March Madness

"So Gloria," I said slowly. "Let me get this straight. You cheated on me. You broke our marriage vows and had sex with more than one other man, just so you could get enough money for a baby that we've never really discussed."

"You took something between us that was special and gave it to other people for something that I'm not even sure I want?"

"Jim, don't look at it like that," she said sadly. "You're trying to make it seem cheap and nasty."

"Because it is," I said.

"Maybe I did make a mistake," she said. "I guess I never really looked at it that way. I never thought past baby. How do we fix this?"

"Maybe we don't," I said. "You've always been really special to me and I've always loved you Glo, but a big part of that was because we belonged only to each other. When we first met, you got really angry because I thought that you were one of those young girls who hung around with and fucked the guys on the team. Most of those girls were very young. You know they were in that 19 and 20 year old age group where they really don't understand the value of what they were giving away. But you're a thirty five year old woman who supposedly knew that when we first got together over ten years ago, if I wasn't interested in a young whore then, why would I be interested in an old whore now?"

"But we love each other..." she said. "This isn't supposed to end like this."

"Give me a call sometime Glo, maybe we can talk about old times," I said.

"But you did the same thing with your team," she said.

"And it blew up in my face," I said. "Now I have to start all over. And I'll be more careful this time. And you can go into witless protection and do the same thing. You can start all over again with someone else. You're still a beautiful woman."

"Jim, come with me," she said. "I know that I fucked up. I won't do it again. This is tearing you apart. You still love me and I love you. Why hurt yourself?"

"Suspicion and regret," I said. "I read a story once where a guy talked about which one was easier to live with. Deep down inside, on some level, you enjoyed having the sex with those guys. You couldn't have kept doing it for as long as you did if it was totally unpleasant and we both know that. It might not have been your intention and the sex might not have been the reason you did it, but you did do it. Someday you might want to do it again. We're both getting older, sooner or later I won't be able to perform up to the level you expect and you might want to try it again. Whether it happens or not this time will always be there in my mind. I'd always wonder if you were doing it. I'd follow you around and never completely trust you even if we did get the love back."

"On the other hand, if we end this now, you're right, I'll probably regret it. I'll miss you and you'll be a hard act to follow if I ever am lucky enough to find love again. Which one is easier to live with suspicion that you might be hurting me again, or regret that I let what we have end?"

She flashed those beautiful eyes at me one more time. "I'll take regret," I said.

I walked away from her for the last time just as the agents outside opened the door and told her that they needed to leave.

She signed the divorce papers for me and the divorce went through miraculously fast. I guess the department of justice can work really quickly when their star witness into corruption in college sports needs a divorce to go into the witness protection program.

I drove home back to my same old house but with the press practically living on my porch waiting for a story, I needed to get away. I came up here to Crystal Lake to think about what had happened and to try to decide whether or not I'd made the right choices. The breezes over the lake were calming but it was just too weird. I kept thinking that someone was watching me. One morning when I went out for a walk, I found a frigging hockey mask on my front porch. I decided that whether my choices had been right or wrong, I had to live with them now. Whether I'd been driven by pain, anger, an outraged sense of justice or just my fragile male ego, it was over and I had to move on with my life.

The Dean was so pissed at the AD that he gave me the job. Since I was acting as both the Athletic director and the basketball coach even at our small school, I got a huge raise. I actually would have been able to afford the cost of having a kid with Gloria. The thought of it made me cry.

I spent the summer traveling, trying to get over what I'd lost. I didn't date, I didn't even socialize. I started looking for my next team. It wasn't really hard anymore. Making it to the elite eight was bringing me far better recruiting classes. Also my reputation for not taking any shit from my players and not being afraid to bench them, even my stars, had garnered me a lot of respect.

I got a few job offers that might've paid me more money, but I stayed where I was. Loyalty meant a lot to me. I really threw myself into my job. I made sure that every single player on my team was great at the fundamentals of the game. And all of my players were equal. Spots in the starting lineup were based on both skill and hard work. There were no more prima donnas on my team.

I went home every night to a lonely empty house and fought a battle that I knew eventually I'd lose, with the bottle.

