Page 13 of Mine Forever
“Okay, that’s fine.”
But instead of getting up and leaving me in my misery, he just turns his head and looks out the wall of windows.
“Don’t you have practice to go to or a commercial to film or something other than sitting here bothering me?”
A grin splits his face. “Not right now.”
I’ve known Nate since the minor leagues.
I was an up-and-coming pitcher for the New York Admirals, and he was the hot new catcher heading to the Cape Sands major league team, the Bull Sharks. Our teams have faced off over the years and we’ve stayed friendly.
He’s one of the few guys I know that hates many of the trappings that come with the fame and fortune, especially the media and the cleat chasers that try to trap him.
And because of that, the media often don’t know if they love him or find him to be a broody SOB.
So when my career imploded, he’s one of the few players that wasn’t afraid to stand by me and remind me what bullshit all of this can be.
He’s the guy who found me this piece of land and why I decided to make the move to Cape Sands.
Nate Gentry is one of the most stand-up guys I know. I owe him a great deal.
And I trust him.
But even he doesn’t know much about Eden. The only time I’ve ever mentioned Eden to him is when we got drunk one night and I mentioned how the girl I was seeing at the time reminded me of Eden.
When I sobered up, I started dating brunettes only.
I sigh and drop my head back on the cushion.
“Eden and I met in college. We dated for a few years and then I went to the minors. We parted ways and that’s that.”
“That’s that? I call bullshit.”
“Yeah, well, fuck you.”
He chuckles, unperturbed by my little snit. “Why do I feel like there’s more to this story?”
“Because you’re an arrogant prick?”
He nods as he sips his beer. “That has been mentioned a time or two,” he says after he swallows, “but I’m also right, aren’t I?”
I sigh again. “Fine. I was in love with her. But I fucked it up when I left. When I got to the majors, it was good PR for me to be the bachelor stud. You know how it is.”
He frowns. “Yeah, unfortunately I do.”
“Then I married Heather, and the PR machine spun that the way they wanted to and I fell right into it again.”
I sip my beer, but let the memories of my wedding day play in my head.
In spite of the fact I know now I never truly loved Heather, it had been a good day.
“Y’all had a great wedding, man.”
I nod for a moment before I can find my voice. “Heather was beautiful.”
I look down and finish peeling the label off the bottle before sticking the paper inside. “But I never should have married her. For a lot of reasons, but the biggest one being I didn’t love her.” I scrub my face with one hand.
“Still, that doesn’t mean she?—”
