Bringing the Heat by Mark Bowden

Author:Mark Bowden
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2000-12-26T16:00:00+00:00

THE INFIDELITY Erika endured was an occupational hazard of NFL marriages. More of the other wives she knew had been through it than had not, white, black, newlywed, or long hitched. Her best friend, Jennifer Joyner, was going through it now with Seth.

Jennifer’s nightmare had started in February, when Seth flew both her and his Puerto Rican girlfriend, Wanda, to Honolulu for the Pro Bowl. Jennifer discovered Wanda when she kept phoning their hotel room the night before the game. The phone rang right in Jennifer’s ear, on the table next to her pillow. Wanda called again before sunrise.

Seth, alongside Jennifer, took the phone and held it to his ear. Jennifer could hear the woman on the other end complaining loudly, rattling on and on, with Seth just nodding—”Uh-huh … no … uh-huh.”

“Who is this woman?” Jennifer demanded. “She must be pretty important if she has the nerve to call you and yell at you in your own hotel room at five o’clock in the morning with your wife in the room and your child sleeping in the next bed!”

Seth was now getting it in both ears.

He handed the phone back to Jennifer and rolled over silently, an inert black mountain. Jennifer had high hopes for this trip. She and Seth had gotten in a huge fight over his mother the summer before, and he had left her and his daughter behind in El Paso when he flew back to Philly for the season. He had sworn to her that he wasn’t seeing anyone else, that he just needed some space. When he made the Pro Bowl, he had invited Jennifer and her parents out for the game. Her parents were going to take Jasmine, their four-year-old daughter, back to El Paso at the end of the week, and then she and Seth were planning to spend a week together on Maui. She saw it as a time to heal their marriage … long afternoons on the Wailea sands, luxurious dinners, champagne nights … just what the doctor ordered to rekindle romance.

Now this.

When Seth woke up at dawn, he pulled on his clothes silently and made for the door. He knew Jennifer was angry, and, with her at least, avoidance was Seth’s major tactic in interpersonal conflicts. Jennifer had spent many long days and nights seething alone over some issue like this, waiting for Seth to phone or return home. This time, she thought, by God, I’m not going to sit around wallowing in anxiety all day. She scooped up Jasmine from the next bed and ran out into the hall after him.

“You are going to talk to me,” she said.

She was in her nightgown, her blond hair all tangled and pillow tossed, their child in her arms.

“What the hell are you doing?” he asked, and kept on walking.

“I’m right behind you,” said Jennifer. “You are going to talk to me!”

He stopped at the elevator.

“Go back to the room,” he said. “I’ll be back.”

“I’ve got to talk to you right now.

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