Body Check (25 page)

“Yes, Jimmy?”

“Uh, sorry to disturb you so early in the morning, Miss MacNeil, but there's a little boy down here named Wills who says he's your brother.”

Janna was instantly, jarringly, awake. “Oh my God. Send him up.”

She hurried back to the bedroom for her robe, glancing at the bedside clock. Six o'clock in the morning New Year's Day and Wills was here. A shudder passed through her as her mind raced with all the possible reasons for his appearance.
God, please help me to keep calm,
she prayed.
Please
.

She quietly closed the bedroom door on Ty, who appeared to have fallen back asleep, and waited for her doorbell to ring. When it did, her hands were shaking so badly she had a difficult time undoing all the locks and opening it. But open it she eventually did, to the heart-wrenching sight of her little brother, face smeared with tears, standing alone in the hallway.

“I'm sorry,” he choked, “but I couldn't think of anywhere else to go.”

“Don't be silly.” She pulled him inside and hugged him to her tight, her own tears threatening when Wills began sobbing against her chest.

“I hate them!” he wailed. “I hate living there!”

“Sshh, it's okay, everything is going to be okay.” Still holding on to him, she closed the door and steered the two of them into the living room, onto the couch. With the sleeve of her bathrobe, she wiped his tears away. “Tell me what happened.”

He hiccuped. “Mom and Dad went out for New Year's Eve. Mom got totally wasted and when they came home they started to fight. They were breaking plates and shit, I couldn't sleep. I—”

He stopped dead. Janna followed his line of sight and turned to see Ty walking towards them, clad only in his jeans. His hair was a tousled mess, and it was clear he was struggling to wake up. Wills was going to want to know what the captain of the New York Blades was doing coming out of his sister's bedroom. She could worry about that later.

“It's okay. You can talk in front of Ty.”

Hesitant, Wills waited until Ty situated himself on the other side of Janna before continuing. “Mom came up to my room and sat on the end of my bed and wouldn't shut up.” His breath caught. “She said she'd never loved Dad, and if she hadn't gotten pregnant with me she would have left years ago and all this other stuff.” He stifled a sob. “Finally she left and I ran downstairs and took some money from her purse and caught a cab to the train station. And here I am.”

“Oh, honey.” He looked so small sitting there, a lost, scared little boy. “I'm so sorry.” She brushed the hair out of his eyes. “So they don't know you're here?”

“No, and I don't want you to tell them!”

“Sweetie, I have to.”

“They're probably not even awake,” Wills snorted.

“Then I'll wake them up. Why don't you sit here with Ty, and I'll go give them a call. When I'm done, I'll make us all pancakes for breakfast, okay?”

“Okay,” Wills sniffled.

Janna left, leaving Ty alone with her brother. Ty leaned towards him, a look of unmistakable sympathy on his face.

“You okay?”

Wills gave a barely perceptible nod.

“Want anything to drink? A glass of water? Some juice?”

“No, thanks,” Wills said in a small voice.

“You know, the same thing used to happen in my family.”

Wills eyed him suspiciously. “What thing?”

“My old man used to get toasted and wreck the house.”

A look somewhere between disbelief and relief crossed Wills's face. “Really?”

“Oh, yeah. It was a Friday night ritual. He'd get off work, hit the bar with his cronies, then come home three sheets to the wind. Then he'd keep me and my mother up all night babbling about how no one loved or appreciated him, and how crappy his life was because of us . . .” Ty shook his head. “I bet you think it's your fault, right?”

Wills looked down at his feet.

“I bet you think that it's something you're doing, that if you get great grades in school, or really kick ass out on the ice, that they'll love you and things will change. That's what I thought. That's why I became such a good hockey player. To please my old man. He'd wanted to play, but couldn't, so I thought I'd do it for him. I thought it would make him happy if I were great on the ice. That it would make him stop hitting my mom and getting drunk. But you know what? It didn't. Because what was going on really had nothing to do with me, and it wasn't my fault, just like the situation with your parents isn't your fault.”

