After spending my entire life coming to this office to visit him, it’s strange to think the situation is reversed now.
“Hi, Grandad.” I scoot my chair back away from my desk. “What are you doing here?”
“Just coming to see my favorite granddaughter. You’re working away, I see.”
Rounding my desk, I meet him at the door, pressing my cheek against his and leaving a kiss there. Then I pull the chair out that lives opposite mine for him to take a seat.
For a man in his late seventies, he’s still active and mobile, but he’s definitely begun to slow down over the years. It’s evident in the way he takes his time walking to the chair, and even more so in the way he cautiously lowers into the seat.
And it all just makes me feel even more guilty that my poor choice in a life partner is the reason he had to keep working longer than he wanted to.
I retake my seat behind my desk. “What are you really doing here? Because I know you didn’t just come all the way down to the field to say hi to me.”
He chuckles a hearty laugh. “Ed and I are grabbing lunch and meeting with Denise so we can go over the last of the details for my retirement party. But getting to say hi to you is definitely a bonus.”
“Denise is planning your retirement party?”
“Of course she is. That woman practically planned my life for the last forty years. I wouldn’t trust the job to anyone else.”
“Any chance she wants to come out of her own retirement and start planningmylife? I’m in desperate need of a receptionist.”
“Yes, you are. I should not have been able to get into your office so easily. But no, Denise worked for me for too long. She earned her own retirement.”
“Well, it doesn’t mean I won’t give it a solid effort when I see her at your party. Are you excited for it?”
“I am. It’s not necessarily that I’m looking forward to celebrating myself, but it’s not often you get to have everyone who has played a part in your life all together in the same place. Well, other than your own funeral, and unfortunately, I won’t be there to enjoy that party.”
“Geez,” I laugh. “Well,I’mlooking forward to celebrating you.”
My grandfather’s kind and loving smile begins to fade, and I note the moment his entire demeanor switches into business mode. It’s even evident in his tone when he says, “There is one other reason I wanted to come see you today.”
The energy in my office switches up immediately.
I sit up straighter, folding my hands and resting them on my desk. I’m no longer a granddaughter speaking to her grandfather. I’m the new team owner speaking to her predecessor.
“What’s going on?” I ask.
He exhales a long sigh, pulling out his phone. “Scott found this online. It’s not an official news report or anything like that, andit’s clearly just a rumor, but there’s an anonymous post on this website. Read... Red-something.”
“Reddit,” I finish for him.
“That’s the one. Someone is claiming they saw you leaving Monty’s hotel room early one morning last week when you all were playing in San Diego.”
The blood instantly drains from my face.
“Now, obviously that’s not true,” he continues. “Anyone who knows you two personally knows that you don’t exactly get along, but these are the kinds of rumors that people are going to want to spread about you, and I just want you to be aware of it.”
It’s shocking that I can hear him through the buzzing in my ears, or that I’m still sitting straight regardless of the pit in my stomach.
How could I be so reckless? What the hell was I thinking?
I attempt to calm the tremble in my voice when I ask, “What do the comments say?”
“I don’t know about all that. Scott just sent me a... what is it called when you take a picture of something?”
“A screenshot.”
“He sent me a screenshot of the post. Not sure how much traction it’s gotten, but he was able to find it.”
