Page 213 of Vegas Heat

“Nonsense,” Troy says. “I’m fine.”

She turns toward him. “In sickness and health, right?”

He sighs with a bit of frustration.

Joanie turns back to Gabby. “Can you step in for me this week? I’ll have my phone on me and I’ll be available to answer questions or video chat or whatever you need, but once your father is discharged, he’ll need someone with him. I know you have classes in the mornings, but I also know you have a better handle on my job than anyone else, and I wouldn’t trust anyone aside from you with the keys to the kingdom.”

Gabby walks over and pulls Joanie into a hug. “I’d be glad to do whatever I can to help. I’m sure my professors will understand.”

“You willnotmiss class over this,” Troy booms, and Gabby turns toward him. “You already missed when you were in Chicago with Cooper. No more.”

“Okay, fine. I won’t.” She turns around and gives me a look that saysoh hell to the yes I will, but obviously we’re not going to allow Troy in on that nugget since we don’t want him blowing a gasket twelve hours post-op.

That’s Gabby. She’s stubborn, and she tends to do whatever she wants, preferring to deal with the consequences as they come.

It’s one of the things I love most about her, but it’s also potentially one of the things that’s going to get us into trouble.

“You two go get to work,” I say to Joanie and Gabby. “I can stay with Troy a few hours while you fill Gabby in on what you need from the interns this week, and I can switch out with you whenever you’re ready.”

“You have workouts to get to, Noah,” Troy grunts.

“And you need your rest. I expect you to take a good, long nap while I watchTop Gun. Have you seen it?” I fold my arms over my chest in a power play that Troy can’t do much about given the fact that he’s laid up in a hospital bed tied to a bunch of monitors, and so he blows out a frustrated sigh while his daughter walks over to grab his hand.

“Get some rest while we work out the details, and I’ll have Joanie back in a flash,” she says. He kisses her hand, and it feels like it should be my place to kiss her goodbye next.

“Thanks, baby girl,” he says.

Joanie kisses Troy next. “I’ll be back in a few hours. If you need anything, you call me. Okay?”

He nods and narrows his eyes at her as he says, “Yes ma’am.”

They both chuckle softly as she leans in for another kiss, and I gaze across the room as I wonder when it’ll ever be okay for me to kiss Gabby goodbye or share a soft chuckle with her in front of her father.

CHAPTER 5: GABBY

I drive Joanie and myself to the stadium, and she scribbles notes while we make our plan of attack in the car, not wasting a single moment.

“I wish Dad could be there on Tuesday,” I muse.

“It’ll be hard on him missing it, but it would be harder if he wasn’t here at all,” she says as I pull into the parking lot. Security waves me through, and we head up to her office.

She makes me a list of her passwords and tells me everything I need to know in order to effectively do her job while she’s out this week, and she also gives me a list of tasks for the interns.

“Mackenzie is going tolovehaving me call the shots,” I murmur, and Joanie laughs.

“You’ve got nothing to worry about, Gabby. All personal feelings aside, your ideas and creative content are in a completely different league than hers.”

“She knows about Cooper and me,” I admit.

She twists her lips. “Is she using it against you?”

“She hasn’t yet, but I don’t doubt this will tip her over the edge.”

She picks up her phone and taps on it a few beats without responding. “There.” She sets her phone down and wipes her hands as if she’s taken care of the situation, and my phone buzzes with a new text.

I lift it to read what Joanie just sent.

Joanie:Hi Interns – I will be taking the week off for personal reasons. I’ve selected Gabby to fill my place for the week, and she will hand out your tasks. If any of you are available to come in right now, we’re working on the newplayer welcome day on Tuesday and we could use all extra hands on deck. Thanks!

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