Off Season (The Blake Boys Book 15) (6 page)

“My ranch. This weekend at noon. Don’t be late.”

“Noon? Who’s up before noon on a Saturday when it’s not a game day?” Riley rolled his eyes.

“Take it or leave it,” Seth shot back. He took back what he’d said earlier. His kids never pouted this badly.

“He’ll take it,” T.K. replied.

Riley shrugged, turned, and stormed off toward the locker room.

“Not a minute later, kid,” Seth called after him. “Or I’ll tell my security team not to let you on the property.”

The older players sported smiles, reveling in the scolding Seth had just given Riley. Seth knew Riley would have given them attitude somewhere down the line if any of them had gotten in his face. Team politics were at play, and he knew they were probably instructed to play nice with the star quarterback. First thing to do with an out-of-control teammate, get an inspirational talk from the head coach about the importance of unity. Seth waved good-bye to the guys and followed T.K. out into the hall. Ross made the gesture with his hand indicating he’d give him a call.

“That went better than expected,” T.K. said with a grin.

“And you thought me coaching soccer at the boys’ school was a waste of my time. I gave that speech last week.”

“Let’s grab something to eat. Have you tried the Buffalo wings in the executive clubhouse? Sam loves them.”

“I think they helped induce labor when she was pregnant with Gabe,” Seth mused.

“I have a good feeling about this.” T.K. patted him on the back and proceeded to the escalator.

Two hours later, Seth ruminated on his meeting with Riley as he headed back to the ranch.

He’d agreed to talk to the kid, but more than ever, he wasn’t sure if it would do any good. Riley wasn’t interested in listening to anything but the sound of his own voice. Bragging about making boatloads of money to your teammates was never a good idea. They might be laughing and joking with him to his face, but they were secretly stewing and talking about him behind his back. Riley had yet to make the correlation that the limelight had a high price when your team didn’t trust you. He was glad T.K. was feeling optimistic, because he knew he had his work cut out for him.

Still, Seth couldn’t help but notice the change in T.K.’s demeanor when Logan had sent a text during lunch saying he couldn’t make their dinner date. The tense relationship with his sons, rumors of his marriage troubles coupled with high expectations for a successful season would have driven any man crazy. But not the gruff, old tycoon who was his father’s good friend. Or at least he wasn’t letting it show.

But Riley was only a small part of the troubles with the Tomcat organization. Seth had done some recon on his own and it seemed the whole organization was disjointed. They were dropping the ball on trades, and their draft picks were questionable. T.K. had the framework there, but the team was in dire need of streamlining and needed some new blood pumping in its veins if it were ever to become a Super Bowl contender. Riley was supposed to be the solution but was rapidly becoming another problem.

Seth shook his head. This was precisely why he’d turned down T.K.’s offer. He had his own team at home that needed his attention. Morgan had seemed back to her old self this week but he was still keeping a close eye on his wife. He was man enough to admit he’d been a little worried about her. The health and happiness of the people he loved were the only things that mattered to him.

* * *

After a long talk with Michelle last night, Morgan knew she couldn’t put off scouting for a space for the second bookstore any longer. She hadn’t seen Michelle this excited about anything in a long while. It all made sense on paper and it was part of their original plan to expand. This should have been a piece of cake. She called Sam, who was happy to tag along with her the next day to give her a security assessment. She also enlisted Isabelle for another dose of moral support.

The commercial space wasn’t the only issue she was avoiding. She hadn’t made that doctor’s appointment yet. She’d managed to change the subject twice when Seth had asked, but she knew she was pressing her luck. His appointment with T.K. gave her a reprieve, but she knew she’d have to come up with a good answer by this afternoon.

Morgan pulled into Tate and Isabelle’s driveway to find her cousin watering the plants on the porch. No one would have ever guessed she’d given birth to her second child a few months ago. Morgan laughed at her attire. Isabelle had on a cute pink shirt and a pair of khaki Capri pants too. They inadvertently dressed alike all the time.

“Hi, Izzy.” Morgan waved.

“I’ll be down in a sec.” She stepped back into the house with the watering can and came out a minute later with her purse and a gift bag and got into the car. “Hey. Are you excited?”

