Page 74 of Family Bonds- Emma & Warren

“I know,” she said. “I’m not either. I’m not as big as her, but people do know who I am. It’s different for you and I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be,” he said. “I shouldn’t have said what I had and I can see you’re hurt.”

Is that what she was feeling?

She hadn’t realized a man could hurt her.

Which was a stupid thought, but she’d never let herself open up to anyone as she had with Warren.

“I’m just confused. Everything with you makes me confused.”

“Join the crowd,” he said. “I plan on retiring when my contract is up. I promised my mother. She hates that I’m still playing after my concussions last year.”

Emma had read about his injuries last season. For most of his career, he’d been free of anything major.

He had missed no games until last season when he was pulled out on the concussion protocol.

She wondered if he would have played through them in the past before that policy was enacted.

It was best not to think about that or how many more he’d had in his life.

“Does she have a reason to be worried?” she asked.

“It’s always worrisome with a head injury,” he said. “It’s not a good feeling having your bell rung, let me tell you.”

“Why do you still do it then? Is it the love of the game or something else? Are you one of these people that needs the thrill?”

“I do it to provide for my family,” he said. “It’s my job.”

“Warren,” she said sarcastically. “You’ve got more than enough money and you know it. I don’t know your net worth other than if I look it up online. I can see what your contracts are worth, but you’ve got a lot of sponsorship money.”

She knew his three-year contract was a hundred million dollars. That was more than her personal net worth. Alotmore. But she had trust funds she wasn’t counting, and everything else she’d inherit at some point.

“I have invested my contract money,” he said. “It’s always been that way. I used it to buy my mother’s house. I gotsponsorship money early in my career and it’s only increased. That is what I use to live on.”

Which she knew was millions more.

Plenty enough that he didn’t have to keep playing.

“I’m not sure I understand,” she said. “You had a lot of money before this contract.”

“And I was injury-free mostly,” he said. “I wanted to keep playing and figure out what to do with my life. If it was a two-year contract, I would have been fine too, but three was better. I’m here for two more unless something happens and I can’t finish out my contract.”

“Something like you get hurt?” she asked. “I’d rather not think of that.”

“Me neither, but my injury clause pays me a guaranteed amount if I can’t finish. Sixty percent of my annual contract amount for each year that I can’t play. As you said, it’s more than enough and I won’t push my luck. I’ll be thirty-six and it’s longer than most quarterbacks get to play.”

“I’m glad I’ve got a career where I don’t have to worry about that,” she said. “But I also know that things are dynamic. I could lose my publisher if I don’t sell enough books. Maybe they don’t like what I’m writing anymore. Or they don’t have the space for as many authors. There are many things and it’s why I make sure I’ve got another source on my own that I work hard at. I’ve got one full-time PA.”

“PA?” he asked.

“Personal assistant. She works remotely. She sorts through my emails for me, does some posts on social media, creates those posts for me, and runs my ads. There are lots of things she does I don’t have time for, but I see the important things before they go out.”

It’d be nice if it was someone close by that she could have doing her shipments too, but it was hard to find someone withthe knowledge of the industry and the understanding of things on social media and how it relates.

“I’m glad you’ve got help,” he said. “I’ll admit I didn’t realize everything there was to being an author.”

“It’s a lot,” she said. “My mother doesn’t write as many books as I do a year. She doesn’t need to with the size of her contracts and publicity, but she’d built that for decades. Right now she’s doing two a year. Maybe in thirty years, I’ll be that way, but I doubt it. I’ve always written more than her, but the world of publishing is much different now.”