Been In Love Before: A Novel Read Online Free Page A

you.”
    “But I’ve heard you do quite a lot of other things, at least that’s what I read in the newspaper last week.”
    “I have my own sports marketing firm and work for the radio show broadcasting the Major League Baseball home games. I also work as an agent for other players, do personal appearances, autograph signings, and a lot of charity work.”
    “How do you manage the time to do all of that?” asked the woman, obviously interested.
    The woman started to say something else but was interrupted by Laura. “I see you’re still womanizing,” she interjected. “I’m sorry, but I’m going to have to cut short this lovefest. We have things to do.”
    His first marriage, after college, had lasted only two years. Her youthful carousing when he was on the baseball circuit, coupled with his constant traveling, was too much for his new young bride. She left him while he was on the road in Kansas City, leaving only a note and a stack of unpaid bills. It was a messy divorce, and he swore he would never again lose someone he loved.
    Eight years went by, and then he met Alice Cummings at an autograph session. They were married a year later. Her daughter Laura was from her first marriage. Eian had met Alice’s ex-husband at a funeral years ago and had not been impressed.
    “Careful of him. He’s a real weasel,” he remembered Alice telling him later. Laura was more like her father than her kindhearted mother. All she was ever interested in was money.
    Eian turned his full attention on his stepdaughter. “I never cheated on your mother, never. I dated a lot before we got married, but I never cheated on her. And at the end . . . I was with her day and night, which is more than I can say for the likes of you.”
    “Believe what you want if it makes you feel better, but I know different. Besides, I had other things to do than to hear Mother tell me the same story over and over again,” said Laura. “And now I don’t have time for this; we have work to do.”
    “What do you mean, work? What’s going on here? What are you doing here?”
    “Well, if you’d open your mail every once in a while, you’d know what I am talking about. I’m selling the house, and you have to vacate.”
    “What do you mean? Selling? Vacate? I don’t understand.”
    “The house is in mine and my mother’s name, and now it belongs to me.”
    “Are you sure about that? I’m the spouse. And in Florida the spouse has . . .”
    “As the spouse . . . you’re entitled to a portion of the proceeds of the sale but only after all the house sale expenses. Of which there are many.”
    “Laura, I have certain legal rights. Besides, I never received any show cause or any other legal notices.”
    “You were sent orders to vacate the premises multiple times over the last two months, and you were supposed to have all of your things out of here by last week.”
    “I get all my mail, and I never got anything like that.”
    Her voice rose, as usual when she did not get her way. “You have one hour to pack up and leave or I’ll call the police.”
    “Go ahead and call ’em, you little twit,” he told her with a smile. “It was nice to meet you,” he told the awestruck Realtor with his melting charm, and returned to the kitchen to read his newspaper and call his lawyer on his cell phone. His attorney’s voice-mail message said, “Leave a message at the beep, and I’ll get back to you when I return from vacation, or feel free to call my office and speak with my assistant, Amy. Have a nice day.” Sunday. Damn.
    He turned to look in the living room and saw Laura pull out her cell phone and dial a number. The police arrived at the house within ten minutes.
    Laura stood by the front door, her hands on her hips, and greeted them with an angry frown, pointing at Eian, who was leaning against the door frame, drinking his coffee. “Get him out of here. Here is the vacate directive from my lawyer and the courts,” she told the two