Don't Let Us Go

Where She Came From

The evening of the charity event was in full gear, and the James family was at full frontal of the cameras. All city based pressed were scurrying to get a picture of the newly formed family, that longtime player, Spencer James, kept hidden. 

Walking the carpet that all the honorable guests enter the venue on, Spencer and Olivia were targeted aimlessly for pictures and hounded for questions by small sports article interviews. It wasn't every day that a residential good guy was blasted in the press' eyes for such a huge scandal.

Despite all the mess, Olivia maintained her composure as years of studying the art of public communications taught her to do. Unlike her daughter, who walked the carpet with large smiles and dazzling eyes, loving the attention. She was indeed her father's child. As like his daughter, Spencer ran with the punches, smiling for the cameras as if it were another day at the office.

Once they found themselves finally inside the ballroom gala, where the charity auction was being held, Spencer pulled Olivia to the side as their daughter scurried off in search of a certain boy.

"If anyone asks you anything you feel uncomfortable with answering, don't feel obligated to respond to them." Spencer advised her with a gentle rub on her arm. "You do not owe anyone a sob story to feed to the first reporter they can get to."

Taking his comforting hand off her arm, Olivia patted his shoulder blade as if dusting something off his tux. "I think you forgot who you knocked up, Spencer." She snickered, unconcerned for the gossiping vultures lingering inside the large event. "I am the daughter of a retired NFL player and the sister of a current one. And I write in news publications for a living. I'm not worried about these athletic managers, socialites, or bloodthirsty gossip columnists."

Smirking, Spencer shrugged his shoulders, surrending to her confidence. "Do you then, Liv."

Smiling, she looped her arm in his, "Can we go find our daughter before she finds the dessert table?" She asked goofily, sparking a chuckle from Spencer as he escorted her out of the corner so they could begin to work the room.

Mingling amongst some colleagues of Spencer's from, coaching staff to dancers, Olivia kept her discussions light, giving only surface details. Introducing herself as the mother of Spencer's daughter, she enlightened some of Spencer's friends and acquaintances to some of Spencer's prime days in high school. Meeting some of his teammates and their spouses, she shared in Spencer's glory days on his college team before his NFL draft. Hitting it off with most of the people he introduced her to, Olivia found herself comfortable with disclosing how they met in high school with one of  Spencer's closer friends on the team, Jamal and Gina.

"That is some Bonnie and Clyde type of love." Gina giggled over  virgin bloody maries, as Olivia reminisced about how Spencer had once taken a bullet for her.

"Yeah, I think from there, things between us were just set in stone." Olivia mused with light blush on her cheeks as she glanced a few feet away to where Spencer chatted things up with Gina's husband, Jamal.

"And here, Jay and I were thinking we might actually need to set Spence up with someone. Nope, I can understand why he could not let go of a romance like that." Gina nodded, sipping from her glass. "So what, you two are back together or...."

"It's complicated." Olivia moaned, leaning her chin onto her hand as she posed against the bar. "We have a little girl together, and I can tell that he wants to build a family, but it's been years since we've been together."

"As someone who's watched Spencer up close over the last few years, I can tell you he has been holding out for something." Gina disclosed in a hushed tone, eyeing her husband and his teammate. "Jamal and I thought there might be a chance he was interested in that publist of his, once upon a time. But Spencer was quick to shut that down when Jamal suggested he go for it."