Going For Two (Chicago Heartbreakers), page 8
After I had finished all my treatment duties for both Nolan and Derek after the game, I excused myself to get ready for a date that I had agreed to earlier that day. I hadn’t given up on the dating app that Maggie and Olivia had set me up on just yet, but all the dates I’d been on thus far had been more disappointing than anything.
I could hear the music kick on in the locker room as I finished applying my makeup, which meant the media were long gone and it was just the team.
My date was in downtown Chicago at an Italian restaurant I hadn’t been to yet. My date—Henry, a tech engineer—had suggested it. I had told him that I may be a little late getting there depending on how quickly I could get out of the stadium after the game and the traffic that would allow me to get across town to the restaurant. Henry had gotten at least one point in my book for not asking any questions about how someone like me got a job in the NFL—I’d gotten five of them just this week in my dating app instant messages—and instead told me to take my time.
Maybe chivalry wasn’t dead.
The hallway was almost empty with only a few players trickling toward the player parking lot after their postgame showers. The music that had been coming from the locker room turned off as soon as I stepped out into the hallway dressed and ready for what I hoped would be a romantic Italian dinner with Henry.
As I turned to walk to the parking lot where my car was parked, the door to the locker room burst open. Derek, Hawthorn, and Nolan were too busy laughing at whatever they had been talking about before to notice me standing there at first until Derek almost knocked me over.
“Lottie!” Derek exclaimed. “I didn’t see you standing there. I’m so sorry.”
Derek reached out to steady me before I ended up on the ground.
“You look nice, Lottie.” Hawthorn gave me a small nod of approval at the outfit I had planned for tonight’s date.
I had picked my favorite black dress and paired it with my knee-high black boots before topping the outfit off with my double-breasted brown wool coat. My hair was still up in the ponytail I had worn for the game, but I had slicked back any stray hairs that had pulled loose.
“Thanks, Hawthorn. Great game, guys,” I told them before trying to excuse myself from the conversation to get to my date on time.
“You have plans tonight?”
I glanced back over my shoulder to see Nolan’s eyes roaming over me from my hair to my boots.
“A date actually.” I gave Nolan a smile that I hoped relayed that I was still working hard on my goals just like he had been. But instead of him giving me a smile back at the bucket list item I was trying to cross off, he gave me a frown. I could see Derek glancing between me and Nolan as we stared at each other in a familiar standoff.
“Where’s your date?” Derek’s overly excited question managed to break the tension building between me and Nolan.
“Formento’s, over in West Loop. I heard they have one of the best meatballs in town.”
“My wife, Sarah, loves that place. We’ve celebrated every pregnancy there,” Hawthorn told me.
Who would have thought Hawthorn was a hopeless romantic?
“I need to get going though so I’m not later than I already am. Henry was nice enough to understand that I was coming from the game.”
I heard Nolan scoff from behind me as I turned to walk away. “Henry?”
I didn’t bother giving him a response. He knew that the only date I’d had so far had been a dud and this one could very well be more of the same, but who was he to judge? I had withheld my judgement when it came to his actions so far this season. I had stood by and proudly watched him try to change himself for the better.
Couldn’t he do the same for me?
“Have fun!” Derek called after me, in a suspiciously happy tone.
Henry had already ordered one of the more expensive bottles of wine by the time that I arrived. But by the end of the salad appetizer, there was still no spark between the two of us.
He was the perfect picture of charming, with blonde hair and blue eyes, a button-down shirt that was tucked into a pair of khakis, and a blindingly white smile. But when the conversation mostly centered around the finance app that he was currently building for his new company, I realized that I would need more than one bottle of wine to get through this dinner.
Only during the main course did Henry finally decide he would ask me about my own life after he’d told me nearly every detail of his own.
“So, you work for the Chicago Bobcats?”
“I’m their in-house physical therapist,” I told him.
“Do you think you’ll always stay in sports? Or do you think you’ll go into private practice in the future?” I watched Henry twirl his spaghetti around his fork using a spoon and knew the two of us had grown up in very different households. “I think you could get a lot more money in private practice and potentially have some well-connected clients. It’s who you know in the business world.”
“I think I’ll stay in professional sports for as long as I can. It’s where my heart is.”
Henry’s eyes were more focused on his spaghetti than on me. “Football is a dying sport, Charlotte. All the aftereffects that are starting to become known from head injuries are bound to run that sport into the ground.”
I cringed at the use of my full name. Nobody used my full name other than my father, and that wasn’t exactly the reminder I wanted during a date. I had even asked Henry to call me Lottie at the beginning of the date, but it seemed he insisted on using Charlotte instead.
Any response I had died on my lips as I stared at him with my mouth slightly agape. I’d never had a problem standing up for myself about how I’d earned the right to be in the profession I was, but that had always been with people who weren’t a part of my life. They weren’t supposed to champion me and my life the way a true partner or my family were supposed to. I had never had to defend myself with anyone that was supposed to care about me.
Suddenly I recognized the feeling churning in my stomach. It was the same way I had felt when my father had called me by my full name and laughed when I told him that I wanted to play football—only because I wanted to spend more time with him. If I showed interest in what he loved, maybe he’d love me too. My father had always looked down on any interest of mine that I tried to share with him, and the way Henry wrote off the profession I had worked so hard on my entire life had me feeling like I was a little kid again looking for recognition.
