Page 41 of One Bet

He nodded, still the kind of guy who appreciated the good fortune of others more than he lamented his own lot in life. “That’s great, man.”

“Even more great, I get to pick my own staff. And I thought maybe you…”

He chuckled and held up his hand. “I have soccer practice with Gabe two nights a week. Ballet for Amy on Wednesday, piano and guitar with Jesse on Monday and Friday. School lunches have to be packed every night, baths, homework and I drive days and weekends. I don’t know how I’d squeeze in two-a-day practices, traveling to other schools, workouts, and team meetings. I’d love to do it, but I don’t see how I’d manage. I can’t let my kids down, they’re the one thing I do well.”

And speaking of the little ones. “Where are your kids?”

“At my mom’s.” He shrugged and chuckled. “I wanted a grown-up night.”

I would’ve told him that grown-up nights were over-rated but shouting from inside interrupted my thoughts.

Jameson burst through the door as Avery and Susie stood on opposite sides of the kitchen island. Avery was shaking her phone at Susie who had both hands braced on the wooden cutting board in the center of the room.

“This is none of your business.” Susie hissed the words at Avery in a much quieter tone than we’d heard from the deck.

“He is my business.” Jameson might have known about Susie’s extracurricular boyfriend, but having it thrown in his face wasn’t likely to keep the volatility under his surface from bubbling over.

I couldn’t let her add to whatever Jameson was feeling right then. Something close to humiliation, I imagined. I moved to take Avery by the arm.

“We should go.” I’d thought she would fight me, would pull away, but she didn’t. She allowed me to lead her out. At the door, I looked back at Jameson. “Hey, the offer stands. If you can work it out, let me know.”

He nodded and Avery and I walked out. I waited until we were in the car before I turned to her. “What did you think you were doing?”

“Protecting my friend.” She spat the words and crossed her arms. “And I wasn’t done yet.”

“Jameson knows, okay? He knows about her and Alex.”

But her eyes flashed. “I don’t care about Jameson.”

And maybe it was because being around Jameson made the memory of her article fresher, or maybe because I’d seen honest pain in my friend’s face when he talked about his wife, or maybe because I didn’t like this part of her, I shook my head. “I do care about him. And once again you have your facts all mixed up.”

“My facts are fine, Jameson knowing that his wife is cheating is good. I’m glad he knows. But Alex doesn’t know she’s married and he deserves to know.”

I didn’t have a real reason for arguing with her except I was angry, and I didn’t quite understand the depths of why. “How do you know he doesn’t know?”

Maybe if she had something based on facts, but all she had were assumptions. It was reasonable to think Alex didn’t know but considering Jameson had known about him it was equally reasonable to think Alex might know about Jameson.

“Because I know Alex and he wouldn’t screw a married chick.”

Obviously, she didn’t know Alex as well as she thought. “You didn’t know he was seeing her and you didn’t know he was in love with you.”

She shook her head and pursed her lips. There was nothing I could say to counter her decisiveness. “He deserves the truth.”

I stared at her. “The truth or your version?” I wasn’t accusing her of making anything up, just a skewed perspective. Right now I just needed to think this through away from her.

I started the car and drove toward her house.

“What the hell does that mean?”

It meant I was angry, angrier than I’d ever realized because she didn’t understand that not everything was black and white. I’d been guilty of treating all those women badly in college. I hadn’t taken the videos or sold them, or used them for blackmail, but if not for me, there wouldn’t have been any women to exploit and Jameson had been wrapped up in the dark side of it, but in the end, he’d done what he could to make it right. He’d come forward and given the facts to the cops, paid a fine he couldn’t afford, lost his parents’ support, his chance to graduate with an education, and his future from the scandal. How much more did he have to pay? But I wanted her to see it on her own, and it disappointed me that she didn’t. “If you don’t know, you won’t understand when I explain it.”

She scoffed. “I don’t know, I’m pretty smart. Try me.”

When I didn’t speak further because I didn’t want to say anything I would regret, she twisted toward the window.

“Fine.” After a minute, she turned back to me. “Please tell me what you meant.”

I wanted the words to make sense, to not be led with emotion, but we’d never dealt with any of it. After the party, she’d stopped talking to me, and I’d let her because I felt guilty for all of it. My friend hurt her and he used me to do it, the cops got involved, Ryder and Finn got kicked out of the fraternity and then school, and Jameson, who’d already withdrawn because of his injury, was told he couldn’t return. Then the article came out.