Change of Hart(79)

On our way to the movie theater, I realized Addison had responded to my text.

Addison: I’m kind of disappointed you won’t be home tonight, not that we would have seen you until tomorrow anyway. Hope everything is ok.

I tried calling her again but still didn’t have any luck.

Me: Yeah, it’s fine. Just some publicity stuff I forgot about.

“Everything ok?” Sara asked as she reapplied her lipstick.

“Yeah, I just forgot I was staying here tonight,” I said, locking my phone and shoving it in my pocket. “Addison and I are playing phone tag about it now. No biggie.”

She closed her lipstick and put it in her small purse, while chastising me. “It’s a good thing you have Adam to keep you straight. You would never remember anything without him. I hope you gave him Addison’s birthday so he can remind you to get a present.

My eyes widened. “Oh, shit. I don’t know when her birthday is!”

Sara just laughed as we pulled up to the curb. We could see the flashes of all the cameras through the dark tint of the car. “Told ya. You may want to get on that when you get back, stud,” she said condescendingly as the driver opened the door. “Get that look off your face. It’s show time.”

As soon as she exited the car, questions started being shouted her direction, which she handled like a champ. She was a pro after all.

For the next several hours, I played the role of perfect escort. I guided her to all the staging areas of the red carpet for all her pictures. I smiled for the cameras. I even held her purse when she took individual shots for all the fashion critics to judge tomorrow. When one of the reporters started asking me questions, I politely declined to answer, reminding him that this was Sara’s night, not mine.

Yes, she and I had done this more than once, which is why I was her go-to man whenever she needed a date for something like this.

After the movie was over, we hobnobbed for a while. Sara had to make conversation with her director and producer, as well as all her co-stars. They always say, “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know,” and that couldn’t be truer in Sara’s chosen field. So I let her talk to anyone and everyone she wanted to without complaint, even though I was exhausted. Game days were tiring, anyway. Not just from the physical exertion, but from the adrenaline as well. You can run high on that stuff for several hours. But once the game is over, your body crashes and crashes hard.

She must have recognized that I didn’t have as much energy as normal because she tore herself away from someone important, an executive or businessman or something—I don’t know, they all kind of look alike to me—and she made her way to my side.

“You look bored,” she whispered in my ear as she threaded her arm through mine.

I smiled down at her. “Nah, just really wiped after the game. But I’m good. How many more people do you need to talk to?”

She looked around the room. “Um . . . I think I hit up everyone I needed. Shall we go? We’ve got a private party to get started at my place.” She waggled her eyebrows at me.

I chuckled. “You’re a mess. Let’s go.”

We said our goodbyes and made our way over to the waiting car. Once we got settled in, I pulled out my phone again. This time, there was no response from Addison. So I tried calling her again.

“Still no answer?” Sara asked after the phone rang twice on Addison’s end and went to voicemail. “Is everything ok?”

“Yeah,” I said, feeling a little deflated. “She and Jax are at her father-in-law’s anniversary party. I guess they’re just partying a little harder than I realized. I’m sure it’s fine.”

“You really like her kid, don’t you?” she asked with a look of understanding on her face.

A small smile played on my lips as I thought about the message Jaxon had left me earlier. “Yeah. He’s a great kid. No matter what’s going on he always brightens my day. I really just love him as much as I love Addison. In a totally non-creepy way, of course.”

“You love him like a dad,” she said.

“I . . . I wouldn’t . . . I mean,” I stumbled over my words.

“I don’t mean you’re trying to be his dad, Jason. Don’t get flustered. I just mean, you love him like a dad would love his child. That kind of love. Not the creepy kind.”

“Oh,” I said, relaxing a little. “Yeah. I guess that’s about right.”

“It’s normal. I mean, you’re gonna be his stepdad so it stands to reason you would love him like that.”

My head whipped in her direction to look at her. “Whoa there, Sara. It’s a little too early to be talking about me becoming his stepdad. I mean, I’ve only been dating his mom a couple months. It’s too early to pop the question.”