Page 11 of Puck You Very Much

Lucy stopped and rubbed her eyes with her thumb and middle finger. She loved her father, but she hated going to see him, hated having to comfort him, hated forcing him to eat, to go out, and to get on with his life. He kept reminding her, painfully, why she would never fully share her life with anyone.

“I know it’s tiring, Lucy,” Maddie continued quietly. “Believe me. In a few weeks, you'll be on the move again, chasing the Hawks, and then the biggest burden will be on my shoulders and…I need help until then. I can’t do it alone. I can’t run the agency while also making sure Dad isn’t drowning in his own filth every night.”

Lucy swallowed hard and nodded. Her sister was right. She handled most of the work concerning their father—and still managed to run an incredibly successful dating agency. All Lucy had to do was babysit a grown man and maybe get a promotion! “All right,” she murmured, “I’ll take care of him.”

Her sister breathed a sigh of relief. “Thanks. It’s okay if you can’t go until tomorrow, but I don’t think he’s drinking enough water. I had to force it down his throat. And leaving the house would do him some good. Unfortunately, I didn’t have time for a walk yesterday, so…”

“Don’t worry, Maddie. He’s my responsibility this week.”

“Oh man, thanks. I’m sorry to shove this onto you, you sound exhausted.”

She nodded and walked down the rest of the stairs. “I am exhausted and I’ve just been assigned the most degrading task of my entire career.”

“Uh-oh. What do you have to do?”

“Well, you have the incredible honor of speaking to the new personal assistant to the most insufferable man in the United States. Although personal assistant is merely a fancy term for personal detention officer or babysitter.”

For a few seconds, there was complete silence on the other end of the line. Then Maddie said matter-of-factly, “I have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about. I thought you were a PR consultant, not a personal assistant.”

“I thought the same thing! But Mr. Dax Temple can’t get it together—whoring around, drinking too much, and generally acting like an idiot. So, he now needs personal image maintenance. From me.”

Maddie laughed loudly. “Oh my God. This is about Dax Temple? Your hot nemesis?”

Lucy rolled her eyes. “He’s neither hot nor my nemesis.”

“Ah, I would watch what you say, Lucy. God sees our every little sin, and to describe Temple as anything but hotter than a pizza oven would be a mortal sin!”

“Fine, he may be hot, but he’s not my sworn enemy,” she capitulated, raising her hand. “He’s merely a man I don’t like. There are many of them.”

“No,” Maddie replied immediately, “he’s something special.”

“He’s not,” she growled. “He wishes he were.”

Maddie chuckled softly. “Oh, you should have just heard yourself. Like a dog with a bone. He’s special, Lucy. Whether you like it or not.”

“It’s nice that at least one of us can laugh about the fact that the next few weeks are going to be hell for me.”

Maddie’s laughter grew louder. “Sorry. Of course, I’m truly sorry about that. But, hey, think of it as a chance to finally…well, make peace with him. Or at least negotiate a ceasefire.”

Sullenly, Lucy pursed her lips. She crossed the foyer with long strides, smiling briefly at Jeff the security guard. “Yes, that would probably be the sensible and mature approach to the situation.”

“But you don’t feel sensible or mature around him?” Maddie concluded.

“Exactly.”

“Well then, I guess all I can do is wish you luck. But hey, if it gets too much for you, come down to Santa Monica. I’ll buy you a cocktail and you can dish all you want about your handsome hockey god. We just won’t invite Matt. He’d just ruin our mood by saying Dax is actually a good person and we just need to get to know him better.”

That was a wonderful idea. “Thanks, that actually helps.”

“Good. And bring along that Max you’re dating at the moment! Then I can get to know him.”

Lucy grimaced. She never introduced her sister to her guys, for good reason. The whole thing would be too…intimate. It would mean it was something serious. And Lucy wasn’t serious. “Yeah, maybe,” she said vaguely, knowing Maddie didn’t approve of her casual dating life. “I’ll let you know and get back to you if there’s anything new with Dad, okay?”

“Great. Cheer up, okay? You’re strong and independent and blah, blah, blah—all the rest!”

She grinned. “You should write a self-help book. No one expresses themselves as well as you do.”

“Thanks, I try,” Maddie replied modestly. “See you later.”

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