Page 49 of The Marriage Playbook

“I’m glad you joined me, though, because I have an announcement to share, and to tell the truth, I’ve been looking forward to this moment for a very long time. But I need to go back a bit in order for it to make sense.

“There are a few things everyone already knows about me. Some of those things are more true than others. For instance, there’s the fact that I was kicked off the Miami Stingers recently. And there have been a few stories circulating about why that was, but this is the true one.”

He took a breath. Once he let this go, he was committed. There would be no going back.

“The truth is that it was nobody’s fault but my own,” he said. “I let my temper get the better of me, and in the world of professional football, there’s just no excuse for that. A team is a brotherhood. We’re allowed to hit each other.” He dared to crack a smile. “But we all know there’s a time and a place, and I broke those rules. The team was right to dismiss me. I wish they had given me a second chance, but they were under no obligation to do so.”

He paused. “Now, I know that some of you have heard a different story. A story having to do with a woman named Cara Bailey. And I’m going to come back to that, because that story deserves to be told, and because she is a part of this. But what I want to say right now, more than anything, is that Cara Bailey is not the reason I lost my place on the team. It had nothing to do with her. In fact, I didn’t even meet her until after my contract had been terminated.”

Now people were really intrigued, Liam could tell. A murmur had gone up around the room at his last words, and the volume swelled. He waited, giving them a few moments to process the information, and then continued.

“That isn’t the reason I called this press conference. What I wanted to share today was the fact that I’ve been offered a place with the Colorado Lions. Of course, that’s more than I had any right to expect, but a second chance is exactly what I wanted, because football is everything to me. However…after due consideration, I’ve decided to pass on their offer. I sent an email to the team management earlier today letting them know that while I appreciated the consideration, I won’t be able to play in Colorado.”

Hands shot up around the room. The entire front row was now on the edge of their seats.

“If you wouldn’t mind holding your questions for a little bit longer,” Liam said, “I’ll be happy to elaborate on anything you want to know once I’ve finished this story.”

“Are you going to be rejoining the Stingers?” someone yelled. He didn’t see who had voiced the question, but he’d known it would come, and though he had asked them to wait, he decided to go ahead and address it. What was the harm?

“I have no plans to return to the Stingers, at least not at the moment,” he said. “They haven’t made me an offer, and I don’t believe they will. I don’t think it’s a good use of anyone’s time to fantasize about a world in which I go back to that team. As much as I might like it, it isn’t in the cards.

“So that’s what I came here today to announce.” He looked down for a moment. The news was out there, now. He had given them all the pieces that mattered, and anyone would be able to put it together. But he was still going to say the next part. He was going to connect these dots, once and for all, because doing so put him in firm control of his life. Now, after today, there would be no more spin jobs, no stories in the press speculating about what he might have meant or what might be happening with him. The truth would be as clear as glass.

“What this means is the end of my football career.”

He paused, giving them time to gasp, and he wasn’t disappointed. Some people even rose up out of their seats a little bit. No one had been expecting him to say that.

It warmed him a little to think that these people didn’t want his career to be over. That there were people in the world who hadn’t written him off. Cara had made him believe that could be true, and now he was seeing it play out.

The hands went up again, but he ignored them. “And now I need to go back to the woman behind all this,” he said. “Cara Bailey. When we announced our marriage, I told everyone that it was my desire to focus on our relationship that led to my departure from football. That wasn’t true.” He swallowed. “At least, it wasn’t true then.”

A hush came over the room, as if the assembled group sensed the weight of what was coming.

“The truth is that I married Cara Bailey out of a misguided desire to improve my reputation,” he said. “I thought I’d be more respectable as a married man. And that did seem to have the desired effect. But being married to Cara had another effect, one I never anticipated. I really did begin to fall in love. I thought it was a pose I could put on for the sake of the press, and I failed miserably at that because my heart got involved. And that’s the reason I’ve decided not to go to Colorado. As much as I would love to belong to a team again, as much as I want to play football, for the first time in my life, there’s something I want more.”

Hands raised for a third time. He’d expected that. Still, he gave them no attention and just continued speaking. Telling this story, telling the whole truth for once, made him feel lighter than he had in a long time. It was as if the sun was coming out from behind a cover of clouds, and now he wanted nothing more than to finish what he’d started.

“I want to explore what I’ve only just started to build with the brilliant, incredible woman I was lucky enough to find myself married to,” he said. “I never meant to fall in love with Cara Bailey, but I have learned that she’s someone I can be myself with more than anybody I’ve ever known. And that’s not something I’m willing to give up. Now, unfortunately, I might have blown it with her. It will be for her to decide whether there’s any future for the two of us. But the one thing I have control over is this: we’ll never be able to build anything if I’m off in Colorado. So I’m choosing the possibility of Cara over a future in football. I’m going all in on love. And I’m just going to have to hope that she’s willing to take me back.”

The tension seemed to leave his body completely.

He’d done it. He had said what he had come here to say. There was no going back now.

He cleared his throat. “I’ll take your questions now, if there are any.”

But he seemed to have finally stumped them. The room was silent for a long moment, and he wondered whether he had actually managed to address every possible question.

And then a voice spoke up—high and clear and so familiar to Liam that he felt as if his heart was going to burst out of his chest.

“I have a question,” she said.

She was there. Standing at the back of the room. She must have just gotten to her feet. Her cheeks were flushed, that lovely pink color he hadn’t realized he was so attached to. Her eyes welled with tears.

Cara.

He couldn’t speak. For a long moment, he just stood there, taking her in. There were whispers around the room as people recognized her, but he ignored them.

She’s here. She came. She found out what was happening and…she came.