Open Play (Passion Players), page 25
“His father’ll bombard you when he gets the chance, so you’ll have to do better’n that,” Grace said. “He wants to see Eoghan on the field come September.”
“That’s unrealistic.” Ayanna’s professional self stepped forward. “Not to mention dangerous for Eoghan. There’s a time to push and a time to rehabilitate. Sometimes they’re one and the same, sometimes not. It’s up to someone like me to keep him progressing and not reinjuring himself. I’d be happy to invite Donal into a conversation about it and clarify the expectation.”
“Ballsy, girl. I like it,” Grace said and winked. “Now I see how you’ve been holdin’ your own with the boys so well all this time.”
Nadine laughed. “And we were worried.”
Ayanna sipped her beer.
“Has Shane been a help to ya, Ayanna?” Nadine asked, though not a bit of concern showed on her face. Nadine tossed in the other half of the ingredients and followed it up with cups of ham broth, then transferred the pot to the oven. Ayanna salivated at the porked-out dish.
“He’s been great,” Ayanna said excitedly before her brain could turn the enthusiasm down. She gave a more measured response. “He’s been supportive of Eoghan and his therapy while still working for the Rovers. His insight has been invaluable.”
“Sounds like Shane, for sure,” Grace said to Nadine.
Shane continued to surprise Ayanna with every day that passed, and hearing his mom talk about him only intensified her growing admiration for him. “Do you know he volunteers at a senior center?” She focused on Nadine. “They love him.”
“Oh yes. I took him there a few years ago after he hurt his ankle.”
“Poor thing had been hopeless. D’you remember, Nadine?”
“Hard to forget.” Sadness covered Nadine’s features, and Ayanna knew the woman had conjured up the memory of her son in a poor state. “He’d lost the things he’d loved.”
Ayanna filled in the blanks. Soccer. Eileen. By the quick glance between Grace and Nadine, they, too, knew all the things Shane had lost and to whom.
“An old school friend of mine used to run the program,” Nadine continued. “I used to love to volunteer and help her out once or twice during our vacations. Now, when Shane comes to the States, he continues to go. A lovely community to keep seniors happy and active,” Nadine explained with pride in her voice. Ayanna clung to an old memory from before her father had died, when they used to donate clothes and food to shelters, especially during the holidays, but the vision blurred, and she wondered if she had the details right.
“He’s a good boy,” Grace said. “You raised him like your own, and he loves you right back.”
Ayanna straightened. She had assumed that Shane’s ginger hair had been bequeathed by a grandparent, since Nadine’s fair features and Conor’s darker hair weren’t reflected in their son. She dared to ask, “So you’re not Shane’s biological mother?”
Nadine shook her head. “Shane looks a lot like her. She decided she didn’t want to be a mother. Left when he was four.”
Ayanna’s insides twisted for four-year-old Shane. If losing her father at eleven had impacted her the way it had, she could only imagine what scars being abandoned by his biological mother had caused.
“Have they ever met since?” Ayanna asked, and Grace and Nadine looked at each other. “I don’t mean to pry.”
Nadine waved off her worries. “Once. It was pleasant but very . . . hands off for a boy who’d built up the reunion in his head.”
Ayanna fought the urge to go find Shane and hug him close. “How old was he?”
“Conor and I had been married a year, so he was about seven or eight at the time. I tried to foster a relationship, but Shane didn’t fit into her new life.” Sadness with notes of anger settled on Nadine’s features. “But Conor and I did all right. Shane also had lovely friends, like Eoghan and Pippin, and poured himself into football. He’s a good man, my Shane.”
“He is,” Ayanna said. Her voice sounded far away even to her.
“And all the girls know it. They fall over themselves for Eoghan, but Shane has many admirers, even if he barely notices.” Grace laughed.
“You’ve noticed, haven’t you, Ayanna?” Nadine asked.
“Course she has. I’m surprised there isn’t a gang of fans outside the house for ’em.”
