Vincent

Chapter Five

On Saturday morning, a knock sounded on Chelsea's front door. When Chelsea opened the door, Aaron, Vincent's former teammate, was standing in her doorway.

"Hey, Aaron," Chelsea smiled, "please, come in."

"Where's Vinny?" Aaron asked as he sat on the sofa next to Chelsea.

Chelsea sighed, "he's hungover. He came to bed drunk and is still sleeping."

"Damn, I'm sorry Chelsea. I know that this is really hard for him and you. As long as I've known  Vincent, this isn't like him to get drunk all the time."

"I know, I can't stand seeing him like this," she paused, "when he wakes up, I'm going to talk to him because I refuse to watch my husband turn into an alcoholic."

"I'll call him today and speak to him too," Aaron paused, "which reminds me, I actually came here because I have a friend who used to work as a recruiting specialist for the Rangers, but now she works as a personal assistant. With that being said, she has great connections and can possibly help Vincent in any way she can."

"Oh really? I think that's wonderful. I think he'll be interested but, I guess you won't know until you speak to him."

"You're right," he smiled, "when he wakes up, tell him to call me, but if he doesn't call me by 3:00 PM, I'm calling him myself."

"Alright, will do. Thanks for stopping by Aaron," she smiled, "of course Vincent isn't here to see you, but I know he'll call you later on."

"It's alright, I just wanted to make sure you guys are holding up."

After Aaron left, Chelsea turned on the TV in the living room and watched it as she waited for Vincent to wake up so she could talk to him.

*******************

Saturday afternoon, Vincent woke up with a throbbing headache and dizziness; he had to lay in bed for a few minutes before he got ready for the day. When he finally emerged from his bed, he found Chelsea sitting on the love seat watching TV. At that moment, Chelsea turned her head and their eyes connected.

"Hey Vin, how are you feeling this morning?"

"Like garbage."

"You want me to make you something to eat or some coffee?"

Vincent sat next to her and faced her, "no, I'm scared if I eat now, it won't stay down for long."

"Don't worry, I'll make you some ginger tea later on so you can eat something but," she paused, "we need to talk."

Vincent already had a feeling where this conversation was heading, "go ahead."

"Babe, I know you're upset and coping with the fact that you lost your job, but how does drinking yourself into a stupor almost every day solve anything?" she paused, "listen, watching you go through this isn't easy for me, but at the same time, I don't want you to throw in the towel and give up. We're going to figure this out together and you will have a career, but you have to stop drinking like this" Chelsea finished.

Vincent exhaled, "you're right" he grabbed her hands, "I'm sorry for drinking like this. Honestly, everything was just a shock for me. One minute I had my job, and then the next moment, the team drops me like I was nothing. I was so pissed and worried about our future. Being a professional athlete tricks you into feeling you have it all, but once they're done with you, you hit rock bottom. If anything, this experience has taught me that I can't rely on anybody but myself and God. Either way, I have no excuse and I'm done drinking Whiskey for a while," he smiled, "I'm getting too old to tolerate these hangovers."

Chelsea smiled, "you're not that old, but yes, you're getting too old to torture yourself like this"

Vincent pulled Chelsea into a hug, "I'm sorry for drinking like that, I promise I'll control myself in the future."

"Thank you babe. We'll get through this together." Chelsea wrapped her arms tightly around his neck and they remained in this position for a few minutes, before he kissed her slowly, communicating all of his feeling with his lips.

When they separated, Chelsea said, "by the way, Aaron stopped by earlier this morning. He wanted to see you, but you were sleeping. We spoke for a couple of minutes, he wants you to call him today."

"Oh really?  Yeah there was no way I could see him this morning, I felt like crap!" he laughed, "what did he say?"

"He has a friend who could possibly help you start a new career"

"Alright, I'll definitely call him. Besides, I miss seeing him and the guys."

Later on, Vincent called Aaron and got the contact information of the recruiting specialist. For some time now, Vincent had been contemplating starting his own business rather than working for another company. After all, he minored in Business Management in college and his father is also a retired business owner. Despite this setback of losing his job, he was determined to work towards a better future for his family.