Unexpected Love (Jo's Story) (4 page)

I am sitting on the living room floor going through movies and trying to sort them out in some sort of way that makes sense when I hear a knock at the door.  My heart literally jumps to my throat.  Holy crap, he is here.  The most eligible bachelor in the state, and not to mention the best looking man I have ever seen is now knocking on my door for our date!  I walk over and unlock the door and pull it open.  I have to keep my jaw under control as it wants to drop clear to the floor.  I thought he looked good last night?  He is wearing a dark pair of blue jeans, a black button shirt with the top two buttons open to show off a little of his chest.  His eyes are a blue that I have never seen before in my life, it is almost like a sea blue.  And to top it off his hair even looks good.

“Hi,” he smiles.

Holy crap, that smile! “Hi,” I manage to squeak back.

“Beer and pizza, as promised,” he holds his hands out to show what he brought. I take the case of beer from him and back up to let him in.  He walks into the house and waits for me to head to the kitchen and follows.  “Looks like you got a lot done.”  He says looking around at all the empty boxes.

“Yeah, my friends helped me out a lot.  My two guy friends did all the big stuff and Annie and I put most everything away.  Only thing really left is my room and the girls’ rooms.  So I guess that gets you out of unpacking,” I smile.

“Awe, you don’t want my helping you unpack your room? Think I might learn too much about you,” he teases.  He sets the pizza down on the table and pulls out a stool to sit on.

“No, I just thought it might be a better date if we did something a little more fun,” I put the beer in the fridge and grab us each one before I close the door.  I set one in front of him then pull out the stool next to him.  “This smells amazing,” I grab a piece of pizza.

“My favorite place in town.  It’s called Walley’s.  It’s not too far from my place and as far as I am concerned the have the best pizza around.”

“Eat a lot of pizza?”  I tease him.

“Yeah, I'm not much of a cooker.  Of course not that I have a lot of time to cook anyway.”  He takes a bite of his pizza.  “So, do you cook?”

“I love cooking.  I never used to until my brother opened his own restaurant but now that he does I like to try.  I think mostly to prove to my mom he didn’t get all the talent.” I laugh.  I don’t tell him I am terrible at it though.

“What restaurant?”

“It’s called A.L.E. House.”

“Where did he come up with that?”

“He used Abby, Lizzy, and his initials.”

“That’s awesome.  I think I have heard of that place.  It hasn’t been open very long has it?”

“No, only about six months.  He was on track to open it sooner but then a bunch of personal stuff happened and he had to postpone the opening by about four months.” I take a long swig of beer.  Maybe this will calm me down a little.  Even sitting here having a conversation with him I am still a bundle of nerves.

“You ok?” He flashes that amazing smile at me again.

I shake my head and laugh, “Yeah I am fine.”

“You seem a little nervous?” He sets his beer back down that he just took a drink of.

“Gee I wonder why that might be.  You think it might have something to do with the fact that you are sitting here at my table right now?”

“I don’t see the big deal,” he takes a bite of pizza.  “I'm just a normal guy on a date with a normal girl.”

I snort, “Normal girl sure, I will give you that, but you are not a normal guy.  You are probably one of the most famous men in Baltimore and you are sitting here having pizza and drinking beer with me, at my house.”

“You are overthinking this way too much Jo.  I try to have a normal life the best that I can with the title that I have.  I'm not the type of guy that flashes off what I have and the fact that I am a professional football player.  That is just a job to me.”

I look at him. “Seriously?  How is it that every woman in Maryland and probably all surrounding states wants to be with you, yet here you are, single, and eating pizza with a single mom of two?”

He just smiles at me, “I'm picky.”  He takes his last bite of pizza and reaches for another one.

“Well you can’t be that picky if you chose me out of all the women in the bar last night.”

He takes a drink of his beer and then sets it back down and just stares at me.  “You are very critical of yourself.”

“Yeah, bad habit I guess,” I take a drink of beer.  I can feel his eyes burning into the side of my face but I don’t look at him.  I take the last drink of my beer and take it to the sink to rinse the bottle out.

“I think that is a very bad habit.  I you shouldn’t talk like that about yourself.”

I open the fridge and reach for two more beers.  “So how long have you been in Baltimore?”  I try desperately to change the subject.

“This is my third year.  Only my second as a starter though.” He finishes his beer and grabs the new one that I just set on the table for him.

“Where did you play before you came here?”

“I started in San Diego.  But I didn’t get any playing time there. They drafted me out of college, but of course I was only fresh out so they didn’t give me a chance.  They only signed me for one year and I went into free agency and Baltimore picked me up.”

“I think I do remember hearing that.  My step-dad is a huge football fan and knows pretty much everything there is to know,” I laugh at the thought of John finding out I am dating a football player.  He would be in heaven I am sure.

“So does that mean you aren’t a big football fan then if you get all your information from him?” He smirks at me.

“I used to be, but a full time job and two kids make it a little more difficult to keep up with everything.  I still watch the games most of the time.  But there are some days that I can’t because of work or some stupid thing comes up.  Lizzy has really gotten into it the last year.  But that is probably because her and grandpa watch it together every Sunday,” I laugh at the thought of John and Lizzy yelling at the TV every weekend.

He finishes his piece of pizza and takes a drink of beer.  “That was so good.” He smiles.

“Done?”

“For now,” he laughs.  I stand up and grab the box and put it in the fridge.  I see him stand up and head for the back door.  “Wow, this is nice place you have.  I didn’t think a duplex could be this nice.  Is that entire yard yours?”

