“Speak of the devil.” I smirked at her before turning my phone on. “Hi, Dad.”
Ellie’s eyes bugged out, and she clapped both hands on her chest as she pretended to faint, slithering out of the chair and landing with a thud on the floor.
“Hey, kid. Is this a bad time?” my dad asked, confused by my laughing at Ellie.
“No. Just a lunatic in my office. Not really different than any other day.” I stuck my tongue out at Ellie, who’d now pulled herself back up to the chair. She grabbed a piece of paper from my desk and began writing something. “So what’s up?”
“Nothing.” My dad sighed. “I just thought I’d try and catch you before you went in to work, but I can see that didn’t happen.”
“Nope. Early bird catches the worm. Isn’t that what you always taught me?” I glanced at the time on my computer. “Why the hell are you awake anyway? It’s only six o’clock in California.”
“Because not only does the early bird catch the worm, the early morning surfer catches the good waves.”
Ellie stopped writing and slid the paper over to me. It read, “Tell him to call me. 612-555-7478.” I twisted my face in disgust as I wadded up the paper and threw it at her, laughing again when it bounced off her forehead.
“All right, well I can tell you’re working hard,” he teased, “and I want to get out there for a while before breakfast anyway, so I’ll catch up with you later, okay? Maybe give me a call tonight and fill me in on what’s going on with you?”
“I will, Dad. Lots to tell you about. I quit my job.”
“What?”
“But don’t worry, I already have another one. A better one. Except for the lunatic in my office part. I’ll call you tonight and tell you everything.”
“Sounds good, sweetheart. I love you.”
“I love you, too.”
Ellie held her hands up, cupping them around her mouth as she whispered loudly, “I love you, too, Mr. Douglas.”
I put my phone away and booted Ellie from my office so I could get some work done. She hadn’t even been gone ten minutes, and there was a knock on the door again.
“I’m not giving you his phone number, Ellie! Go away!” I called out, trying not to laugh.
The door creaked as it opened, and Andy stuck his head in. “Hey.”
“Oh, crap!” I sat straight up. “Sorry, I thought you were Ellie.”
He laughed, lifting just one corner of his mouth as he leaned on the door frame with one arm and put his other hand in his pocket. “No problem. Whose number aren’t you giving Ellie?”
“Oh. My father’s.” I rolled my eyes and shook my head as I waved my hand. “It’s nothing. We were just goofing around.”
“Okay.” He chuckled. “Well, I just wanted to say good morning and check on you. Do you need anything?”
The last couple of days had been such a whirlwind, from getting a job offer at a bar to quitting Leighton to starting at Shaw Management. Everything felt like it was moving in hyperspeed. Now that I was finally sitting and had a chance to take a deep breath for the first time, I noticed how attractive Andy really was, especially in a suit. He wasn’t the type of guy that you saw across a crowded room and couldn’t take your eyes off of; he was sneak-attack hot. You were all prepared to write him off as a wholesome, boring dad who drove his kids to soccer on the weekends, then he showed up in your office on a Tuesday morning wearing a sharp-ass, navy-blue suit that made your mouth go dry instantly.
Jesus, Dani. He asked you something. Answer him!
“Nope, so far so good. It’s still early, though.” I chuckled, feeling nervous in his presence all of a sudden.
“Okay. If you need me, you know where to look.” With that he smiled and shut my door as I stared at my computer screen, waiting for my heart rate to return to normal.
CHAPTER 13
Andy
Danicka had been working at the office less than a week, but I was already feeling a little less pressure. She’d jumped right in, solidifying her client list after the big switch and spent the day before watching college tapes. Not only did she whip through them as fast as I could have, her notes about each athlete were spot-on and matched exactly what I’d thought about them myself. I knew, because they were tapes I’d already watched once. I felt bad not telling her, but I also needed to test her a bit and see how in sync we were with our assessments.
She passed with flying colors, and to celebrate, I was going into work late. I didn’t have time to take a whole day off yet, but I could certainly go in a few hours late. I’d had Ellie move two conference calls from the morning to the afternoon and switch one meeting to next week, and just like that, I had a free morning. After the kids had gone to bed the night before, I’d told Gloria about my idea to surprise the kids, and like a true team player, she’d said she was in.