Page 62 of He Has Game (Boston Brawlers Hockey)
All we need to do is stage a fight and give everyone a reason why our engagement should end so we can both go our separate ways. As agreed. And I’ll make damn sure she gets an A for her internship grade.
* * *
The next dayafter practice when I’m about to go in the film room, coach stops me and tells me to report to the PR office.
“Don’t linger there,” he says. “You need to get past all this drama and focus on the playoffs, our next opponents.”
“Don’t worry, I’m already past it.” Coach nods, but I don’t miss the skepticism in his look.
As soon as I walk into Mary’s office, I know it’s a set up and I struggle to control the flash of anger. My mother and her fool fiancée Neil are sitting at the conference table waiting for me and Mary stands with her hands on her hips, then shuts the door behind me.
Strangely the scene reminds me that day three months ago here in this office when I first met little Vivvie the nerdy bookish mouse. Hah. My first impression of her couldn’t have been further off base if I’d thought she was a Martian.
“What’s this about?” I ask.
“We need to iron out the details of the Boylston matter,” Mary said.
“I thought you all took care of that.” I sweep my hand across the room to include all three of them.
“Sure, we took care of Sherry and Edwin,” my mother says as if they’re her next door neighbors she’s known all her life. Since when did she get so comfortable with the people she used to sneer at as uppity?
I wait for her to continue. I’ll give them five minutes then I’m leaving. I can afford to brave Mary’s wrath with coach on my side.
“We need to take care of the detail of your engagement,” my mother says. “By the way, I love the diamond you bought Vivvie. Must have set you back some.”
It never occurred to me that my mother would discover that the engagement was fake, probably because I’m not in the habit of thinking about her one way or another. I shrug and remain silent, waiting for her to get to the punchline. Mom’s a real drama queen. The opposite of Vivvie’s calm reserve.So what?
Mary says, “We think it would be best if you two stay engaged until the playoffs are over as originally planned. That way we’ll avoid any further drama.”
With precision aim, Mary hits my soft spot. She’s right. Fuck. But I’m in a shitty mood, so I’m not going along easy because I don’t like being manipulated by her, and that goes double for my mother. I flick a glance at Neil and he looks content to watch the show. I hope he learns something from the eyeful he’s getting of his future wife.
“I don’t see the need for a pretense. I don’t want to be engaged to Vivvie. I’m tired of having her chained to me like an anchor.”
Neil laughs and I’m not sure what to make of it—no, that’s not true. I know he sees right through me.
“Anchor? Vivvie?” my mother says. “What the hell are you talking about, Finn. She’s the lowest maintenance woman I’ve ever met. You should be on your knees—"
“Why are you defending her? Why do you even care? I’m not really marrying her. We were never engaged. Our entire relationship was a fake.”
“No it wasn’t and you know it,” Mom says. “I saw how you looked at her, how you treated her, and how she adores you. Poor girl. No accounting for taste.”
“And there’s the mother I now anddon’tlove.”
“Go ahead, take your frustrations out on me because it was all my idea to hire an actor and set Sherry up. If Vivvie went along with it, she only held her nose and compromised her values to protect you, you ungrateful S.O.B.”
“Neil, are you paying attention? See what you’re in for?”
“I do, son. I think she has a point, even if it is a harshly made point. But that’s Caroline’s way. She’s a woman who’s passion runs high.”
“Don’t tell me that shit.”
“How about if I tell you I know she’s not perfect. Neither are you. And neither is Vivvie. But that doesn’t mean you throw out all the parts of them that are wonderful, sacrifice all the good for the sake of a lapse in judgment here and there, a misstep or two, a minor flaw or even several. Have you looked in the mirror lately, Finn?”
Seething, because he has a point, it doesn’t make a dent in the sadness and disappointment I have in Vivvie. She was the good, decent girl, the kind one who wouldn’t hurt anyone. The person who’s judgment could be trusted, the one woman I could trust. If she’s not that, then I don’t know her.
“Our relationship was built on a pretense. Fake. Whatever we had is gone now.” Because she’s not real either, not who I thought she was.
