One Northern Morning (A Novella) (Southern Nights Novella Series #2) (8 page)

I
permit the tears to fall only after the truck disappears.

When it’s safe. When I know Kam will never see them. I clean up the kitchen, pack our stuff, and lock up the house. I’m completely numb. I will never forget the distraught look on Kam’s face before he stormed out.
I trusted you.
Those words are like a butcher knife hacking me apart. I never meant to hurt him. I never meant for him to feel like he couldn’t trust me. But what I said was true. He has his life and I have mine. He’s slated to go to Seattle, and I’m moving to New York. How would we ever make that work?

I knew the inevitable would happen; I just didn’t think it would be so soon.

Without even thinking, I drive to the one place I know I’ll find solace.

“Sugar pie.” My father beams when he sees me walk through the front door of his diner. “What are you doing here?” He put his arms around me, and I surrender in his embrace, fighting back tears.

“I was with Kam . . . at the cabin.”

“Oh?” His face perks up.

“With the allegations and media hounding him, he needed to get away. So we went to his father’s cabin. To hide out.”

“I see.” My father eyes me speculatively. “I didn’t realize you and Kam were
socializing
again.”

I turn red. What can I say? Don’t worry; nothing happened? We’d both know that’d be a lie.

“We were
reconnecting
.” I clear my throat.

“It doesn’t look like it went so well.”

“It was going fine until
Sam the Magic Man
showed up,” I say spitefully. “And reality came crashing down on us.”

“Yeah. It does have a habit of doing that.” His Southern twang surfaces with a vengeance. “Where is Kam now?”

“At a press conference. Sam set it up at the high school.”

“Why didn’t you go?” He walks me over to the counter and urges me to sit down on one of the stools.

“I figured he’d be surrounded by enough people. His adoring fans, the press,
Sam.”

“Ah Sam, your favorite person in the whole world.”

“Most favorite,” I respond sarcastically. Kam was right—I do like Sam as much as I like sweet tea.

“Well, what are you gonna do?”

“About what?”

“About Kam.”

“What’s there to do? You don’t give up everything you worked toward for some guy. All your hopes, all your dreams.”

“You’re right. Some guy? No. Kam, maybe.”

“Dad.” My jaw drops. Is he being serious? He knows what I had to go through to get that internship. How unbelievably hard I had to work. Architecture is a highly competitive business. If you don’t get in with the right firm, you might as well give up before you even start if you want any kind of a halfway decent career.

“Laney, look.” He puts his hands up in surrender. “I’m not trying to tell you not to go after your dreams, or give up who you are. I’m the last person who would ever suggest that. But in hindsight, I realize your mother and I made a lot of bad decisions. We worked against each other instead of with each other. Maybe you and Kam just need to find a happy medium.”

“I don’t think that exists unless I go where he goes.”

“Would that be such a bad thing?”

“Possibly.” I chew my lip. “I don’t want to lose myself because of his career. I don’t want to feel like I’m always second.”

“I understand, sugar. Living a public life is trying, but if I know one thing, Kam would never put you second. Yes, he has obligations and responsibilities, but the love is there. That’s what’s important. And trust me, he needs you.”

“For what?” I scoff. “He has the world at his feet. He practically walks on water.”

My father smiles knowingly. “Kam may be surrounded by adoring fans and hounding media, but believe me, he really is alone.”

“Are you speaking from experience, Daddy?”

“Possibly.” He smirks. “You were always my rock, maybe it’s time to be Kam’s.”

I gaze into my father’s kind eyes. I honestly never thought of it like that. Kam walks around with an air of authority that feels untouchable. Sometimes you almost forget that he’s human.

Was I wrong to leave him the first time? My heart says yes, but my head says no. Now that I look back, maybe I was just a confused eighteen-year-old girl trying to adjust to college and jealous she had to share her boyfriend with the whole damn world.

“Looks like you’ve got some thinking to do.” My father smiles sympathetically.

“I sure do,” I pout.

I’
m sitting in the middle of Radio City Music Hall surrounded by my peers. As I look around, the excitement and stress is almost palpable. This is the biggest day of my life. My dream come true. Draft day.

There’s a rumble of voices as the crowd anxiously awaits the picks to begin. We’ve only been sitting a short while, but it feels like days have passed. This moment will define the rest of my life; it will shape my career and my future. I’ve never felt so nervous; my stomach is actually flip-flopping, my palms are sweaty, and I’m a little lightheaded. I was calmer during the Sugar Bowl when we were down by six and the entire game was riding on me. I catch sight of the commissioner walking purposefully across the stage plastered with the NFL logo and insignia. As he takes his place behind the podium, cameras flash and a wave of quiet blankets the room.

