Page 23 of Rocking Player
Hopefully, this meant she was thinking about what I offered as I said, “I told Phil I didn’t care, and he could just tell me the team names once we’ve gone over the numbers and perks with the offers.”
She tapped the steering wheel like she was listening to a song only she could hear. “What kind of numbers are we talking about?”
There was my spreadsheet analyst. I turned to watch her face as I discussed numbers while she drove. “I want 30 million a year with a guarantee of five to ten years, then I retire.”
She sucked in her lip and her face reddened a little. Then she continued to tap the wheel like she was unfazed and said, “So you’re talking 150 million to 300 million?”
Good. She’d understand that kind of money was worth being a little up in the air about a home. This was why I needed to be mobile, and it wasn’t forever. I nodded and said, “If it’s five years, I’d have to negotiate again, possibly, but I’m not going more than ten. I want a ten-year guarantee.”
“It’s double.” She said without even glancing at me.
We pulled up into some line and we started inching forward slower than a snail in a race. But she didn’t turn off the car, which meant she expected to move.
“It means I could retire when Jeremy is sixteen and then stay home with you and fuck you all day, every day until we tire, like that week in the Bahamas.”
Her cheeks blushed prettily, and she glanced at me, then moved the car a little, as she said, “Well, that is a picture that will live in my mind.” We stopped in front of a walkway and she stiffened and said, “But here we need to be good.”
She unlocked her door to get out and said, “That’s my sister with Jeremy.”
“Olivia?”
“That’s her name.”
Jeremy held hands with a smaller, skinnier version of my Georgie. I followed her out of the car as the young woman hugged her sister and said, “Georgiana.”
Georgie stepped back and patted my arm, standing next to me like we were now in some competition together as she said, “Olivia, this is Michael Irons. He’s Jeremy’s father.”
Olivia stilled but then offered her hand to shake and said, “The mystery is finally solved. Nice to meet you.”
I shook it but asked as I glanced at Georgie, “What mystery?”
Olivia said, “We’ve all wondered who in the world my sister had been with and never talked about. We all guessed you were special to her as she never said a word about you, but when she’d gone to college, she'd ranted all about her then-boyfriend, Osmand, who’d broken her heart.”
“Ozzie? I’d forgotten about him entirely. I think he went to law school.”
She didn’t sound torn up, so I let that go. I’d had girlfriends before I’d met Georgie and, honestly, she had a right to move on with her life these seven years, though I was glad she was free now.
Georgie turned white, like she’d faced an execution, as I said, “It’s nice to meet one of Georgie’s five little sisters.”
Her sister placed her hand on her hip and tossed her hair back as she said, “So you knew about us. Will we be seeing you around?”
Georgie opened the backdoor for Jeremy to get in as I said, “If Georgie here agrees to marry me like I asked.”
Both sisters shared an exchange I didn’t get, but it was clear an unspoken conversation had just happened. Then Georgie buckled our boy in with the click as he asked, “Mom, you’re marrying Michael?”
I waved and opened my door as Georgie then came over, hugged her sister and said, “We got to go. See you later, Olivia.”
I closed my door and leaned over to open hers. She got in and closed the driver’s door without a word. A few minutes later, we were back on the road, away from the school and Jeremy asked, “Mom?”
My heart stilled as I stared at her profile. Her jawline was clear as she watched the road and simply said, “It’s not been decided.”
She hadn’t even looked at me.
Jeremy didn’t seem fazed by her avoidance and asked, “Why not?”
She turned and softened her gaze as she winked at our boy and then glanced at me as she said, “It’s complicated.”
Jeremy threw his hands up in the air, making my arguments for me as he asked, “How is everything complicated with you?”
