On the Fly (38 page)

“
Even if it’s something in
himself that’s getting in the way?”

“
Yes, even if it’s
something in himself getting in the way,” she said. “He’ll make
whatever changes he has to make until he gets to where he wants to
go.”

“
Thanks, Rachel. I just
have one more question.” Jim crossed his arms over his chest, his
eyebrows coming together in a line. “What makes you so sure of
that?”

This time, she really blushed—one of
those blushes I liked to think she reserved for me—and refused to
look at me. “Because he got me to go out with him. If you’ll excuse
me,” she said as she backed out of the room and pulled the door
closed behind her.

I had to stifle a laugh. It hadn’t
mattered when I’d met her that I hadn’t known a damn thing about
her—as soon as she’d told me she didn’t date, I’d set out to change
that. Now she was my girl, and she hadn’t been able to stop me from
making that happen.

And she loved me. They didn’t need to
know that, but I knew it. That was all that mattered.

“
What’s that supposed to
prove?” Hammer asked.

“
It doesn’t prove
anything,” Jim said. “But it confirms my own thoughts. That Brenden
picked up on that part of his dad’s personality—an utter fixation
on whatever he’s set out to do—and that’s good enough for me. Let’s
eat and talk about what we’ll all expect from each other while
Brenden works this out.”

We spent the better part of the next
two hours doing exactly that. By the end of our meeting, I knew
that once I got cleared to play again, I wasn’t going to be traded
or waived to go play in the minors—at least not right away. The
trade deadline wasn’t until early March, though, so there was
plenty of time for me to prove I could do what I had claimed I
could do. Likewise, there was more than enough time for me to fail
to do what they needed me to do. I’d have to earn my ice time.
Scotty wasn’t going to just hand it to me. I’d play on a lower line
until I’d proven I deserved to move up the lineup.

And if I was going to play here past
the trade deadline this season, or if I wanted to have any hope of
earning a new contract with the Storm, I was going to have to earn
that, as well.

Jim wanted to keep me around, but
Scotty wanted to see me go. I had to convince Scotty it was worth
giving me more time with the Storm, and the only way I was going to
do that was by stopping myself from trying to convince
him.

Talk about a clusterfuck.

By the time
five o’clock rolled around, I’d gotten a lot of
work done that normally I would have needed Martha’s help for. But
I’d done it all without her assistance. I’d put through the
paperwork to list Brenden on injured reserve, retroactive to the
game against Vancouver when he’d been hurt so badly. I’d sent
everything in to recall Aaron Ludwiczak from Seattle and arranged
for his travel. He would be coming in tonight, so he’d be ready for
the game-day skate in the morning and could play in the game
tomorrow night.

I still didn’t know what had happened
in that meeting, though. All I knew was that at least for now,
Brenden wasn’t going anywhere. If he was on the injured reserve,
they couldn’t send him down to the AHL, and it would be extremely
unlikely that he’d be traded. When he’d left Jim’s office, he’d
stopped at my desk for a quick kiss and told me he’d pick me up
after work, but then he’d left. Jim hadn’t told me anything, of
course. That was between him and Brenden, and if Brenden wanted me
to know, Brenden would have to be the one to tell me.

At least I’d had those transactions to
file with the league. That had kept me busy enough all afternoon
that I hadn’t been able to obsess and worry, and they’d given me a
small dose of peace of mind.

Jim winked at me when he came out of
his office to head home for the day. “Did you get through it
okay?”

“
She didn’t need me at
all,” Martha said. “Didn’t even ask a question.”

I shook my head. “I still felt better
having you here.”

“
The training wheels will
come off soon enough,” she said. “And you’ll be all the better for
it.”

I didn’t know if I’d go that far, but
today had made me feel a lot more capable of doing this job once
she retired. I still couldn’t believe it had barely been a month,
and soon I’d be expected to do everything she’d done all by
myself.

Whether I needed her help or not,
Martha would still be coming in for her half days through the next
week. She was using the time to get through all her files and put
everything where it belonged. For more than twenty years, she’d
worked the same position. Several general managers had come and
gone, but Martha had still been there. She’d entrenched herself in
that desk, and it wasn’t something she could undo in a single
afternoon.

The
ding
of the elevator sounded, and I
spun in that direction. Sure enough, Brenden was making his way
toward us on his crutches. Jamie was with him, which only surprised
me for a second. His family had flown back home today, so we’d
probably see a lot more of him again, like we had before they’d
arrived.

I powered down my computer and
straightened up my desk so we could head home.

“
Glad you’re still here,
Jim,” Brenden called out. “Dad wanted to know if tomorrow would be
good. Mom and Dana are planning a day of shopping, so he’s looking
for any excuse he can find to avoid going with them.”

“
Any day and any time is
good,” Jim replied. “I’ll make time for your dad if I have to. See
you all tomorrow.”

I grabbed my coat and purse and headed
out with Brenden and Jamie, waving good-bye to Martha over my
shoulder. As soon as we got into the elevator, Brenden pulled me
close for a quick kiss.

He grinned at me. “Babs came with me
because I want to take you on a date tonight after we pick the kids
up. He’ll take them home and stay with them until we get
back.”

