TWENTY-TWO
GAVIN AND MICK WERE
CLEANING OUT THE GUTTERS when Gavin saw Elizabeth’s car pull up in
the driveway. A twinge of guilt and something else pulled at his
gut. His dad was sitting out on the back patio, watching them. It
was a perfect day. The sun was out, a nice breeze blowing. Mom and
Tara were out shopping.
“You know why she’s
here.”
“Leave it alone,
Mick.”
His dad stood when
Elizabeth came through the back door.
“Front door was
open.”
“Hi,
Lizzie.”
She gave his dad a
hug and sat down with him, not even acknowledging Gavin and
Mick.
“She’s playing you,
man. Just like she manipulated me. And Tara and
Nathan.”
Gavin glared at
Mick. “This isn’t about you. Not everything is about
you.”
Mick shrugged and
directed the hose into the gutter while Gavin grabbed a pile of
dead leaves out of another section. Mick climbed down off the
ladder to move it, and Gavin inched his way across the roof, trying
not to focus on Elizabeth and his dad, who were engaged in
conversation and laughing together.
“Hey, boys, Lizzie’s
going to take me for a little walk. Be back soon.”
“I can do that,
Dad,” Gavin said.
“I think she can
handle it. Just clear out the gutters. We’ll be fine.”
Gavin looked at
Mick, who frowned, but they finished up the gutter, and by the time
Gavin climbed down the ladder and went in search of his dad, he was
in the living room with a glass of water, his feet propped up on
the ottoman. Elizabeth was in one of the chairs next to
him.
Damn, she looked
good in her cream-colored suit with a pale blue silk blouse
underneath. Her heels showed off her killer legs, and he wanted to
eat her up from top to bottom. He suddenly wanted to be alone with
her, to talk to her, to get past this distance between them, to
figure out what had gone wrong. But he just . . . couldn’t. There
were things she just didn’t understand.
She looked up at him
and offered up a smile, but it wasn’t the kind of smile he wanted
to see from her. She was holding back, just like he was. “Your dad
is doing so well. He walked all the way down to the corner and
back.”
His father grinned.
“Going to be kicking your ass in a game of hoops in no time,
especially with that horrible diet of chicken, turkey, and fish
your mother is making me eat.”
Gavin smiled. “It’s
good for you, Dad.”
“Yeah, whatever. I
miss French fries.”
“You’ll get over
it,” Gavin said. “And you’ll lose that beer belly.”
“I miss beer,
too.”
“You’ll get over
that, too,” Mick said. “I did.”
“Get those gutters
done?”
“Yup,” Gavin said.
“All cleaned out.”
“Good. Mick, how
about you and I go rustle up a turkey sandwich? I’m
hungry.”
“Whatever you want,
Dad.”
His father got up
and followed Mick into the kitchen. Gavin took a seat on the sofa
across from where Liz sat.
“He looks good,” she
said.
“Yeah, he
does.”
“He’s been home for
a week and a half, Gavin. Your father is progressing remarkably
well.”
“Yes, he
is.”
“It’s time for you
to get back to the game. You’ve missed enough.”
His smile died and
he stood. “Don’t tell me what to do.”
She stood, too. “I’m
your agent. It’s my job to tell you what to do. You don’t want to
miss too much baseball. Your team is counting on you. You’re paid
to play, in case you’ve forgotten.”
“I haven’t forgotten
anything. The Rivers said I could take as much time as I needed to.
Why are you pushing this?”
“I’m pushing because
you don’t need to be here anymore. Mick and Tara are here to watch
over your father and help out your mom. Jenna is taking care of the
bar. Your father’s health is good. Half of your games are local,
and you can check up on your dad when you’re here for home games.
Your delay tactics are only hurting your career.”
“I’m not ready
yet.”
“You’re not the one
who had a heart attack and surgery, Gavin. It’s time for you to get
back on the field.”
“And I’ll let you
and the team know when I’m ready to get back on the field. Today
isn’t the day.”
“Why are you being
so stubborn about this?”
“Why are you being
so insistent about it?”
“I’ll tell you why.
Because she’s manipulating you for her own gain.”
Gavin shifted his
focus to Mick, who leaned against the doorway to the living
room.
Elizabeth did, too.
“You stay the hell out of it. This is none of your
business.”
Mick’s lips curled
into a sneer. “When it affects my brother, it becomes my business.
And I won’t let you do to him what you did to me.”
“Butt out, Mick.
This doesn’t concern you. Gavin is my client, and I’m trying to get
him to see that he needs to get back to work.”
“Oh, right. Like
your only concern is Gavin. Please. I know you too well, Liz. I
know you’re scared to death that you’re going to lose another
moneymaker, that if he doesn’t get back to the game the Rivers
might not pick up his next option, might not pay him so much money
next time.”
She whirled on Mick.
“You know what? That’s exactly right. And you know who that’s going
to hurt? It’s going to hurt Gavin. And you know what else? If you’d
pull your head out of your ass and stop thinking of yourself for
one goddamn minute, you’d see that your brother is miserable and
has been, that every time Stallings gets up to bat it kills him,
that he wants to be on that field so bad it physically hurts him.
