“Part of the expectations for your job, interim or not, is to sign McCoy on the offseason. It’ll be difficult to obtain his services when we’re getting sued for sexual harassment.” George steepled his fingers. “How did you think this was going to end?”
“I don’t understand what you’re talking about.”
“You can’t work for the team and sleep with a player from another team,” the Miners’ owner said.
“My personal life really isn’t anyone in this room’s business,” Kendall said.
Jerry Berggren, an older, overweight man with a permanently red face, pointed at her and shouted, “It is when you’re fucking around with the biggest free agent acquisition this year.”
“That’s enough, Jerry,” George said to him. “You need to apologize. That was inappropriate.”
“I’m not apologizing to her,” Jerry snapped.
“Your comments violated labor laws,” the team’s lawyer said, and he put his face in his hands. “I suggest you all calm down a little. Kendall’s right. Her private life is none of your business.”
Kendall heard the door behind her open: Sydney walked in. She couldn’t miss Jerry’s comments; Kendall was pretty sure people in the next county could have heard him clearly. Kendall saw Sydney sit down in a spare chair in the corner of the conference room.
“She had one job: Sign McCoy. She’s already failed at it. The franchise is more important than her inability to find a date,” Jerry said.
“Maybe we’ll get him for less money because of the side benefits,” Leonard, the acting director of football operations, snarled.
“Enough,” the team’s attorney snapped. “You’re all over the line.”
Five other men started talking at once about how Kendall wasn’t the best choice for the job, how she would make them the laughing stock of the league when this got out, how she (and every other woman) could never be trusted in any pro football franchise leadership because they couldn’t keep their personal lives out of the office. Kendall saw Sydney’s mouth drop open out of the corner of her eye. She was holding her iPad at an angle too. In other words, she was recording what was being said.
If they all thought Kendall was going to burst into tears and slink out of the conference room, they had another thing coming.
The typically shy and introverted Bruce, the Miners’ team attorney, was on his feet by now. “Quiet!” he roared.
“We could fire you,” George Simmons told him.
“Go ahead. You’ll be served with a suit as quickly as I can file it,” Bruce said. He shook his head and picked up his things off of the table in front of him. “The fact you’re now being recorded means Ms. Tracy has an open and shut case for a hostile work environment and several other violations of federal employment law. I—”
The director of scouting pointed at Sydney. “Shut it off! Shut it off, goddammit! You don’t have the right to record me or anyone else here!”
Sydney smiled at him. “No,” she said.
“We’ll fire you.”
“Go ahead,” Sydney said. She sat up in her chair. “I’m sure the HR department will be really interested in your comments to Ms. Tracy and to me over the past ten minutes or so.”
“It sucks, doesn’t it?” Bruce said to the six men who were now either gaping at Sydney or whose mouths were opening and shutting like goldfish. “You might want to start with a sincere and abject apology for your comments.”
Kendall glanced over at Sydney. She wanted to walk out right now, pack up her desk and leave, but Sydney wouldn’t have a job if she did. Kendall had enough in savings to be okay while she looked for something else. If she got really stuck, her parents would help too. When the word hit the street that the woman who’d done such a great job over the past four years managing San Francisco’s salary cap was available, she wouldn’t be out of work for long.
She wasn’t going to let any man talk to her the way her colleagues had today. She also wasn’t going to sit quietly while they mistreated Sydney, either.
“We need to talk,” Kendall mouthed at her.
Sydney gave Kendall a quick nod. The attorney was heading toward the conference room door.
“Where the hell do you think you’re going?” George barked at him.
“I quit,” he said. “Good luck finding other representation.” He pulled the conference room door open and slammed it behind him. Silence descended over the room.
DREW’S MEETING WAS quick and to the point. Coach Stewart asked him the same questions the defensive coordinator asked him. Drew’s answers seemed to satisfy him, but the coach leaned over his desk to fix Drew with a long stare.