Rooster: A Secret Baby Sports Romance (43 page)

“Do you remember this Alex?”

Embarrassingly I don’t. “No”, I say.

“There’s nothing much to remember. Nothing happened. There was this one moment where we almost bumped into each other moving from one room to the next and I kept saying to myself
now, now, now
, but you didn’t even look up”, Lucy says, sad eyes all over me.

“You didn’t have the courage to ask him?” Randall asks her.

“Me? No way. Alex didn’t date people like me. I was a book nerd he was a jock. That doesn’t work.”

“It does now”, I say.

“So, tell me how that happened”, Randall says.

“After college, I went to work for Endzone magazine, a small scale football publication with a dedicated fan base, and pretty much the only job I was offered in a place I was interested in living. It was enough for me to continue doing what I was passionate about, live in a fun city and be close to home. At the time I was offered the job, I would have preferred to work on something much more top end, but after almost six years there, I’m satisfied with where I am and what I’ve managed to achieve over the years. It isn’t Sports Illustrated, but I get to see talent before anyone else does, I get to interview the kind of guys that have the chance to make it big and I get full editorial control over what I write. It’s enough, and I’ve never looked back, even when Alex Vann Haden decided to finally get in touch.”

“You called the magazine?” Randall asks me.

“I sent a request that couldn’t be refused”, I say.

“You got over your fear of rejection? Actually, your fear of the press?”

I let Lucy continue for me. “He asked for me specifically and I had no idea whether he remembered me from college or not.”

“So wait, you hear from this guy you had a secret crush on for four years at college, and suddenly out of the blue, after, what five and a bit years, he invites you to his private island to conduct a series of interviews. Not just any guy either, arguably the most influential and least well liked of all modern sports stars.”

“You forgot best”, I’m quick to add.

“How did that make you feel?” Randall continues.

“Well, kind of confused actually, a bit annoyed, excited again. I don’t know, a real mix.”

I get those narrow eyes again and I love how now I know how to read them properly.

“He wanted me for a week, that was the deal”, Lucy says. “No laptop, no dictaphone, no cell phone, although I snuck that in and I’m glad that I did because if I hadn't, I wouldn’t have found out about Dad, no notepaper, pens, nothing, just me.”

“For a week?” Randall asks.

“For a week.”

“Alex?”

“What can I say. I wanted to make sure she had enough time to fall in love with me.”

Randall’s eyes go back to Lucy. “And was it enough time?” he says.

“Actually, it only took two days”, I say before she has a chance to answer herself.

Lucy thumps me on the leg and I subsequently bang it against the table.

“I was worn down.”

Randall has a laugh at that. “How so?”

“Alex took me out on his boat for a romantic lunch in the middle of nowhere, promptly forgetting to check the gasoline level in the tank, or take reserve gasoline with him.”

I shrug. “I’m a football player”, I say.

“So, in the middle of the Caribbean sea, with a storm forcing us inside and no way of escaping, me, literally thinking I’m going to die, Alex thinks it’s the perfect moment of any other opportunity at any other point in our lives to lean in and kiss me.”

I jump in at that. “Hang on a second. You kissed me”, I say.

She rolls her eyes from me to Randall. “He kissed me”, she says quietly but full of conviction.

“With a storm swirling around in the background? It sounds like something out of a romance film”, Randall says, clearly excited by the story.

“It was a weird moment. I really did think I was going to die”, Lucy says.

“So, a case of your last chance before you regretted it?” Randall proposes.

“We weren’t going to die, it was only a little storm”, I say.

Lucy looks at me and then back to Randall. “The boat nearly tipped over.”

“It’s a solid boat. German built. Solid.”

I still don’t think she’s forgiven me for that day, even though she can joke around about it now.

“But that wasn’t it was it? There were more complications to overcome before you both ended up together, am I right?”

I take the lead on this one. “Circumstances forced Lucy to leave the island before the end of the week was up, and the last I saw of her for the next two months was that helicopter ride away from the island. That was an awful day. A storm was coming in I thought she was going to get caught up in, which stuck around for much longer than I expected. After the connection we had shared I thought she’d come straight back to me, and when she didn’t, I just expected the worst. I had completely given up hope until she showed up that day, coming out of the shadows of the car lot like some kind of deadbeat stalker.”

“You couldn’t stay away?” Randall asks her.

“Evidently”, Lucy confirms.

“But two months? Had Alex not lived up to expectation?”

She laughs at that and I’m not entirely sure why. “Alex, expectation? No, he exceeded my expectations. I was-. Let me put it like this, I was like a little girl in the candy store inside the Patriots stadium.”

“That good?”

“I’m a reporter, I have to be critical. It’s my job to give a fair estimation and a balanced report. No complaints in that department whatsoever. When I saw him again after all those years, I just found myself wanting him more. He wasn’t as much of a dick as he had been, he was still arrogant of course, but we’re working on that, he was charming, considerate, intelligent, interesting, interested in me and even better looking than I remembered. I wanted him, but I didn’t want to admit it. I mean, I lasted two days. That’s probably a record around him.”

“Too much of a good thing then?”

“You know what happened? I got the same shit as I always get, those niggling doubts at the back of my head. I had a lot of stuff to sort out because of what had happened with Dad, and when I finally worked out where I was and who I was a month had already passed and I sincerely thought I’d left it too long. I didn’t want to find out that Alex had already moved onto the next girl, because that’s exactly what I saw him doing in college. I couldn’t cope with it after the month I’d had.”

“But then you did decide to contact him”, Randall says.

