Page 57 of Roughing the Player
Chapter 16
Eleanor
“ELEANOR,COULD YOU STEP INTO MY OFFICE?” Marty, my boss. Three guesses what he wants to talk about, and the first two don’t count.
It’d taken no time for Meghan to spread the news that Kaylee was Brock Parker’s daughter. Heck, she’d probably texted the information to her friends on the way back to her house. Once the cat was out of the bag, it had spread like wildfire on social media, and the gossip rags had wasted no time setting their news hounds loose on the story. Within a day, they’d found out how Brock and I knew each other, and that he’d never paid child support. The reports had been vicious, some of them branding him a ‘Deadbeat Dad.’
Not content with hurling insults at Brock, my house phone has been ringing nonstop; so has my cell. They’d even managed to track down Kaylee’s number and my mother’s. She’d called in a panic on Monday. “Honey, I’m getting calls about Brock and Kaylee.”
“Don’t say anything!”
“I haven’t, sweetheart. I know better than that. I just thought you should know.”
“Thank you, Mama.”
“What are you going to do?”
“Nothing.”
And that’s exactly what I’d done the last two days. But now it seems that option has been taken away from me.
Marty and I had tried to prevent a scandal, but it found Brock anyway. No wonder Marty wants to talk to me.
The gazes of most everyone in the agency follow my every step as I walk on shaky legs to Marty’s office. When I reach it, I’m not surprised to find two of the firm’s senior partners there as well.
“Close the door, Ms. Adams.”
God. If Marty’s calling me by my last name, it’s a lot worse than I thought. Am I going to lose my job?
“Please take a seat.” Marty is sitting on one of the easy chairs next to the couch where the two partners are perched like vultures eager to pounce.
As carefully as I can, I fold into the matching seat.
“Thank you for coming. The reason we asked you here is that we need to broach a sensitive subject with you.”
In other words, the ‘sensitive’ subject will be discussed with care, something I truly appreciate. “All right.”
“Are you aware of the rumors swirling in the media about Brock Parker and you?” he asks.
I lace my hands to keep from breaking down. “Yes.”
“Is it true?”
“There’s so much information flying around. Anything in particular you’d like to know?”
“Is he the father of your child?”
Ahhh. The crux of the matter. There’s only one answer I can give. “Yes. He is.”
One of the senior partners jumps in. “You didn’t see fit to let Martin know you had a relationship with Brock Parker when we hired you?”
“There was no relationship. I hadn’t seen him in over ten years.”
“Come, come, Ms. Adams. Whether you hadn’t seen him in ten years is immaterial. You had a child with him,” he thunders on. There goes the polite approach. But then he’s got a reason to worry. The brewing scandal may impact the agency in negative ways.
“I didn’t think it mattered.”
“It matters, Eleanor,” Marty says, not unkindly. “Some media outlets claim Brock never provided child support. Is it true?”
