Chapter 18—Hash Marks

The Sockeyes last game of the road trip was an afternoon game in Vancouver. The team plane landed about nine-thirty. Matt turned on his phone to check messages, hoping his temporary nanny was surviving with the boys. She’d come highly recommended by one of his teammates who had used her multiple times. The boys called her a drill sergeant, which from Matt’s way of thinking wasn’t such a bad thing.

There were several texts, one from his mother with a pic from her cruise and a few from the drill sergeant reporting everything was fine, and she’d put the boys to bed.

“Heading home?” Coop asked as he stood behind Matt waiting to get off the plane.

“Yeah, it’s been a long road trip.”

Coop nodded and lowered his voice, his eyes darting left and right. “Izzy’s crashing a party at the Edgewater in downtown Seattle.”

“She is?”

“You can thank me later. A nice bottle of twenty-five-year-old Scotch should do the trick.” He winked, tipped an imaginary hat, and turned to talk to Smooth standing behind him.

Matt recognized the tip for the gift it was. He called the nanny, reporting he’d be a little late. The boys were in bed. He could wake them up when he arrived home. First, he had to talk some sense into a woman—a very special, one-of-a-kind woman.

Matt drove like a man possessed, skidding around corners on wet Seattle streets. Arriving at Seattle’s historical waterfront hotel, he threw his keys at the valet, bribed the concierge to tell him where the party was, and took the elevator to the fourth-floor Olympic Ballroom with its stunning views of Puget Sound and the Seattle waterfront. There was only one view Matt was interested in, and it had nothing to do with water or mountains.

Stepping out of the elevator, he followed the music through the open double doors and paused. The majority of the guests were the over-fifty crowd, way over. He spotted Vi immediately. She wore a silver sequined dress which showed off her gorgeous body. Her hair was still a shiny chocolate with auburn highlights. Vi and a good-looking guy in a tux were leading the group in the electric slide. Matt grinned and joined the crowd on the dance floor, maneuvering closer and closer to Vi until he was at her elbow. As soon as the song ended, he put a hand on her arm.

She turned with a huge smile on her face until she realized it was him.

“Matt, what are you doing here?” Her eyes opened wide with surprise, followed by a frown, which didn’t discourage him. He was on a mission. She owed him an explanation, and a good one.

“We are talking.”

“I have to work.” She resisted the pressure he put on her arm.

Izzy hurried toward them. “Matt, so good to see you.” Her conspiratorial smile promised she’d help him out whatever way possible. “Vi, take a break. We can handle this group.”

“Thank you,” Matt answered for Vi, ignoring the daggers she shot his way.

Izzy pointed to glass doors across the room. “Try the terrace. It’s a beautiful night even if a little chilly, but I bet you can keep Vi warm.” She winked at him and sashayed off.

Vi was wringing her hands, no anger now, just guilt and shame.

He led her to the terrace and found a dark corner with a love seat hiding among the plants. Vi sat down, and he sat next to her. Their thighs touched, and she shivered. Matt put an arm around her shoulders, pulling her closer.

She stiffened, and tension radiated off her in waves. A mannequin would’ve been more pliant. He wanted to murmur words of comfort, but he didn’t. She owed him an explanation. The boys and him were the wronged parties here, not her.

So he waited.

Time ticked by, torturous minute by torturous minute.

A dense silence settled over them like a stifling fog on a humid day.

When Vi finally cleared her throat to speak, he almost jumped at the intrusion to the oppressive silence. “Did you talk to your ex?”

Of all the questions he expected, asking about his ex was not one of them. He blinked in confusion. “My ex?”

“Yeah. Is everything okay with the boys?”

He nodded slowly. “Vi, let’s start from the beginning. What happened and why did you cut me—us—off like you did? Things were great, or so I thought.”

She sighed. Her shoulders slumped in resignation and defeat. He hated to see her like that, but he held strong. No pain. No gain.

“You and I are hopeless. Too many strikes against us.”

“If this is about the stripping, we can deal with that. Did my ex call you? Did she find out about your former career?”

“She threatened to go after you for full custody based on my bad influence.”

“Why didn’t you talk to me? We can fight her together.” He was two parts angry and one part sympathetic.

“There’s more, Matt, and I won’t be the catalyst for you losing custody of your boys.”

He cocked his head and narrowed his eyes. “More? What kind of more?” He held his breath, wondering what other secrets she’d been hiding.

She pulled away and stood, hugging herself. “I served two years in a Nevada women’s prison for a crime I didn’t commit.”

He could feel her eyes on him, but He didn’t meet her gaze. He stared at the Seattle skyline, but he didn’t see it. His mind churned to absorb what she’d told him. She’d spent two years of her life in a prison with hardened criminals, murderers, child abusers, and the like. He couldn’t fathom what that would be like. He’d never even had a speeding ticket.

“Matt?” Her voice broke, and he resisted the urge to go to her and wrap her in his arms, promising everything would be all right. He couldn’t guarantee such a thing. He needed to hear more.

