Page 71 of State of Grace (First Family 2)

“People make time for the things that’re important to them.”

“Yeah, I guess.”

“Don’t be disillusioned, young Freddie. Not all marriages end up this way.”

“We run into an awful lot of them that are so far off the rails, you wonder how they ever got together in the first place.”

“Doesn’t mean that’s going to happen to you.”

“I know, but it makes me wonder when does it happen? At what point do you go from wanting to spend forever with someone to being so over them that you’d find someone else to sleep with?”

“If you’re looking for an actual answer, I’d have to say it happens gradually in most cases. In others, you realize almost right away that you made a huge mistake getting married in the first place. That’s how it was for me with Peter. I knew I’d fucked up by marrying him almost from the start.”

“Why did you marry him? I’ve always wanted to ask you that.”

“You only knew him as the weirdo psychopath. You never knew the sweet, charming, romantic side of him. He really poured on the charm, and I was vulnerable after what happened with Nick—or what I thought had happened with Nick.” It would burn her ass forever that Peter had withheld messages from Nick that she’d desperately wanted, because Peter had wanted her for himself. “He saw an opening, and he stepped right into it to give me what I needed.” She glanced over at Freddie. “I know it may surprise you to hear that I wasn’t always the ruthless woman I am today.”

He snorted as he tried to contain laughter that spilled out nonetheless.

Sam held back her own need to laugh at the absurdity of her ever being married to Peter Gibson while Nick Cappuano existed in this world. “I made a big mistake marrying Peter for many reasons, but primarily because I was still in love with the man I’d shared one night with. That was on me. But I never would’ve cheated on Peter while we were married. Toward the end, I might’ve considered homicide, but not infidelity.”

“Wouldn’t have blamed you there. When he hassled you about spending time with your dad after he was shot… None of us could believe that.”

“That was the end of the road for us. How could you know me for years and not know what my dad meant to me? To all of us? Between Peter at home, Stahl at work and my dad adjusting to being a quad while his shooter ran free, it’s a wonder I didn’t kill someone during that time.”

“No one would’ve blamed you.”

“Ah, but the paperwork wouldn’t be worth it.”

“True.” He pointed to a row of four-story, luxury townhomes. “This is it.” He took a closer look. “His business didn’t look profitable enough to support something like this.”

“Maybe football coaching is lucrative. What is AAU football, anyway?”

“It’s for the really, really good kids, the ones with a chance at playing D-1 in college.”

“I didn’t want to ask in front of everyone back at the house, but what’s D-1 mean?”

He gave her the side-eye. “Division 1. Top-level college.”

“Ah, okay. So his kids and Pam’s are very good football players.”

“If they’re playing AAU, then yes.”

“What does AAU stand for?”

“I’m not sure. Let me go to the Google.” He tapped around on his phone. “Amateur Athletic Union. It’s a pretty big deal in the amateur-sports world. The site says more than seven hundred thousand athletes participate in more than thirty AAU sports around the country. According to the site, it was ‘co-founded in 1888 byWilliam Buckingham Curtisto establish standards and uniformity in amateur sports.’ I remember it being a fairly elite thing when I was in school. You have to try out, and only the top kids in each sport end up at that level.”

“I’m glad Scotty isn’t into football. I’d be afraid of him getting hurt.”

“But you let him play ice hockey?”

“That doesn’t seem as bad as football.”

“I hate to break it to you, Sam, but hockey is one of the most dangerous sports out there.”

“Don’t tell me that!”

“I shouldn’t have to tell you that,” he said as they got out of the car. “You’ve been to games. You know how rough it is.”