Chapter 21
Most of the women were in the kitchen doing clean-up duty. Jess had taken Liza into the formal living room to talk. Pauli, Papa, Roy, and Ben’s uncles were in the hearth room watching football. Ben rounded up Tony, Joey, Jake, Jamie, and Gabe for a little three on three. Ben played basketball on a league every week, and while he’d played with both Jake and Jamie, he had no idea what Gabe’s abilities were except that Jamie had caught him with an elbow in the ribs yesterday. Better to have Gabe on his own team where he could keep an eye on him. “I’ll take Jamie and Gabe.” He said as he tied his shoes.
They went out the patio door and headed toward the basketball court. Ben held a quarter in his hand and looked at Tony as he flipped the coin in the air he said, “Call it.”
“Heads.” Tony said as Ben let the coin drop to the ground.
They both leaned down to look at the coin. Ben handed Tony the ball and picked up the quarter. Tony nodded to the goal he was claiming for his team and took the ball out of bounds at the opposite end of the court. He tossed the ball to Joey and stepped in bounds as Ben and Jamie were doing two on one coverage, Joey bounced the ball to Jake who muscled his way to make the first three point score.
Ben took the ball out of bounds and tossed it to Jamie, who was immediately guarded by Jake. Jamie passed the ball to Gabe, who was immediately covered by Joey. Gabe had some fancy moves. Probably learned them for some movie role. Joey thought as they went up under the basket. The ball was in with a swish and the score was three to two. Joey took it out and tossed it in to Jake.
The game continued with no steals and each basket answered by one for the other team. Tony, Joey, and Jake were behind by one and they’d agreed to a 15-point game meaning the next team to score would win the game. Gabe had the ball and went up for the shot. It rolled around the rim and fell out. Both Gabe and Joey went up for the rebound. When they came back down, Joey had the ball and Gabe was on the ground.
Gabe shook his head and got up. In the scramble under the hoop, both men trying to get the ball, Joey’s elbow had caught him in the nose. It was bleeding like crazy and he was sure it was broken, but this was street ball where neither fouls nor time-outs existed. He got up and followed the ball to the other end of the court where Joey scored the winning basket for his team.
Ben noticed Gabe who was holding his shirt to his nose and walked over to him. “I warned you that Bellini Ball was brutal. Are you all right?”
Gabe looked at Ben, and gave a slight nod. “I’m pretty sure it’s broken, but I’m good.”
Ben shook his head. “Come on let’s go in and have Dr. Bellini take a look.” He looked back to the court. “You guys play some two on two. We’ll be back in a bit.”
He gave Gabe a wad of paper towels and sat him at the kitchen table with his head tilted back, holding the paper towels to his nose.
“Pauli, will you step in here for a minute?” Ben called as he opened the freezer and started rummaging for frozen vegetables. He pulled out a bag of frozen corn and looked back to Gabe. The bruising was already forming around his eyes.
Jess, who had been in the living room talking with Liza Conrad, heard Ben call to Pauli. She knew that someone was hurt, so she followed Pauli into the kitchen.
Gabe tentatively moved the paper towels and looked from Pauli to Jess. “Believe it or not this isn’t my first broken nose and it probably won’t be my last.” He turned toward Ben, “Once the bleeding stops I’ll be ready for a rematch.”
Jess walked to the table, and pushed Pauli aside. “Greer, what happened?”
“Jess, let the doctor have a look.” Gabe responded as he took her hand and moved her to his side.
She put fists on her hips and looked at Ben. “We start filming in less than a week. What happened?” She demanded.
Ben put the bag of frozen corn on the table. “He and Joey went up for a rebound at the same time. Joey got the ball.”
Jess was out the door before anyone could say anything else. She stomped her five-inch heels to the middle of the court and stood toe to toe with Joey. The game came to a screeching halt. Her brothers knew enough to back off and stay out of the way. Even Tony kept his distance. Joey was totally on his own.
She reached up and jabbed her right index finger in Joey’s chest punctuating each word. “What the hell were you thinking?” She said in that low, mad, Parker tone Joey knew so well.
On the fifth poke, Joey grabbed her hand and held it against his chest covering it with his own. What the hell was it with her and his chest?
“We were just playing basketball.” He said quietly but firmly.
She didn’t attempt to pull her hand from his grasp. “His nose is broken and we start filming in five days. I can already see the bruising around his eyes.”
Gabe had come outside and was jogging toward them. He took in the scene and the body language between Jess and Joey.
“Jess. It’s not a big deal; we’ll film around it. I have scenes that could easily cause this type of injury. It’ll just give the make-up artist a little head start. That’s all.” He shook his head. “They just play a rougher game of basketball in Kansas than we do in Hollywood. Jamie caught me in the ribs yesterday. Joey didn’t do it on purpose. Trust me.”
Joey still held her hand against his chest and his eyes hadn’t left hers. “What he said. It was an accident.” He nearly whispered.
“Like I said in the house, it isn’t my first broken nose and it probably won’t be my last. I’m not some candy assed movie star who’s made of glass for God’s sake. Shit happens, Jess. It’s fine. I’m fine.”
She turned her gaze away from Joey and looked at Gabe. Everyone else had gone into the house and the three of them stood alone on the lighted basketball court.
“And what are you going to tell the paparazzi as we walk through the airport Monday?” She snapped.
Gabe laughed. “Oh, that’s easy. I’m going to tell them we had a fight because I made you sing Santa Baby at the nursing home and you punched me.”
“You what?” She practically seethed.
Gabe shrugged. “I’m going in the house. Pauli gave me a painkiller and I should lay down now. You kids play nice out here, okay?” Gabe said as he turned and walked to the house.
She couldn’t believe that Gabe had just turned and walked away from her. Sure, she sort of understood the practical joker in him would say that he was going to tell the paparazzi that she’d given him the black eyes. She was worried that the paparazzi would believe him.
She turned and looked up at Joey. “I’m sorry. I guess I jumped to the wrong conclusion.”
He still held her hand against his chest and now reached around her with his other hand and pulled her close to him. “I guess you did.” He whispered.
He turned so his back was toward the house and she was completely hidden from anyone who might be looking out the window to watch them. Joey knew that Gabe Greer had just screwed up big time by walking away from her and while he was still trying to figure out what Gabe was doing there, the guy had come out to defend him.
“I know you’re pissed right now.” He smiled the mega-watt Bellini smile. “At both of us. But Jess, with what Pauli must have given him, Gabe probably had to get to bed before he fell down.”
She didn’t say anything.
“Why did you bring him here, Jess? What’s going on?” He whispered against her ear.
“We’re doing the movies together. He’s a friend. My best friend in Hollywood, but just a friend. Trust me Joey, he’s not attracted to me.” She said.