Safety Net (42 page)

“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Dale
interrupted. “Let me get this straight. You’re going to have your mother, your
father, your girlfriend, your boyfriend, and his wife all staying with you at
the same time?”

Erick stood in front of the sliding
glass door to the deck and stared outside. “Oh. When you put it that way...”

Dale’s sigh had a bit of a laugh in
it. “You certainly run straight for the D, don’t you? Now I really want videos.”

“Dale,” Erick groaned. “Not funny.”

“I laugh so I don’t cry, Texas. How
did
you get into Crocker University, anyway?”

Erick pressed his forehead to the
glass door. “I got a football scholarship, remember?” he muttered, and Dale --
who’d clearly woken up on the schadenfreude side of the bed today -- laughed.

-----

Marie Ginanni-Menacker was not quite
what Erick had expected. She was short, athletic, very pretty, but there was
something severe about her that he couldn’t quite put his finger on. But she
was lively and loved to talk. Absolutely loved to talk. Lowell smiled
indulgently at her and went off to talk to Candace in the kitchen, leaving
Erick stuck in the living room with Marie, Mama, and Daddy, who was not above
playing the “I’m an old man” card and reading the newspaper.

For all Marie’s talking, however,
Erick was learning very little about Lowell’s married life. He found out how
they met -- a funny incident of getting stuck in an elevator together. He found
out about her job -- nutritionist and personal trainer whose primary clientele
was wives and girlfriends of athletes, including several of Lowell’s teammates.
Their wedding -- a spur-of-the-moment trip to Vegas and one of the more
traditional chapels followed by a week in a luxury honeymoon suite at the Paris
Hotel. Marie talked and talked, but Erick could never picture Lowell being one
of the people she was talking about.

He put his parents in the
downstairs guest suite just off the sun room. Lowell and Marie got the upstairs
guest suite overlooking the front yard. The master suite was down the hall,
overlooking the deck.

The first night of the visit, Erick
snuggled with Candace in bed and asked, “What do you think of her?”

“I was just about to ask you the
same thing,” Candace said, gently caressing his chest.

“She’s not at all what I expected.”

Candace kissed his cheek. “Maybe
she’ll grow on us,” she murmured. “One thing I like about her already.”

“Oh?” He brushed his lips over
Candace’s hair, loving the frizz of it.

“Your mama’s busy giving her the
stink eye and ignoring me. God bless you, Marie.”

Candace chuckled low, but Erick
couldn’t laugh about Mama’s standoff with Candace. Mama treated Candace the way
she’d treated Amber and Lowell and half of his friends growing up. Candace wasn’t
cowed, but Erick hated the tension between them.

He hadn’t noticed Mama’s reaction;
he’d been too busy inspecting Marie for himself. “Hmm,” he said. “I wonder why.”

“A fresh victim,” Candace whispered
dramatically, grinning. She kissed him and curled around him, the silk of her
nightie sliding over his skin. He held her and kissed her deeply, and she took
his hand and guided it between her thighs.

“Baby, you want to play?” she said,
cupping his cheek. “Or has this house full of people got your head swimming?”

Erick swallowed hard and stroked
her wetness with his fingers. “I want to play.”

“Oh, good,” she grinned. “I was
hoping you would.”

-----

The second day of the visit they
went out on the yacht with Daddy’s friends. Daddy and Mama stayed in the back,
talking with their friends, leaving Candace and Erick and Lowell and Marie to
enjoy the deck. Marie was of the opinion it was not technically a yacht, she
believed yachts had to be of a certain size and this was surely too small, but
she said it as if merely imparting information and not trying to slight Daddy’s
friends. Erick still thought it was kind of bitchy, but he privately admitted
he was not the world’s most unbiased observer of Marie.

He wanted to be. He genuinely
wanted to like her. But it wasn’t going to be easy. Aside from her personality,
which kept rubbing him the wrong way, there was the way she was with Lowell.
When he watched them together they didn’t seem like a couple. They seemed like
Lowell, muted, in the background of Marie. The noncouple vibe was so strong
that the times they did touch or kiss Erick was startled into remembering,
oh
yeah, this is Lowell’s wife
.

