Page 10 of Necessary Roughness

I pretended to be oblivious. “Who?”

She lifted her hand into the air as if to protest. “Stop it!”

“Stop what?”

“Stop acting like you don’t care about him. You’ve spentmonthstalking about him on your show.”

I couldn’t let a comment like that slide; I had to defend myself. “Hey! It’s my job. Talking about NFL players is how I pay my bills.”

“Puh-leez,” she scoffed. “You’re totally obsessed with Luke! Even your parrot thinks so.”

“She’s not my parrot, and?—”

Stacy interrupted. “You’re totally obsessed with Luke!”

“Oh my god,” Claire squealed in excitement. “I can train her!”

“Um, no. No thank you.”

Claire giggled loudly. “Brett loves Luke!”

Stacy squawked but didn’t repeat Claire’s phrase.

Thank goodness.

“Luke, you’re sodreamy,” Claire proclaimed, “can we meet up later tonight?”

Silence from Stacy.

Finally, I was getting some respect from this damn bird.

“Luke!” Claire screamed loudly, startling me. “Will you marry me?”

Stacy finally took the bait and squawked. “Luke! Will you marry me?”

Claire laughed so hard she doubled over on the couch, dropping her bottle of vodka on the floor and almost breaking it.

I rushed over to pick it up. “Great, Claire! You almost ruined the hardwood floors with your bottle of liquor, and you almost ruined my bird with your lies and mockery.”

She composed herself and rose to her feet. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry.”

We walked into the massive chef’s kitchen, and I sat at a stool while Claire unpacked the rest of the ingredients and started searching for martini glasses.

“Ice?” she asked.

“Try the freezer.”

“Hey!” she exclaimed. “I’m not interested in youricytone.”

My eyes involuntarily rolled. “What a treat. Cosmosandpuns.”

“Clairsmopolitans” she corrected, pausing and momentarily putting aside her task of finding glasses and ice. She walked over to me, slowly and dramatically, before she looked me square in the eye.

“Look. You’re a smart man. Dig a little deeper. Why do you think you’re being so defensive about Luke Dalton? It seems to go beyond professional interest, so what’s the deal?”

Stacy squawked in the other room as if threating to screech Luke’s name again.

Claire went back to her task, quickly finding glasses and getting the drinks started as I quietly considered her words.

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