had stopped breathing.
“I don’t want to be some deadbeat dad who only gets to see his kid a few days a month.”
When she squeezed his hand, he reached out to tentatively touch her face. God, he craved a connection with her, any connection. “I need to be involved, Grace. Please don’t shut me out.”
Chapter 5
Grace couldn’t seem to form a complete sentence. He’d built her dream house in Atlanta without telling her and wanted her to live next door to him?
“Jordan, I know you want to be involved with the baby,” she said, trying to ignore how handsome he looked in his cream Italian knit shirt and designer jeans and boots. “And you will. I’m just not sure it’s this way.” She wasn’t certain she could live in that house—here—without him. Every vision she’d had of it had included him.
He leaned toward her. “Yes, but how, Grace? That’s the part that I don’t like. You’ll be living in that small apartment of yours with the baby, taking him or her to day care when you work. You know Tuesday’s my only day off during the season, and even then I show up at the stadium for a while. Sure, I’ll see the baby more in the off season, but I want more, Grace.”
He was describing their life pretty much as Grace had envisioned it, and she had to admit she didn’t like it either. But the house…
“I’ll miss so much during those other eight or nine months,” he said, “and that’s not counting us making the playoffs again. My season didn’t end until February this year. It’s not enough time.”
“I don’t know what to tell you, Jordan,” she said honestly. “You have a time-consuming profession.” So did she, but her situation was a little more flexible.
His frown bordered on mulish. “That’s true, but Sam Garretty said lots of players manage to play football and have happy marriages and families.”
She bristled, and he held up his hand as if sensing it.
“You’ve made your feelings known about marriage. I’m not trying to change your mind, okay? I’m only trying to show you a different way. If you live in your dream house, you’ll have privacy and your own life, I promise. We’ll be friends again. Somehow. And I’ll be able to see the baby a lot more because you’ll only be a shout away.”
She couldn’t deny that there was some appeal to the plan. Her heart had hurt from the thought that their son or daughter wouldn’t see much of Jordan for most of the year, and shuttling the baby around through Atlanta’s infamous traffic would not be ideal.
“We’ll hire someone to take care of him or her when you go back to work,” Jordan continued, his blue eyes intent. “And when he or she gets older, he or she can come over and see me anytime I’m home. We can play after school and do homework together, Grace. Like I always wanted to do with my dad.”
Well aware of how Jordan’s dad had wounded him, Grace found herself softening.
“Please, Grace.”
Their eyes locked, and she could see the pleading in them. She rubbed the tension in her neck, thinking it through. Beyond being a replica of the house she loved, the proximity would be distressing. How could she live next door to him when he seemed to have moved on with other women? Surely they’d come home with him. The pictures of Jordan with an increasingly attractive parade of gorgeous women had devastated her enough. To actually see him with one of them?
“Jordan, it’s too much,” she exclaimed.
“Dammit, Grace, don’t let this be about money,” he said, misunderstanding her. “I’m rolling in it, and you won’t let me spend any of it on our baby? Come on, Gracie, what kind of logic is that? Please let me give this to you and the baby. Please.”
Jordan was close to begging. Grace’s chest tightened at the realization.
“Okay, I’m willing to give it a shot, Jordan,” she heard herself saying. It wasn’t a decision she’d intended to make on the fly, but that look on his face…
“I don’t want to be some deadbeat dad who only gets to see his kid a few days a month.”
When she squeezed his hand, he reached out to tentatively touch her face. God, he craved a connection with her, any connection. “I need to be involved, Grace. Please don’t shut me out.”
Chapter 5
Grace couldn’t seem to form a complete sentence. He’d built her dream house in Atlanta without telling her and wanted her to live next door to him?
“Jordan, I know you want to be involved with the baby,” she said, trying to ignore how handsome he looked in his cream Italian knit shirt and designer jeans and boots. “And you will. I’m just not sure it’s this way.” She wasn’t certain she could live in that house—here—without him. Every vision she’d had of it had included him.
He leaned toward her. “Yes, but how, Grace? That’s the part that I don’t like. You’ll be living in that small apartment of yours with the baby, taking him or her to day care when you work. You know Tuesday’s my only day off during the season, and even then I show up at the stadium for a while. Sure, I’ll see the baby more in the off season, but I want more, Grace.”
He was describing their life pretty much as Grace had envisioned it, and she had to admit she didn’t like it either. But the house…
“I’ll miss so much during those other eight or nine months,” he said, “and that’s not counting us making the playoffs again. My season didn’t end until February this year. It’s not enough time.”
“I don’t know what to tell you, Jordan,” she said honestly. “You have a time-consuming profession.” So did she, but her situation was a little more flexible.
His frown bordered on mulish. “That’s true, but Sam Garretty said lots of players manage to play football and have happy marriages and families.”
She bristled, and he held up his hand as if sensing it.
“You’ve made your feelings known about marriage. I’m not trying to change your mind, okay? I’m only trying to show you a different way. If you live in your dream house, you’ll have privacy and your own life, I promise. We’ll be friends again. Somehow. And I’ll be able to see the baby a lot more because you’ll only be a shout away.”
She couldn’t deny that there was some appeal to the plan. Her heart had hurt from the thought that their son or daughter wouldn’t see much of Jordan for most of the year, and shuttling the baby around through Atlanta’s infamous traffic would not be ideal.
“We’ll hire someone to take care of him or her when you go back to work,” Jordan continued, his blue eyes intent. “And when he or she gets older, he or she can come over and see me anytime I’m home. We can play after school and do homework together, Grace. Like I always wanted to do with my dad.”
Well aware of how Jordan’s dad had wounded him, Grace found herself softening.
“Please, Grace.”
Their eyes locked, and she could see the pleading in them. She rubbed the tension in her neck, thinking it through. Beyond being a replica of the house she loved, the proximity would be distressing. How could she live next door to him when he seemed to have moved on with other women? Surely they’d come home with him. The pictures of Jordan with an increasingly attractive parade of gorgeous women had devastated her enough. To actually see him with one of them?
“Jordan, it’s too much,” she exclaimed.
“Dammit, Grace, don’t let this be about money,” he said, misunderstanding her. “I’m rolling in it, and you won’t let me spend any of it on our baby? Come on, Gracie, what kind of logic is that? Please let me give this to you and the baby. Please.”
Jordan was close to begging. Grace’s chest tightened at the realization.
“Okay, I’m willing to give it a shot, Jordan,” she heard herself saying. It wasn’t a decision she’d intended to make on the fly, but that look on his face…
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