“Fuck,” I say to myself seeing it’s my boss on the other line. “Mark, hi, I just heard the news.”
"This is a goddamn disaster. Arrested?! His mug shot is everywhere. And to top it all off, I had to hear about it from my contact at the paper. Why didn’t you call me. I shouldn’t hear about these things from people outside of the organization before I hear about them from YOU. This is YOUR job, Gabrielle, in case you forgot. And where are you? Why aren’t you in the conference room with everyone else?” The irony isn’t lost on me that he’s the one who’s never in the office and the one time I leave, I’m the problem.
“I’m in Atlanta, sir. The All Star Game,” I remind him, rolling my eyes since he can’t see me through the phone.
“Right, off gallivanting and playing plus one with your little friends and boyfriend.”
“To answer your other question, I had no idea this happened. No one called me until just now. I was waiting on the line to connect to comms when you called.”
“They wouldn’t have had to call if you were here doing your job. Get your ass back to Nashville and handle it.” The line goes dead at his parting jab.
As soon as I hang up, a video of Chase starts playing on the TV. “You have got to be fucking kidding me.” I watch in disbelief as he mounts a goddamn police horse and take off down Broadway, laughing while he does it.
“It’s everywhere,” Taylor says, not looking up from her phone.
When Chase goes flying off the horse and hits the pavement, I gasp. Both relieved he is okay and annoyed that he pulled such an immature prank. This is not the man I thought I knew. Theman I had a heartfelt conversation with on Friday morning. This man is a child.
“I cannot believe this,” Ivory chimes in. The shock on her face almost makes me laugh. “Dad says he is one of the most dedicated on the team. That he showed out in the minors, but really pulled his act together this year and was determined to toe the line now that he’s with the Troubadours. He hasn’t gotten in trouble since they called him up in last month.”
“Well, when the cat’s away…” Taylor trails off.
“I’ve got to get back,” I pinch the bridge of my nose, a headache forming after Mark’s tirade. “They’ve called an emergency meeting to go over the charges and how to do damage control.”
“Want me to come with you?” Taylor offers, still texting on her phone.
“I hate to have you miss the rest of the celebrations,” I hedge, knowing that we could use Taylor’s expertise.
“But I could help,” Taylor fills in the blanks. All I do is nod. “I’ll have my assistant coordinate the flight. You go pack. Ives, can you call the guys?”
“Yep, they’ve probably just heard the news too.”
Sure enough, the door opens and Miller and Preston file into the room.
“Can you believe this guy?” Preston crosses the room and pulls Ivory into a hug.
“He stole a horse,” Miller laughs. “The police horse!” I pick up a couch pillow and whack Miller with it. “What? You have to admit it’s kinda funny.”
“It’s not funny,” Preston attempts to keep his composure, but I can see his lips twitch.
“If it were anyone else other than our rookie, you’d think it was. Come on, man, who steals a cop horse?” Miller retorts.
“I mean, why are they down there anyway,” Ivory chimes in.
“Exactly! That horse was probably thrilled at the getaway. Did you see how happy it looked?” Miller motions to the screenas if the video is still playing. It’s not, but it’s burned into my mind.
“This is going to be really bad for the team,” Taylor adds. “But you have to admit it is fucking hilarious.”
My friends continue to debate the hilarity and merits of stealing a horse while my mind runs rampant with the work that will need to be done to take care of this situation, too lost in my thoughts to contribute to the conversation around me. I leave the room to start packing while making a mental to-do list.
Get back to Nashville as soon as possible.
Call Chase’s lawyer and find out what we’re looking at here.
Call Coach Crenshaw and the GM to get their temperature on the situation. Coach is here, but I don’t have time to track him down before I leave, and he can’t go anywhere as the coach for the National League in tomorrow night’s game.
Call PR to draft a statement on our rookie finding himself in trouble while the team is on break.
Call the district attorney and see if there’s something we can work out since it’s a nonviolent offense.
