I always played it safe, so they’d decided to play it safe for me on my behalf.
Maybe I could have blamed them, but Mick’s final words to me were ringing too loud in my ears.
As I put together the report in the conference room, thoughts of what Mick had said about why I really wouldn’t stay and hear him out swirled in my head.
Confusing me. Hindering my concentration.
And then, I caught my reflection in the glass conference room windows…
I miss her. I miss the woman I was when I was with him.
The thoughts suddenly broke through on a cresting wave of sadness.
And I miss Mick even more.
Even though I knew the stranger I met on the way to Paris was really a soccer player named Andy, and the character of “Mick” was completely made up, it didn’t change one fact.
I’d fallen in love with him. And that love hadn’t immediately turned to bitter ashes like it had with Dwayne.
Underneath the anger. Underneath the sadness, it continued to burn.
Along with a terrible feeling that I’d lost something magical when I walked out of the Tourmaline’s lobby. Something I’d never get back. No matter how much time passed.
“Hey, I got us Roscoe’s for lunch!” a chipper voice announced behind me.
I turned around to find Suzie in the doorway of the conference room, holding up a takeout bag from the Inglewood location of the iconic chicken and waffles restaurant in her hand.
Wait, it was already time to eat lunch? How long had I been spinning over Mick? Wondering if I got it all wrong?
“Hey! I don’t have to watch Scuzz on TVevery day,” Suzie said, mistaking the reason for my stunned expression.
I looked at Suzie.
Then looked into the depths of my soul.
Then I said, “I think I do want to talk about Paris. Actually, I really need to talk to someone about what happened with Mick.”
CHAPTER22
Kayla
By the timeI was done with the whole story, there were only bones, crumbs, and dots of syrup left in our individual takeout containers, and Suzie was all empathetic nods.
“You’re beating yourself up for falling too fast, but I get it, girl, I do.”
She let out a self-deprecating laugh. “Actually, letting myself fall too far, too fast, with the wrong person was how I got Jay. I don’t regret him for a second, but….”
She trailed off and got quiet before admitting. “Tag called me a little over a week ago. The Suns management isn’t going to announce it until after The Big Game in February, but they’re planning to sign him on as the team’s new quarterback. And he wants to revisit the complete-revocation-of-parental-rights custody agreement he signed before Jay was born.”
“Oh, my gosh, Suzie! Forget my stuff!” I reached across the table to grab onto my best friend’s hand. “That’s crazy! What are you going to do?”
Suzie didn’t talk much about Noah “Tag” Taggart, the now famous quarterback that she’d once dated when they both attended Southern California University. But from what I could tell, they’d burned bright and hot—all the way until their spectacular breakup, right after she told him she was pregnant with Jay.
Which was why she’d established a rule against dating football players, even before my mom recommended her for a job working for the Suns. But while I was in Paris, apparently, the team’s owners had decided that her son’s father would be the best replacement for our low-performing quarterback. And now Tag, who’d earned worldwide fame and millions of dollars throughout his playing career without acknowledging his son, was asking to be let back into Jay’s life.
Which meant she was going to have to make some hard decisions on behalf of her ten-year-old son, who’d only ever known Suzie as a parent.
“Even after nearly two weeks of spinning on it, I have no idea,” Suzie admitted, answering my question about her next steps with a broken laugh. “I think that’s the real reason I was suddenly so hot to talk to your dad about getting Dwayne cut from the team. I’ve got Jay to think about, and I can’t just up and leave this cushy job—especially if there’s a custody fight in my future. But I didn’t see any reason for both of us to suffer when spring rolls around.”