“Yes, I’ve noticed.” Ayanna felt her cheeks warm as she shared a glance with Nadine, confirming that the two of them were talking about something altogether different from Grace.
“Well, girls, our work here for the time being is done. The coddle’ll take about two hours, so we’ll set out some aperitifs for the boys and go freshen up for dinner.”
Ayanna was standing up to help put out crudités of cheese, fruit, veggies, crackers, olives, and fresh bread when she felt the drinks she’d swilled carrying on with Nadine and Grace fly straight up to her head.
“All right, dear? We still have predinner drinks and drinks with dinner ahead.”
“How many drinks?” Ayanna asked.
Grace and Nadine cackled and flanked her on each side. “Don’t worry about that. Just have fun. Ye’ve earned it.”
The dining room in Purchase House felt more like a home, overflowing with loud voices telling stories from full mouths and drinks being poured plentifully in celebration. For a moment, Shane forgot that they weren’t in their family home in Limerick.
“And Mrs. Doyle sends her regards,” Grace said to Eoghan. “Her daughter is still available and awaiting your return.”
“Mam,” Eoghan said and blushed. “What am I going to do with a lass nearly three hours away in Sligo?”
“She’s not as pretty as Ayanna here, but she’s Irish,” Eoghan’s mother said. “I’m just saying you have choices.”
Ayanna sported a quizzical look as if trying to figure out how her name had gotten into Eoghan’s mother’s statement.
“She can’t wait to marry me off,” Eoghan said. “She thinks we’re foolin’ around.” Eoghan fluttered his eyebrows, and Shane wanted to box the expression off his face.
“I’m his physical therapist,” Ayanna said, but her announcement landed on deaf ears.
“Well, you’re a catch. Any woman who doesn’t snap you up . . . well, it’s her loss,” Grace said and glanced over at her. “Wouldn’t you agree, Ayanna?”
“Mmm-hmm.”
Shane couldn’t help but analyze every tilt of her head, focus of her eyes, movement of her shoulders, and twist of her mouth.
“Maybe while I’m here, we can do some training. Get you back on track,” Donal said.
Eoghan looked like he’d just bit into lemon rinds.
“Not unless I’m supervising it, but you’re welcome to watch Shane and I work him out,” she said, referencing him. It was his turn to pay attention to how his name came up in conversation.
Donal puffed his feathers like a wild turkey. “I’ve been coaching my son since he could walk. Sure I know him better’n yourself.”
“Da,” Eoghan interjected, but his father silenced him with a glance, a look Shane himself had gotten plenty of times.
“I’m speaking to the lady,” Donal said, and Shane didn’t like the tone he carried.
“Of course you know him better than I do, but surely we can agree that I know more about healing injuries, or Eoghan wouldn’t have come to America,” Ayanna said.
Donal reddened. “You’re a smart one, then?”
“Forget your manners, have ye, gaff?” Grace said.
“I’m doing my best with him. The injury is complicated. The last thing either of us wants is Eoghan reinjuring himself, because then he’ll have no chance of coming back this season.”
“Work out with us, and I’ll give you a run, oul fella,” Shane said in an effort to end the argument, because if Donal attempted another shot at Ayanna, he wouldn’t respond as kindly.
“All right, then.” Donal folded, and Shane’s eyes slid to Ayanna.
“Thank you,” she mouthed, and he wanted to leap over the table and devour her.
Dinner ended on a highlight reel of stories. Ayanna retired to bed, as did most of the house, but his mother enjoyed an after-dinner walk, and Shane was happy to escort her. They strolled arm in arm through the garden. It had become Ayanna’s favorite place and by default his, a perfect spot to calm down. Dinner had felt a bit like being back in Ireland, but Donal and Grace as usual had bulldozed Eoghan and made suggestive comments that weren’t their place. Ayanna had held her own, but he couldn’t just sit there and let anything be said or implied. Also, who wanted to argue with their client’s parents by choice?
“The garden is beautiful,” his mother said as they followed the narrow path.
“You must be tired, Mam. The long flight, the cook. Don’t you want to rest?”