“Excuse me,” the waiter interrupted, which I couldn’t have been more grateful for in the moment, “but this bottle of whiskey was sent from the table over there in the back. They mentioned that you may enjoy your dinner with something a little stronger than wine.”
I followed the waiter’s hand motion to see three men that I thought I had left at Gateway Stadium. Derek had on a pair of sunglasses and a wide smile, while Hawthorn and Nolan both looked like children who had been caught red-handed. My eyes narrowed as Derek waved at me.
“Excuse me,” I told Henry. I ignored his protests and questions of where I was going as I stalked across the dining room toward the table in the corner.
Hawthorn looked like he was trying to somehow pass through the wall he was sitting against while Nolan avoided making eye contact. Derek lowered his sunglasses once I was right on top of them.
“What the hell are you guys doing?”
“Did you like the whiskey?” Derek asked.
“Why are you guys here?” I asked again.
“I thought the whiskey was a nice thought,” Hawthorn added casually, as if the three of them hadn’t just been spying on my date. “That man looked like he wouldn’t let you get a word in and in my experience, whiskey is a much better drink for situations like that.”
I pinched the skin between my eyebrows and let my eyes drift closed as I took in a deep breath. When I opened them again, I met a pair of rich brown ones that looked at me with an emotion I hadn’t seen from them before—concern.
But why would Nolan Hill be concerned about me? Why would he care?
“I am currently on a date with a man who is a tech engineer that I’m trying to figure out if I want to go on a second date with and you three”—I pointed at each in turn—“will not ruin this for me. Don’t you have somewhere else you could be to celebrate your win?”
“I don’t think there is anywhere else we’d rather be.”
I wanted to rip the cheeky grin on Derek’s face right off. “You are unbelievable!” A few dinner patrons gave us curious glances as my voice began to rise to what my mother would have told me was not an “inside voice.”
“And you—” I turned to glare accusingly at Nolan. “You of all people know what doing this means to me, even if Henry isn’t going to be the person I end up marrying.”
Nolan’s eyes bored into mine as the table fell silent. Finally, he cleared his throat—his eyes never leaving mine. “You deserve to be going out on dates with someone who’s interested in you, Lottie. Someone who’s interested in what you have to say and knows exactly who they’re on a date with. Someone who would never take that for granted. That’s who you deserve to go on a date with. Not someone like Henry.”
I saw Hawthorn’s eyebrows shoot up at Nolan’s comments and Derek’s lips twitched upwards, as if he was fighting to keep a smile off his face.
You deserve to be going out on dates with someone who’s interested in you, Lottie.
I wasn’t sure why my heart was racing at such a simple endearing sentence, but it took nearly an entire minute before I was able to trust myself to speak again.
“Thank you for the sentiment, but I’m going to go back to my date now and for my sake, please don’t remind me that you’re here if you stay.”
Nolan’s jaw clenched and that same muscle jumped in his jaw from whenever I did something that annoyed him. Everyone had to kiss a few frogs to find their prince. Who was Nolan to judge me for that?
When I returned to Henry with an apology ready, he waved me off and told me that my absence gave him time to order us dessert. The waiter set down a tiramisu that looked delicious, but I couldn’t focus on the decadent flavors that exploded in my mouth while I ate it because all I could feel were a pair of eyes on my back for the rest of my date.
Chapter 11
Nolan
“So, are we still not going to talk about how you had to death-grip the table on Sunday night at dinner when Henry and Lottie left?” Derek asked me as the two of us walked toward the practice facility to get some extra work in with Hawthorn the following Wednesday.
I knew he was only asking to get on my nerves and, well, it worked.
“I was not death-gripping the table when they left,” I growled at him.
Derek’s smile grew wider. “And you also didn’t tell Lottie that Henry wasn’t good enough for her because you care even the smallest bit about who she’s on dates with?”
“Also no.” I could feel heat spread across my chest, up my neck, and into my face as I tried to convince myself of something that I had come to realize this week might not be true.
“You’re the one that even suggested we go to Formento’s, remember?” I tried to remind Derek.
When I had first met Lottie, I didn’t have anything against her personally. Her position was simply a reminder of the worst parts of myself that I didn’t know how to fix. Now that she and I were beginning to work through the mess that I was, I was beginning to realize that maybe she wasn’t as bad as I originally thought. That’s all.
She was simply becoming someone I cared about like a friend, which was why I hated watching her leave with that tech idiot who didn’t even hold the door open for her when they left.
“And you haven’t gone from Nolan the Grinch to Nolan the Elf these last few weeks because of her?” Derek continued to press as we walked toward the locker room.
“It’s only September. Why are you comparing me to Christmas characters?”
Luckily, Derek’s line of questioning was silenced for the time being when we walked into the locker room to find Hawthorn talking with Caleb Willis.
“Hey, guys,” I slipped back into my approachable team captain hat now that Caleb was present. “What’s going on?”
