Power Play, page 21
It had taken a lot of self-control not to grab the kid who’d done this to her and shake her.
Obviously, I’d never lay my hands on anyone, let alone a child, but in that moment, I’d wanted to.
On the other hand, I had to hand it to Cole.
He’d been calm, cool, and collected, keeping everyone except for us and the on-site paramedics away from Brandy. He’d handled giving the hospital staff Brandy’s insurance information so Tricia and I wouldn’t have to leave her side, and he’d made sure we had everything we needed during surgery.
I was glad Tricia had found someone like him.
As it was happening, I’d been pissed off at Harper all over again.
I’d needed her at my side, and she wasn’t because she put her job before me.
As always.
Now that I’d slept a few hours and had mainlined enough coffee to fill a bathtub, I realized how ridiculous that was. None of us could have known this would happen or that I’d need her, and today was the first day of training camp. That wasn’t something she could miss.
Of course, then I’d also woken up and read the text she’d sent yesterday that I hadn’t had time to look at.
She wanted to talk.
She’d always loved me.
There had to be a way to compromise.
Those were words I’d been dying to hear from her.
But she’d sent that message at a time when I couldn’t think about much of anything other than my daughter.
Now that I’d taken the time to read her message, I felt guilty that I hadn’t looked at it yesterday, but I’d been too stressed to focus on anything other than what was going on with Brandy. I hadn’t even told Harper what was going on, taking the easy way out and calling Henrik instead. Under normal circumstances, calling my coach was the right move, but the relationship Harper and I had, well, it wasn’t what anyone would call normal.
“Dad?” Brandy’s voice brought me out of my reverie, and I quickly got up, going over to take her hand.
“How are you feeling, kiddo?” I asked.
“Like I got hit by a soft-ball sized truck.”
I chuckled. “You in pain? Do you need me to call the nurse?”
“No. I’m okay. Where’s Mommy?” She only called us Mommy and Daddy when she wasn’t feeling well, and my heart squeezed with worry all over again.
“She went to the hotel to take a shower. She’ll be back in a little while. Do you need me to call her?”
“No.” She reached up and touched her bandaged face. “Is it ugly?”
“Eh, you have a little swelling and a black eye, but otherwise, it’s not bad.”
She shook her head in exasperation. “Don’t lie, Dad.”
“I’m not.” I smiled as I leaned over and gently kissed her forehead. She was going to give some lucky guy a run for his money someday. “You’re very swollen and have a pretty impressive black eye, but I don’t consider that ugly. It’s just an injury. And trust me, I’ve had a lot of them, so I would know.”
“That means it’s ugly.”
“Don’t worry about that. When it heals, you’ll be as beautiful as ever.”
“Did she do it on purpose?” she asked after a moment. “The pitcher from the other team. I heard Mommy on the phone and… is that true?”
I sighed. “I don’t know, honey. No one can read her mind.”
“The other team was mad. They thought they’d be able to beat us, and then we were tougher than they were expecting.”
“Yeah? Where did you hear that?”
“At the pool Saturday night. They were talking about how the team from Wisconsin was going to be so easy to beat.”
The kids had gone swimming when we got back to the hotel Saturday night, but she hadn’t said anything about overhearing talk about them.
“Well, all sports are competitive,” I said carefully. “And most athletes hate to lose.”
“Do you hate to lose?”
“Sure. But I’m not going to hit someone with a puck just because we lose a game.”
“So… do you think she did it on purpose?”
“I honestly don’t know. Is that what you believe?”
“My gut tells me yes.”
I almost chuckled.
Sometimes I was amazed at the words that came out of her mouth. She was smart and sassy and such a brilliant combination of her mother and me. It was an honor watching her grow and turn into a young lady.
“Well,” I said carefully. “It’s good to pay attention to your gut, but you can’t make accusations based on just that. We should wait and see what your coaches find out. See if there’s any evidence.”
“I guess.” She eyed me, abruptly changing the subject. “Don’t you have to be at training camp this week?”
“I’m supposed to be, but there’s nothing for the starting goalie to do the first few days, so I asked my coach if I could stay here with you until I know you’re going to be okay.”
“I’ll be fine. There are a million doctors here and you know Mom will yell at people if they don’t take care of me. You should go home to Harper. She needs you more than I do.”
“What makes you say that?” I asked in surprise.
“Don’t you read the news?” she asked, rolling the one eye I could see. “Cole said everybody in hockey is talking about her, and Mom said she wouldn’t do Harper’s job even if they gave her a zillion dollars.”
“Her job is hard right now,” I conceded, wondering what else Tricia and Cole had said about Harper. Or Harper and me. “But she has a great staff to help her.”
“Shouldn’t you be the one to help her? Mom said you’re her boyfriend.”
“Well, yes, but she’s good at her job. She doesn’t need me to help her.”
“Even if the misfits in the locker room are mean to her?”
“The misfits in the locker room?” I had no idea what she was talking about.
She cocked her head. “Maybe that’s not the right word. Mom said it. I think it means men who don’t like women.”
