Brown Sugar (AA EDITION)

Chapter V: Truth Hurts

Spencer's POV

About two hours later, I return home to see my wife resting on the couch. She's not a big football fan and she typically doesn't bother to attend the games. And oddly enough, she doesn't bother to watch either. So I know she hasn't caught wind of the news.

"Hey baby," she says as she flicks through channels.

"Hey you," I say back as I hand her the iPhone I mistakenly took as mine. "I think I need a new case."

She chuckles. "I know. I kept getting calls from all of your ex-girlfriends."

I laugh at her sense of humor. And I soak it in because I don't think she'll be in a joking mood once I tell her I quit my job.

I take a deep breath and sit next to her on the couch. "Baby!"

"Do you think I should get this watch for my birthday or the one I showed you yesterday?" She asks and she can't even see that I have something major to tell her because she's too busy shopping.

"Hold on, babe! I don't think we should be making any major purchases right now."

She looks confused by my words and I swallow a heap of dry air as I formulate the words to explain to her.

"Why not? Is Carter concerned about the losses?" She asks and I shake my head because she does even realize we won today.

"No, but I am," I say as I find myself more nervous to tell my wife the truth about my job than I was telling my best friend.

"What are you talking about, Spencer? Losing happens." She says and I shake my head no. "It's not a big deal!"

"We won today, babe! But that's not it! Winning shouldn't be like this. —— Carter didn't respect me as a coach, Christina!" I say seriously and she frowns.

"Baby, what did you do?"

"I quit my job today, Chris," I admit and her jawline lowers in disbelief.

"Spencer, why would you do that? You know this house doesn't pay for itself, right? And the car I just bought isn't paid off. We were depending on the new contract. Baby, you should've consulted with me." She says in clear frustration at my decision. "You just get so upset and make impulsive decisions like this."

I shake my head because this is exactly what I don't want to hear.

"Baby, I need your support right now. I don't need you to lecture me."

"How can I support you when I don't even know what you're thinking anymore?" She counters.

"I've been unhappy at work for months now, Christina. We've talked about this." I say back.

"Yes, but being unhappy and actually quitting doesn't quite measure up!" She replies and I sigh. "You know what? You need my support and I'll do that. I can ask my dad if he knows of any teams looking to fill coaching positions."

Her father is a long-time sports analyst at CBS. And he's well-respected around the league. But he doesn't need to help me get a new position.

"It's cool," I say lowly. "Liv, knows a guy with the Jets---"

"Liv? —— Olivia knew about this before me?"

"C'mon Chris—- she's my best friend—-"

"—-Yeah—- you don't let me go more than a day without reminding me of that!" She mumbles as she begins to walk away in noticeable frustration.

"Hold up!--- let's talk about—-," I try to stop her from storming out of the living room and leaving this conversation unfinished. But my attempt is unsuccessful. "Dammit!"