“That will be nice.” Long pause before she brings up the elephant in the room. “And did you see your father?”
I hate seeing the pained look on her face. But I can’t lie to her. “Yes. We saw Daddy. He looks older. Molly and Celie…” I stop myself from speaking on my sisters’ behalfs. “They argued with Daddy and left early.”
“Did he apologize to you?”
I shake my head. “Not even a little. But he said that Watts is leaving the team after this season.”
I don’t mention that my father asked me to move to Colorado because I don’t plan to ever accept his offer. And I don’t want to raise alarm bells with my mother who will worry over me nonstop.
I put my hand on hers. “I’m doing okay. I’m moving forward. Finally.”
She squeezes my hand. “I’m glad.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
When I arrive at work, a big note is taped to the outside of my office door.
“I’ve got a meeting off-site until noon,” Craig’s handwriting says. “But get in touch with Cam and make sure he’s here when I arrive. I don’t care what he has to cancel—make sure you’re both ready to meet me.”
“Shit.” I unlock the door silently and wait until I’m inside my office before I curse more.
Then I reach for my phone to call Cam.
* * *
“He knows,” I say as soon as Cam’s closed my office door behind us. “He knows about us.”
Cam kisses the top of my head. “I’ll take care of it. You won’t lose your job. I promise.”
I cross my arms. “How can you take care of it? He must have seen us after the Cannons game. Maybe when we held hands walking out of the rink.”
Cam’s gaze drifts to the window. “Who would care enough to tell him? What would they gain?”
Chills shoot through my body. “My father.”
“He said he didn’t care,” Cam says. “Is that the type of thing he’d do?”
“Only if he had something to gain. And he does.”
“What? I don’t get it.”
“He has me.”
“You mean if you lose your job here, you may be more likely to move to Colorado to work for him.”
“Yes, technically. But I’m just a pawn. He really wants someone much more valuable.”
“Who?” Cam looks closely at my expression. “Shit. You mean me?”
“Think about it. His current star is leaving him. He needs fresh blood. You’re the biggest thing going right now because you’re so freaking good. If Craig fires me or drops you, either way my father wins.”
Cam’s expression turns hard. “Plus, if either of us leaves the team, he thinks he’ll have a better chance of winning it all this year.”
“Exactly. Especially if you don’t play. That’s probably his first hope, that Craig will bench you for the playoffs. He thinks Craig’s a rule-abider, unlike himself. What I still don’t get…” I stare at the pair of hockey sticks against my wall. “Is why he contacted me before he saw us together. He couldn’t have known we were together before he came out here for the game. And yet, he sent me that text.”
“He knows you work with new players. He knows how involved you are in the workings of the team. He probably just wanted to see how much he could get out of you. See if you knew if I was happy here, what my future goals were—pretty much everything he grilled me on last night.”
“You stayed good and vague with him, though, no matter how much he pushed you,” I say, remembering the coffee shop conversation. “He was frustrated.”
