Perfect Catch(55)

One more big bad reality they were going to have to deal with when she showed up tonight.

“Thank you, sir.”

“Don’t thank me, Ross. Just keep doing what you’re doing, and don’t fuck it all up. This Angel kid”—he pronounced it as angel instead of the proper Spanish an-hell—“he’s good, he’s got some zest in his swing, but he ain’t you. So get your ass back here A-sap, get my drift?”

As if he was being subtle and there was a secret message Alex was supposed to find difficult to decipher. The Skipper was about as subtle as a dick slap to the face.

“I understand.”

“Good. See you in a week.”

“Thank—” But there was no point in finishing the sentence. The line was already dead.

Too stunned to consider sleeping, Alex sat on his bed staring at the phone. He’d turned on the TV earlier to catch the end of that night’s Felons game, but now found himself too distracted to pay much attention to the post-game. It took a soft rapping at the door to draw him out of his thoughts and back into the real world.

Alice’s smiling face greeted him when he opened the door. “I tried calling, but the line was busy. Hope you got rid of the other girls already.”

“It’s okay, I hid them in the closet when I heard you knock.”

Alice didn’t need to be persuaded to come in. She ducked under his arm and into the suite, heading directly for the bed. Was she planning to distract him from the serious discussion by seducing him? He was exhausted but not opposed to the idea.

Where he was beat, Alice looked wired, her fingers twisting around each other with nervous energy while her knees bobbed up and down. He’d seen her come-hither face, and this wasn’t it.

So they’d be going directly into the talk, then.

He pulled up a chair and sat across from her, thinking she might want the bed to herself. “I guess we need to talk about some stuff,” he said, hoping it would ease her into the conversation.

“We do.”

“Some Matt Hernandez stuff.”

“Yes.”

“And then some other stuff.”

“Oh?”

Alex held up his phone as evidence of the other stuff. “We’ll get to that after.”

“Oh.”

“Now…tell me about Matt.”

Alice gnawed on her lip, unfurling her fisted fingers and setting her hands in her lap. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about Matt sooner. The thing is, that’s not really…well, it’s not public knowledge. He’s never openly admitted to having a daughter.”

“But Olivia knows him, so they’ve met? I mean, he came to see her in the hospital, right?” Alex couldn’t imagine the kind of man who would ignore his own child in her hour of need. If Matt had skipped out on Liv after the accident, there would be no redeeming him in Alex’s mind.

“Yeah, he came. He does stuff for her once in a while, but it’s so few and far between we can never count on it. He was supposed to come see her during training but didn’t bother. She still thinks he hangs the moon because she’s too young to know better. Whenever he disappoints her, it breaks her heart, but the second he shows up it’s like he’s a superhero or something. Her dad the ballplayer.” Alice gave a halfhearted shrug, her shoulders barely lifting. “But he helps us out a bit. Financially I mean. He knows she’s his.”

“You’d have to be blind not to know she’s his.”

“Right?” Alice smiled weakly, like her daughter’s physical appearance wasn’t a constant reminder of Matt. How could it not be, though? “And when he does come around, he’s great with her. But the problem is he thinks money and toys are all she needs. She needs a father, and I can’t get through to him that once-a-year visits aren’t enough. He won’t acknowledge her to the media. Can you imagine the scandal?”

“And you’ve never thought about outing him?”

“What, running down to Star or Us Weekly with the paternity test and being like, Hey, look what a scummy dink Matt Hernandez is?”

“Yeah.”

“I can’t do that.”

“Did you sign some sort of a nondisclosure agreement?”

“I did, but that’s not why. I’m not going to subject Liv to some kind of circus. She has a normal life right now. Lots of little girls don’t get to see their daddies, right? At least she’s met hers.” Alice let out a quivery sigh. “He does right by her when he really needs to. When it comes to the money end of things, she’s taken care of. Sure, I need to hound his lawyers to make sure we have enough for school and the mortgage and all that good stuff. I talk to them more than I talk to him in any given year. I’m pretty sure he doesn’t even know her birthday.”