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She doesn’t come out of her casita.

I guess that feels about right.

I didn’t exactly give off the warm and friendly vibes, and her last statement told me what I needed to know.

She doesn’t know where we stand. Maybe if we avoid the topic, it’ll just…go away.

I toss and turn all night…by myself.

When I wake in the morning, the house is quiet. Harper is still asleep, and the routine has been for me to head to the gym next to the Complex early in the morning. We didn’t state otherwise, so I head out before either of the girls wake.

I spot Tristan’s truck in the parking lot when I pull in. He’s back in town getting into season shape, and his wife is working with Ellie’s PR company, so now that the season is nearly upon us, they surely have lots of work to do.

The gym is only open for players right now, and it’s early enough that only a handful of guys are here. I spot Tristan on the squat machine, so I head over to work out with him.

“Wazzzahhh, motha-fuckaahhh?” he asks when I approach him. Adrian, the head team trainer, is nearby keeping an eye on things, but he’s far enough away for this conversation to remain private.

I chuckle. “Not much. I think my wife’s ready to divorce me, but otherwise things are great.” I inject way too much brightness into my statement.

“Whoa,” Tristan says, straightening and setting the weights back into the rack. “What’s going on?”

I blow out a breath and sit on a weight bench. “She got her dream job at the school district, and they rescinded their offer because the fucking paparazzi keeps showing up at her school to get pictures of her.”

“Jesus,” he murmurs. “And she blames you?”

I lift a shoulder. “Well, yeah. And I think a small part of me resents her for her role in why I did what I did in the first place. I’m suspended three games because of my actions…but they’re actions I would never have taken if she wasn’t in the picture.”

He sighs as he sets his hands on his hips. “You can’t blame her for what you did, man.”

“I know. And I don’t. But I can’t help the resentment I feel because of it, and now it’s just driving a wedge between us. She’s growing closer to my daughter, which is great…but the divide between us is growing, and I don’t know what to do about it.”

“Start by fixing things. Can you get her the job back?” he asks.

I shrug. “How? She lost it because of me.”

“Is there anything else she can do? Or would want to do?” He seems to get an idea as he tilts his chin up and raises a hand in the air. “Oh! Call Ellie. She’ll know what to do. Tess took a job at her PR company, and she always needs more help. At the very least maybe she can get some part time work until she finds something permanent.”

I shrug. “I don’t know, man. She really wanted that district position. She’s passionate about reading and helping kids learn to read. I don’t know how working at a PR firm for football players will work with her background.”

“She could start a tutoring program for kids,” he suggests. “For players’ kids! Or for players themselves! The ones who need to learn the new playbook.”

I let out a small chuckle at that, though in truth it’s not a bad idea. There’s surely a market for something like that.

But then I think about her study methods and how her body is my map for the playbook…and I think maybe that’s not such a good idea after all. Only I get to use her body as a playbook map.

“Thanks for the ideas, man, but I’m not sure getting her a new job is going to magically fix everything it seems I’ve broken.” I let out a long, heavy sigh.

“Nah, the rest is up to you. Relationships are hard work. Only you can determine whether she’s worth the effort, but I’ve seen you with her. I’ve seen you with your kid. You’re a good dude, man, and you deserve the best. I hope you get it.”

“Thanks,” I mumble, never really all that great at taking compliments that aren’t given because of my football ability. We cut the chatter and get to some intense workouts, but he’s given me a lot to think about. And I think I’ll start figuring out how to manage this problem by calling Ellie.

It’s much later in the day before I get a chance to make the call. All the wide receivers made it to workouts this morning—an unofficial team workout, and then we hit up a classroom to work on the playbook again. It’s while I’m on my way home that I finally dial my publicist.

“I’m going to need to double your monthly fee with the amount of extra work you’re giving me lately. What’s wrong now?” she answers.

“Good afternoon to you, too,” I say jovially. I feel a little better after working out, and Tristan’s words stick in my mind. She is worth the effort, and I will do whatever I can to fix this in the short window of time I have between now and training camp. “I fucked up.”

She lets out a heavy sigh.

“Not publicly, or whatever, but my new wife and I are…having some troubles. She feels like I resent her for all the hot water I find myself in, and then she got this new position with her school district that was rescinded because of the paparazzi following her around. So now she’s out of a job and resenting me, and Tristan said you might need some help or have some ideas how I can fix this?” I lift my voice at the end of a sentence into a question.

She’s quiet a beat as she processes and presumably checks her calendar. “You leave in two weeks for camp. That’s not much time for fixing anything. I was going to suggest taking her on a nice vacation somewhere, but I assume you don’t have time for that. Jewelry always helps. Flowers.”

“Yeah, those are great and all, but I need like a huge grand gesture to make this up to her,” I say. “Do you need help at PCPR while she looks for something?”

She clears her throat. “Most districts around here have likely already filled positions for next year, in particular for special positions like hers. And yes, I could always use help at PCPR, but she would need to actually want the position in order for me to offer it to her.”

“Can I talk to her about it and tell her you have something for her?” I ask.

“That’s fine with me. I’ll be around if you want to have her get in touch. But I’ll warn you, it’ll start out as assistant-type work. I just got both Leah and Tessa fully trained, and they’re doing junior publicist work now, but that means I’m out an assistant and that’s where I’m needing help. Managing accounts, responding to media inquiries, scheduling appointments, that sort of thing.”

“I’ll let her know.”

“Listen, while I have you, I heard back from two companies on endorsements. One is a fantasy football app and they’d want you to mention them in interviews and on social media. The other is for sports equipment and they’ll send you all sorts of samples to share on socials. I’d recommend taking what you can get right now as I continue to work on turning your image around.”

“Send them both to Jimmy and I’ll sign off. Thanks, Ellie. You’re truly the best.”

“I’m well aware of that. Keep me in your positive thoughts on National Publicist Day! Toodles.” She ends the call, and I laugh at her.

Is there really a national publicist day? I ask my phone to search that while I drive, and sure enough, it’s celebrated on the thirtieth of October every year.

I guess I’ll have to keep that in mind.