“I just wanted to come in to get some extra work,” Caleb told me as he laced up his cleats. “I’ve realized the size of the shoes I’m going to have to fill next year, and I think I’m going to need more practice than just what I’m doing during the week with the coaches.”
The look that Hawthorn was giving me behind Caleb’s back pushed a sigh out of me. My distaste toward the kid might have been a little unnecessary.
“We’re getting in extra work today too,” I told him. “You can join us. Derek can run a few routes for you.”
Caleb’s face lit up at the invite and I ignored the small part of me that felt guilty. I could have been lifting him up from the beginning of the season if I had just gotten out from behind myself.
“We’ll meet you out there,” Hawthorn told Caleb as he slapped the rookie on the shoulder.
As soon as the locker room door shut behind us, Hawthorn gave me the kind of smile that I wanted to wipe right off his face. “What’s gotten into you these past few weeks? First you want to throttle Lottie’s date for treating her poorly, then you extend an olive branch to Caleb after avoiding him like the plague all season.”
“You and I both know it’s not a what but a who.” Derek shared a smile with Hawthorn. Now I wanted to throttle both of them.
“For the last time,” I ground out. “None of this has anything to do with Lottie. She’s a great person and she’s gone out of her way to help me figure my shit out. The least I can do is help her with hers.”
Hawthorn and Derek exchanged a knowing look but were smart enough this time to keep their mouths shut.
“Lottie and I are like oil and water.” I’m not sure why I felt the need to try to convince my two friends how Lottie and I would be the worst possible idea ever, but here I was. “She may be one of the most intelligent people I know, but she drives me crazy whenever she manages to outsmart me on something. Then she gives me this smirk like she knows she’s beat me that makes me want to rip my hair out. We argue constantly. It would be a nightmare.”
“Whatever you need to say to make yourself believe it.” Derek gave me a sympathetic pat on the back before he went to jog down the field for his warmup.
“You get it, right?” I asked Hawthorn. “You and Sarah are like the perfect complements for each other. Lottie and I are most definitely not. I’m not sure why Derek won’t let it go.”
Hawthorn studied me for a few beats, as if he were debating on how he wanted to break something to me. “Let’s not forget those few months when Sarah and I fought all the time because we were trying to get comfortable with each other. And let’s also not forget that I would die for that woman if I had to. There’s not a single other soul on this planet that understands me down to my very core. Blending two lives together can be difficult. You must learn how to mold some of the worst parts of yourself to be better suited for the person you’re with. Because sometimes the perfect person for you is the person who will call you on all your bullshit.”
My friend jogged away from me, leaving me standing there dumbfounded at his words. I had been counting on Hawthorn to call Derek crazy. Instead, Hawthorn had only caused me more confusion. This past month with Lottie had challenged me. She’d called me out on how I was trying to operate this season. She had forced me to be honest with myself and question if I was going to look back on this season with pride or regret. I didn’t even want to try and unpack why I’d found myself caring about those stupid dates she’d been taking herself on. If I looked too closely, I was scared I’d have to put a name to what was happening.
“Thanks again for doing this.” Caleb’s voice pulled me away from the thoughts of a blonde-haired girl.
“I had plenty of people take the time to mentor me when I first joined the league,” I told him. “It’s only right if I pay it back.”
For the rest of the morning, Caleb and I ran through different plays to help him get better acquainted with the offense that our coach ran. I was impressed with how eager he was to learn. His intuitive questions and ability to pick up on different things quickly reminded me a little bit of myself when I first entered the league. We both had a tenacious need to learn as much as possible with a ridiculous athletic ability that I knew would take Caleb as far as mine took me.
Derek and I walked him through different scenarios, and I was impressed by how smart he was when it came to football. The hours flew by as I coached Caleb on everything from his form to his timing. I felt more energized by the time we decided to call it quits than after returning from a bye week, and as the four of us walked out of the practice facility together, I wondered how I could ever leave football behind after this season.
It was what made up the very essence of myself. It was what I was good at. How was I supposed to find something else that made me feel the way sharing my knowledge of the game with someone else did?
Chapter 12
Lottie
The first week in October was like a religion when it comes to baseball. Fall was not only in full swing, but for sports fans, it was the start of playoffs. Lucky for Chicago, the Cougars managed to come away with the divisional win and had positioned themselves well in the postseason.
Maggie and Olivia had stayed true to their word and gotten me tickets to the Cougars’ first postseason game. However, they did more than just snag me tickets. Olivia, being the marketing mastermind that she was, convinced her boss to give an entire box to anyone from the Bobcats that wanted to come and support the Cougars the Monday night after the team won their fourth game of the season. The coach had given everyone the day off after the win and nearly everyone had been excited to spend their time cheering on their fellow Chicago sports team.
But of course, Olivia had to take a potentially fun day for me and make it a point of her enjoyment when she insisted I bring a date to the game. So instead of enjoying a beer and a hot dog while cheering on people that I considered my friends, I was listening to Cole talk about how he’d been a lifelong Cougars fan after his grandfather took him to his first game as a kid. Surprisingly, it was the first date I’d been on that I was enjoying, even with Derek, Hawthorn, and Nolan eyeing me the entire time from the other side of the box.
