Page 83 of Obeying the Owner

“Oh yeah.”

“Are you excited?” I ask Maeve.

She nods. “I am. I’m more excited that I’m spending the day with my two favorite people than about the game itself.”

We enter the arena through a special entrance reserved for suite owners, and take the private elevator up to the fifth floor.

“Swanky,” Maeve says.

I tap her nose. “I’ll show you all the finer things in life, Sunshine.”

She smiles at me. “You already have.”

My parents are already in the suite when we arrive, and Gwen rushes over to hug them.

“Maeve, honey, I’m so glad to see you,” Mom says. She walks toward her with her arms outstretched, and Maeve meets her halfway. I can tell how fond my mom is of her by the way she embraces her.

When Mom is moving toward me, I notice my dad is waiting for Maeve.

“My favorite boss is here,” Maeve says, loud enough for me to hear, then she hurries toward my dad.

He leans in for a hug, chuckling. “I’m never going to let my son live that down.”

“I don’t think you should,” she says like the vixen she is.

My dad comes over to shake my hand and pull me into one of his backslapping hugs.

“Who else is coming?” Gwen asks.

“No one. When you said you were bringing Gwennie, we figured we’d keep it simple.”

“This suite can get rowdy sometimes with our family and friends,” Mom explains to Maeve.

Spending the day with the entire Ledger family is a lot, especially when you’re all stuck in one room. They’re my family, and I love them, but they still drive me crazy sometimes.

Maeve moves to the bank of glass that runs from one side of the suite to the other, looking down at the shiny ice surface with the Coyotes logo painted dead center.

“You’re welcome to get comfortable.” I gesture to the row of chairs lining a large portion of the windows.

Gwen grabs her hand, tugging. “Sit next to me, Maeve.” She lets my daughter lead her to a chair. I smile as I watch them.

“Trey.” Mom calls me over to the other side of the room where the refrigerator is located. “Gwen seems to really love Maeve,” she says.

I nod. “She does. Almost as much as I do.”

My gaze swings over to find their heads bent close together as they talk, and it fills my chest with emotion.

“I’m glad that picture that was in the slideshow wasn’t the end of you two,” Dad says.

“Yeah, me too, but Maeve’s tougher than she looks. She’s the kindest person, but she’s got an iron will.”

“Did you ever find out how that picture got in there?”

“Yeah. I knew when it was taken because there was only one time I kissed her outside of my office. I reviewed the security footage, and it turns out it was taken by one of our employees, Randy Waverly. He had a crush on Maeve and wasn’t happy when she wouldn’t go out with him.”

“Did you fire him?” Dad asks.

“Hell yeah. Not for taking the picture, because we were in the wrong for kissing at work. But he went out of his way to add it to the slideshow, and for that, he had to go.”

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