The day on the boat was a nice day
out but a very long and exhausting one. It was dark by the time they got back
to the house and everyone immediately went to bed. Erick was too tired to fuck
so he brought Candace off through oral and held her while she slept, wondering
if Lowell and Marie were having sex at that moment. He couldn’t picture Lowell
and Marie having sex at all and decided it was probably a good thing that he
couldn’t.

The following day Erick had a
business meeting in the morning so he got an early start, going for a run
around the neighborhood before heading to the training facilities for a good
workout before the meeting. Surprisingly, Marie joined him on the run, and they
jogged side-by-side. Erick asked her why Lowell hadn’t come for a run and Marie
said Lowell was too tired and wanted to sleep in. Which made Erick suspect they
had been having sex the previous night, and he spent the rest of the run trying
to picture it and failing.

When he got back to the house after
his meeting, it was around lunchtime, and he walked in on Marie preparing
Lowell’s lunch. Whatever the process was, it involved a blender, a plethora of
unusual vegetables and fruits, a small bag of pine nuts, and a container of
tofu. Candace had retreated to sit with Daddy in the far corner of the TV area;
they were both reading magazines. Lowell was watching baseball on TV, patiently
waiting for whatever it was. Mama was sitting at the kitchen island, observing
the preparations with morbid interest.

As Erick walked in, Mama was
saying, “I can’t imagine that would fill my Erick up. Well,” she said, turning
to Erick. “What do you think of this?” Clearly expecting an answer.

Erick said neutrally, “It certainly
looks healthy.” Out of the corner of his eye he caught Lowell glancing back at
him with a slight smirk.

“It’s my own design,” Marie
explained enthusiastically. “For maintaining Lowell’s optimal weight and muscle
mass. I researched the current vitals of all the top NFL tight ends and
adjusted for height differences. Once I showed his trainers my research, they
agreed with my recommendations. I’m hoping they can use my product throughout
the organization. Or even the league.”

To Erick, it looked no different
than any of the other thousands of health-gunk mixes team nutritionists handed
out. He asked Lowell, “Does it taste good?”

Lowell twisted around to fold his
arms over the sofa back and look up at him. Lowell’s gaze met his and Erick had
to will himself to stay frozen and not leap onto him in front of everyone.

“With a little sugar,” Lowell said,
his lips twitching.

“I admit, it doesn’t look too
appealing,” Marie said, “but it tastes better than it looks. I think so, anyway.”

“Oh, you eat it, too?” Mama asked. “How
romantic,” she added under her breath, and Erick almost did a double take.
Sarcasm was not Mama’s usual style.

Marie, oblivious, was happily
pouring portions of the gunk into two bowls. “I have a smaller serving, of
course. It won’t harm my own muscle development and body mass. Instead of the
eggs Lowell gets in the morning, I have yoghurt, and for dinner I have white
meat chicken while Lowell has steak or pork. The key is to control all the
ingredients so when you substitute one, you know exactly how to compensate. I
use the same system for all my clients. Of course, they always cheat and won’t
tell me, as if I’m going to punish them for sneaking one candy bar. With
Lowell, it’s easier to keep an eye on things.” She gave Lowell an affectionate
smile. “He tells me when he cheats.”

Erick’s gaze slid to Lowell. “He
would, wouldn’t he?”

While Marie was busy cleaning up
the counter, Lowell wrinkled his nose at Erick, and Erick stuck his tongue out
in reply.

Marie set places for herself and
Lowell at the kitchen island. Mama stood back while Lowell took a seat and said
to Erick, “Well, after watching all of that, I’m certainly hungry, what about
you? Candace? Daddy?”

Candace peered over her magazine,
not convincing anyone that she hadn’t been listening the entire time. Daddy
said from behind his magazine, “Starved.”

Mama took Erick’s arm, turning him
from the kitchen. “You know what I want? A hamburger. A big, fat hamburger with
all the extras. And fries. Hot and salty, just out of the fryer.”

Which Erick thought was cruel,
twisting the knife that way. Lowell flicked a sharp stare at the back of Mama’s
head but he was smiling. Erick said, “Mama, you read my mind. I know just the
place around here.”

