“He’s good, really good, actually.”
“The cast giving him any problems?”
“He’s finally getting used to it, I think. Although, it is still like a little weapon attached to his leg. I’ve got some nasty bruises to show from the times he’s accidently hit me with it.”
“Damn, well, only a few more weeks and he can get it taken off.”
“I’m so ready for that day. He’s starting to stink since we can’t give him a full shower or bath.”
“No worse than my gym bag growing up.”
“Gah, don’t remind me. That thing was vile.”
“Well, I should get off to bed, it’s been a long day. I’ll call you once I’m back in town. Love you, Tiff.”
“Love you, too, bro. Hang in there and we’ll get you past all of this. Once it all blows over, maybe it is time for you to find someone to settle down with, leave your manwhore ways behind you.”
“Yeah, yeah. There is one woman who I wouldn’t mind pursuing,” I let slip, and know I’ve made a big mistake.
“Wait, hold up. What did you just say?” Tiffany says, sitting up and giving me a WTF look via the camera.
“There might be one woman who drives me insane—the good kind of insane–but I don’t think she likes me all that much, so I’m sure it isn’t going to happen,” I tell her.
“And who is this mysterious woman that has piqued your interest?”
“Carmen Gibson, she’s the team’s PR manager.”
“Tell me more. A workplace romance, and the one person who has to deal with all your fuckups. I love this.”
“Yeah, well, she doesn’t usually like me all that much, so I don’t see how I’d ever convince her to go out with me or give me a chance. She sees me as nothing more than a player man-child.”
“Well, little brother, maybe it is time that you show her you are a man and have given up your childish manwhore ways.”
“This whole baby thing isn’t helping that image at all. And to think, I was doing good. I haven’t been with a woman since the strip club incident.”
“Well, give it a few days, maybe a few more weeks. Let all the chips fall as they’re going to fall and then move forward. Even if this Abigail chick is telling the truth and the baby is yours, it isn’t like you’d be the first guy to have a baby with a stranger. It is what you do to step up and take care of the baby that shows your true character. You know I love you, but I’m here to tell you, little brother, that sometimes you get in your own way. Just lay low, and I’ll be right by your side as things unfold.”
“Thanks, Tiff. I love you. Give Milo a kiss from Uncle Lucas.”
“He’s sleeping, but I’ll do so in the morning. Maybe on your next day off you can come over for the day. He’d love to have a day to hang with his favorite uncle.”
“Damn straight he would,” I tell her before we say our last goodbyes and end the call.
Thanks to my manager and attorney, a nurse is coming to the stadium today to draw my blood for the paternity test. Abigail agreed to the test, eventually. Tried to swindle money out of me to do it now, but the threat of a lawsuit had a way of convincing her that she needed to agree to this, and now. Everyone agreed that she could also show up here at the facility so the same nurse could draw her blood, as well, to take it straight to the lab to be processed. I paid the extra money to have the results rushed to us by the end of the day.
“Just a small poke,” the older lady tells me after wiping my arm down with an alcohol wipe. She pushes the needle into my arm, and the tube immediately starts filling with my blood. Since they’re only running the one test, she only needs the one small vial of blood. “Apply some pressure here for me,” she says after pressing a cotton ball over the needle before pulling it out of my arm. After shaking the tube with my blood back and forth a couple times, she places the label on it, then drops it into the bio-hazard bag. She offers me some medical tape to hold the gauze in place, now that my arm has stopped bleeding.
“Thanks, now I’ll have the results by close of business today?” I ask her.
“Yes, you should have them by five p.m. If you don’t, then, call the office. We’re open until eight, so it is possible they’ll go out after five, but we do our best to get same-day rush orders out by five.”
“Thanks,” I tell her, rubbing my palms along my pants. They’re damp from sweat as I worry about the outcome from this test.
I watch from a window as the nurse takes Abigail’s blood. I didn’t really want to see or talk to her today but watching with my own two eyes the blood being drawn helps calm my anxiety that she’d somehow tamper with the test to make it come out with fake results. I don’t know why I’m so convinced that she’s trying to trap me. Probably because since she made the announcement and my attorney contacted her, it was all about the money to her, added to the fact that I don’t remember this girl from anywhere.
With the blood draws done, I head for the gym. I need to do some heavy lifting or something to get my mind off watching the minutes tick by on the clock.
“How many more miles are you going?” JJ asks, jumping on the treadmill next to mine.
“Until my legs can’t go any farther,” I pant out between breaths. I look down and see that I’ve already put in about five miles. “Maybe another three or four?” I toss out.
“Any word yet?” he asks. The guys all knew what was going down today, and therefore have given me a wide birth as I await the results.
“Nope, still waiting,” I tell him. I hit the button and the belt slows me down, bringing me to a stop. I gulp down my bottle of Gatorade, then follow that up with a full bottle of water. With as much as I’ve sweated out today, I need all the hydration I can get.
“Just don’t kill yourself, in the meantime. No number of squats or miles run are going to make the results come in faster or change them.”
“Just trying to keep my mind focused on something other than the email that hasn’t arrived and the time on the clock,” I tell him honestly.
“Man, I know what it’s like to be waiting on that test. I’ve done it myself not that long ago. Yes, my situation was a little bit different, as the baby was already born and was in my care, but I still needed to know for sure that she was mine. The lab I used didn’t offer a same day rush option, so I had to wait a few days. They were the longest days of my life. Seriously, they were. When the results came in, I was almost too scared to open them. By that point, I didn’t want them to say that Evie wasn’t mine. I had already fallen in love with her by then, and in my heart, it didn’t really matter what a piece of paper said, I knew she was mine. She looked way too much like me to be anyone else’s kid.”
“I’m actually relieved that the kid isn’t born yet. I’d feel bad, I think, if it was, and I was here denying it was mine,” I tell him.
“If the test comes back and you are the dad, what are you going to do?” he asks.
“Whatever I have to do to provide for it.”
“And that proves that you’re a good man,” he tells me before putting his earbuds into his ears and turning up the speed on his treadmill.