The massive windows that look over the field are the first thing to draw my eye, the same way they have whenever I met with Arthur over the past seven years. The view from up here is probably one of the best in the city, and I can’t imagine a better spot to watch a baseball game from.
Well, other than my prime spot against the railing in the dugout.
Even though the view is the same and this office is technically the one that I’ve been in countless times, it looks unrecognizable from the one Arthur used to occupy.
Reese has updated her desk to one that’s sleek and modern, unlike the clunky one Arthur used to sit behind that was always covered in piles of papers and housed an outdated computer. Her chair is ivory and gold, unlike the cracked dark-brown leather one that used to reside there.
The piles of clutter that Arthur had accumulated over the past four decades are nowhere to be found, and Reese’s office is now bright and light and clean. Sleek, modern, and neutral.
Exactly how I’d describe her fashion sense if I ever let myself admit that I noticed.
“Take a seat,” she says, gesturing to one of the new chairs that sits opposite of hers.
For a split second, I let myself believe that maybe she’s calling for a truce between us. That she knows as well as I do that this year is going to be a nightmare if we can’t get along. But that idea is quickly dispelled when she says, “You need to fire one of the video coaches.”
“Excuse me?”
“You have three on staff, when we’ve only ever had two. We don’t have the salary space to pay three people.”
What the hell?
“Arthur gave me permission at the end of last season to add a third. I just hired someone. I can’t fire him.”
“Can’t or won’t?”
I look her dead in the eye. “Won’t.”
“He should have never allowed that. The budget is a mess because my grandfather stopped paying attention to it. We don’t have the funds to pay three people.”
“Then take it from my salary.”
Reese jolts back at my words, staying silent for a moment as she mulls over my quickly spoken statement. “No. It’s not only the salary. It’s the added expense of hotel rooms and food on the road. We don’t need a third.”
“Well, I’m not firing one of my guys. Two of them have been with me forever and the third I just upgraded from the triple-A team. His family just moved here, and his wife is expecting soon. He needs the salary raise.”
Reese shows absolutely no emotion, those dark blue eyes unflinching. “I’m only paying two, so it’s your choice who goes.”
So much for “I’m not a monster, Emmett.”
I can feel my grip tighten on the armrests of the chair, can feel my jaw tense so tightly I should probably be concerned for my teeth. “Not happening, Reese. Find money from somewhere else or take it from my salary. Your grandfather never would have asked me to fire someone who needed a job.”
Exasperated, she pulls her attention from me, refocusing instead on something on her computer. “You may have had my grandfather wrapped around your finger, but I’m not him. Things are going to be different this year, Emmett, so you should probably get used to that idea.”
Yeah, no shit things are going to be different.
And I hate that idea.
“Monty!” is the first thing I hear as I open the door to my daughter’s house. “You color with me?”
“Absolutely I will.” I lift my favorite three-year-old, slinging him on my hip and closing the front door behind me. “Missed you, Max.”
He melts into my shoulder, already in his pajamas for bed as I carry him to the kitchen to find his parents.
“Hi, Dad,” Miller says with a quick hug to my side.
I pop a kiss on the top of her head before she grabs the pasta dish she made for dinner and we slip into the dining room.
I knock fists with Kai and Isaiah when I find them at the table, setting Max on his feet. He pulls at my hand to take the chair where his coloring book and crayons are set up, climbing into my lap and picking a color for me, silently asking me to help him fill in the outlined image.