Erick filled the empty afternoon
working out in the little weight room he’d set up in the garage. Lowell joined
him, and Erick wasn’t sure he could control himself if he watched Lowell, so he
stayed focused on his own drills until Marie came in to use the running
machine. Erick left them alone and after showering he and Candace found a movie
on TV to watch, and Daddy hung out with them.

Mama made pot roast for dinner, and
Erick was relieved that whatever Marie’s strict diet for Lowell was, she waived
it for that night. He’d dreaded Mama’s reaction to having her pot roast
rejected.

Lowell was a little more himself
over dinner, talking a bit about the team and, with some prompts from Daddy,
about the games he’d played in. He told them about Kellen Forrester -- most of
it stuff Erick already knew from studying Forrester last year with Lowell in
Indiana. He thought about Indiana, about being alone with Lowell, and stayed
quiet.

“George Pell has the cutest dog
ever. Lucy. She’s completely adorable,” Lowell said, and he was completely
adorable talking about her.

“What kind is it?” Candace asked.

“A pit bull. But she’s totally
sweet. George’s sister raised her from a puppy and gave her to George when he
moved to Portland. I want to get a dog,” he said. “Maybe not a pit bull. Though
if it’s like Lucy, totally, yeah.”

He glanced at Marie, who said, “Well,
we’re not getting a dog.” Erick had the impression this was an argument they’d
had before, more than once. Marie, perhaps aware of how her imperial decree
came across, explained, “The place we’re renting doesn’t allow pets.”

“We won’t be there much longer,” Lowell
pointed out. “And then we can get a dog.”

Marie looked at him. “We’ve talked
about this. When the season starts, you’ll be gone all the time. Who’ll look
after it? If my work schedule was more traditional, maybe it wouldn’t be so
bad, but some nights I’m working until eight or nine o’clock. Think of the poor
dog, honey. It’ll be lonely.”

Lowell backed down a little, but
grumbled, “George manages it with Lucy.”

“George pays for a dog sitter
during the season.” Marie turned her attention back to her plate, picking at
Mama’s pot roast. “He’s not saving for his future. A house. Children.”

Erick stared wildly at Lowell.
Candace raised her eyebrows and said, “Oh, are you expecting?”

Marie smiled pleasantly and said, “Oh,
no. Not yet. The optimal time would be next year, in the middle of Lowell’s
contract. Then we’d have time to get settled and if his contract is renewed, we’d
have more flexibility to negotiate with the extra responsibilities. But if it’s
not renewed, it wouldn’t be as hard to relocate as it would be with a small
baby. Though if we’re not ready yet, having a child when his contract ends
would also be a good time. We could have the first child at the midcontract
point and the second child when his contract ends. We haven’t decided yet.”

There was a moment of silence.
Erick was still staring at Lowell, who frowned slightly and avoided his gaze.

“My,” Mama said mildly. “We had
Trisha because Oklahoma State won the Gator Bowl. And Erick because that summer
we were stuck in Galveston during a hurricane while the girls were with their
Meemaw.”

Erick looked suspiciously at Mama,
wondering how much of that, if any, was true. Candace grinned at Mama, who was
focused on finishing her green beans and onions. Daddy pretended not to hear.
Lowell looked uneasily at Marie.

The moment passed, Mama content
with having the last word. Later, while the men were clearing the table, Marie
said to Candace, “But of course, it’s so different nowadays, especially with
professionals
.
We have to be so careful to time everything just right, don’t we? You don’t
want to do anything that might negatively impact their trade value and purchase
appeal. There’s so much more to think of when you’re an
NFL
wife.”

Erick missed Mama’s reaction,
missed what Candace said, though it must’ve been diplomatic because Marie
smiled at her. All he saw was Lowell, who glared at the back of Marie’s head
with such raw anger it shook Erick to his core.

He and Candace had a quiet night
and Candace didn’t seem to mind. She curled up next to him, soothing him with
her warmth and softness, and he fell asleep. In the early morning, he let
Candace sleep in, went downstairs for a run and heard Mama and Lowell in the
kitchen. He stopped in the foyer and eavesdropped.

“Pass protection,” Mama snorted. “I’d
like to know if those New Haven boys have ever heard of it.”

“But even when he got the ball
off... Like that one in the first quarter of the Philadelphia game. I’d still
like to know how that was not pass interference,” Lowell muttered.