“
I don’t—”

He stopped my objection with a finger
pressed against my lips. “You got me thinking earlier with what you
said in Jim’s office. We still haven’t ever been on a real date,
and you were right—I don’t let much stop me from getting what I
want. I want to take you out, just the two of us. It’s just one
night. There’s no school tomorrow, so it doesn’t matter if we’re
out a little late.”

“
I don’t mind, Rach,” Jamie
said. I glanced over at him and caught him blushing. He looked
away. “I like hanging out with Tuck and Maddie. It’s not a
problem.”

My hesitation had nothing to do with
thinking Jamie would mind watching the kids, and everything to do
with the simple fact that Brenden wanted me to leave them with
someone. It was difficult enough to leave them at school with their
teachers, or to leave them with their after-school program. With
those, all the adults working there had been through extensive
background checks and had lots of training. It wasn’t just my
intuition I had to rely on with them.

I’d left Tuck with Jamie and his
brothers before, but this would mean leaving Maddie, too. They
liked Jamie, and I trusted him, so this was a step I needed to
take.

“
All right,” I finally
agreed after racing through all the objections filling my
head.

The elevator doors opened and we went
out to the cars. Throughout the drive, I had to continually remind
myself to breathe.

Brenden reached for my hand and held
it in his. “You can call home to check on them as often as you need
to.”

I nodded. I could do this. They would
be fine.

We picked up the kids and told them
the plan. Tuck was ecstatic—there was nothing better, in his mind,
than getting to spend as much time with Jamie as was humanly
possible, especially now that Nicky had told him Jamie was famous.
Maddie grinned when Jamie told them he’d take them out to eat
dinner somewhere.

“
Good,” she said. “We don’t
want to burn the building down.”

If she could make a joke about Jamie’s
cooking, then I knew she was okay with the idea. I was the only one
struggling with it.

I was the one who had to get over it.
I had to start to let go, and this was a little step in that
process. Tiny, really, in the grand scheme of things.

We moved the kids’ booster seats over
to Jamie’s car and got Tuck and Maddie situated in the
back.

“
You can call me if you
need anything,” I said, but I wasn’t sure if I was saying it more
for Jamie, the kids, or myself.

Jamie winked at me and fastened his
own seat belt. As I was closing the back door on the passenger
side, he said, “Let’s go to the arcade first.”

The closed doors didn’t come close to
stifling Tuck’s squeal of approval.

Brenden and I stepped back, and Jamie
drove off. All three of them waved at us as they disappeared down
the road.

“
I’m impressed,” Brenden
said. “I thought it would be harder to get you to agree. That’s the
main reason I brought Babs along—I figured he could sweet-talk you
and flash his dimples if you didn’t go for it right
away.”

I laughed. “Oh, ye of little
faith.”

“
I’m not above using
anything at my disposal to get my way.” He led me back to his SUV,
where he opened my door and waited on his crutches for me to climb
in. He winked at me as he closed it.

“
So where are you taking
me?” I asked when he got behind the wheel.

“
It’s a
surprise.”

“
I don’t know that I like
surprises.”

Brenden took my hand, stifling a
chuckle. “Tough. Learn to like them.”

“
I’m not even sure I like
dating, and now you want me to like surprises, too? You’re pushing
it.”

“
You’ll like dating, too,
once you let yourself relax a little.”

“
Promise?” I asked.
“Because it’s been a long time since I’ve been on a date of any
sort, and so I’m not really good at this.”

“
Good thing for you,
I
am
. Quick
question, though—most Texans like spicy food, right?” He pulled out
into traffic, heading into the southern part of the city—an area
where I hadn’t spent much time so I couldn’t even make a wild guess
as to where we were going.

I rolled my eyes, but he couldn’t see
me because I was looking out the window as he drove, amazed at how
different people were here than in Texas. A hippie with dreds and a
“Keep Portland Weird” T-shirt was walking along the sidewalk and
talking to a man in a suit and tie like they were old friends. I
didn’t know if I’d ever get used to the way things were
here.

“
You’re not taking me out
for Mexican food in Oregon, of all places,” I said. “Huge mistake.
If you want Mexican food, I’ll make it for you.”

“
Not Mexican but still
spicy. Is that okay?”

It wasn’t just okay. The prospect of
getting to eat something spicy had my taste buds dancing in
anticipation. Cooking for the kids, I had to keep things pretty
mild. It had been a while since I’d had something with a good kick.
“Spicy is fine, but I have serious doubts about any northerner’s
judgment on what constitutes spicy,” I teased.

I decided to take his lack of argument
as confirmation.

It wasn’t too long before he parked
along the street by what appeared to be a rundown strip mall in a
neighborhood I wasn’t entirely sure I wanted to stay in. I raised a
brow in question, but he got out and came around to help me down.
At least he was with me, but I wasn’t sure how much he could do if
someone tried to mug us, considering he was on crutches.

We headed toward the middle of the
block, to what seemed to be an overgrown area of greenery next to
an alley filled with trailers serving as food trucks. An iron gate
was situated beneath the bow of a tree strung with Christmas
lights, and that was where he turned in.

Once we got through the
gate and under some of the overhanging tree branches, it opened up
into a lovely courtyard in front of a little, old house that had
been converted into a restaurant. A small sign at the door
read
Khun Pic’s Bahn
Thai
. More Christmas lights had been strung
through some of the greenery, making the whole place seem like an
enchanted hideaway in the middle of the city.