But no, you’re so happy that he’s battling me that you can’t see
past your own anger and spite to what’s best for Gavin. You only
want to continue to get back at me, and by doing so you’re
sabotaging your brother’s career when what you should be doing is
kicking his ass right out of this house and encouraging him to get
back in the game where he belongs. I’m ashamed of you, Mick. I
thought you loved your brother.”
She turned to Gavin.
“Look, I don’t know what your hang-up is about all this, but I love
you and only want what’s best for you.”
He stared at her.
“So do you tell all your clients you love them to get them to do
what you want them to do?”
Her jaw dropped.
“What?”
“You heard me. Is
that your newest form of manipulation? A declaration of love? How
many of them did you sleep with to get your own way?”
She went pale, and
even as the words fell from his mouth, he couldn’t believe he was
saying them.
“Gavin, you should
know better. I have never slept with a client before. But you know
what, this was a mistake. Everything about us has been a mistake
from the very beginning.”
She cut her gaze to
Mick. “Is that what you wanted? Well you know what? You got it. You
win. I concede. Give Don Davis my regards when he signs
Gavin.”
She shifted her gaze
back to Gavin. “Gavin, I can no longer represent your interests
since it’s obvious you want something other than what I can give
you. At your earliest convenience please find other representation.
I’ll follow this up in writing immediately.”
She turned and
walked out the door before he could form a coherent
response.
What the hell had
just happened?
She’d told him she
loved him, and he’d accused her of sleeping around with all her
clients?
And then she’d fired
him.
Of course she’d
fired him, because he was a dick.
He fell into the
chair and listened to the sound of her car pulling out of the
driveway.
“What the hell was
that all about?” his father asked as he came back into the room and
took a seat.
Gavin couldn’t form
words to explain to his father what he’d just done.
“Did I hear
correctly, or did Elizabeth just fire you?”
“You heard right,
Dad,” Mick said.
“And what part did
you play in all of this?” his father asked Mick.
“A lot, I
think.”
“Michael, I try not
to interfere in your life, and I understand that Elizabeth made
some mistakes with you and with Tara and Nathan, but don’t you
think it’s about time you got the hell over it already? I’ve never
known you to hold a grudge.”
Mick sat and put his
hands in his hair. “I was mad. Really mad. I love Tara and Nathan
like I’ve never loved anyone in my life. And what Elizabeth did,
the way she manipulated them, hurt me. Hurt them.”
“And she apologized
and made it right, didn’t she?” his father asked.
“Yeah, she
did.”
“But you couldn’t
let it go.”
“I was afraid when
Gavin started seeing her.”
Gavin lifted his
head, turned to Mick. “Why?”
“Because I was
afraid she’d hurt you.”
Gavin let out a
laugh. “You didn’t think I could take care of myself
?”
Mick shrugged.
“You’ll always be my little brother, no matter how old we are. I
was trying to protect you. I guess I overprotected. Shit. I fucked
this up bad, man. I’m sorry. I have to fix this.”
Gavin shook his
head. “No, I think you’ve done enough. I’m the one who has to fix
this. But I’m not sure I can. The things I said to her. She said
she loved me, and I stabbed her in the heart.”
“You realize she was
only looking out for your love of the game.”
Gavin looked at his
dad.
“She knows you love
the game. We talked about it on our walk. She sees what I see, how
much you love baseball. It’s never been about the money with you,
ever since you first started playing. You would have played for
nothing. Fortunately, you had Elizabeth in your corner to negotiate
a good contract, because you would have signed for nothing. She
told me she’d never known anyone else who would have played for the
pure love of the game. And watching you the past couple of weeks
has killed her, just as it’s killing me, because the light has gone
out of your eyes. She wanted you back in the game because your joy
is gone. I told her to do whatever it took to convince you to get
back to work.”
Gavin stood and
dragged his fingers through his hair, the burn in the pit of his
stomach so intense he didn’t think he’d survive it.
God, he’d hurt her.
He was so afraid of leaving his dad, so afraid of losing him. What
if he wasn’t here and something happened?
And yet his dad and
Elizabeth had pegged the loss he’d been feeling.
He missed the
game.
He had to go
back.
He turned to his
dad. “I have to go back.”
His dad smiled up at
him. “I know you do. I want you to. It’s what you do. It’s what you
love. I’d be disappointed in you if you stayed here because of
me.”
He went to his
father and kneeled down in front of him. “I was afraid something
would happen to you again if I left.”
His dad leaned
forward and touched his shoulder. “I’m gonna be fine, kid. I’m not
made of iron, but I’m not made of Jell-O, either. I had my wake-up
call. I’ll take care of myself, and I promise not to fall. But you
can’t watch me every second of every day. You have to let
go.”
Gavin shuddered in a
breath and stood. So did his dad. They fell into a hug, Gavin
careful not to squeeze his dad because of the
incision.
“I’m not gonna
break, kid.”
Gavin fought back
the sting of tears, then pulled back and nodded. “Okay, time for me
to go back to work.”
“Gavin.”
He turned to
Mick.
His brother looked
miserable. “I’m sorry. I fucked this up, made it
worse.”