Morgan pulled onto the road that led to Sam and J.J.’s house. “Excited about what?”

“John Jacob swears that once you see this space, you won’t need to look any further.”

“You’re right. He doesn’t dole out random seals of approval sight unseen. Which means there’s something I don’t know about this place.”

“It can’t be anything bad.”

“We’ll see. So what’s in the bag?”

Isabelle pulled out a jar of creamy peanut butter. “A ‘Mackenzie Says Mommy’ kit.”

“Please elaborate. I like where this is headed, but I don’t want to go to jail for child endangerment.”

“You know how peanut butter sometimes sticks to the roof of your mouth and you try to get it off?” Isabelle made an open mouth gesture.

“Yeah?”

Isabelle made the same movement with her mouth again. “It feels like you’re trying to say the letter M. Which will help her say ‘mommy.’”

Morgan laughed. “She doesn’t have a problem enunciating the letter M. She can say money just fine. That little girl is trying to get back at me.”

“For what?”

“I called her out for being a daddy’s girl. I think she coughed to see how fast Seth would run over to her. She wanted to make it clear she’s first in Seth’s life.”

“Morgan.” Isabelle squinted at her. “She is not aware of things like that yet.”

“Isn’t she? I’m a daddy’s girl from way back. I know the signs. And last time I checked, you were part of that club too.”

Isabelle smiled. “I admit I’ve been paying my monthly dues for some time now.”

“Don’t get me wrong. I respect her hustle. She’s got Seth wrapped around her little finger. This is just the beginning of a lifelong chess game between the two of us.”

“How do you know that?”

“I saw it the moment I looked into her eyes.”

“What?”

Morgan exhaled. “There’s an extraordinary feeling when you look into your child’s eyes for the first time. It’s like you see their potential and get a glimpse of who they will become.”

“How so?”

“Call it mother’s intuition. You can sense what your child is capable of when you’re holding them in your arms that first time. Jake is my strength. Connor and Colby are my protectors. Mackenzie is my challenge.”

“I know what you mean.” Isabelle sniffed. “I felt so much love coming from Matt, not just for me and Tate, but for everyone around him. Owen felt like a boundary pusher. He does things in his own time. He’s going to keep Tate on his toes.”

“And I have that feeling about Mackenzie. She’s going to take independence to a whole new level, and I’m going to be there to make sure she doesn’t get into too much trouble. No doubt Seth will let her do whatever she wants and will mediate when I have to put my foot down.”

“But it’s all kind of sweet. I want to have a little girl someday.” Isabelle fanned her eyes so she wouldn’t launch into a full tear-fest. “Damn you for making me emotional. You know I’m still cycling off those strong pregnancy hormones.”

“You were pretty emotional before you started having babies.”

They could hear J.J.’s raised voice as they pulled up to Sam and J.J.’s house. The eldest Blake son was talking about being reckless and having no regard for the feelings of the other people in the family. She wondered who he was lecturing. Sam hadn’t been out in the field for months. These days she mainly supervised and trained new Regency employees.

“Wow. I’ve never heard J.J. so steamed,” Isabelle mumbled as they got out of the car and ventured to the front door.

“Sam’s been on maternity leave, but you know her. She may have helped out and it turned into a dangerous situation.”

Morgan pressed the doorbell instead of the quick knock and enter she normally did. It was bad enough they could hear what was going on, they didn’t want to add fuel to the fire by barging in on them.

Then it really got confusing when Sam answered the door looking stunning, wearing a jean jumper. She had a huge smile on her face, but J.J. was still yelling from deeper inside the house.

“Hi, ladies. You ready to go?”

Morgan looked in the direction of the kitchen. “Is everything OK?”

“We don’t mean to be nosey, but we heard the ruckus coming up the drive. I thought you two had come to an agreement about your security work?” Isabelle bit her lip.

Sam continued to smile. “Everything is fine. We’ve never been better.”

“I don’t want to hear it young lady!” J.J.’s voice echoed from the kitchen to the foyer.

“But!” a woman’s voice replied, and was immediately cut off by another salvo from J.J.

“Parker’s here,” Sam said.

