Page 29 of The Secret

“That’s cool, what does he do there?”

“He’s part of the research and innovation teams.”

His head turned so he could look at me directly, his bright green eyes wide and curious. “Seriously?”

I nodded. “Yes.”

“Wow, that’s… what does he do for them?”

“Actually, he coaches track there, but works on the innovation in all elements of women’s sport clothing. Aerodynamics… that sort of thing.”

His eyebrows rose and we continued walking in silence for another minute.

“Has he ever thought of leaving?”

He wasn’t the first person I’d met who thought my dad’s job was cool, but it was the first time anyone had asked me that. “Nike?”

“Yes.”

I shook my head, picturing my dad’s face of horror if anyone asked him to leave. “Nooooo. My parents were born and raised in Oregon, as was Nike.”

He laughed at my tone, the air relaxing around us. “Fair enough. So you’re from Oregon? Have you got a big family?”

“I have two sisters, both younger than me.”

He picked up Barclay’s ball again and threw it. “Are they as noisy and chaotic and interfering as my family?”

If I’d thought that first call with Wolfie and Freddie was intense, the past week had nothing on it. His family was full-on loud, boisterous, demanding… but so filled with love for one another that it was heartwarming and endearing. And I’d been brought into it with the same level of enthusiasm they gave everything else.

“Almost.”

His low chuckle hit me again, a thick heat coiling my veins. “Yeah, I’m yet to meet anyone who can beat them out for noise. What do your sisters do?”

“My middle sister just had a baby, and my youngest sister is still in college.”

Barclay’s ball sailed through the air once more. “Did they both leave Oregon?”

“Yes, but they stayed on the west coast.”

“What made you leave Oregon?”

I dodged a sprinting Barclay as he bounded back, followed by another dog looking to play. “I always wanted to go to Columbia to read English.”

His tongue ran along his top lip as he shook his head and tutted.

“Madness. Why Columbia when Harvard is clearly the best?” he teased.

I grinned at his tone. “Because Columbia is better for research, and I always liked that it was founded by a King. Sounds more romantic.” I side-eyed him, noticing him smile. “If it makes you feel better, Harvard was my backup.”

His loud snort erased the final vestiges of any awkwardness I’d been feeling between us. “Wow, way to make a guy feel inferior.”

“New York is a better city too, there’s so much to do as a student. I worked my way through the Met and I couldn’t have done that in Boston.”

He raised his eyebrow at me. “What? Like a room a day?”

“Something like that, but the special exhibits took precedence. It took me a few years, but I did it. Now I go for the new exhibitions,” I shrugged. “I like learning.”

“I’m very impressed.”

---