Every so often, I'd get a phone call. My caller ID would show, "Number not available," and I'd know who it was. It was Gloria and she was as lonely as I was. Maybe once a month or so they'd let her call me but only to hear the sound of my voice. As the months stacked up, I guess the hurt of what she'd done went away and I came face to face with the reality of bouncing around in an empty house for the rest of my life.

I actually considered calling FBI or whomever and trying to take her back. I was sure that if I spoke to her when she next called and didn't say anything she could arrange for me to go into the witness program too. But I knew in my heart that it simply wasn't the right thing to do. She'd betrayed me in the worst possible way and for the stupidest of reasons. Somehow I just couldn't wrap my mind around taking her back. I guess I'd just rather end up a crusty old man with nothing in his life but basketball and my Mustang.

The thing about March Madness is that we'd all gone a little crazy and in the end we'd all lost. Most of the players lost their chances at the big time, Gloria lost her marriage and her freedom and I lost mine too. I was destined to be that lonely crusty ole man I just mentioned. I'm sure that a lot of people would love to see this story end this way. Fuck them, it didn't.

Jamal did well even though he lied. When he'd walked up to Jin after the game, he'd told Jin that his daughter was pregnant. Since the story began I've talked about how nice a kid Jamal was and how smart. He graduated and got his degree. He was also picked up by the Charlotte Hornets in the second round of the draft. I helped him find an agent. I hope that someday when his career is over he'll come back and work with me.

Jin insisted that Jamal marry Jennifer since he'd gotten her pregnant and she kept talking about how much she loved him. Jamal married her without hesitation. And they were happy. It took Jin a few months to figure out that he'd been fooled. Jamal had lied. Jennifer wasn't pregnant. Jamal just knew that Jin would make him marry his daughter if he thought she was, and that was what he wanted from the beginning. I told you that kid was smart. Jennifer did get pregnant but not until two years later.

Less than a year after the whole thing with Gloria happened, I was walking to my office. My team had come in second place in our conference and while we weren't quite ready for the tournament, I had a good feeling. We'd be heading back to the big dance and soon. Maybe it would happen next year or maybe the year after, but we were good and this time I'd done things the right way.

I'd built trust with these players. And by giving them trust, I gained freedom. I gained the ability to open my heart and trust others again. "Hey Jim," said Al. "There's some broad in your office waiting' for ya."

I opened the door and saw Molly sitting not by my desk but in my chair. I tilted my head and looked at her.

"I had to take classes all year round so I could graduate early," she said. "I am now a fully qualified sports psychologist and you need one."

"What are your salary requirements?" I asked.

"I don't care about any of that shit," she said. "I know you'll pay me whatever the job can. And it doesn't really matter because I already have a place to stay and transportation."

"Well that's good," I said. "I like it when my staff can get to work on time."

"Okay, stop it with the sex talk or I'll have a sexual harassment case," she said.

"What sex talk?" I asked.

"You were talking about your staff," she smirked. "And I've been thinking about your staff for a long time." We both started laughing.

"So where are you staying?" I asked.

"Your pl...Our place," she said.

"So I guess I should take you around and introduce you to the rest of the st...faculty," I said. "I should get you an office."

"It should be someplace close to yours," she smirked. "...Because I really don't like to walk. But first, isn't there something you want to take care of?"

"Like what?" I asked. "Telling you that I'm totally over Gloria and I really missed you. Or telling you that I'd like to give US a try?"

"I already know all of that. I knew you'd need time to get over the ex," she said. "I gave it to you while I got my degree. I figured ten or eleven months would be about right. I also already knew that you liked me from when I put my ass in your face."

"That didn't prove anything," I said. "Even a gay man would probably get an erection if he saw you in those panties."

"But only someone who cared about me would sleep with me after that and not try to take advantage of me," she said.

"So what do I need to take care of?" I asked.

"Your promise," she said sliding further down in my chair and spreading her legs so I could see that she wasn't wearing even those tiny panties this time. "Lock the door Jim. This will probably take a while."

"What could I say? A promise is a promise.

The end