My whole body starts to prickle as he leans forward and speaks into the microphone. The moment leading up to the first round pick announcement is electrifying. It feels as if I am balancing on a razor sharp tip three hundred and fifty feet in the air.

“With the first pick in the two thousand fifteen NFL draft . . .” The commissioner pauses for effect and the room seems to tilt, or maybe that’s just me, “Seattle selects . . . Kamdyn Ellis, Quarterback, Alabama.”

The crowd erupts into a deafening roar as time stands still. Congratulations pour over me. My mom is crying, my dad is beaming, and Sam’s eyes are sparkling like chocolate diamonds. Everyone I love is here, except one very important person.

I walk onto the stage a split man. It is the happiest day of my life and the most disappointing. Every time I pictured this moment, Laney was always a part of it. Even when we were weren’t together she was still somehow here. I have regretted walking out on her every second. Regretted not fighting harder to keep her. Just like before. History has a way of repeating itself.

Looking back on it now, I should have just flung her over my shoulder when she started with that crap and not given her a choice in the matter. She should be here, with me, right now. She should be sharing the spotlight because she is the other half of my happiness. That’s my life—one part football and one part Laney. I have always known that, and I’m not going to stop until I put the two broken pieces back together again.

I smile as I pose for pictures holding up the green jersey. It doesn’t feel real, at least not yet. It has to sink in that I am now a professional football player.

My dream come true.

I meet Sam backstage as the commissioner continues to announce names.

“My man! My man!” Sam clasps both of my shoulders and squeezes hard. “I knew it! I knew you were gold the moment I laid eyes on you. That’s how you succeed—hard work, dedication, and
me.”
He smiles obnoxiously.

“Modest as always,” I jibe.

“Only one person gonna toot your own horn in this world, and that person is yourself.”

“You’ve done just fine tooting my horn for me,” I point out.

“That’s just because I know this business and how to make it to the top. That’s why they call me Sam the Magic Man. I make things happen.”

“You can do anything that needs to be done.” I repeat the mantra I’ve heard a thousand times.

“Smart and pretty.” He smacks my face playfully.

I smile connivingly. “I need some magic, Sam.”

“What kind of magic?” He creases his eyebrows.

“I need a Sam special. I need something to get done . . .”

Several weeks later . . .

I crack my knuckles nervously as I stand in front of the door.
Just knock already.

I inhale a deep breath and rap firmly on the wood. I wait a few impatient seconds then knock again.

“Hang on!” Someone yells before the door swings open. Standing on the other side is a guy who doesn’t look much older than me, wearing a bathrobe over his clothes and a five o’clock shadow. I eye him up and down.
Who the hell is this clown?

“Yeah? Can I help you with something?” His eyes are glassy and his speech is slow.

“I’m looking for Laney Summers.”

“Who?”

“Laney Summers,” I repeat. “She supposedly lives here.”
Her father gave me this address.

The guy pouts his lip and shakes his head. “Never heard of her. No one but me and Jarvis live here. Just moved in.”

I peer into the apartment and see a bunch of boxes on the floor, a couch you couldn’t pay me to sit on, and a fat orange cat.

“Sorry,” I tell him confused and disappointed. “I didn’t mean to bother you. I have the wrong address, apparently.”

“No problem, man.” He takes a good hard look at me. “Do you I know you from somewhere?”

“Doubt it.” I start to step away.

“Yeah, I do.” He snaps his fingers as his bloodshot eyes light up. “You’re . . . You’re Kamdyn Ellis. Quarterback for Alabama and first round draft pick!”

Shit.

I rub the back of my neck. “Yup, that would be me,” I admit reluctantly.

“Holy shit!” The guy nearly back flips out of his bathrobe. He’s awake now. “Hold on! Hold on!” He trips over his own feet as he runs back into his apartment. “Please, man, would you sign this?” He holds out a black Sharpie and a football.

“Sure.” I take the items and sign away. “What’s your name?”

“Nick.” He pipes up with a dopey smile. His expression makes me smile.

To Nick, nice bathrobe. Kamdyn Ellis

I hand him back the football, and he reads my note. He beams. “It’s my favorite. I’ve watched every single one of your games in it. Brings luck.”

“Good to know.” I laugh. “Huge fan of plaid.”
Not really.

“Sorry I can’t help you find who you are looking for. Might want to ask the landlord to see if she left a forwarding address.”