“Yeah.”
“Looks to me like you've found it. At the end of the day, a family is all a man's got, Lance. Your career will be over before you know it. Trust me, it comes fast—faster than you realize.” Shea waved his hand around the dressing room. “But family is far,farmore important than all this bullshit.”
Lance bobbed his head. “Thanks, Shea. That's what I needed to hear.”
“You're welcome, bud. And good luck.”
Chapter 31
Paige
A sickening nervousness bubbled in Paige's belly as her plane circled Logan International Airport. They were stuck in a holding pattern, waiting for traffic on the runway to clear before they could touch down.
But Paige knew she didn't truly have a reason to feel anxious. She wasn't meeting Lance at the airport. She'd purposely not told him the details of her flight because she didn't want him there to greet her.
She viewed the stay in Boston as if it were a business trip. She and Irie were in town for one night only, and the first order of business was simple: they were going to take that paternity test to finally prove that Lance was the father.
The second order of business was taking a stroll around the city and seeing if she could actually picture herself starting a new life in the city with Irie. Her parents had encouraged her to move to Boston. She was against the idea at first, but the more she thought about it, the more it started to make sense. Lance would be closer to Irie, which would make his visits a heck of a lot easier, rather than trying to fly Irie back and forth between cities every other weekend.
And it wasn't like she had much tying to her Nashville—sure, she had her parents and her friends. But beyond that? She no longer had a job and she wasn't in school anymore. Why not start over in a new city? Once Lance had his proof, he could start paying child support. That'd sweep away Paige's financial burden, and she could finally go back to nursing school.
The future was looking up.
The only thing thatwasn'tcertain was how Lance would react to all this.
And maybe that was why she had a sick feeling in her stomach when the plane's tires touched down on the ground.
Stay strong, Paige.
She had an inkling in her gut that Lance would try to win her over somehow. His silence the past few days was telling. She knew he was planning something. He'd said as much. But she wouldn't just move in with him on a whim. That ship had sailed.
And all she could hope for was that he'd understand.
Watching the city whiz past the window of the cab, Boston didn'tfeellike one of the biggest cities in the country. Paige imagined the city would be more like New York—towering skyscrapers, stinky and polluted air, snarling traffic jams, crowded with people.
One of the first billboards they passed featured a familiar name and face. “Welcome to BOSTON! Home of LANCE COUTURE and the BOSTON BRAWLERS.” It was strange, seeing him already. Having him smile upon them from sixty feet in the sky, like some kind of Boston saint.
The cab meandered through the compact streets of downtown Boston and dropped Paige and Irie off outside the hotel. Once Paige checked into her room and settled down, she took a deep breath and called Lance.
He answered right away, sounding excited.“Paige! Hi! Where are you?”
Paige replied in a tone that was true to her mindset: all business. “Hi Lance. We just made it to our hotel. You still have time to take the paternity test today, I hope?”
Her directness threw him off balance.“Well, uh, yeah, we could do that …”
“That'd be great. You have the address here, correct?”
“Er, yeah.”
“So, can you meet us here at one o'clock?”
“Yeah, I can do that.”
“See you then. Bye.”
Paige hung up, feeling proud and in control.
***