“Tell me everything.” His voice sounded foreign to his ears, cold and unfeeling, and she flinched.

Vi sighed and rocked back and forth. Her gaze focused in the distance. “You aren’t going to like this.”

“Try me. You don’t give me nearly enough credit.”

She sank down on the love seat against the opposite side and hugged herself tighter, trying to make her body smaller. He hated to see her like this.

“Vi,” he said gently, encouraging her.

She said nothing for a long time, but once she started talking, the dam broke and the words came in a rush. “I grew up in a small Nevada town. All I ever wanted to do was dance. My family had no money, and there were too many of us, so I had to fight for everything I had. I was nineteen and had just gotten a dancing part in an off-Broadway play in Reno. I was home for the weekend. I’d been hanging with a couple friends down the street, and we’d been drinking. It was after midnight, and I walked home. My car was missing from the driveway, and I was pissed. I checked in the house, and the keys were gone. I went outside so I wouldn’t wake anyone to call my little sister. She’d just turned eighteen and was pure trouble. I saw her turn into the driveway. She jumped out, threw the keys at me. I was livid. There was a big dent in the front of my car. Not that it didn’t have its share of dents, but this was a huge one. And it looked like there was blood on the bumper. The rest was a blur.”

She dabbed at her eyes, while Matt waited patiently for her to continue.

“My sister is a manipulative, pathological liar. Before I knew it, the police cars with lights flashing pulled next to the house. They arrested me for vehicular homicide, hit-and-run, and driving under the influence. My entire family sided with my sister, insisting she wasn’t driving. It was a huge mess. I had a shitty public defender. The case was huge, as my sister had mowed down a beloved football coach walking to a corner store to get his pregnant wife some ice cream.” Vi paused to wipe her nose on a tissue she pulled from her pocket.

“I was crucified not only in the local press but the statewide press. I never stood a chance. The detectives and prosecutor pushed the case, the jury found me guilty. Since I had no previous record, I only served two years, which outraged people. I legally changed my name and left the state once I was released. I never looked back, but the entire thing still haunts me to this day.”

“Jesus.” Matt dug his fingers in his hair and rubbed his eyes, trying to make sense of what she’d told him. Next to him, Vi sniffled quietly in the dark.

He’d thought it was bad, but this bad? And his ex found out about his—what was she? More than a casual affair for sure. His girlfriend? His temple throbbed, and his thoughts swirled into a chaotic mess.

“Matt, I’m so sorry, but you can understand why I had few choices. I couldn’t be the reason you lost your boys—and to her.”

He nodded, numbness making it hard for him to think this through. There had to be a solution.

“Do you believe me?”

He lifted his head and met her gaze.

He did believe her which meant something. Justice hadn’t been served. An innocent person had paid for a crime she didn’t commit, and he wouldn’t let her keep paying.

He’d call Al. Yeah, Al would love this assignment. He could hear the cursing now.

“Matt?” She reached out with a shaking hand. Tear-streaked black mascara left black tracks down her cheeks. Her expression was a mixture of fear and dread.

He managed a lopsided smile. “I believe you.”

“You do?” She sounded incredulous and studied him with bright eyes filled to the brim with more tears.

“Yeah, I do.” He pulled her to him. Vi clung to him as if he were her lifeline. His strong, independent Vi needed him, and he liked the feeling. He was a problem-solver by nature, and he’d find a way to solve this problem. They’d prove Vi innocent and clear her name. He’d be her justice fighter just like she was other people’s.

In an odd way, he was glad she hadn’t told him sooner. A month ago he would’ve run like hell and never looked back. Now—they had something worth fighting for. He needed to convince her of the same. He was still treading over uncharted territory, but he pushed onward, rather the retreating to the known and familiar as he usually did. He wasn’t much of a risk-taker, yet he was taking a huge risk with Vi.

She nuzzled his shoulder and sniffled again. Pulling back slightly, she raised her gaze to his. “You’re the only person who’s ever believed me, not even my crappy attorney thought I was innocent.”

His heart broke for her. She’d been wronged and lost two years of her life because of a false accusation. “What was it like—being in prison?”

“Awful. As you can imagine. I kept my head down and out of trouble, tried not to piss anyone off, just wanted out of there. I did a lot of soul-searching, a lot of reading, a lot of studying. I emerged a different person, maybe even a better person in some ways.”

He nodded, not wanting to interrupt.

“When I got out, I wanted to dance, but I also wanted to change the world, make it a better place, rather than just live here. I saw so many women in prison embroiled in drama of their own making, and I used to be like that myself. Not anymore. Once I walked out those doors, I never looked back, and I stopped taking the little things for granted.”

“Why did you run? Why didn’t you come to me? Why didn’t you tell me?” Her mistrust of him hurt more than he cared to admit.

“I don’t know. At first, I was so afraid you’d judge me like everyone else has. Later, I thought about telling you but convinced myself the past didn’t matter. We were moving forward.”

