“Some can and should,” Harlan said.
A click followed. Harlan had disconnected the call.
Knowing the older man, he was already on to other things, handling the crisis in a way only he could.
Riley closed his eyes and thought about his daughter. Adults handling the news were one thing. A thirteen-year-old being publicly humiliated was quite another.
He grabbed his keys. Next stop Lizzie and Lisa’s house.
SPENCER STARED out the window of his expensive penthouse apartment on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. His life had been a jumble of contradictions and clichés.
A gay man marrying to hide his secret. Although at first he hadn’t hid his sexual orientation so much as wanted to change who he was. The late 1950s wasn’t a time when homosexuality was accepted or even understood. Hell, he thought, it wasn’t like his lifestyle was accepted everywhere in this country today. He didn’t regret trying to assimilate into the mainstream. He only regretted the hurt he’d caused Anne at the time.
Because if he could have loved any woman in that way, it would have been his son’s mother. Anne was his Doris Day, a soft-spoken, sweet-natured woman who would bring any man to his knees. He’d loved her in his way and he’d wanted to make their life together work. Especially when he’d found out she was pregnant.
Unfortunately, that was when things had started to shatter, both in their lives and inside Spencer. It had been difficult enough being with a woman when she couldn’t fulfill his emotional and physical needs but once she was pregnant, he had immediately felt himself grow distant. He’d started spending nights out at underground gay bars, stopping for an hour at a sports bar on the way home as his cover.
Anne had hated the barrier he’d erected and he’d hated the lie he was living. The more he’d thought about how unfair he was being to her, the more he’d realized how much worse things would be when his baby was born. The decision to leave her had been the most difficult he’d ever made, but he consoled himself with the belief that she’d be better off without him.
Spencer had come home drunk late one night and told Anne that he hated being tied down in any way. With Yank Morgan as his best friend, Anne hadn’t had to look far to see another example of what Spencer claimed to be: a man happier single than married.
She’d moved back with her parents, who’d made it impossible for him to stay in touch with her, not that he blamed them. He’d been torn up inside already and he’d backed off, intending to let some time pass before trying once more to be part of his child’s life. But soon after, Anne had met Harlan Nash, a successful man with a law degree and political aspirations, an upstanding man who wanted to marry her and raise her child as his own.
Spencer and Harlan had met one night at the other man’s request. In that moment, Spencer had known his wife and child could have a better life, a normal life, without him in it. He’d shaken Harlan Nash’s hand and agreed not to contact either one of them again.
However, he hadn’t promised not to watch from afar. He hadn’t sworn not to pull strings and make sure his son-an athlete as it turned out-had the benefits of having a father in the business. He’d steered the appropriate college coaches toward Riley-not that they wouldn’t have recruited the talented young man anyway. And he’d pushed Yank toward representing Riley Nash, making up a bullshit excuse for not going after the Heisman winner himself.
If Yank had known or suspected the truth, he’d never let on. And as the years had passed on, Spencer had come to realize Yank was as much in the dark as everyone else. Keeping his secret had been the only way he knew to live and succeed.
Until Lola had finally left Yank and come to him for a shoulder late one night and discovered him with the man he’d been seeing on and off for the past ten years. Bless Lola, who reminded him so much of Anne, she’d quietly accepted, without passing judgment, and hadn’t revealed his secret-until it had slipped out when Yank had broken his hip in an angry tirade, thinking Spencer and Lola were a couple. Then somehow, the news that night had leaked out, though, for whatever reason, the timing of the big reveal had been delayed until a couple of weeks before the draft.
But as much as that news had sent Spencer into a tailspin, it was nothing compared to this revelation. This one had the potential to destroy other people’s lives. Including the life of the son he’d given up in order to protect him from precisely this secret.
“THE IMPROMPTU MEETING of Athletes Only and The Hot Zone partners will now come to order.” Uncle Yank whacked his gavel hard against the table. “Now who the hell’s responsible for this?” He waved today’s paper in his hand.
Sophie took a sip of her coffee. “What’s going on?” She hadn’t slept well last night and, instead of getting to the office in time to read the morning papers before the meeting, she was about to receive her information from Uncle Yank-when he stopped carrying on, she thought.
“It seems that somebody found out about my connection to Riley,” Spencer said.
“What?” The foam cup slipped from Sophie’s hand and the dark liquid spilled over the lacquered table, soaking her notepad and spreading outward.
She, her sisters and Lola grabbed their napkins and rushed to wipe up the mess.
“I’m sorry. I’m not usually so clumsy,” Sophie said, after they’d cleaned the spill and resettled into their seats.
“You’re not usually so upset by the morning news, either,” Spencer noted too perceptively.
“Well, it doesn’t usually involve people I care about.” She caught her words and laughed. “I take that back. Lately it involves people I care about way too often.”
After all Riley had gone through after finding out about Spencer being gay, he now had to deal with it publicly as well. She glanced at her watch, wondering how long this meeting would go on.
She wanted to get to the phone and see how Riley was handling the news. She couldn’t help worrying about him and she felt certain he needed someone to talk to that he could trust. Heaven knows, she understood what he was going through, Sophie thought.
“So what are we going to do about minimizing the damage for you?” Annabelle asked Spencer.
“I have a meeting this week to find out about that.”
“Cryptic,” Sophie said.
“Very,” Micki muttered.
Spencer nodded. “You’re all just going to have to trust that I have this situation under control. Well, as in control as things can be.”
Yank slammed his gavel, taking everyone off guard.
“What was that for?” Lola asked.
“You heard the man. He’s got everything under control.” Yank nodded at Spencer. “Meeting adjourned.”
Lola gathered his things and together they strode out the conference room door.
“Remember we’re meeting for dinner for last-minute party planning,” Annabelle said, gathering her things.
“I’ll be there,” Micki said.
“So will I,” Sophie said.
As her sisters walked out the door, chatting about the upcoming party, Sophie reached for the nearest phone, anxious to call Riley.
He’d come to her the moment Spencer’s secret had been revealed and they’d gone through so much together since. He’d confided in her that he was Spencer’s son when nobody else had known the truth. She couldn’t let him go through the public revelation of that truth alone and she wanted him to know if he needed her, she was here.
“As much as you care about me, I have a hunch that the coffee spill was because you’re more upset for Riley,” Spencer said, coming up behind her.
Caught, she curled her hand around the telephone. “You shouldn’t minimize your role in our family,” she scolded Spencer, hoping he’d take the hint and drop any conversation about her feelings for his son.
“Can I give you a piece of advice?” he asked.