He listened for a moment, then said, “Put him on the phone. Now!”
Chad rubbed his forehead as he waited. “Hey, buddy. Are you okay?” He listened for a minute before he closed his eyes, and then his shoulders slumped in relief. “That’s great. Have fun, and I’ll see you soon, okay? I love you.”
He hung up and started to throw his phone in anger before he checked himself. “Linda asked Heather to call her the next time she took Ryan away from the house. Linda plans to keep Ryan until I pay her back child support. She took him to get ice cream for dinner.” He laid his phone down and then used the heels of his hands to rub his eyes.
“So she’s not interested in keeping him long-term? Just until she gets money out of you?”
He nodded. “I can’t give her money until she signs a custody agreement, or she’ll just continue to pull stunts like this. I’ll give her visitation rights, but I want Ryan full-time. My lawyer is working on a draft now. But I have to be in San Diego tomorrow. I might just have to let Linda have him for the short term and let our lawyers figure this out.”
Jo’s heart lurched at the thought of losing Ryan. “Surely you can call your coaches and explain that your son needs you. You have to get him back.”
He crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair. “I’ll lose my starting spot if I don’t go.”
“I just hope you can live with yourself later if you do this—put your team ahead of Bryce’s well-being, Chad.”
He blinked at her in confusion. “You meant Ryan.”
She was so upset that she gotten them mixed up. “Yes. Ryan too. You made the same mistake with Bryce, though, if you’ll recall.”
His head jerked back as if she’d slapped him. “This is entirely different. Ryan is safe and eating ice cream with his mother. With Bryce, I’d planned to go back home, clear my schedule, and then come back to Denver to spend a few days with him. Don’t you think that if I could go back in time and change what I did after Bryce was born, I would?” He closed his eyes and rubbed the bridge of his nose. “I’ll never forgive myself for that choice. Why should I expect you to?”
She’d hurt him. That was the last thing she wanted to do, even though she was still mad and hurt that he and Shelby had lied to her about the money. “You’ve done your penance for Bryce in your own way, and it isn’t for me to judge you.”
He opened his eyes and forced a smile. “Thank you. Now won’t you please consider opening up a café in San Diego? So we can be together? After I finish out my career, we’ll do whatever you want to do. Live wherever you want.”
God, he still didn’t get it. “So you’re not even sorry for what you and Shelby did? And don’t you see how wrong it was to come back here and essentially blackmail me if you had to so you could get back into the game?”
“Technically, I didn’t do anything wrong. And it never came to me having to blackmail you. Don’t you see how badly I wanted to have a reason to spend time with you? All I did was simply loan you money and rent you space, to help you become a success. But I am sorry I lied to you.”
As she slowly stood to leave, her gaze landed on his most prized possession. She walked to the bookcase and picked up his Heisman Trophy. It weighed a ton. “You know how you’re so proud of this? How hard you worked to earn it? The café is my version of this prize. You’ve devalued it for me. By how much, I’ll never know. When you figure out why you owe me an apology, you know where to find me. And this. Come get it when you’re ready to put the people who love you first before your job. Good-bye, Chad.” She’d return it later, but she wanted to prove her point.
Chad hopped up from his chair. “Dammit, Jo. Put that back!”
She ignored him and walked out the study door and toward the elevator. Her heart ached. She loved Chad, and apparently always would, but this time, she didn’t want to be part of the collateral damage.
Chad sat in the study, absorbing Jo’s words long after she’d left with his Heisman. He’d have gone after anyone else, but Jo would keep it safe for him. Oddly, the only time he’d given a second thought to that trophy in years was when he’d shown it to Ryan a few weeks ago. It’d made his chest warm with pride when Ryan’s eyes got big at the sheer size and weight of the award, even if he didn’t really understand what a big deal winning one was.
Jo and his parents had been there the night he’d won that, and that had meant the world to him. Made the award that much sweeter to see the pride in his parents’ and Jo’s eyes.