“Yes, I did. I missed him-.”

Lucy pauses to interlock her fingers with mine. “I’d been to the game, in fact, I went specifically to see him.”

“To seduce me”, I say.

She squeezes my hand a little tighter than is comfortable. “To see him. I didn’t know what was going to happen after. I knew by that point he wasn’t seeing anyone else and I didn’t want to miss my opportunity again.”

“And why didn’t you call Lucy over that time Alex?” Randall asks me.

“Good question”, Lucy says, turning to me. We’ve been over this a number of times between us, but I know she likes to rile me about it.

I hold my hands up. “I got scared.”

“Alex Vann Haden scared? This really doesn’t sound like you, Alex.”

“Randall, I was fucking scared and I don’t mind admitting it. When Lucy and I finally got together, it was better than all of those MVP awards, all of those Superbowls, every single win against the Jets all rolled into one, and then she left and didn’t come back. I didn’t call her because I didn’t want to know why. I was scared that I was going to be told that I couldn’t have the single thing I wanted most in the world.”

“And what is it that attracts you to Lucy?” Randall asks.

I turn to her. “Is
everything
a suitable enough answer?”

“Try and be a bit more specific.”

“Her passion for football and her ability to bring even the most mundane game to life. Her memory for things I’ve done that I don’t even remember myself. Her fragility. Above all the fact that when I look into her eyes I know that she loves me. It’s the purest thing I’ve ever seen.”

“You sound like you’re pretty much head over heels.”

“I’m kinda getting there, yeah. Bit of work to do, but looking good at the moment.”

“And you, Lucy. I take it you feel the same way?”

“Alex is the most remarkable man I’ve ever met both on the field and off it, I wouldn’t want to be with anyone else. Every single day I wake up with him I feel like the luckiest person alive, and that’s not even an exaggeration. If I’m sad, Alex cheers me up, If I’m lost, no matter where I am he’ll know where to find me, if I’m lonely he’ll do everything in his power to make sure I’m not.”

“Wow”, Randall says.

I look at Lucy. “Yeah, wow, thank you.”

“You know, I’ve been married for thirty years, I love my wife to death, but we argue constantly like cats and dogs. You two, I guess not.”

“Oh we argue”, Lucy says, “the trick is knowing how to win.”

“So where does it go from here?”

“Slowly was always the agreement, but I’m not sure we’ve entirely heeded that initial advice”, Lucy says.

I cut in. “We’ve just gone through some crazy stuff in the papers, and we’re beginning to settle back down now. We’ve got Christmas around the corner, playoffs at the beginning of next year, who knows. We’re feeling good right now.”

Randall readjusts himself, uncrossing one leg to recross the other.

“Do you mind if we talk a little bit about that?”

I look to Lucy who seems way more comfortable now than she did at the very start of this interview.

“I really wanted to get Lucy’s perspective on it. We’ve heard almost nothing from her about this, and quite a lot from you, Alex, but if you’d rather not I understand.”

“Go on”, Lucy says.

“Really my question isn’t specifically about what happened, more about how you feel in general being in a relationship with someone with such a high level of notoriety. Alex is arguably the most talked about football player at the moment, and has been over the last six years, even after purposefully removing himself from the spotlight. He is an attractive man, athletic, young, intelligent, famous enough to make appearances in public difficult and constantly sought after, talked about, criticized and put under scrutiny. How has that changed your life?”

“It’s difficult to cope with, I’m not going to lie”, Lucy says. “I’m in love with a person who happens to be one of the best football players on the planet, not the other way round, so for me, I never expected or asked for the attention. I know Alex doesn’t seek it either, and has only just changed his approach this year in an attempt to embrace it, but for me, who prefers to be behind the camera not in front of it, it’s hard to deal with. I’m sure it’s hard for anyone who holds a position of public importance.”

“And the things people say about you both? I read something recently, for instance, that suggested you had an attitude problem, which I have to admit after less than half an hour in your presence clearly isn’t the truth at all. I had to reread the passage again because I thought they must have been referring to Alex, but even he seems to have managed to change public opinion about him. Do comments like that bother you?”

Lucy is quick to answer.

“If someone is lying about something we’ve done then it can be problematic and tiresome to resolve. Otherwise, if it’s an opinion that simply isn’t true, like me having an attitude problem, or my degree being basic, it can be hurtful but not necessary a huge issue.”

Randall looks confused for a moment. “Sorry, what’s a basic degree?” he asks.

“Exactly my point”, Lucy says, looking at me.

“The press are always going to be there, whether we like it or not”, I say.

“That’s not the opinion you’ve always had, Alex.”

“No, I always knew that, I just didn’t pay them any attention before.”

“So you’re happy?”

“With Alex? Yes”, Lucy says. “I’m over the moon. I’d prefer he didn’t go to so many away games, but if he keeps bringing me back presents, I think I’ll adjust.”

“And has he convinced you to change your allegiance yet?”

“You know how disappointed I was he didn’t go to the Patriots? No, that’s never going to happen. The Patriots was always the team I grew up supporting because both my dad and granddad were huge fans. It’s how I got into football.”

“And if the Patriots get into the Superbowl?” Randall asks.

“We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.”

Lucy smiles, satisfied with the account she’s given of herself.

There are a few more questions before we close up to have a series of photos taken, about our life away from football, our hobbies, our political leanings, our views in general about the state of the country, but I think they are less about the article itself and more because Randall’s actually really enjoying talking to us.

When we are finally done, he gives us both a firm shake of the hand and we head back to the car.