“Yeah,” I rinse my hands off in the sink and walk up next to him.  I can smell his cologne when I get close to him.  God is there anything about this man that is not amazing?  “This side is all fenced in.  I had it fenced before we moved in.  The girls are trying to talk me into getting a puppy.  I haven’t given in yet but just in case,” I smile at the thought of how happy the girls would be to find a puppy in their back yard one day.  “I got lucky when I found this place.  It was really reasonable and the neighborhood is really nice.”

“It’s nice when you find something that you just can’t pass up.  I have heard the schools over here are really good too.  A couple of the guys on the team live pretty close,” he states when I give him a questioning look.

“I was wondering how you would know that, but yeah I heard the same.” I take a drink of beer again.  I think I feel my nerves calming a little more with every drink.  “So, would you want to watch a movie?”

He looks down at me, “are you sure?  I mean I did come over to help if you need it.”

“No, we can watch a movie.  I am worn out.  I have been at this since 7:00 this morning and I am ready to be done,” I laugh.

“Sounds good to me,” he laughs.

I turn and walk to the living room and he follows behind me.  I look at the mess I have laying on the floor and laugh.  “Take your pick,” I motion to the piles of movies.

“Holy cow, that is a lot of movies,” he looks at the piles.  “Movie collector?”

“My hubby was,” I smile.  His eyes get big.  Crap that is the first time I have mentioned being married to him.  “He’s not around anymore,” I try to tell him without going into detail.

“Sorry,” he relaxes a little.  “I didn’t know you were married.  I mean I guess I should have figured with the girls, but I don’t assume stuff like that.”  He grabs a movie and hands it to me.  “Something a little cheerful,” he smiles.

I look at it, “Ground Hog Day?”

“You don’t like that movie?”

“No, I do.  I just didn’t peg you as a Ground Hog Day type.” I laugh.  I go to the DVD player and turn it on and put the movie in.  I turn on the TV and get it all started.

“So, tell me something,” he says as I sit down on the couch and he sits next to me.

“What’s that?”

“What do you peg me as?  I mean I already know that you don’t think you are good enough for me, we already covered that, but why do you think that.”

I don’t know what to say.  “I guess because you are one of the most known guys around.  I mean famous guys, whatever.”

“I am just as normal as the next guy.  I told you to me football is just a job.  I went to high school just like you.  And I went to college.  Only difference between me and the average guy is that I have nicer things.”

I can’t help but laugh.  “I think nicer things is an understatement.”

“What does that mean?”

“That means you can buy whatever you want and still have money to spare.  Most guys don’t have the luxury.”

“Jo, just because I have money doesn’t mean I spend it.  I grew up not having money and knowing what it is like to struggle.  I use my money wisely.”

I look up at him.  The more he talks the more I like him.  “So where did you grow up?”  I think he is a little shocked by the topic change.

“San Antonio.”

“Wow, long ways from home.  Why did you come so far?”

“It’s the way my career path led.  If I wanted to play football then this was my place to be.”  He looks at me.  “I did what was best by coming here.  I help my family out more now than I ever could have staying close to them in San Diego.”

I understand exactly what he means.  I just did the same thing moving the girls and me out of the house.  “I know exactly what you mean.”  He just sits there looking at me for a little bit

“So, tell me about your girls.”

I smile and take my phone out of my pocket.  I pull up a picture of Lizzy, “This is Lizzy, she is six and will be a second grader this year.  Very strong little girl,” I smile at the thought.  “And this,” I scroll to the next picture, “is Abby.  She is four and going to be in kindergarten this year.”

“I can’t wait to have kids.” I see his eyes light up a little when he says that.  “That is the one thing about my profession.  It’s hard to have a family.”

“Too much public attention?”

“Not so much that, but during the season I am on the road a lot.  If we have an away game we are gone from Thursday night until Monday afternoon. “

“Don’t a lot of the guys have families though?  I mean I have seen a lot of the guys interview with their kids, or pictures with wives and kids at like charity events and stuff.”

“Yeah, a good handful of them do, but most of them have been together since either their college days, or fresh out of college.  A lot of the guys with families have their own family up here.”  He takes a drink of his beer.  This subject seems almost painful for him; maybe I'm not the only one with a sad outlook on the dating life.  “It’s hard to find someone that wants to be part of this kind of crazy life.”

“Yeah, I guess I can see how that would be hard for someone to adjust to.  But I would think that if you are able to find the right person it shouldn’t be that hard of an adjustment, for you or her.” I smile at him.  “I get the same result from guys, most guys hear the word kids and they cut all ties and all of a sudden lose your phone number.”  I laugh, I can’t even remember how many guys my friends have tried to set me up with in the last two years and they just stop talking to me once they find out I have kids.

He smiles at me, “I think that is the best part.”  He takes a sip of beer, “I love kids and I have wanted to have a family since I moved up here.  I guess it just isn’t in the cards for me yet.  I come from a large family so I love having family and kids around all the time.”  I look out the window.  He gets up and finishes his beer and walks to the kitchen.  “Want another one?”

“No, I think I'm good for now,” I stand up and go stand in front of the window.

“Everything ok?” He startles me.  “Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.”  He walks up next to me.

“I thought I saw someone pull into the driveway.”

“Are you scared someone will find out that I am here?”

I look at him, “Not really.  I don’t want anyone to know, but I'm not scared that they will.  Everyone thinks I am unpacking and I am sure no one will bother me.”

He looks at me a little in shock, “Why don’t you want anyone to know I am here?”

I laugh and sit back down on the couch and so does he and he turns to look at me waiting for an answer. “Well, it’s kind of a big deal for me to actually be on a date. I have been single for almost two years and have not been out on one date.  Like I said guys hear kids and lose my number.  And besides, as we have discussed, you are famous and it is just a big deal.  And I don’t want people to know, because we don’t know where this is going.”