CHAPTER 24 LINCOLN

Miles's injury does one important thing for our team, at least. It throws the shade off my brother—which my father tried to accomplish with his slanderous article, but this really takes the attention off anything to do with my brother or me.

It's all anyone can talk about. His recovery can take anywhere from nine months to a year, which means he'll be out this entire season. I turn off the television because frankly, I'm tired of hearing about it. I know what this means for Miles, and I know what this means for our team. And I was well-informed about it before it hit the media.

It's a devastating loss for the Vegas Aces, but I'm trying to recall Jolene's words through the drunken haze I was in last night.

Back-ups are there for a reason. Or something like that.

Thank God we won and nobody's coming in until noon today. I shouldn't have had as much to drink as I did last night. I'm not a kid anymore, and my thirty-six-year-old body is definitely protesting this morning.

The office is quiet, and I lean back in my chair for a deep stretch. It doesn't make me feel any better, really, and as I stand to pace around the room a little, my eyes fall onto the framed photo of my family on my credenza.

It's only then I realize that I've spoken to everyone in my family about Jolene and me except for my mother. I suppose I assumed my dad's been keeping her in any loops she'd need to be kept in, but who knows what the fuck he's been telling her.

I walk over toward my couch and collapse onto it, and then I pull up her contact and dial her.

"Good morning," she answers, and she sounds a little subdued.

"Hey, Mom," I say.

"Glad to know you're alive."

I chuckle. "I'm alive. And I'm sorry it's taken me so long to call you. I figured Dad was keeping you in the loop."

"No, not really." She lets out a soft sigh. "Your dad and I…" She trails off and pauses as if she's deciding how to end that sentence, and then she finally does. "We're getting divorced, Linc. We haven't told anybody yet, but you're the boy who made me a mom and I guess I'm tired of hiding it."

"Oh, Mom," I say, and I'm not exactly sure how to feel.

On the one hand, I always sort of thought my mother deserved better than what my father gave her. But they seemed happy. It seemed like they took care of each other even though they'd bicker and argue.

But I guess every kid sees what they want to see in their parents' marriage, don't they? It wouldn't matter if I was thirty-six or six or sixty-six. I'd want them to be together, to be a shining beacon of what a good marriage should be. What most kids don't think about, though, is that our parents are people, too, and they deserve to be happy.

"It's why I haven't called to check in on you, and I'm sorry about that. I regret it. I know you're going through some things, too, but I guess I just wasn't ready to pick up the phone," she says. "I have some other things I should discuss with you, too."

"Come stay with me," I blurt.

"Oh, honey. I can't do that. I'm flying back to New York later this week. I don't want to sell the farm, and that's part of what pushed me into finally filing the paperwork."

Jesus. She's been going through all this without me—without any of her kids. Without anyone at all since she said they haven't told anybody yet.

She was always a homebody. Her friends were the wives of other players when Dad played, despite how hard that life was since players would come and go. She liked being in New York since that's where her parents and siblings live. And I know she always said she'd move wherever two of her boys landed, but her heart is in New York.

"Then stay with me until you go back," I say. "I'll be home early tonight, and we can do dinner and watch the old black and white movies that bored me to tears when I was a kid. Or we can talk and drink wine. Whatever you want, Mom."

She's quiet on the other end, and then I hear a sniffle. "You're too good to me, Linc," she finally murmurs, her voice trembling.

"I love you, Mom, and I have not been very good to you. So let's spend some time together before you go back. Please?"

She clears her throat. "Okay. Fine. Yes, I'd love that."

"Six o'clock, and I'll bring dinner."

"It's a date," she says, and I can nearly hear the smile on her face.

I haven't been the best son lately—or grandson, or brother, or even boyfriend or friend. I've been so focused on making this team successful that I've set my entire personal life aside. And while I know my family and friends understand that, it's not how I want to be.

It's how my dad was, and I sure as fuck don't want to turn out a damn thing like him.

I get started on reviewing film from yesterday's game when a quiet knock comes at my office door.

I'm about to tell whoever it is to beat it so I can get some fucking work done through this headache despite my previous vow to be better, but when I look up, I see Jolene standing in front of me.

