Page 6 of The Wedding Deal
…
Lance tossed his keys on the counter of his penthouse apartment. It’d been his grandfather’s as well, and he recalled all the times he and his brother, Mitch, had been scolded for running through the halls, both from Mom and his older sister, Taylor, who’d often thought she was the boss of them growing up. The five bedrooms and two floors had been convenient whenever they visited and needed a place to stay but seemed extravagant now that Lance was living here alone.
All the space accented how alone he was, too, and he wondered if it’d gotten to his grandpa during those past few years, after Grandma Price had passed away.
Maybe after Mitch and Stacy get married, they’ll come visit. Taylor can bring her kids, too, so they can help breathe some life into the place.
Added bonus, he could teach his nephews to race through the house. He chuckled to himself as he thought about how Taylor would have to retrain them after they returned home. Kids should be kids, after all.
Lance walked over to the couch, shed his suit coat, and yanked off his tie, glad to be rid of both. For now he’d dress up and look the part of an office flunky, but before long, he was going to loosen the dress code.
Something Charlotte James would undoubtedly take issue with. She’d probably even tell him exactly which section of the employee handbook it violated. A smile crept across his face as he thought about the way she sighed when he was telling her to reword the job postings.
For a rule follower, she certainly was feisty. Honestly, he was just glad he’d have help to sort through the mess, which yes, he’d made himself. Though really, his grandfather had let things slide these past few years, too worried about keeping up appearances to let show that he was tired and rundown, and he forgot things now and again, ones that made running the team difficult.
Not even the family had known the extent of it.
Obviously they’d known the best decisions weren’t being made as far as the team went, but Lance could still remember voicing his opinion about a player they’d traded when he was a sophomore in college, and how Grandpa had told him that it was his team and he’d damn well do what he wanted. He’d added that when Lance ran the team, he could do the same.
It was something he’d occasionally dropped into their conversations, but Lance never thought he’d be running the team so soon. At one point he’d actually thought he’d pass. That was back when he figured he’d be playing quarterback into his early forties and maybe coach a while before Grandpa passed away.
But between Lance’s second knee injury and his grandpa’s stroke, life made it clear that it didn’t respect set plans. Things happened, and you had to read the field again and come up with a new play.
Right now he was searching for open players for his staff, trying to determine who’d be able to catch the ball and help lead his team to victory. He sure as hell wasn’t going to deal with a bunch of babies who’d go crying to HR if he raised his voice or swore over an incompetent move. If he’d done that back when he’d been playing ball, he would’ve been dropped in a hot minute.
I hope the Stangs players haven’t grown soft along with the staff.
His phone buzzed in his pocket, and he smiled when he saw his brother’s name.
Mitch:I hope you’re not getting a big head now that the Locker Room Report has given you most eligible bachelor status. I’m gonna be a total diva about you stealing the spotlight during my special time.
Lance huffed a laugh. He’d heard about the article from one of the PR people who was safe for the time being, but he didn’t put any weight to it. Since his athletic glory days had been a study in how little control he had over what journalists said about him, he simply hoped it’d be good for the team. Maybe extra publicity would make it easier to rebuild.
Sure. He’d grasp at any straws right now.
His phone vibrated again, the ring splitting the quiet. He moved his thumb over the decline button but didn’t tap it when he saw it was his mom. You didn’t ignore calls from Mama Quaid, especially since she’d just keep on calling.
“Hey, Mom.”
“You haven’t responded to my texts about the wedding.” Mitch’s wedding was a week and a half away, which was why he’d joked about his “special time.” And boy was he taking a lot of it, milking the event for all it was worth—he’d expect nothing less from his baby brother, though, and he was happy for him. He just wished the timing was better.
“I’ve been busy.”
“We’re all busy,” she replied. He had no doubt she was overloaded with the endless wedding planning stuff, and there wasn’t any point in arguing his busy—trying to rebuild a team—was a different kind. “We’ve been planning this for a long time, and I expect you to arrive the same day the rest of us do.”
He plopped onto the couch and leaned back against the cushions. No one knew how to throw a celebration like his family, which meant it wasn’t just a wedding but a destination wedding with events starting the Monday before the ceremony.
“I understand that, but there are things you can’t plan for.”Like Grandpa’s death, but he didn’t say that. Not when it’d been her father and she’d had such a hard time saying goodbye—she’d cried for a week straight, the funeral bringing on a wave of tears he’d never seen from her before. The upcoming happy event was most likely what was helping her hold it together, so he’d go along with anything she wanted.
“And there are things you’ll regret missing for the rest of your life. Now, as for your plus one…”
Make thatalmost anythingshe wanted. “I wasn’t kidding when I told you I’d be married to my job for the foreseeable future,” he said. “That’s going to be my priority for the next year at least.”
“Pish posh. Your brother managed to get engagedduringthe season, when he was traveling nonstop for games.” Their parents were college sweethearts who’d been married for almost forty years, and his mom had been obsessed with marrying off her children since the time they hit twenty. Taylor made her happy by getting married shortly after college and immediately popping out a few kids, and now Mitch was ten days away from joining the land of the wed. Lance wasn’t anywhere near there, nor did he want to be. You’d think after ten years she’d give up, but nope. “You don’t want your life to be empty, do you?”
He had way too much experience with empty days, ones where he looked around and found that everyone he’d thought were his friends were long gone.
Maybe that was why he was having trouble adjusting to the giant penthouse in a mostly unfamiliar city. He’d grown up in Raleigh, played for the Tarheels, and then was drafted by the Titans. While there’d been plenty of busy months he’d hardly seen his family, he’d never lived quite so far from them.
