“Promise?”
“Yes. I promise.” I kiss her again. “You need breakfast. What do you want me to make for you?”
Her eyes soften again. “You’re always feeding me.”
“I’ve been hungry before. The people I love will never go through that. We have eggs and potatoes. Or oatmeal. Or bagels and smoked salmon.”
She rubs her hand up and down my chest. “I’ll go make myself something. My voice isn’t quite awake enough to jump into work yet anyway. Do you want to join me?”
I start to say yes, but my phone rings, and it’s Mac.
“I have to take this. Rain check?”
“Of course.”
“Oh, and how about if you and I go swimming this afternoon? Just you and me. It’s going to be hot again.”
“You, mostly naked and wet and all to myself? It’s a date.” She winks and then heads downstairs toward the kitchen, and I take the call and walk back into my office.
“Dude, what the fuck is going on?” Mac begins before I can even start talking.
“What do you mean?”
“What do you mean, what do I mean? The retirement was a publicity stunt, and you’re coming back to the team? That’s kind of fucked up. I mean, I’m one of your best friends, and I had to find this out from the team?”
I pace my office as more anger pulses through me.
“Mac.”
“Yeah?”
“I’m not coming out of retirement. Jesus, no.”
“But Andy told Barry—”
“Andy has lost his motherfucking mind.” I shove my hand in my pocket and stand at the window. “He’s trying to extort money out of me, man. And I need your help.”
Mac is silent for a moment, and then the fun-loving persona is gone and his deep voice rumbles through the phone.
“What do you need?”
I lay it out for him, and by the time we hang up, we have a plan in place.
Then, I make a call to Barry, the owner of the Blizzard. After the press conference, he told me to call anytime, so I’m taking him up on that.
“This is a surprise,” he says into my ear.
“Hello, sir. It sounds like we have a situation.”
“If you’re talking about your idiot of an agent, no. There’s no situation.”
I feel my shoulders drop with relief. “He no longer speaks for me, sir.”
“I know that. But I can plainly see that he’s hell bent on fucking with you, son. What are you going to do about that?”
How is it that literally every single other person in my life is so damn supportive? How did I luck out this way?
“There are several moving pieces right now, but I have a feeling that Andy’s going to end up in jail. That’s between the two of us, of course.”
