The Cruiserweight (45 page)

Eddie let a long whistle. “No shit? Doing
what?”

Karen told him the details.

“Does that means he’s now one of the bosses or
what?”

“I wouldn’t take it that far,” Karen said, “but
he’s moved up in the company since he first signed.

“Come a long way from being a jobber to
midgets.”

“No kidding!” She saw Brett coming toward her.
“I have to go, Eddie. I think my wonderful husband finished the DVD
project. Talk to you soon.”

*****

Three weeks later, Karen and Brett had a rare
quiet day at home. Autumn, at twenty-two months, was playing on the
floor while Brett was stretched on the sofa in the living room
watching television. Karen was in the kitchen preparing their
dinner.

Brett fell asleep in front of the TV at some
point, his shirt pulled up and exposed a little of his stomach.
Autumn spied her father’s state, waddled over to his slumbering
figure, and stuck a small finger in his navel.

“Button,” she said with a smile.

“Autumn Skye, what are you doing?” Karen asked
from the kitchen.

“Button,” Autumn repeated, poking Brett’s belly
button again, which woke him.

“Huh?” he asked. “Must’ve dozed
off.”

“Button.” Autumn smiled at him.

Brett looked down at himself. “Yeah, Little
Bit, that’s Daddy’s button. Where’s yours?”

Autumn had just lifted her shirt to show him
when Karen came into the room. “Brett, don’t encourage her,” she
said. “Next thing we know, Autumn will be doing that in
public.”

“It’s cute when they’re little.”

“Good, then you can deal with your daughter
being a savage when the two of you go out. Could you clean her up
in the meantime? Dinner’s almost ready.”

“Best time of the day.” He scooped Autumn into
his arms. “Let’s go, Little Bit. Time to clean up for some of
Mommy’s nommies.”

“Nommies.” Autumn gave him a wide
smile.

Karen shook her head and chuckled
. That
girl’s going to be a carbon of her father for sure.

*****

Karen had more than her share of scary moments
with Autumn. One afternoon, she was working on her latest column
while keeping an eye on Autumn–not an easy feat–when she spotted
something unusual out of the corner of her eye.

“Autumn!”
Karen cried,
spotting her daughter about to jump from the edge of the
sofa.

The toddler gave her a confused look. “Daddy
do.”

Brett and I need to discuss these things with
her. “Honey, Daddy trained for and gets paid to do those kinds of
things.

“Wanna fly,” Autumn said in protest. “Daddy
do.”

“But you’ll get hurt, ladybug,” Karen told her.
“Then Daddy and I would have to take you to the doctor.”

“Yuck.”

“Yes, yuck. Doctors are no fun.”

As if on cue, Brett came in the door. “Hey,
ladies. Anything happening?”

“Some little girl almost flew off the couch in
an attempt to imitate Daddy,” Karen said, giving him a
look.

“Shit, you can’t be serious. Little Bit, Daddy
told you about stuff like that. Just because I do it doesn’t mean
you can. Even I get hurt sometimes.”

An idea struck, and he turned to Karen. “I just
thought of something!”

“What?”

“Orlando Wrestling’s never done a public
service announcement about the dangers of kids trying our moves at
home,” Brett answered. He picked up a tablet from a nearby table.
“I think I may have something to contribute to the creative meeting
this week.” He kissed both her and Autumn. “Thanks for the
inspiration.”

“Glad to be of assistance…I think.”

“This will be great! I’ll also make sure it
appeals to all ages, so parents can talk to their kids.”

Karen warmed to his idea. “Is there anything
you
can’t
do?”

“Still working on getting more hours in the
day, but so far, I haven’t been successful.”

“I don’t think anyone’s going to accomplish
that in our lifetime,” Karen replied with a smile.

Brett waved the tablet. “Time for me to get to
work on my script.”

*****

Brett’s PSA idea was well-received by the
creative team. Since it had been his idea, Stephanie also wanted
him featured in it. Figuring it might help Autumn to comply with
not jumping off the furniture (and scaring the hell out of Karen in
the process), he agreed to do it, on the condition that clips of
fellow wrestlers were also featured.

The video was a hit. It generated over one
million views on YouTube and aired during each Orlando Wrestling
television episode. Stephanie Cross also arranged for it to air on
the titrations at house shows; like Brett, she’d hope the message
would get across to children that the moves wrestlers did were not
safe to imitate at home.

Karen was proud of her husband’s latest success
and threw a dinner party in his honor. Memories from the last
couple of years were shared around the table as Brett and each of
his friends reflected how far each of them had come in the
interim.

The dinner continued for another hour before
everyone went home. Karen tried to remember the last time she’d
laughed so hard. It was good to have people come together who were
so meaningful in both hers and Brett’s lives.

In bed that night, she couldn’t help but think
how her life would‘ve gone if she hadn‘t met Brett in that
Pittsburgh hotel lounge. Perhaps that was why her life had taken
such a direction for the better, and neither was alone any
more.

Nevertheless, Karen wasn’t more thankful than
for the man that was her husband that now slept beside her, his
quirkiness and all.

Everything happens for a reason. Who says
there’s no such thing as Fate?
Karen drifted
off to sleep in Brett’s arms.

END