“The past only matters in as far as it affects the future.”

“I’m sorry.”

“You have to trust me.”

She ducked her head, burying it in his shoulder. “I know, but the situation seemed so impossible.”

“I want it all, Vi. You and the boys. And I’ll find a way to get it, but you can’t keep running. This isn’t going to be easy, but together can we can do it.”

“But what about the boys? What if you lose them to her because of me?”

“That’s not going to happen,” Matt said, and he meant it. He kissed the top of her head and stroked her back. He pressed his forehead to hers and gazed into her blue eyes.

“I don’t want to cause problems for you.”

“You’ve been causing problems since the day I met you.” He chuckled. “Why stop now?”

Vi managed a lopsided smile. He gazed into her eyes and saw so much he’d refused to see before. He saw his future. He saw the one woman who could make him complete. He saw his everything.

“I love you.” The words came so naturally. While he said them without thinking, he wouldn’t take them back. He meant them even if they were unplanned. His careful planning of every facet of his life flew out the window where Vi was concerned.

She blinked back tears and managed a shaky smile. “I love you, too.”

“Let’s go home. I haven’t seen my boys yet, and they miss you.”

Hand in hand, they walked back into the ballroom and toward the elevators.

Izzy caught Matt’s eye and winked.

 

* * * *

 

Matt and Vi woke up the boys when they got home. They hugged and cried and begged Vi not to leave them again. She hadn’t realized how much her absence had affected them. Matt was right. They had to fight for themselves and for the boys. She might have a record. She might have been a stripper. But she was a good person, and she deserved a good life.

She helped Matt put the boys to bed one more time and read them a story. She felt at peace like she hadn’t felt in forever, if ever.

He believed her.

No one in her family had cared about Vi. Her little sister had them all wrapped around her little finger. Protecting poor little Jordan was so ingrained in her family they instantly rallied to her defense even at Vi’s expense. The family had bailed Jordan out of scrape after scrape. At the time of the hit-and-run, she had multiple DUIs, and that one would’ve locked her up for years.

Vi can handle herself in prison.

Poor Jordie couldn’t possibly survive in a place like that.

It’ll ruin Jordan’s life. She can’t go in there.

They’d thrown her to the wolves to save precious little Jordan. The resentment that had bubbled up and overwhelmed her in her first few months behind bars had long ago fizzled and burned out. They did what they had to do, and Vi did the same. She cut all ties and disappeared. She’d had no contact with any of them in years. Sadly, she didn’t miss them.

Matt and Vi curled up on the couch together. Her New Age music played in the background. For once, Matt didn’t complain. She put her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes for a moment, allowing him to be the strong one.

“Matt, I’m still worried how we keep my past from creating issues with your custody?” she said finally acknowledging the one last elephant in the room.

“Al and Lila will know what to do.”

Vi managed a laugh. “After Al explains his unhappiness in the most creatively colorful language known to civilized man.”

“Yeah. Pretty much.”

“I can’t be the reason you lose your boys.”

“You won’t be. Money will always get rid of her if it comes to that. She doesn’t want those boys.”

“How long will money keep her happy before she shows up and wants more?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know. Al will think of something.”

“You’re putting a lot on Al.”

“Maybe, but he’s got the attitude to carry whatever burden I put on him.” Matt smiled down at her.

“We’re an odd couple,” she said rubbing her chin thoughtfully.

“You and Al?”

He chuckled. “Nah, you and me.”

“You think?”

“Somewhat.”

“Maybe. But we mesh in a weird way.”

He bent his head and took her mouth in a soft kiss. Her heart fluttered and her toes curled. She clung to him, savoring how he tasted, how he felt, and how he made her body sing along with her soul.

Could this be real? Could all these good things be happening to her? She was so used to bad things happening, even though she tried to focus on the good. She couldn’t fathom what she’d done to deserve all the good life had to offer. She’d struggled for so long, barely keeping her head above water. And now she’d been thrown a life preserver and the beautiful white sandy beaches of the shoreline were within her grasp.

“Let me get this settled with Brie. Once I do, I want you to live here.”

“Wow, you’re moving pretty fast for a man who likes to take his time and plan everything out.”

He shrugged. “You’re rubbing off on me.” He kissed her again, not so gentle this time, but more demanding and needy. She straddled his lap and gave it right back to him, showing him how much he meant to her.

“Let’s go to the bedroom. I’m doubting we want to put on a show for any boys wandering downstairs for a midnight glass of milk.”

He picked her up and carried her to the bedroom and tossed her on the bed. Her giggles were smothered by his mouth. They were naked in no time. The sex had been incomparable before, but this went beyond, into some other realm Vi had never visited. They didn’t have any secrets left between them. Just love. And their future.

Afterward, Vi lay in a tangle of arms and legs with her head on his chest and listened to his steady breathing as he slept.

How had she gotten so lucky?