Her face is streaked with tears, and for just a moment I worry something happened to Jonah.

I stand. "What's wrong?"

She bursts into tears. "I just quit VG-oh-three."

I freeze. "You quit?"

She nods.

"Close the door."

She does, and she steps into my office as I move around my desk toward her. I take her into my arms as she sinks into me.

I hold her while she cries, and I press a soft kiss to the top of her head. "I'm so, so sorry, Jo. We'll get through this, okay? We will figure all this out, and we will come out on the other side stronger because of it."

"I hope you're right because I don't know how many more hits I can take."

I don't say the words out loud, but the truth is that I don't either.

"So what are you going to do?" I ask when she finally pulls away from me.

She shakes her head as she holds both hands up as if to say she has no idea. "There's one thing I keep thinking about. It was Sam's idea, actually."

"Sam's idea?" I echo. "The last time Sam had an idea…" I trail off without finishing that sentence. We both know what happened with Sam's last idea.

"Who owns the podcast?" she asks.

"Our podcast?"

She nods.

"Prince Charming Public Relations owns it along with some of the equipment at the station."

Her eyes light up as her lips lift in the first smile I've seen on them since she walked into my office. "Ellie owns it?"

I nod. "It was her idea, and she retained the rights when she brokered the agreement with both the Aces and VG-oh-three."

"Yes!" she says, punching a fist into the air.

"What's your idea? Or, er…Sam's idea?"

"To expand the podcast and get a behind the scenes view of games and practices and the team dynamic. What it's like to coach an NFL team. What it's like to be the girlfriend of a coach. It gives me the chance to continue covering the team and, specifically you, but without the station holding me back. We can do whatever we want, and your commitment to it won't change but mine will. It gives me a shot to continue working with the team while we produce longer episodes, and I can produce it myself since I don't have any other work right now."

She pauses as she waits for my reaction, and I offer her a wide smile. "I love this idea. I think it's perfect. You don't have to answer to anyone else, and we can do whatever the fuck we want since we don't have the station holding us back." My chest warms at how excited she is about this. It's a chance to continue working together, but it's a chance to build something together, too. And that's pretty damn sweet.

"Plus, if we bring it all in house, we have no other costs associated with it, and longer episodes means more spots for sponsors, which means more money—hopefully enough to replace what I'm losing by quitting the station." She offers a triumphant square of her shoulders at the end of her speech.

"Move in with me."

Her jaw slackens a little as the smile falls off her lips and her eyes widen. "What?"

"Move in with me. You and Jonah."

She gasps when I say her son's name. "Are you serious right now?"

"We'll create a home studio at my place so we can record any time we're both home together. It'll be perfect, Jo. Jonah can have his own room, and we can wake up and eat cereal together and watch Minions. And once he goes to bed, you and I can have time together. Every night except when I have to travel. I'll come home to you. You'll come home to me. Say yes."

Her mouth opens and shuts a few times as she thinks it over. "Oh, God," she finally says. I can't tell what's going through her mind, but I do know she quit her job today and she was already living with her friend. If I can take away rent for her and help out in that regard, I want to.

"Look, Jo. I want you to do the podcast because you love it and you're passionate about it, not because you need the paycheck. This is something I can do to help, and I want to. Not because I don't want you to have to worry about rent or whatever, but because I want you in my bed every single night. I want to wake up in the morning with you in my arms. I just want you."

"I, uh…I wasn't expecting this," she admits. "I need to think it over."

"I've been thinking it over for a while now, and you and me…" I grab her back into my arms. "We're inevitable, Jolene Bailey. We've fought our way back to each other, and other people can try to do their worst, but we will always end up right here. This is our future, and I'm ready for it to start."

Her eyes sparkle with more tears, and she finally snags her bottom lip between her teeth. "Okay."

"Yeah?"

She nods, and I grin as I swing her around in my arms.

"Yeah," she says, and I swallow the word when I plant a kiss on her lips.

She sighs softly into me, and it really makes me feel like despite it all, everything is going to be okay.

If only I had a little warning about the destruction that was brewing in the background and about to head our way.