Wills peered back up at him, shy. “So how did you, like, deal with it?”

“I slept over my friends' houses a lot, that was one thing. And when I was old enough to get the hell out of there, I did.” He paused. “I also talked to people when I needed to get it off my chest, the way we're doing now.”

“Does your dad still drink?” Wills asked.

Ty shrugged. “I don't know. I haven't talked to him in years. But you know what? Any time you feel like talking about this stuff, you can call me, okay? I'll give you my home number and my cell phone number.”

Wills was wide-eyed. “You would really do that?”

“To help a brother-in-arms? Sure. But let's keep it between us, okay? I don't want your sister knowing what a softie I am.”

“I won't say anything, I swear.” He peered at Ty curiously. “Are you and Janna in love?”

Oh, shit,
thought Ty. What the hell was he supposed to say? If he told the kid that the only thing he loved was hockey, he'd be sending the wrong message about sex and commitment. On the other hand, if he lied and said yes, God only knew what would follow from that. He settled for the vague catchall, “We're very good friends,” and rising from the couch, tilted his head in the direction of the kitchen.

“You hungry?”

“Yeah,” Wills said.

“Me, too. Whaddaya say we give your sister a head start on making those pancakes?”

When Wills dutifully followed without asking any more personal questions, Ty felt as if he'd dodged the biggest bullet of his life.

 

 

Heading to Lou's
office for the first PR meeting of the new year, Janna's mind was elsewhere. As she expected would be the case, both her parents had been remorseful about what had transpired on New Year's Eve. Even her mother had seemed willing to take responsibility for her actions for the first time. She vowed to cut back on her drinking, and swore she'd seek marital counseling. So did her father.

“I'll believe it when I see it” was Janna's take, but she kept her opinion quiet, since, being their child herself, there was a secret part of her that longed to believe what they were saying. She had left them with a warning: If something like this happened again, she was going to arrange for Wills to come live with her. Judging by the way they bowed and scraped as she made her way out to her car, she had the feeling her words had finally gotten through.

None of this would have happened, though, if it weren't for Ty. It was he who managed to talk Wills into returning to Connecticut. On the ride home, Wills casually boasted that the great Ty Gallagher had given him his number
and
his cell phone number, so he could call
anytime
to “vent.” It had taken every ounce of self-control Janna had not to pick up her own cell phone and tell Ty she loved him. This absolute proof that he was a good man with a good heart pushed her simmering feelings over the line from lover to keeper. The only thing that kept her from calling was not knowing if he felt the same.

 

 

She reached Lou's
door. Was it was possible for him to have added another chin in the three days since she'd seen him last? The thick rolls of wattle beneath his neck were made worse today by a too tight collar that made his flesh bulge and his face red. The man was a heart attack waiting to happen! Since November, Janna was the one driving the two of them back and forth to practice every day. Not just because Lou had trouble maneuvering his bulk behind the steering wheel of his Beamer, but because Janna was afraid one day he'd have a coronary on the parkway and they'd both be history. Volunteering to drive seemed the best solution; she knew there was no way he'd even think of dieting.

“How was your New Year's, doll?” Lou asked, ripping apart a muffin the size of an infant's head. They were waiting for Jack Cowley to show up.

“Good,” Janna answered.

“Whatcha do?”

Janna stifled a Cheshire cat grin. “Rented a bunch of videos and stayed home. Nice and quiet, you know. You?”

“Me and the wife hit an all-you-can-eat buffet at the Ponderosa, then came home and watched the ball drop on TV.” He stifled a burp. “Same old, same old.”

“Sounds like fun.” Janna smiled, but it was short-lived as Jack Cowley swept into the room just then. Ever since Theresa had decided to go after Lubov, things between her and Cowley had been more strained than usual, especially since Jack seemed to take such pleasure out of digging up dirt on Theresa. Janna had taken to ignoring him every time he passed her in the hall, waving a folder and murmuring, “Your virginal little friend's lawyer better be
good
.” It was so counterproductive, so combative. Lou, bless his fat head, seemed oblivious to the tension.