“You mean… misogynists?”
“That’s it!”
I was impressed she remembered the definition.
“Harper’s tough,” I said gently. “She’ll be fine.”
“Mom said you were being stubborn, and you were going to get your heart broken.” She paused. “But I don’t know what that means.”
I nearly rolled my eyes. “That’s why you shouldn’t be eavesdropping on grown-up conversations.”
She shrugged. “I can’t help it if they think I’m deaf.”
I laughed.
If nothing else, I was fairly certain Brandy was on the mend.
I left for L.A. that afternoon, once we knew Brandy would be released from the hospital within the next day or so. The Phantoms’ team ophthalmologist had consulted with the surgeon in Denver over the phone and concurred with the other doctor’s assessment. I felt a lot better about leaving, even though walking away from that hospital room had been hard as hell.
I probably could have gotten away with missing another day or two of camp, but I’d gone to L.A. promising to be a leader in the locker room and Harper needed me to do that. Maybe now more than ever. Ivan had texted me, updating me on the arrival of Eddie and Tim this morning, so I felt even worse about not being there.
I called her on the way to the airport, but it went straight to voicemail, so I left a message. “Hey, it’s me. Sorry I’ve been out of touch, but you probably heard that Brandy got hit with a softball. She had something called a blowout fracture of her orbital bone that required surgery. She’s okay now, but it was a crazy twenty-four hours. Anyway, I got your text. And I want to talk too. I’ve been thinking about you a lot. I’ll be home in a few hours if you want to wait up. I’ll see you soon, babe. And, by the way… I’ve never stopped loving you either.”
32
Harper
I was at the arena all day.
I watched the rookies showing off their skills doing lunges and other workout routines I didn’t even know the name of.
I ate lunch with the guys, talking and getting to know a handful.
There were meetings, phone calls, and a handful of fires to put out.
By the time Sloane arrived at three, I was a bundle of nervous energy, drinking too much coffee and bouncing from one place to another.
At five, I sat down with Henrik, Dom, Gerard, Drake, and Glen Danvers and Randy Dupont, Henrik’s two assistant coaches. It had been a productive but exhausting day, and we needed to recap. For my sanity, if nothing else.
I invited the head of Media Relations, Bart Harris, to join us at the beginning, and the dour-faced man’s attitude solidified my desire to replace him as soon as possible. He had zero personality and seemed completely inept.
“Lots of chatter on the socials,” he said, not looking up from his phone. “Someone leaked the scene between you and the Barrowman boys, so it’s out there already.”
“What are you doing to mitigate that?” I asked him.
He glanced up. “What do you want me to do? It’s not like it’s a lie. It happened. Someone took a video and released it. We can’t pretend it didn’t happen.”
I managed to not reach across the table and slap him even though my hand itched to do it.
“We don’t have to pretend anything,” I said through gritted teeth. “But we can flood the social media platforms with good news, videos of the guys working out, the camaraderie at lunch time, that sort of thing. That changes the narrative and gives people something else to focus on.”
“Oh.” He made a face. “I guess. But I don’t know if we have anything like that ready.”
Was this guy for real?
Did I have to do his job for him?
I was going to start interviewing people to replace him immediately.
“Ask Toby,” I said, glancing at Sloane, who gave me a little nod. “We can have him and Teresa get together to come up with a few clips.”
“I can—” Bart began, but I held up a hand to cut him off.
“You should have already done this. It’s your job to make us look shiny and happy. Especially these first few days. I’d like to see us flooding social media with fun stuff, so you should get to work on that. We don’t need you for anything else right now. Thanks.”
He paled slightly, his Adam’s apple bobbing up and down with his hard swallow.
I was probably being an asshole, but I didn’t care. He’d totally dropped the ball and I didn’t have time for that. Not now.
“Sloane, can you work with Bart and Teresa to get things going? It looks like we’re going to be hiring someone new to handle media relations?”
“Already on it.” Sloane got to her feet. “Do you want me to oversee this or would you rather I stay here to take notes?”
“I can handle notes.” I smiled at her. “I need you working on social media more.”
“No problem.” She slipped out, and Drake chuckled.
“You’re going to be a ballbuster, eh, boss?”
“Someone has to,” I muttered. “What the hell was he thinking? And has anyone seen what’s on social media?”
“It’s not pretty,” Dom murmured, scrolling something on his phone. “The clip of Edward Barrowman’s two sons being escorted out by security is fucking everywhere.”
I huffed out a frustrated breath. “Fuckers. They knew I would kick them out, so they had someone film and release it.”
“One of the staff?” I asked quietly.
“More likely a player,” Henrik said. “You’re going to get push-back, Harper. I’m already hearing rumblings.”
Irrationally, that just made me mad at Gabe.
Fucking Gabe.
I didn’t begrudge his being with Brandy, it was just the worst possible timing.
“Find out who,” I said abruptly. I looked around the table. “Who has a techy person that can potentially track where the video originated?”
No one said anything at first, but finally Dom spoke up. “I know someone. You want his number? His name is Chains… er, Darryl Carruthers. He owns a firm that does cyber security and bodyguard services. He’s out of Vegas.”
