Page 54 of Freak Show

Jolene was a tall woman with fake blonde hair you could tell she dyed so she didn’t have any gray hairs showing. She also looked like she’d never seen a Snickers in her life.

Wow, she looked great for her age.

“That’s his ex-wife,” Slone whispered, his eyes on the two who most definitely had the attention of the whole team. “Watch.”

Oh, I was watching all right.

I couldn’t not watch.

It was like watching a car stalled on a train track with the blockades coming down and the dinging going off all around you. You knew the train was coming. You knew that car was about to be hit.

And you couldn’t look away.

“But this has been my seat for seven years,” she pouted.

Joe didn’t look up from his phone as he said, “That ended when you decided that you’d rather test out a younger model of me last year.”

Oh, boy.

“Joe, you know that was a mistake,” Jolene tried.

So this was the reason for Joe’s bad mood.

“I know our entire marriage was a mistake, and I never should’ve pursued you,” he amended. “However, we can’t take back previous mistakes. We can only learn from them. And what I learned is that this is my last year, and that I want nothing to do with you. I am literally retiring so I can get the hell away from you.”

“Whoa,” I breathed.

“Yeah,” Slone agreed as he, too, started to undress. One second he was completely clothed, and the next he was in sweats and a t-shirt, sans shoes. “I’m sure you can see why he’s mad.”

I could see why Joe was mad. Yep.

“Personally, I think that she should’ve been fired. Because Joe’s now retiring even though he still has some great years left in him,” Slone muttered.

“How old is he?” I asked.

“Thirty-eight,” Slone answered. “They met right when I started. Or, more accurately, they started dating right when I began with the Liners. They got married really fast, and they’ve been together for the past six and a half years. Until last year when he walked into the bathroom on this very plane and found her fucking our backup quarterback.”

“Whoa,” I said. “Is that backup quarterback Ashton?”

I was almost beside myself thinking that it was. I’d liked Ashton upon first sight, but I didn’t do cheaters. Not after all that crap with my mother and father.

“No,” he answered. “He’s gone. The Liners’ manager and owner felt that it was going to be something that they couldn’t contain. The dude was transferred out two months after we picked him up in the draft.”

Yowza.

That sounded like a mess and a half.

“But Joe…” Jolene tried.

Instead of arguing with her, Joe put his headphones on before putting his seat belt on and closing his eyes.

Jolene stared at him aghast that he’d just dismiss her like he did, and I couldn’t help the small smile that lifted the corner of my lips.

“That smile is the kind of smile that gets you in trouble,” Slone murmured.

I twisted in my seat and pulled out the blanket that was in the plastic baggie.

On the blanket it said ‘Longview Liners.’

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