Page 13 of Roughing the Player
An hour later, I have a list of food to buy and dishes to make. I’ll need to recruit Mama for the event because I can’t prepare all this food by myself. She’ll love my asking her. After all, she and Steve moved to Chicago to be with us. After I told them about my job offer in the Windy City, he put the word out to the Chicago grocery store community that he was looking for a job. It didn’t take long for a local chain to snap him up.
After years of him catering to a southern clientele, the Chicago population posed a brand new challenge for him. But he’s excelled at it by bringing that famous southern hospitality to his supermarkets. He set up southern cooking demos at every one of the stores he managed, and Chicagoans took to southern fried chicken, fried catfish, with a side of greens, and cornbread pudding with a vengeance. Since he took over, sales at his grocery stores have soared.
The move hadn’t been easy, though. After years of living in the mild temperatures of the south, we’d all found it difficult to deal with the cold and snowy landscape of Chicago. I’d worried about uprooting Kaylee from her nice, friendly school and dropping her into an environment filled with strangers. Turns out I had nothing to worry about. With the effortless charm she’d inherited from her father, she’d made friends easily. She had it all—brains, beauty, and charisma. Plus a good dose of street smarts. She can spot a lie a mile away. That’s why I have to be so very careful around her.
There had been one more plus to living in Chicago. The move had given me the opportunity to become a homeowner. For the first time in my life, I own a house. Our home contains two bedrooms, one full and half-bath, and a decent kitchen. But the big plus is the huge backyard. When the weather allows, we gather back there to barbecue. Plus, Mama has started a vegetable and herb garden.
But the biggest advantage is to Kaylee. She’s enrolled in the number one junior high school in Illinois. She’s getting the very best education my tax dollars can buy.
With my future and Kaylee’s education secured, I’d breathed easy for the first time in years. Until Marty called me into his office this week to tell me Brock Parker had been traded to the Chicago Outlaws. Just like that, the bottom had fallen out of my world.
“Earth to Mom.” I blink back to find Kaylee waving her hand in front of my face.
“What?”
“I’ve asked you the same question three times.”
“Sorry, honey.”
Scrunching her brow, she studies me as if I were a puzzle to be solved. “You’ve been off the last few days. Since Saturday. The day you picked up Brock Parker at the airport.”
My heart skips a beat. She has a sixth sense when it comes to me. She knows when I’m upset. But she can’t find out what’s bothering me.
But before I can point her scrutiny in another direction, she says, “He’s a jerk.”
That assessment surprises me. She’s usually not that harsh. “Why do you say that?”
“Somebody overdosed at one of his parties.”
“Honey, he didn’t provide the drugs.”
“How do you know?”
“The player who died brought it himself. They found drug paraphernalia on him.” Why am I discussing Brock when that’s the last thing I want?
“Doesn’t matter. He should have been more careful about who he invited.”
Eleven-year-olds about to turn twelve possess all the wisdom in the world. “He was a member of his team. It would have been weird if he hadn’t invited him.”
“Why are you defending him, Mom?”
“Because it’s wrong to accuse an innocent man. Brock did not provide the drugs. He even hired a security firm to check his guests. But somehow, this player managed to sneak them in, and he paid for it with his death.”
“How do you know all this?”
“Brock Parker is a client. It’s my job to know his history—personal and professional.”
She tosses her blond hair over her shoulder, its honey shade so close to her father’s. “Still, he shouldn’t have allowed it to happen.”
“Kaylee, it’s not like the player asked his permission.”
“Besides, that’s not the only reason I don’t like Mr. Parker.”
“Oh?”
“He has orgies, Mom.”
“Kaylee! How do you even know that word?”
