When we finally broke for lunch, I raced to the locker room, not bothering to talk to anyone on the way. As soon as I could, I grabbed my phone. Sure enough, I had three missed texts.
Lindsay: See? Time is all she needed. And yes, I think it’s a great time to say I told you so.
Mom: Is this the girl you were talking about the other day? She’s very pretty. Have a great day, honey. Love you!
Adam: Dude, calm down. I’m on damage control. So far, they don’t know who she is. Call me so I can fill you in.
I walked out of the locker room and into the hall, dialing Adam as I went. I didn’t even bother to strip off my pads first. And forget lunch. This needed to be taken care of and it needed to be taken care of now. Thankfully he answered on the first ring.
“Relax. It was just a couple pictures and they aren’t all that good anyway,” he said, getting right to the point.
“How the fuck did this happen?” I asked. “She’s so skittish with publicity. This isn’t good, Adam.”
“It appears our good friend Ms. Gill was there last night.” I groaned. Of course she was. Most of the reporting she did was about the local entertainment scene. “She spotted you and . . . well, you know the rest.”
“That’s just fabulous. So what are you saying publicly?”
“The usual stuff,” he said, sounding like he was chewing. I may be too wired to eat right now, but Adam never skipped a meal. “Just that you enjoyed the concert with a friend last night and that there is nothing more to report.”
“Are they buying that?” I asked, pacing up and down the hall.
“I guess so,” he said nonchalantly. “I mean, there’s really nothing to report right now, right? Because if you’re officially off the market, I need to be prepared for a huge onslaught of calls.”
I sighed. “No, there’s nothing really to report right now. It was a date. I like her, but it was just a date.”
“So stop worrying then. It’ll blow over in a couple days. It always does.”
“Yeah,” I said, leaning against the wall. “Thanks Adam.”
“No problem,” he said, chewing again. “I’ll let you know if it looks like we’re in for more.”
“Ok. Enjoy your lunch.”
“Later.”
I knew I needed to make another phone call, but I was wasn’t sure she would even answer. I took a deep breath and dialed.
“Hello?” she said softly.
“Hey. You ok?”
“Yeah. Why?” She sounded surprised by my question.
“I just got off the phone with Adam,” I said. “I’m so sorry someone took pictures of us last night.”
“Oh. That,” she said. “I know you didn’t do it on purpose. I just don’t see what’s so interesting about watching someone watch a concert.”
“Yeah, I gave up trying to figure out the fascination a while ago.” I paused, tapping my fist against the wall. “So, has anyone tried contacting you yet? I mean, Adam said that the media doesn’t seem to know who you are. I just want to make sure you aren’t getting any harassing phone calls or anything.”
“No one I didn’t already know. I mean, a few friends have sent me texts. Samantha asked some pretty inappropriate questions, of course.” I chuckled. “And I’ve had more people come talk to me at work than normal. But it hasn’t been too bad.”
“Is this, um . . . ,” I stammered. “This isn’t gonna change your mind about going out with me again, is it?”
“I thought a lot about it this morning. But I don’t think so.” I exhaled the breath I’d been holding in. “I mean, I don’t really like the idea of my life being on public display or anything. But I guess there could be worse things. And we don’t have to answer any personal questions or anything, right?
I smiled. “You never ever have to answer anything you don’t want to answer.”
“Besides,” she said, “people will get bored when they don’t catch anything exciting happening.”
“Can I at least give you Adam’s number?” I asked. “If you do start getting calls from the media or anything, he can help you out. Talk you through what to do.”
“That’s really sweet of you. Thank you,” she said.
I gave her Adam’s number and we spoke for a few more minutes. She reassured me again that this glitch didn’t change the way she felt. When we hung up, I felt a whole lot better. I headed back into the locker room for a quick shower. My appetite was finally coming back.
“She ok?” Deuce asked as I walked up to the lockers. He had already dressed after his shower.