“Yes, please.” I nodded. “And whoever it was is going to get fired or traded. Are we in agreement?” I looked around the room. “I can’t have people working here who are actively doing things against the Phantoms’ organization. Or me. It’s counterproductive.”
“I concur,” Gerard said. “We don’t need that shit around here. We’ve been dealing with negativity the last five years anyway. I’m ready for it to stop.”
Everyone else nodded.
I felt a mild throbbing behind my eyes, the beginnings of a headache, and I longed to reach into my purse for something to help. I didn’t want to show weakness in front of the men who worked for me, though, so I took a sip of water and continued with my brief agenda.
“Henrik, please let us know if you need anything and when your ex-wife’s funeral is. I know many of us would like to support you, Autumn, and the boys, in whatever way possible.”
“I appreciate that.” He nodded. “It’s not going to be until next week because they have to bring her remains back from Africa and it’s a whole thing.”
We talked for a few more minutes and finally everyone took their leave.
I wandered back to my office, wondering if I’d be able to sit in the tub again tonight.
Sloane was staying with me, so we’d probably get something to eat and chat a while.
Maybe we could go somewhere or pick up takeout, because I was too tired to cook.
A brief memory of Gabe standing at the grill preparing dinner for us made me smile. And miss him.
My stomach rumbled and I would have done anything for some of his grilled corn.
Hell, I would have done anything to have him waiting at the house when I got home. Just like he had all summer.
I wanted some version of that back but wasn’t sure I’d be able to get it.
I didn’t see that he’d left me a voicemail until Sloane and I got home with the Chinese food we’d picked up. I listened to it as she set out our food and I couldn’t help but smile.
“Good news?” she asked as we settled down to eat.
I let her listen to his voicemail since she knew everything that was going on between us.
“Aw. That’s sweet. See? I told you everything would be okay.”
I reached for the bottle of wine on the counter. It was my favorite cabernet and I’d opened the bottle last night, anticipating having a glass or two tonight. I’d only had half a glass last night, so it felt strangely light, and I glanced down at it curiously. Had I had more than I’d thought?
“You’re killing me with that,” Sloane moaned, watching me. “I liked it better before I knew I was pregnant and could eat and drink whatever I wanted.”
I chuckled, pouring myself a glass. “I’ll take it into the bath with me once we eat so you won’t have to watch for long. But think of it this way—you’re more than halfway through your pregnancy so wine and sushi are practically around the corner!”
“Four more months,” she protested, wrinkling her nose. “I shouldn’t complain, though. I really haven’t had any issues. No morning sickness, moderate weight gain, and now that I’m in my second trimester, I’ve got tons of energy.”
“Have you picked names yet?” I settled at the counter and dug into my moo goo gai pan.
“We think Jonas for a boy, an Americanized version of Johan’s name, or Amelia for a girl. We’re not sure though.”
“Those are nice.”
“What about you? Still have baby-making on hold?”
“Yeah. No matter what happens with Gabe, I can’t think about getting pregnant until next year.”
“Maybe it’s happening this way for a reason,” she suggested softly. “The universe is giving you and Gabe time to find your footing together.”
“Maybe.” I hoped she was right because no matter what my practical mind said, my heart was disappointed that I hadn’t gotten pregnant that night we’d thrown caution to the wind. “The biggest issue is my age. I’m thirty-six. Thirty-seven by the time we would even think about trying. That means thirty-eight would be the earliest I could have a baby.”
“Women are having babies well into their forties now. And you can afford the best care. It’s going to be okay.”
“I’m glad you’re so optimistic.”
“Someone has to be.” She took a bite of chicken fried rice. “This is so good. The restaurants in Fort Lauderdale are okay, but man, I miss the food here.”
“I can’t imagine living anywhere else,” I admitted. “This is home.”
“Have you and Gabe talked about where you’re going to live when he retires? Is he willing to stay here?”
“We haven’t talked about any of that yet. I guess we have a lot to discuss when he gets home.”
“I’m going to put on my headphones and go to bed. I don’t need to hear any of what’s going to happen in your bedroom tonight. Should I sleep out at his place?”
I laughed. “Don’t worry. If things go well, we’ll try to be quiet.”
“Yeah, right.” She laughed too. “Johan and I say that all the time. And we’re never quiet. There’s an entire neighborhood in the suburbs of Bratislava who knows exactly what I sound like when I come.”
I met her eyes with a wide-eyed stare and then we both burst out laughing.
“Oh my god. How do you look everyone in the eye? I would die of embarrassment.”
“After the first ten times it happened, I gave up trying to hide it and I think Johan secretly pounds his chest and shit.”
“Okay, then. Well, I’m beat, so I’m going to take my wine and go sit in the tub. Will you turn out the lights before you go to bed?”
“Absolutely.”
“See you in the morning. And remember Gabe will be here, so don’t come to breakfast in your bra and panties!”
She giggled. “Good night.”
I padded down the hall to my room and closed the door.