“I want to see more of you,” she said and patted his arm. He hadn’t seen her in months and had missed her and the love for him in her eyes. He leaned into her.
“Ayanna seems lovely,” she said.
“She’s been great with Eoghan,” he said simply.
“Anyone who can shut Donal down in a hurry gets a check in my book,” she said. “Tell me. Are there feelings there?”
He knew he’d gone all scarlet again when his mother’s musical laugh teased him.
“You’re prying.”
“I can’t help it. You look at her in a way that reminds me of Conor and me when we first met. His eyes were only for me.”
“They still are.”
“Come now, tell me truthfully.”
“Is it obvious?” he questioned, praying he wasn’t giving himself away that easily.
“Only to me.” She smiled. “So you like her, then?”
“But she’s not Irish,” Shane said, impersonating Grace.
“Grace and Donal haven’t changed at all,” Nadine said.
“Do you care about such things?”
“Course not. You know me and your dad better’n that,” she said. “It would be different. People might talk or be insensitive, but that’s their problem. I haven’t a care so long as you’re happy, pet,” Nadine said. “Maybe grandchildren or pet children at the least?”
The thought of making love to Ayanna cantered across his mind several times daily, but the thought of seeing her belly full and round with a MacCallum inspired new feelings in him.
“Ye’ve gone too far, Mam. No words have been spoken between us, and there’s . . . things are complicated.” His feelings for Ayanna had been growing since the day he’d met her, but his pact with Eoghan and the fear of betrayal if he gave in to his feelings forbade him to act.
“How complicated?” Nadine questioned. “Is she with another?”
He gave his mother a quick, high-level synopsis of how both he and Eoghan had come to meet Ayanna.
“Fate is pulling your leg, isn’t it?” His mother snickered.
“Eoghan and I have an understanding about women.”
“One woman turned you boys upside down, and now you have an ‘understanding about women’? Eileen never deserved either of you, and Eoghan . . . well, I’ll not start on his part in the whole thing. What is this understandin’?”
“We don’t date the same women. Ever.”
“I’ve never heard of such foolishness, but seeing as what’s happened, I understand your understanding,” his mother said. “The thing is, neither of you are dating Ayanna.”
Nadine had a knack for splitting hairs, but in this instance she was right. Eoghan wasn’t dating Ayanna, and neither was he.
“Think on it,” she said, knowing full well she’d already started that machine rolling like the handloom that stitched his family’s tartan. What he really wanted to know was who had her heart.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
The next day Ayanna slipped quietly into the living room to grab the notebook she’d left there earlier when she’d scribbled some notes down about her thoughts on Eoghan’s upcoming evaluation the second week of September. She’d worked on Eoghan and worked him out with Shane and Donal under her close supervision. She’d made sure everyone knew her boundaries, which she’d delivered in kinder bitch mode. That Eoghan had come out of the session sweaty and injury-free was a win.
The lively conversation the families were having about the weekend wedding in the Bronx continued to get louder.
“Ayanna, you should come to the wedding,” Nadine said.
“I should do what, now?” Ayanna said, picking up her notebook and hugging it close to the floral top she wore.
“The wedding we’re here for. It’s on Saturday. We’ve taken the liberty of inquiring with the family, and it’s agreed that you should come,” Grace said.
Ayanna slow blinked as her mind rushed to catch up with Grace. “Thank you, but I wasn’t invited. It’s a wedding. I’d hate to impose on the happy day that is clearly meant for family and close friends.”
“It’ll be fine. It’s my niece, Shane’s cousin. They are quite close, and she’d love to have ya. All we have to do is give a call to confirm,” Conor said.
Ayanna looked at Shane for help. Shane’s and Eoghan’s families were here to spend time with them. The last thing she wanted to do was get in the way.
“My father’s right. You’d be welcome,” Shane said.
“You’ll come to the wedding with us, and that’s the end of it.” Shane’s father, Conor, pretended to put his foot down, but since she’d met him, he’d been the most laid back of the group.
