As he turned to look at her dead in the eye, Jake’s chocolate orbs were like lasers straight into Dominique’s heart. “He’s upset, Dominique. And I think you know why.” Jake turned to shake the hands of a few parents who’d gathered around him, and then before Dominique could try and reclaim the conversation, Madison, the reporter whose ex-husband had played with Jake in the NFL, was pushing up on him. Dominique watched Jake step away from the crowd so that his answers would be picked up by her microphone, noted how being the gentleman that he was, he took Madison’s elbow and gently guided her over the rough spots in the field. The look of admiration in the woman’s eyes as she looked up at Jake wasn’t lost on Dominique, who wondered if she’d ever looked at Jake with the true admiration that until recently she’d always felt. Or had she felt it, she wondered. Had she given Jake his due, or terribly underestimated his worth?

31

31

Until now, Dominique hadn’t realized this awful truth: weekends sucked. Even though she was pretty much caught up, she buried herself in work on Saturday and, after Anita picked up Justin, accepted a dinner invitation from a casual friend, a colleague who worked at another magazine, just to not be sitting at home alone and lonely on Saturday night.

By Sunday, she’d run out of busywork. She called Anita and found out that Faith and Aaron had taken the boys to Knotts Berry Farm and not only that, were planning to bring Justin home after their outing. This took away the one time-consuming task Dominique had to look forward to... driving to Inglewood to pick up her son. After doing several activities that were totally unlike her, including reading the LA Times online and watching a movie on Lifetime, Dominique was ready to climb the walls. It was three o’clock, and a rumbling stomach reminded her that she’d only had a bagel, an apple, and a glass of juice all day. Dominique went downstairs and looked in the fridge. Nothing there to spark her interest. She browsed through the half dozen takeout menus in one of the kitchen drawers. None of the cultures represented—from Italian to Chinese, Indian to Mexican—sounded good. Maybe it’s because I’ve been eating out all week, Dominique decided. Maybe I’ll go to the store and get the makings for a nice, big, healthy salad. The sound of Justin’s voice immediately popped into her head. “Coach says there should always be something green, yellow, and orange on your plate.” When it came to her son’s nutrition, Dominique had tried to do better, and Tessa was a big help. Still, she’d be the first person to admit that there was still a considerable distance between herself and Suzy Homemaker.