There was no shortage of badass women in Sam’s family. Parker Judith Carson was determined to follow in her big sister’s footsteps, and that meant earning her stripes in the police department. She was a good cop, but she always reacted first and thought about the consequences later, just like her big sister.

“What happened?” Morgan peeked down the hall.

“She was part of a standoff with some drug dealers they were trying to arrest. She tried some heroics that didn’t go well with her captain. When the family saw the footage on TV…well, it’s been a downhill slide from there. Luckily, her cowboy antics didn’t get her shot.”

“Poor Parker,” Isabelle lamented.

“No, poor Parker.” Sam grabbed her purse off the foyer table and led them out of the house. “What she did was impetuous and stupid. She’s always out to prove she’s the baddest thing around.”

Morgan and Isabelle stopped in their tracks and looked at Sam.

“How quickly we forget about that bomb incident,” Morgan mused. “I think that was the reason J.J. broke things off with you. Because not knowing if you were dead or alive nearly killed him as Channing drove him to the hospital.”

“In my defense, that was different. I didn’t go looking for the bomb. Parker looks for random gunfire.” Sam sashayed past them and got in the backseat. “She deserves that stern talking-to that John’s giving her with both barrels. It was long overdue.”

Morgan and Isabelle got into the car too. “So she came all the way to the ranch to get chewed out? I think she would have avoided this place like the plague.”

“I lured her here under false pretenses so he could have a chat with her.”

“You are diabolical, Sam,” Isabelle said. “Do you think she’ll be attending the family dinner?”

“Yeah, if he hasn’t grounded her. She was suspended from work, so she’ll be around for a while.”

“Well, I bet Teri-Lyn will be cooking her something to cheer her up.” Morgan clicked her seat belt and pulled off.

“Sam.” Isabelle shifted in her seat to look at her. “Morgan and I were talking about what first impression we got from the kids when they were born. Care to share your thoughts?”

“That’s easy.” Sam sighed. “Jack was all ‘I’m here and ready to take over the world.’ Gabe felt like an old soul. He was like ‘I’ve done the baby bit before.’ He always has this look on his face like, ‘I want to grow up now.’”

“So true.” Isabelle giggled. “He always looks like he’s thinking deeply about something. Morgan seems to think she and Mackenzie are going to be the next fight of the century.”

“I can totally see that. I’ll buy my ringside ticket now.”

“See.” Morgan narrowed her eyes at Isabelle. “The writing’s on the wall.”

“And if you like this space we’re going to look at, the fur is really going to fly,” Sam chimed in.

“Why?” Morgan looked at her in the rear view mirror.

Sam chuckled. “The name of the project is Mackenzie Square. This is one of the properties in her real estate portfolio. Jared has been working on this one for months. Didn’t John Jacob tell you?”

“You might want to slip her an extra dessert every now and again to keep her happy.” Isabelle covered her mouth to suppress her laughter.

“Awesome. Just awesome.”

* * *

Morgan was surprised that the location was only twenty minutes away from the ranch. The project manager showed them the layout for the entire project. It would host upscale shops, a movie theater, and restaurants. It promised to be a premier shopping experience and was scheduled to open in six months. The building she was interested in would be located on the main strip, so there would be plenty of foot traffic. A chic clothing outlet and a costume jewelry emporium would occupy the spaces on either side.

She took her time inspecting the commercial space, hoping some inspiration would come to her. The plan was to keep the same charming atmosphere as the bookstore in Philadelphia. By all accounts it would be the perfect location, but she didn’t want to admit to Michelle that her heart wasn’t in it. Starting up a new business would take a lot of time, and the way she’d been feeling lately, she wasn’t up to the challenge right now. But it wasn’t fair that Michelle’s life should be put on hold because of Morgan’s chronic tiredness. She’d pepped up lately so Seth would think she was feeling better, but deep down she was worried. She was in her thirties, hardly an old woman, but some days she felt like one. There were times when she wanted to crawl back into bed and sleep for a couple of days. She didn’t have time for that. The kids were involved in million different activities, and Mackenzie required a watchful eye since she got into everything now that she was walking and bustling around the house with curious eyes and hands.