Page 12 of Playmaker

“What?” Faith was staring at me like I’d grown another head. Good thing she couldn’t read my thoughts. I tried to explain. “It’s an excellent deal. I’ll take a lawyer to my sister’s wedding and freak out my family, and she won’t think it means anything serious.” They were doing the looks. Again. “Come on, spit it out. What’s your problem?”

“She’s going to pretend to be your girlfriend?”

Shit.I’d almost burned the omelet. I pulled the pan off the heat, checking that I hadn’t ruined it. I turned to see my friends still staring at me like I was a new zoo exhibit. “No, we’re not pretending to date. She’ll just be my plus one, as a friend. It’s a straight exchange of assistance. Come on, you know taking someone to a wedding can give that person ideas.”

I didn’t mention that I still had to convince Callie of this plan by doing well at golf lessons. It was a technicality, after all. I’d ace that.

I had to grab the next plate myself because Faith and Hunts were still staring at me. I slid the eggs on and jabbed the dish at Hunter who roused himself enough to take it.

Hands on my hips, I glared at them. “Or I can just not call her and then you two don’t have to freak out about this.”

Faith poked Seb. “No, sounds like you’ve thought this out. You’re old enough to know what you want.”

That was a quick change. What was she up to? She avoided my gaze, carefully setting out the cutlery on the table. She was getting some kind of weird idea about this whole thing, but that wasn’t my problem.

“Seb, can you get Hailey out to eat? She was setting up her stuffed animals to play with Cooper.”

I let whatever Faith was worried about slide. I had my best girl waiting to play with me after breakfast. Things were good.

* * *

Callie

I jotted down a quick note.The latest CPA opinion on the appropriate presentation of tax liability for environmental obligations and the penalties for refusing to follow them was supposed to make things clearer, not add more gray areas. A noise disturbed my concentration. With an impatient huff of breath, I looked up.

I wished I hadn’t. I set my hands on my desk, sighing internally while I kept my expression blank. Benson would use anything he could find to complain about me.

I’d had three firms competing to hire me when I graduated. Because of that, I’d been able to negotiate a good contract for my employment here. There weren’t that many people willing to commit to the time involved in being a tax attorney. There was a lot of demand, so that was why I’d chosen this specialty. My ultimate goal of using it to become partner would take a while, but I had the brains, and the willingness to put in the time, and they needed me. My weakness was people skills, but I was working on that.

Benson had been on my case since we both were employed here. I did my best to avoid him and didn’t give him any ammunition to use against me. I took care of my own shit and did my best to ignore everyone else’s. He’d tried to throw shade my way in some meetings, but I’d been able to hold my own. Fortunately, he didn’t handle tax issues, so we didn’t run into each other often.

“Did you enjoy the benefit?” he asked.

What the fuck did he care? I didn’t need to waste valuable time chitchatting about a party, of all things. “Yes, it was fine.” I didn’t ask him if he did, because that would only encourage him to keep talking.

“You didn’t win the golf lessons, did you? Too bad.” The fake sympathy in his voice was almost comical.

A petty part of me wanted to tell him a hockey player had offered to teach me. But first of all, I didn’t want him to keep talking, and that would definitely have him asking questions. Secondly, I didn’t think the hockey player was going to call, and wouldn’t Benson just love to bring that up as often as he could? “No, I didn’t.”

I looked back down at my computer, wanting to be sure I got this penalty issue right before I answered the email I was working on.

“No golf tournament this year?”

Why the hell did he have a stick up his ass over that? I’d shortlisted places I could get lessons. It should be a quick decision, where to learn about golf, but Benson and Cooper had made me aware that it wasn’t just the game itself that mattered. And I wasn’t sure how to add that behavioral aspect into my decision. The “fitting in at a country club” part.

My cell phone rang, so I offered Benson a fake smile and picked up my phone. “Callie Smith. How may I help you?”

Benson oozed out of my doorway as I spoke.

“Calliope! Glad to catch you.”

I blinked. Who was calling me Calliope? “Who is this?”

“This is your own personal golf pro. We need to set up a date.”

My jaw dropped, and I was glad this wasn’t a video call. Also glad that Benson was gone. “Um…Cooper?”

“Exactly. My schedule is fairly open right now. I’m tied up for the next couple of days with a sponsor thing, but I’m available all weekend. Should we start Saturday? I assume you’re at the office on weekdays.”

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