I’m not sure what would make a man do that, but I’m sure he has his reasons.
I know nothing about sports. The only thing I love about them is the food; charcuterie boards, taco dip, chips, and salsa trays… Gimme all the stadium food, and I’ll show up, but not to watch the game.
Duke’s boot moves as he crosses and recrosses his legs, and I’m reminded of my conversation with Molly…
“Well. So Eli has this client, and he’s a pretty big deal.”
I nodded my head slowly. “Aren’t they all a big deal?”
“Yes, but this guy is different.” Molly hesitated. “I can’t tell you his name yet, but swear what I’m about to tell you doesn’t leave this room.”
I held my palm up in an oath—the same one I’d use if I was on jury duty or a Girl Scout. “I solemnlyswear.”
“Everyone wanted to sign him, and Eli got him,” she emphasized, sounding super dramatic.
“Molly, that’s great!”
“I know, I know. He’s coming off a Super Bowl win, but they’re going to announce he’s leaving that team for another—and when it does, he’ll be ambushed by paparazzi and the press. His fans are going to be pissed.”
“All right?”
“The thing is, he lives in Texas but wants to be near Eli before the announcement is made—and he told Eli he won’t stay in a hotel. They’re not his thing, and he’d be too easy to find.”
I’d still been confused at that point. “Uh-huh.”
“Anddd…no one knows this little house exists or Eli’s connection to it.”
“You want to rent this house to him instead of me?” I’d been dismayed at the thought. They were kicking me out of my house so they could move in a football player?
“No! Posey, I wanted to ask if you’d be okay with him crashing here for a bit. We need to hide him,” she reassured me. “That’s what I’m here to ask. If you’ll harbor one of Eli’s athletes.”
Harbor one of his clients? What did that even mean?
“He plays what sport again?”
“Didn’t I literally just tell you he’s coming off a Super Bowl win?” She sighed because my brains were addled, the information a bit too much for me to process. All I wanted to do was bake cakes and make crafts for my adorable little students. “Football. And he’s just been given the most lucrative deal in history. When people find out, they’re going to lose their shit.”
Food is my love language. I’m not a great cook, but I can bake well enough to be on any baking competition show.
I shake the feathers out of my head. “Of course I’d be glad to help you guys out. You said it was only for a little bit?”
“Yeah.” Molly swallowed a lump so big I could see it. “Okay, so there’s one more thing.”
“What?” What more could there possibly be? Wasn’t her asking me to harbor one of Eli’s clients—a man I didn’t know—enough? Sheesh.
“He’s kind of…” Her sentence trailed off.
I waited patiently.
“He’s kind of…a giant asshole.”
I stare at the asshole and his cowboy boots and his tight T-shirt with the flannel over the top, the scruffy jeans and the scruff on his chin.
I wonder what he sees as he stares back atme, our stilted conversation about his meals still lingering in the air. Does he honestly expect me to fetch him dinner? Or supper as he called it?
From the looks of it, he does.
I may be sweet as pie, but I have my limits. The only thing I discussed with Eli and Molly was housing this guy, not feeding or clothing him. Not doing his laundry or picking up after him. Not entertaining him either.