Page 38 of The Wedding Deal
Lance was a whole different story, because even after this week ended, they’d still have to be around each other in the office.
Charlotte:Of course I’ll go, as long as my boss okays it. LOL
Maribelle:He will or else :)
Charlotte sat back with a happy sigh, thinking today was a good day.
A loudpingsounded, her inbox letting her know it had a new message. A closer look revealed it was marked urgent.
The former coach had compiled a list of reasons to support his belief that he was wrongfully terminated and was asking for an outlandish amount of severance pay. The team’s lawyer had added a note, asking her to disprove or verify the items. Naturally, she wanted her to find ways to disprove them.
Just like that, the afternoon went downhill at a rapid pace, and Charlotte was the one with her phone permanently glued to her ear.
By the time Lance arrived, Charlotte had drained every last drop of coffee. She’d burned through the caffeine boost way too quickly, and her limbs were dragging, along with her thoughts.
“Just got off the phone with our lawyer,” Lance said, ditching his tuxedo coat. “She brought me up to speed on the situation with Coach Hurst. You said things were bigger in Texas, and he definitely gets the award for biggest baby.”
In the office she might point out that those kinds of comments would only exacerbate the situation, but since they were in a more casual setting and he obviously needed to vent, she decided to let it go. “I was afraid he’d be bitter enough to do something like this.” She was pretty sure the guy had convinced himself Mr. Price might leave at least part of the team to him because they’d worked together for so long, and his disappointment had been palpable after the funeral.
“She said you were already compiling information to help with the counterclaim. Any progress?”
“I printed out his contract and tabbed and highlighted places we can cite where he didn’t completely fulfill his end.” She pointed at the twenty-eight-page document. “Since he never had an official warning about them, it’s going to make it that much harder to prove. I’ve also gone over all the forms and documents I’ve kept, including what few complaints I did receive about him—now might be a good time to thank me for being so thorough.”
“Thank you,” he said, sitting on the couch next to her. “I mean it. Does that mean there’s good news?”
She wobbled her head back and forth. “Some of his claims are outrageous, and we can easily dispute them. Others… Well, it gets tricky. He asserts that he and your grandfather had a plan, and that Mr. Price gave him his word his position was safe for at least two more years while he put it into effect, which is ludicrous—no one gets that kind of a guarantee in this industry. And I have notes from several meetings that show how many times I insisted Mr. Price draw up addendums for every agreement; regardless of his opinion, his word was his bond, and everyone else’s should be, too. It might be enough to fight it, but it’ll be a messy, drawn-out process and might cost more than paying him off.”
“Can we afford it? Either way?”
“That’s a question for the CFO.”
“We don’t currently have one of those.”
“I realize.” Charlotte bit her lip. She’d gone back and forth on bringing up this subject, but in theory he appreciated how she always spoke her mind. He might change his stance on that here in a second, because he wasn’t going to like this. “John was a really good CFO. The other guys never listened to his advice and put him in situations he’d have to dig us out of, but he did always manage to dig us out. I think it was…a bit hasty to lump him in with the rest and fire him.”
A muscle flexed in his jaw, offense simmering under the surface. “You think it was a mistake.”
She expelled a breath and lifted her chin, no backing down now that it was out there. Honestly, it’d bothered her since that meeting where the shit hit the fan. “I do. Like I said, I could see the others had gotten sloppy and weren’t willing to change. But we could really use John right now.”
“What do you want me to do? Call him up and beg him to come back?” Lance shook his head. “I don’t know if I can do that. It’s not my style.”
“Just apologize and see what he says. Are you really going to let your pride get in the way of a decision that’d benefit the team?”
He growled.
She tilted her head. “Growl all you want. Doesn’t change the facts.” She gestured to her computer screen. “I’ve gathered everything I can, but I’m not sure it’ll be enough. You’re asking me to do the job of two people—two huge jobs that usually require assistants. It’s…too much.”
The cushion dipped as he scooted to the edge of the couch. She thought he was going to stand and storm away or go to pacing like he did when he talked on the phone. Instead he raked his hands through his hair and cast her a sidelong glance. “I’ll think about it.”
“Sooner would be better than later.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah.” He scrubbed a hand over his face and reached for the empty pot of coffee.
“It’s gone, but I can order more.”
“No, I’m already too hyped now anyway. It’d probably make it worse.” He undid the bow tie, slipped it out of the collar, and flung it aside. “Did you get a hold of Galen Michaels?”
It’d been before the coffee delivery and the email with the bad news, and so much had happened it almost seemed like it was days ago. “Yeah. He’s running a football camp back in his hometown—something about an old mentor who died and left it to him and his friends. He said it was complicated, but that even if he didn’t have that going on, he wasn’t interested. The NFL lifestyle never was his thing.”
