WVLZ newsroom…sources have just confirmed the existence of an image, seen here, of New Orleans Steamers quarterback Ryder Glenn and placekicker Reese Noble from Glenn’s time at Duke. The photograph seems to indicate the word that had spread recently through social media about a relationship the two had while Glenn was being coached by Noble’s father.”
The image on the screen flashed a grainy, but clear picture of Reese and Ryder, younger, thinner and from the looks on their faces, happier than Kai had ever seen them. He was shirtless, sitting in front of a lake with a beer in one hand and the other wrapped around Reese’s waist. She wore a white bikini and she was curled around Glenn, her body close to his, legs wrapped with his. It was a sweet picture of two people who were clearly a couple.
“Son of a bitch…” Gia said, standing, muttering an astonished, Topanga, under her breath.
“That explains why Glenn wanted to speak to Murry.”
Gia shook her head, moving the Polaroids to the armchair when she heard the blaring sound of her ringtone and grabbed it from between the sofa cushions.
“Fuck,” she said, looking down at the screen, more frazzled than Kai had ever seen her. “I don’t know what...” She wiped her face, inhaling, staring at Kai like she only just remembered that he was there and what they’d been arguing about. She glanced at the pictures, pressing her lips together before she looked at him again. “You see?” she told him, waving to the television. “This is why nothing could ever happen between us.”
Then, her cell began to ring again.
“No, Gia. That’s not why.” He ran his fingers through his hair, his chest tight. “You’re why.”
Gia looked down at the phone, her entire body tensing before she stared at Kai as though he might tell her something; as though there was anything he could say to rescue her.
He was done trying.
With all of it.
Especially with Gia.
“You take care of yourself, Miss Jilani,” he said, turning to leave, not surprised when the ringing stopped, and he heard her low, shaky voice answer the call.
“Yes, sir. I’ll be there in twenty minutes.”
12.
GIA
THE MEETING WAS IMPROMPTU, in Les McAddams’ kitchen, but Gia still dressed for the position she’d been given. They’d expect it. Funny, she thought, that the same expectation wouldn’t have been made of Ricks.
“You sure this isn’t still going on?” the owner asked, moving around his kitchen island like a caterer, preparing for a Christmas Eve wedding. His thick Georgia accent came off as a little overplayed. Ricks had told Gia Les was from Atlanta, raised mainly in the city, but he liked to play the Good-Ole-Boy, “I’m well connected” bit for all he could. “This is something none of us have dealt with. A mess.” He threw the towel in his hand against the marble counter, flinging etouffee across the floor. “A damn mess, is what it is.”
“I’m sure Gia can work this out, Les,” Ricks tried, his cool, frat boy smile doing very little to ease the ruddy-face owner. “She’s good handling the players and all their…” he waved a hand, likely searching for a word he didn’t often use, “personal things.”
“I hope so.” Les turned back to his stove, a huge six burner masterpiece, lit with gas, three pots on top of it roiling. “Let gals in the sports and all hell breaks loose.”
“All hell broke loose ten years ago,” Gia reminded the old man, ignoring Ricks when he shot her a warning glare. “And if there hadn’t been gals in the sport we wouldn’t have the highest field goal average in the league and you,” she said, pointing at Ricks, “would be short a lineman because you let Pukui take his time getting home.”
“Hey now,” McAddams started, abandoning his etouffee to looked between Gia and a wide-eyed, mildly betrayed-looking Ricks. “Let’s not get personal.”
“That’s the problem,” she told the man. “Everything on this team is personal. Those players are a family. They form a bond. You can’t keep that from happening and even if things went sideways between Glenn and Noble ten years ago, they’ve been able to deliver on every single commitment they made to this franchise.” She picked up her bag, head shaking when Ricks opened his mouth. “So have I.” Gia straightened her jacket, inhaling before she turned to leave these two in the middle of the owner’s busy kitchen. “Now excuse me while I go handle more of the same business I’ve been doing