Ayanna stroked the tiny curls at the nape of her neck. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d been parented, since she was the one both her mother and sister relied on. Did this man realize that she was (1) a grown woman and (2) not his child?
“Dear, she hasn’t agreed.” Nadine shook her head at her husband. “Would you like to go, Ayanna?”
“Why not. Sure. I’ll go.” She surrendered to the charming lot.
“Perfect,” Nadine said.
“Are you sure it’s not a problem?” Ayanna never wanted to be where she wasn’t welcome.
“It’ll be grand,” Grace said.
Shane inched over to her. “And that’s the end of it,” he said, mimicking his father.
Ayanna pursed her lips to refrain from laughing.
Later that week, Ayanna slipped out after her session with Eoghan to meet Charlotte at one of their favorite downtown Manhattan boutiques to shop for a dress for Maeve’s wedding.
“I can’t believe that I’m just hearing about this,” Charlotte said when Ayanna told her about Jada’s visit a few weeks ago and all its trimmings.
“You forget you had a run-in with the law?” She’d wanted Charlotte to go to the range out in New Jersey, just to get familiar with guns so that she wasn’t afraid of them anymore, but Charlotte wasn’t ready. “How are you doing with that?” Ayanna asked.
“Well, my therapist and I are talking it through. I’m sleeping better, too, since they caught the guy.”
“Amateur.” Ayanna winked at her.
“Thank God, right?” Charlotte’s chest collapsed as she blew out her anxiety.
“Yes.” Ayanna’s prayers had been answered when she’d gotten the call from Charlotte that they’d caught her assailant. Knowing he was in custody gave Charlotte a clear path to fully regain her confidence walking through her neighborhood.
“Anyway, I don’t know how you didn’t throttle Jada.” Charlotte pivoted back to Jada’s visit. “I love her, too, but she is so messy sometimes,” she said. “I’m glad you two had something of a heart-to-heart, though.”
“Yeah, it was overdue.”
“So are you happy that she sucked face with Eoghan and not Shane, or are you heartbroken about what happened?”
“I’m not heartbroken.” Ayanna left it at that. “Eoghan and I are ill suited for each other, but I think he is hell bent on trying to prove otherwise. I’ve helped him. He’s grateful. We had a little abroad encounter, but he’s not the one for me, and I’m not the one for him. He needs someone to whip him into emotional shape, someone like him but not. Someone . . .” Ayanna evaluated Charlotte. “Like you.”
“Oh no.”
“Not you per se, but someone like you.” Ayanna hurried to qualify her statement.
“Dafuk outa here with that mess,” Charlotte said.
Ayanna giggled at Charlotte’s rejection of the mention of her and Eoghan’s names in the same sentence.
“That man is forever ruined in my eyes. Did Shane appear affected by Jada’s feminine wiles?” Charlotte asked.
“I don’t know. Shane is hard to read sometimes.” Ayanna knew that Shane cared about her, but like her, he carried the weight of the past. Even with the occasional breaches in their determination to keep a fair distance, she assumed his unfair agreement with Eoghan was the root cause. “I really just need to do my job before this becomes any more dramatic.”
“Well, just remember that you are a dime and that it would be a blessing for either of those men to have you. You’re the prize, boo.”
Charlotte always had a way of lifting her spirits, and it was only after Ayanna heard the words that she realized she’d needed the boost. Ayanna smiled. “Thanks, girl.”
Charlotte chose a dress off the rack.
“No bad and bougie for the Irish wedding, please,” Ayanna said when she saw Charlotte eyeing a very provocative dress that would go better with high-heeled leather calf boots for the club than heels for a formal occasion.
“This is for me. I know how we have to represent for the race everywhere we go. You might be the only one or one of a few of us there.” Charlotte rubbed her finger over the brown skin on the back of her hand. “This is hot, right?”
“For you, yes,” Ayanna said, eyeing the skimpy black piece.
“And for you. Shane might like this,” Charlotte threw out, and Ayanna scanned the store for Shane or anyone who might know any of them in a dress shop in New York City.
