He knew Bernie was pissed at him for yet another public mess-up. And he needed his agent to be on-side. Besides Johnny, who had no sway with the suits, Bernie was the only true advocate outside of the team he had left. The last thing Ward needed now was for Bernie (or worse, Coach Lewis too) to also start seeing him as a liability and concede to Hannah that there was no fixing him and she shouldn’t bother.
Especially when he’d finally decided to play nice.
He felt the cat stir again and approach on his left-hand side. She crawled right up onto his chest and took a seat like a monarch getting comfortable on her throne. Ward met her gaze, the cat’s amber-flecked eyes boring into his as if he were the biggest idiot on the planet.
‘Yeah? What do you want?’
She tilted her head as if confused by his apparent stupidity, then chirruped and extended a paw, swatting him across the chest.
He barked a laugh. ‘So, I’m gonna be told what to do on allfronts now, huh?’ He edged her off his chest and pulled himself up. ‘OK. I get it. You’re hungry. Let’s get you fed. Great, now I’m taking orders from a cat, too.’
Ward climbed off the couch and Pretzel followed in his wake, pleased that he was smart enough to take a hint and jump in line.
Chapter 21
HANNAH
Hannah couldn’t help but feel vindicated. Like she’d just made a strategic gambit (she had no idea of the hockey equivalent) and now Ward McKenzie was scrambling to figure out a way to rethink the defensive play he’d been relying on so far.
‘About time,’ she muttered satisfactorily, turning her attention back to the apology note she’d been writing to her neighbour. She was confident that she’d hear from the athlete again soon and that this time her errant client would approach her with his tail firmly between his legs.
Seems there was indeed no substitute for straight-talking.
Picking up her pen, Hannah reviewed what she had started to write.
Dear Ed,
Sorry about the noise earlier, but I can assure you I wasn’t having a party or anything.
Nah, she thought then. Better not to address him by his first name. Too familiar and potentially inflammatory.He’d only ever referred to her as P-2 … evidently considering her just a number as opposed to an actual person, so she’d play by the same rules. Andshe shouldn’t apologize off the bat either for something she wasn’t guilty of. It was one thing being diplomatic, but she wasn’t going to kowtow to him either.
Tearing up the note she’d already begun, she started over.
Dear P-1,
About the noise earlier, I can assure you I wasn’t having a party or anything like that. It was just the media system and maybe you won’t believe this, but the apartment has a motion-activated system and I’m still trying to get a handle on it. I think there might be a glitch or something, because it’s been coming on erratically in rooms I don’t even go into.
She thought about the stray cat on Courtney’s bed that time and once again decided not to mention that little tidbit. Since the building was pet-free, the cranky old guy would not look kindly upon the presence of her feline friend. Nor keep it a secret from the building super or fellow residents, especially if they could use it as further ammunition in their complaint.
Unless the cat happened to be Ed’s?
Unlikely if he was such a stickler for the rules though. Yet in her experience, many people – often rich ones from a certain generation – tended to believe that rules applied to everyone else but themselves. Hannah bit the end of the pen, trying to decide whether to mention an animal’s potential role in the ruckus. Nah, probably safer to wait until she knew the guy a little better.
Assuming that ever happened.
Since I was working all day and only just got home, I’m guessing that a spider, dust bunny or something small – a flying insect maybe – could’ve set off the motion sensors and switched on the TV or music system. Again, I can assure you that there was no raging party and I’m the only one here. Unless this place has a ghost I don’t know about …
A little humour always went a long way. But now to butter him up a little.
I completely appreciate that peace and quiet is important to you and all the residents in this building – it is to me too. I am a great fan of keeping things on an even keel. A huge part of my job is about doing exactly that, ensuring smooth sailing at all times, with no feathers ruffled. A sense of equilibrium is paramount.
All that being said, I hope that you can accept my explanation. Today has been quite the day for me – as I am sure it has also been for you – so maybe let’s chalk this down to the fact that technology sometimes has a mind of its own. And you can rest assured that nothing nefarious was going on in P-2 today and you won’t hear a peep from me going forward.
P-2
PS I’m now off on the hunt for swinging spiders and dancing daddy-long-legs or whatnot.
Hannah folded up the note and headed to the door, opening it as quietly as she could, then tip-toed into the hallway and slipped thepiece of paper under Ed’s door, determined to keep good on her promise about being silent.
