Even the Score(26)

I don’t know if it was his puppy-dog blue eyes or the intoxicating smell of his cologne, but I agreed.

“I’ll be right back, okay?” I said into Sadie’s ear. She gave me a quick thumbs-up before returning to her exciting diaper-rash-cream conversation with Viper.

The Minnesota summer air warmed my face as we stepped outside. Andy walked over to a black, wrought iron bench near the street and waved for me to follow him.

“Listen.” He sighed as we sat down. “I meant it when I said that I was really sorry about what I said at the interview the other day. Truth is, I’m an asshole who used that same tactic I’d accused you of just a couple weeks before when I was late for an interview. Guilty conscience, I guess.” He shrugged.

“Thank you for that,” I said with a tight smile.

His apology seemed sincere, and it was just want I needed to relax and take a deep breath as I leaned back against the bench.

He lifted a leg up on the bench in between us as he turned to face me. “I also meant what I said about you being the best interview I had all week. Most of the guys that came in were jokes, others had rosters full of clients I’d never even heard of. You were by far the most talented and the one that I want.”

My stomach flipped. I wanted so badly at that moment to throw Sadie’s drunk ass in the back of my car and drive straight to my office to pack it up.

When I heard through the sports-agent grapevine that Shaw Management was expanding and taking on a new agent for the first time, I couldn’t get my résumé sent over fast enough. His firm was prestigious and powerful, exactly the type of firm I wanted to move my career to.

“I appreciate the compliment, Mr. Shaw—”

“Stop,” he interrupted, holding his hand up as he shook his head. “If this is going to have even a chance of working out, you have to call me Andy, okay?”

I dropped my eyes to my lap, unable to contain my building grin. “Got it.”

“Good.” He nodded, mirroring my grin. “Let’s not ruin this with a lot of technical bullshit, there’s plenty of time for that. When can you start?”





CHAPTER 9

Andy

The sound of the ringing doorbell echoed through my quiet, empty house. I put the remote down and walked toward my front door, waving as Justin’s face came into view. We hadn’t really had a chance to catch up in the loud bar, so I’d told him to stop by and hang out for a bit before the Cubs headed back to Chicago.

“What’s up?” I held my hand out. “You’re early.”

He laughed and shook my hand back. “I know. We got a call that they moved our flight up, so I have to be at the airport in a few hours.”

“Come on in, you hungry?”

“No, thanks.” He shrugged. “I grabbed something at the hotel. I’m good.”

We walked through the house into the kitchen, where he pulled out a stool and sat at the island. I opened the fridge and turned to him. “Gatorade, water, or beer?”

“Uh . . . water’s good. Thanks.”

I grabbed two bottles from the fridge and dumped a bag of pretzels in a bowl before joining him at the island. “I’m glad you stopped by, man. It’s been a while since we had time to hang.”

“Yeah, I know.” He reached into the bowl and grabbed a pretzel. “You’ve got this single-dad thing going on now. How is that working out?”

“Good.” I nodded. “I think I’ve got it under control for the most part. It’s tough, though, trying to juggle the firm and the kids by myself. Thank God I have Gloria here to help, or I’d be totally lost.”

“Nah.” He waved his hand at me. “You’re a good dad. You’d figure it out. How are the kids doing, anyway? With the whole divorce thing?”

“They seem to be okay,” I answered, cracking the seal on my water bottle. “I feel bad saying it, but I wish they didn’t have to see Blaire at all. Every time they come back from her house, they’re both cranky and pissed off at the world.”

He looked at me from under his baseball hat, pulling his eyebrows in tight. “Why is that?”

I shrugged. “I wish I knew. I ask them how their weekend was and try to get them to talk to me about it, but they’re so closed up. They don’t talk about her, ever. Sometimes I think they don’t say anything because there’s nothing to say. They do a lot of TV-watching over there while Blaire does her own thing like she always has.”

“That’s awful.” Justin shook his head. “I didn’t realize she was always like that. I thought she changed suddenly.”