Page 130 of Just One Season
“Right.” He nods, like it all makes sense. “Like I told you at Thanksgiving—not forever.”
My stomach twists, and I focus on not crushing the coffee cup in my hand.
“Nope. It was not forever,” I say through clenched teeth.
“Maybe you should see Ron again? The time and distance might’ve been the perfect break. Now you can start over again together.”
“No,” I say firmly. “Remember how he cheated on me incessantly? There’s no coming back from that.” I have no feelings left for Ron. Maybe when I arrived in Colorado there was some lingering desire for him, but that’s all gone now. I feel nothing for him. And it’s a damn relief.
Richard raises his eyebrows. “Be honest, darling. That thing with the hockey player was a temporary interlude. Ron’s the real deal. Same with your career at DC FC.”
“Dad.” I’m suddenly exhausted.
Richard shrugs, like he doesn’t care to argue, like he doesn’t care at all either way.
“Anyway, I might as well admit that I have an ulterior motive for being here.” He flashes his pearly whites at me.
Of course he does.
“Go on.” I wave a hand at him.
“I wanted to talk to you about a job opportunity. Like I texted you a few weeks back.”
“Dad.” I groan. “I’m not coming back to DC FC.”
“Hear me out, okay?”
I want to say no. I want to stand and walk out. But he’s my father, and he flew all the way here, and I almost always do what I’m told when it comes to him.
So instead, I nod and wait for him to continue.
“When you quit DC FC—” he pauses.
He says it as if I quit randomly and for no reason. Like I didn’t do it because I couldn’t face my ex-fiancé down the hall every day and think about how he cheated on me.
“—you were a director of marketing. I know you have ambition to do more. Be more.”
“Yes. I do. But you’ve not actually really acknowledged that before.” Annoyance in my gut turns to anger. “Whenever I’ve tried to talk to you about my career goals, you blow me off and tell me to be patient. But I’m done being patient. This is not only about Ron. This is about me wanting more. Me wanting the respect I deserve, both at home and at work.” I clench my toes in my short boots and fury boils beneath the surface of my skin.
All these years, my father just wanted to control me. He only cares about my career now because I’m no longer under his thumb. I’ve managed to slip away.
“You know I had to be careful.” He tilts his head. “It would look bad if people thought I was favoring you.”
“Right. I get that. But at some point, you were doing the opposite of favoring me. You were ignoring me. Ignoring what Iwanted. And when leadership does that to an employee, they leave. That’s what happened with me.”
Richard nods and leans forward. For a second, I wonder if he’ll respond to my speech. Apologize for holding me back, controlling me, ignoring me.
“You know I deserved more at DC FC. But you just wanted to keep me under your control.”
Richard nods like he’s really thinking about what I just said. Okay. Progress. Is he really hearing me? Surely he’ll apologize, tell me how he didn’t treat me fairly.
“Lucy, I’d like to bring you back as the vice president of marketing and public relations. We’d have you hire two or three staff members, including your replacement, which we never found.”
“What?” I freeze mid-sip. My mind struggles to catch up to what my father just said. It wasn’t an apology or an acknowledgment.
It was an actual job offer.
“Mark is retiring early, and as soon as I found out, I knew I had to bring you back on for the job.” Richard leans back in his chair, clearly pleased with himself.