“You did. But that’s
on you, and between you and Elizabeth. And I have to take the blame
for not stopping it when I should have. I let it go on too
long.”
Mick quirked a grin.
“You can’t stop me when I’m being a bullheaded ass.”
Gavin smiled.
“True.”
“I’ll fix it. At
least my part of it. So you love her?”
Gavin had thought
he’d hesitate when it came time to say it out loud, but the words
fell from his lips. “I do love her. So you’re going to have to live
with that.”
Mick grasped Gavin’s
shoulders. “I can live with it if she can put up with me. Now go
get your girl. And get your ass back to work.”
Gavin left his dad’s
and went back to his house. He’d called the Rivers and told them he
was ready to play. They’d be back in town from their road trip by
the weekend, so Coach told him to be ready to suit up then. In the
meantime, he was going to Elizabeth to fix things between
them.
He called her. She
didn’t answer. He called again, left a voice mail, and waited. She
didn’t call him back. He called her again. And again. She wouldn’t
pick up.
Dammit.
He drove to her
house, knocked, but got no answer. Maybe she’d gone to her office,
so he tried there, but the receptionist said she wasn’t in, which
meant she either really wasn’t in or she was refusing to see
him.
He checked the
parking lot and didn’t see her car.
Well, hell, she
wasn’t going to make it easy for him, was she? Then again, after
what he’d said to her, he didn’t deserve easy. And he damn well
wasn’t going to apologize via cell phone or text message. This had
to be done in person.
He drove back to her
condo that night and didn’t see her car parked in the parking lot,
and there were no lights on inside. He waited like a damn stalker
in her parking lot for three hours, calling her cell several times,
but she still didn’t answer.
And she never came
home. He waited until one in the morning before giving up and going
home.
It was going to be
hard to apologize to her if he couldn’t find her. Her office was no
help, refusing to tell him where she was, and the next day she
wasn’t at work, either.
He had one more day
before he had to report back to the team, and he couldn’t find
Elizabeth.
But he knew someone
who could help.
GRATEFUL FOR THE
TRIP OUT OF TOWN, ELIZABETH stared out the window of her New York
hotel room. Contracts and negotiations for a potential new client
had kept her busy for the past two days, and she was so damn glad
for that, too, because the last thing she needed was surplus time
to think.
Time to think meant
time to dwell on Gavin, and she’d already wasted too much time on
that man.
She crawled onto the
bed and picked up her laptop, putting the finishing touches on the
contract language for her new client, an up-and-coming NBA player
for New York. Not quite as high profile as Gavin, but a couple of
more players added to her roster would make up for what she lost by
dumping Gavin. She’d put some feelers out and gotten the line on a
few guys unhappy with their current representation, and she was
well on the way to evening out the loss with some stellar gains.
First the basketball player, next up was a running back for
Baltimore she intended to meet with the first part of next week.
And that guy was a moneymaker. If she could sign him, she’d not
only have a coup, but a laugh at Don Davis, his current
agent.
It was all in
keeping the balance. And she would
maintain the balance.
Her cell buzzed, and
she grabbed it off the table, hoping it wasn’t Gavin
again.
It wasn’t Gavin. It
was his mother.
Shit. Her stomach
dropped, and she clicked the phone, hoping like hell Gavin’s father
hadn’t had a relapse.
“Hello?”
“Elizabeth? It’s
Kathleen Riley.”
“Hello, Kathleen. Is
Jimmy okay?”
“He’s fine, dear,
don’t worry.”
She blew out a sigh
of relief. “Oh, thank God. I’m so glad to hear that.”
“I’m calling about
Gavin.”
“Oh.”
“You really fired
him?”
This was going to be
difficult. “It was getting to be too hard, Kathleen.”
“You don’t have to
pull punches with me. I understand. Was he awful to
you?”
There was only so
much she was going to tell his mother. “There was a conflict of
interest I couldn’t deny any longer. I was in love with him. I
couldn’t represent his best interests with that kind of conflict. I
had to make the break.”
“He said you won’t
answer his calls.”
And he had his
mother call to run interference? Really? “I’m working right now so
I’ve been busy.”
“He said you haven’t
been at home or at your office.”
Looking for her, was
he? Good. “No, I’m in New York on business. Whatever he and I have
to say to each other will have to wait.”
“I told him I wasn’t
going to pressure you or pretend that this call was anything other
than a fact-finding mission on his behalf.”
She smiled at that.
“Thank you, Kathleen.”
“I hope you two are
able to work things out.”
That wasn’t going to
happen. “I’m glad you called. Please say hello to Jimmy for
me.”
“I will, honey. You
take care.”
Elizabeth laid the
phone down on the nightstand and stared at her laptop, but the
contract language had lost its appeal. She closed her laptop and
sank under the covers, grabbed the remote and turned on the
television, randomly flipping channels, hoping she could find
something mindless to tune into until she fell asleep.
Her phone rang. She
grabbed it from the nightstand, her heart squeezing when she saw it
was Gavin. She laid it back down and focused on an animal show on
the television.
When her phone
buzzed again, she let the tears fall, no longer able to hold them
inside.