“I shouldn’t be here. Simone shouldn’t be here. I don’t give a fuck where Bridget wants to live, but she didn’t have to drag my daughter with her across the country so she can do some reality show about being a baller’s wife when, thank God, she’s not even my wife anymore.”
Banner is abruptly silent in the face of my mini-tirade.
“Okayyyyy,” she says with a little laugh. She’s one of the few people who has seen me truly lose my temper. She knows how to give me space to recover it.
“I’m sorry.” I release a weary breath and run a hand over my face. “I’m so tired of Bridget’s games, and this is the most immature, selfish one yet. Not just inconveniencing me, but uprooting Simone, and I’m pissed about it. So enjoying New York is not really a priority.”
“I get that,” Banner replies. “Bridget has made life hell for you.”
For years, I add silently.
“But at least you got your divorce and didn’t lose half your money.”
“Thanks to you.” Banner can’t see my grateful smile, but I want her to know how much I appreciate all she’s done for my career while protecting me financially.
“Hey. I’m just glad you hadn’t married her before you signed with me,” Banner says. “There’s a lot of ballers’ college sweethearts walking around with half the paper.”
We’d just graduated from college when I was drafted to the NBA. Bridget was pregnant and moving with me to Houston, my first team. When I signed with Banner as my agent, she insisted on a pre-nup and personally oversaw many of the details to ensure there were no loopholes.
“Most men would not have been as generous as you were, Kenan,” Banner says. “You gave her more than you had to in the divorce.”
“She’s the mother of my child. Even if we aren’t married, even though she cheated on me, even though she held up our divorce forever demanding more money, that still means something.”
“It wasn’t just about the money, though was it?”
“No, she claims to want me back, but that’s some shit. She’s the one who threw the marriage away.”
“Maybe she regrets it,” Banner says softly, a hesitant note in her voice. “I don’t excuse cheating, by any means, but people do make mistakes.”
“Yeah, well she made a big one. I never cheated on Bridge, not even before we were married. I can’t ever trust her again, so she can forget this reconciliation she’s fantasizing about.”
“Maybe focus less on Bridget’s drama and more on yourself. Have a summer fling.”
“I don’t fling.”
“Then have a summer fuck.”
Banner’s tough as nails and crude as hell when she needs to be. Representing some of the alpha-est males in the NBA, she often has to be to hold her own.