The Curve Ball - Samantha Lind Page 0,64
a tissue from the box and blowing my nose. The sound attracts Evie’s attention and causes her to laugh at me. “You think that’s funny?” I say to her before blowing again. Her belly laughs filling the air and causing me to laugh while I cry some more. What am I going to do without this little girl in my life all the time? I can’t think of what my days will be like, not having her in them.
My phone rings, buzzing against the counter. I don’t look at the screen before sliding my finger across it, bringing it to my ear. “Hello,” I say, my voice still shaky.
“Riley, baby?” Justin's voice fills my ears and my heart drops to the floor, along with fresh new tears that I can’t stop. “Please, baby, just listen,” he pleads.
I clear my throat, straighten my spine, and with as much mirth as I can muster reply to him. “What?” I pause. “What the hell happened last night?”
“Nothing,” he says, blowing out a huge breath. “That article is complete and utter bullshit. Those pictures are from another time, I don’t really know when, but they definitely aren’t from last night. Hell, they aren’t even from this year,” he tells me. “I promise you, Riley. I was not out at a bar last night, and I definitely wasn’t with two women. I got off the phone with you, rolled over, and went to sleep.”
“What?” I ask. I’m so confused. Confused by the article, confused about what to think or believe. He’s never given me a reason to not believe him, so why would he lie now? “But why? Why would they print that? Post that picture?”
“Because they’re trying to get a rise out of me, you, hell—anyone. I knew that bitch was up to no good after the family game last weekend and the article they ran the next day, but I didn’t think she’d stoop this low,” he growls. “The trashier the headline and the more believable they can make it appear, the more clicks they get. Derek is calling Carmen for me, to get them on it, as well as my own personal PR reps. The reporter that posted this will pay, mark my words.”
“I…” I stammer, pausing to suck in a deep breath. My thoughts are still flying around my head a million miles a minute. One moment I thought that I’d lost the man I love, and the next, he’s telling me everything that I thought I just learned was complete bullshit. “I’m sorry I freaked out and assumed the worst,” I say to him as I shrink into myself. “I should have called you first and asked you about it before freaking out, but I didn’t. I let it get to me. I believed it because of the picture,” I tell him honestly, feeling like a complete bitch that I just jumped to the worst conclusion.
“Fuck!” Justin swears. I can tell that he’s livid pissed right now. “I’m not mad at you, hurt a little that you’d even think I could do this to you… to us. But I get it. I don’t have the best reputation. I lived it up in the past, and it's hard for some people to believe that I’ve changed. That I’m not all about the partying and sleeping around like I once was. I went from being a reporter's dream to a boring person in their eyes.”
“If they only knew how not boring you are,” I try and joke, hoping to lift the somber mood between the two of us.
“I think, once I’m home, we need to sit down and have a serious conversation. Don’t think that this will be a one-time thing. People are vicious. They’ll dig up shit from months or years ago and try and play it off like it was yesterday.”
“That’s now abundantly clear. When do you think that picture was taken?”
“Looking at it, probably last summer, if I had to guess. I recognize the bar, it’s one here in Cleveland, so they at least got that much right. But I definitely haven’t stepped foot into it this trip, so the last time it could have been was when we played here last summer.”
I blow out a huge breath then fill my lungs with a calming one. My eyes close, and I repeat the breathing exercise again, feeling the tension and stress leaving my body. I feel tired and weak after that stressful half hour. So tired that I feel