“Hey, hey, Jackie boy,” Lou crowed. “How was your New Year's Eve?”

Jack sniffed. “Passable.” Unwinding his silk scarf from around his neck, he carefully folded his Burberry over the back of the couch, opposite Janna.

“Whatcha do?” Lou asked, while Janna pretended to be fascinated by the picture of Lou with Wayne Gretzky hanging directly over Jack's head.

“My girlfriend and I cooked a simple meal at home, and repaired to bed early.”

Lou chuckled. “In other words—”

Jack cut him dead. “Right.”

Janna took her eyes from the picture to see Jack gazing at her, an expression of utter disgust for Lou mottling his face.
Effete snob,
Janna thought. And who on earth would ever go out with him?

“Awright, time to get down to it.” Lou glanced at Jack. “First order of business. How you doing getting info on, er—”

“Theresa Falconetti,” Jack replied, somehow managing to make it sound like an obscenity. “Great.”

“Whatcha got?” Lou asked.

Cowley leveled Janna with a patronizing stare. “Did you know your little friend dated one of the New York Jets while she was in college, as well as two daytime stars in the past two years?”

“So?”

“So she's obviously a starfucker with a ‘thing' for jocks and actors.”

“I once dated a waiter,” Janna shot back. “Does that make me obsessed with food?”

“Depends how you spin it, doesn't it, dear?” Cowley returned sweetly. He turned to Lou. “You want me to plant this?”

Lou barely nodded yes, avoiding Janna's eye.

“Done,” Cowley declared triumphantly.

Janna flashed him a murderous look, which he responded to with an oily smile. Lou, meanwhile, looked like he was suffering from indigestion. When he looked to Janna, his expression was almost hesitant. “Doll, I hate to ask this again, but for your pal's sake, have you given any more thought into talking her into dropping the suit?”

“We've been over this repeatedly, Lou. I am not going to talk Theresa out of this.”

“Awright, awright,” said Lou, backing off. “It's her funeral.”

“You mean Lubov's,” Janna murmured under her breath. Neither man appeared to hear.

“Next order of business is the road trip. We got Ottawa, Montreal, Edmonton, Washington, Vancouver and Calgary,” recited Lou, counting off the venues on his fingers. “Six cities, two weeks. It's gonna be a bitch, as always. MacNeil, you're coming along with me.”

Janna blinked. “But—Jack usually goes with you. I mean—”

Lou blinked back. “There a problem?”

“No, not at all.” Janna didn't dare look at Cowley, even though she could feel his resentment zeroing in on her like a laser beam. It was becoming all too clear which of them Lou thought worked the hardest.

“Any particular reason for the switch?” Cowley asked flatly.

“Not really. I just thought I'd mix things up a bit, see how it goes. Besides, it'll be nice not to have to share a hotel room with you. That teeth clicking thing you do in your sleep drives me bats.”

Janna's face creased with alarm. “This doesn't mean you and I are sharing a room, does it, Lou?”

“Not to worry, baby doll, you'll have your own. Now, let's talk beat writers.”

The meeting went on for another forty-five minutes. Afterwards, Janna forced herself to stop by Jack Cowley's office. With everything else going on between them, the last thing she wanted was him thinking she had anything to do with Lou's decision to take her on the road trip instead of him.

“Jack?”

He looked up quickly, hitting a button on his keyboard so his computer screen went blank.
Dirt on Theresa,
Janna thought.

“Look, I want you to know that Lou's decision to take me on the road was totally his own. I—”

“No offense, but I really don't care,” Jack snapped. “It's clear you're Lou's little pet, and why not? I'd be his pet, too, if I ran around behind him perpetually kissing his fat ass the way you do.” Janna's mouth fell open. “But let's get one thing straight. You and I might share the same job title, but I'm the one who's really second in command here, and I intend to hold on to that position until that sack of lard keels over dead and his job is mine. Until then, I think you'd be wise to remember your place on the PR totem pole. Because I have no intention of letting anything—or anyone—get in my way.
Capisce
?”