Silk Encased Steel

Chapter twelve

JT knew that he was lucky to have the family he did. They had supported him, encouraged him and kept him relatively grounded in his career. His mother did not put up with anything she called ‘diva’ behaviour and that helped keep him in check despite the zeros in his bank account. They had come to Arizona for his game and they were having a meal together in the hotel restaurant as usual when they were able to make it out.

 He was psyched to be in the playoffs again this year, but deep in his heart, he knew that it just wasn’t their year. They were good, sometimes had moments of greatness, but the team was decimated with injuries after a full season. It didn’t mean he wouldn’t give it his all, or that he would be in a really crappy headspace when their run was over this year. It did make him even more distracted than usual at the dinner table. His parents understood it, but he still felt badly that it took his mom three tries to get his attention. “Sorry. What did you say?”

She repeated patiently, knowing he had a lot on his mind, “How did your secret trip up north go?” When he looked surprised she laughed, “Your brother is horrible at keeping a secret.”

JT stared at his plate, He wanted to brush it off and say everything was great. But she would have seen through it, and these two were the two people he didn’t have to fake it with, “I thought it went well, great in fact... but I don’t know.”

Carole leaned forward, “Spill it James Tucker Brodie, let’s hear all of it so I can help you fix it.”

His father George cleared his throat, “Maybe you should let him be, he’s a grown man...” He stopped talking when he got his wife’s look of annoyance.

“He finally has legitimate, non crazy groupie girls troubles, I can help. Where would you be without your mothers help Georgie?” She winked at JT  as his father blushed and blustered.

JT recounted a PG 13 version of the weekend, and the past few days afterwards. “So she has a few friends who are professional athletes, are you concerned she is one of those athlete chasers?” His mother asked him probingly.

He shook his head, “No, they were actually pretty shocked that she was with me. She apparently avoids ‘jocks’ and ‘gym babies’ as a rule.”

“So it’s just her reticence to be seen with you, to commit to anything, which is your problem...” She put her fork down and said her tone changing slightly to serious mother mode. 

“You wanted this life JT, the life where people at every table in this restaurant are watching and whispering about you. The life where people want to know your every move, where people you do not even know feel invested in your life. You have had stalkers, you have groupies trailing after you hanging on your every word. It spills onto your friends and family who the media feels they can ask after you.  And you court it, you are constantly in contact with your fan base through social media, you post almost everything... I’m sure they are already speculating about what you did new years considered there were no pictures uploaded.

You live a life where you are both extremely unavailable to real people and overly available to the masses. However, you chose it, and you love it, and it comes with the territory of your job. She didn’t.

You can’t blame someone for being unsure about opening themselves up to the world in a way that they never would be otherwise. If she wants to live a quiet normal life, then you are going either to have to accept it and move on, or make that a possibility for her. If you want her to be in your life in any real way, you will have to shield her from the worst of it. And really if she wanted it, if she was excited about the prospect you would be suspicious of that.”

JT sighed, he knew she was right. Valentina had been saying the same thing to him over the past few days; she didn’t want fame, infamy or anything in between. She had no interest as being the tabloids newest speculation.

He knew in his gut that it was not a matter of her not liking him or not wanting him as much as he wanted her. And he even deep down understood it, because he wanted the same things when he retired, he wanted to go back to a small town, have his family and live a quiet life where the only time a camera was in his face was when he wanted it there. But that wasn’t now. And that was the reason why he didn’t date seriously. He didn’t want what the women who chased him wanted in the long run.

JT could have dated models and starlets like some of his fellow players, but those relationships rarely went anywhere. And when they did it was often tumultuous. With tabloid stories and the distance of competing schedules tearing them apart. “I guess I will tackle trying to figure it out after playoff season,”

Carole and George stared at their son, he was a distracted anxious mess, he was every time they saw him before a game, but this time they worried about it, “If you like this girl, don’t push it aside for long. Women don’t tend to wait around for us to get our acts together.” George advised.

JT looked up at them, “forgetting is not going to be a problem. She’s already part of the routine.” George could tell by the way that he said it that it disturbed him. Not much had made it into ‘the routine’ in the past 7 years of his son’s life. It was Football, Career, and Family. Nothing else had made it into the mix on a regular basis.