you shouldn’t either.”
“She told me I could,” I say. “She ate it for the last two nights and said she was sick of it.”
“Right.” He hesitates. “You know, with you out right now, you’re home a lot and I don’t want you taking advantage of Billie.”
“Excuse me?” I scowl, narrowing my eyes. “What are you talking about?”
“Like having her cook for you. Do your laundry. Shit like that.”
“She cooks because she likes to,” I say, my patience hanging by a thread. “And I send my laundry out, just like you do.”
“It seems like you know more about her life than I do.”
“Because I’ve been here!” I say carefully. “You want me to just ignore her?”
“Yeah, actually.” He cracks a smile, like he’s joking, but I have a feeling there’s a veiled threat beneath it.
“Dude, do you want me to move out?” Frankly, it would make things easier for Billie and me, though I hate to think about the cost.
Bodi looks taken aback, then he shakes his head. “No, I’m sorry. I just worry about her. And I don’t know what’s going to happen once she graduates. She hasn’t decided about continuing graduate school or not, but she can’t sleep on the couch forever.”
“Of course not. And like I told you when I moved in—there’s a very good chance I won’t be here next season, so I’ll be gone and she can have my room.”
I say the words but everything inside of me is protesting.
I’m not holding out much hope that the Phantoms will keep me, but if they do, there is zero chance Billie and I are going to keep sneaking around. I’m close to ripping the band-aid off now, but she made me promise I wouldn’t, so I keep my mouth shut.
“And if you don’t leave?”
“You’ll need to give me some time to find a place I can afford.”
“Or maybe we could move into a three-bedroom,” he suggests. “She’s going to be working so even if she can’t split the rent, maybe she could pay utilities or whatever.”
“Let’s cross that bridge when we come to it,” I hedge.
I don’t know why but this whole conversation pisses me off.
“Okay, cool.” He pulls out his phone. “I’m going to order a pizza. You want anything?”
“No, I’m good.”
“I’m gonna eat and then crash. We’ve got an early practice tomorrow.”
“How was the trip?” I ask, trying to keep things friendly. “You guys looked good out there.”
“Yeah, we went 5-1, but it was too damn long.” He shrugs. “How’s your groin, by the way?”
“Still sore but getting better. Doc says I can start walking on the treadmill on Monday.”
“You think you’ll be back before the end of the season?”
“Don’t know. But I’ll definitely be back for the playoffs.”
