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don’t have the strength right now to figure it out.

Chapter 4
    Fourth rule of American football:
    False start: is when an offensive player makes a movement after taking a set position. A false start carries a five yard penalty.
     
    Mac heard the constant buzzing sound and cursed himself for having set his alarm. What kind of idiot sets their alarm after having practically been given a beating on the football field, having drunk two whiskeys and three glasses of wine, and after not having eaten any dinner?
    He did, apparently. He lifted his arm and tried to find the damn alarm to smash it into pieces. He found it, and hit it, but the piece of shit kept buzzing. He probably didn’t hit the right button. Giving up, he turned on the light, and when he was able to open his eyes, he saw that the alarm clock was practically destroyed. But that damn buzzing kept going.
    It was his phone.
    Mac, who had sat up to find the lamp, collapsed on his bed again with his arms stretched out wide. Whoever the idiot was that dared to call him at those hours on a day like he’d had, could go to hell. It finally stopped ringing. The voicemail would record the voice of the person who really felt like losing a friendship, and Mac would make sure to tell them to get lost when he felt better in two or three days.
    The phone rang again.
    Shit!
    Mac sat up and got out of bed enraged, ready to tell the journalist on duty exactly what was on his mind, because it could only be one of those vermin who would dare to call him the day after having lost the Super Bowl.
    “I’m not going to retire,” he shouted, answering the phone.
    “I’m glad.”
    “Tim?”
    “Yeah, it’s me. Sorry to call you so late, but I needed to talk to you before catching my flight to Paris.”
    Tim was going to Paris? Right then?
    Mac blinked again and moved the phone away from his ear for a second to see what time it was.
    “Don’t tell me that you’re going on vacation with Steel Pants,” he said sarcastically. Mac was sure that Susan had told Tim what had happened outside of the bathroom at L’Escalier and therefore his best friend was taking her to Paris to try to calm her down. Although it did seem a bit strange to him because Steel Pants never took vacations. Tim even told him that they were going to postpone the honeymoon for a few months. And part of Mac knew that Susan hadn’t told his friend what had happened between them at the restaurant. In fact, he was completely sure of it.
    Why?
    His friend’s voice interrupted his thoughts.
    “Don’t call her that. Susan is a wonderful person and she doesn’t deserve what I did to her.”
    “What the hell are you talking about, Tim?” Mac rubbed his face with the hand he wasn’t using to hold the phone. “It’s five o’clock in the morning and I’m hung over. If you’ve called to tell me that you cheated on Steel…, sorry, Susan, and that you’re going to Paris with the girl you cheated on her with, let me just say that it wasn’t necessary. Call me when you get back and I’ll scold you for not having acted like a gentleman. Now go relax and enjoy.”
    “I didn’t cheat on Susan!” exclaimed Tim, exasperated. “Not exactly.”
    “What does not exactly mean?” Mac held the phone tightly. Had something happened to Susan? Why the hell did he care?
    “Amanda”
    Hearing that name was enough to make Mac look for the closest chair and sit down.
    “Amanda? Your Amanda?”
    Tim slowly let out a breath and in the background you could hear the airport announcements reminding passengers about security measures.
    “Yes.”
    “I thought you guys hadn’t seen each other in years,” said Mac, completely sober all of a sudden.
    “Eleven”
    “So? What does Amanda have to do with all of this, and with Paris?”
    “A few weeks ago, I started to do the paperwork for the wedding with Susan —Tim began— and the judge denied the marriage license because according to their records Mr. Timothy Delany was