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“It’s a date,” she says, and I can nearly hear the smile on her face.
I haven’t been the best son lately—or grandson, or brother, or even boyfriend or friend. I’ve been so focused on making this team successful that I’ve set my entire personal life aside. And while I know my family and friends understand that, it’s not how I want to be.
It’s how my dad was, and I sure as fuck don’t want to turn out a damn thing like him.
I get started on reviewing film from yesterday’s game when a quiet knock comes at my office door.
I’m about to tell whoever it is to beat it so I can get some fucking work done through this headache despite my previous vow to be better, but when I look up, I see Jolene standing in front of me.
Her face is streaked with tears, and for just a moment I worry something happened to Jonah.
I stand. “What’s wrong?”
She bursts into tears. “I just quit VG-oh-three.”
I freeze. “You quit?”
She nods.
“Close the door.”
She does, and she steps into my office as I move around my desk toward her. I take her into my arms as she sinks into me.
I hold her while she cries, and I press a soft kiss to the top of her head. “I’m so, so sorry, Jo. We’ll get through this, okay? We will figure all this out, and we will come out on the other side stronger because of it.”
“I hope you’re right because I don’t know how many more hits I can take.”
I don’t say the words out loud, but the truth is that I don’t either.
“So what are you going to do?” I ask when she finally pulls away from me.
She shakes her head as she holds both hands up as if to say she has no idea. “There’s one thing I keep thinking about. It was Sam’s idea, actually.”
“Sam’s idea?” I echo. “The last time Sam had an idea…” I trail off without finishing that sentence. We both know what happened with Sam’s last idea.
“Who owns the podcast?” she asks.
“Our podcast?”
She nods.
“Prince Charming Public Relations owns it along with some of the equipment at the station.”
Her eyes light up as her lips lift in the first smile I’ve seen on them since she walked into my office. “Ellie owns it?”
I nod. “It was her idea, and she retained the rights when she brokered the agreement with both the Aces and VG-oh-three.”
“Yes!” she says, punching a fist into the air.
“What’s your idea? Or, er…Sam’s idea?”
“To expand the podcast and get a behind the scenes view of games and practices and the team dynamic. What it’s like to coach an NFL team. What it’s like to be the girlfriend of a coach. It gives me the chance to continue covering the team and, specifically you, but without the station holding me back. We can do whatever we want, and your commitment to it won’t change but mine will. It gives me a shot to continue working with the team while we produce longer episodes, and I can produce it myself since I don’t have any other work right now.”
She pauses as she waits for my reaction, and I offer her a wide smile. “I love this idea. I think it’s perfect. You don’t have to answer to anyone else, and we can do whatever the fuck we want since we don’t have the station holding us back.” My chest warms at how excited she is about this. It’s a chance to continue working together, but it’s a chance to build something together, too. And that’s pretty damn sweet.
“Plus, if we bring it all in house, we have no other costs associated with it, and longer episodes means more spots for sponsors, which means more money—hopefully enough to replace what I’m losing by quitting the station.” She offers a triumphant square of her shoulders at the end of her speech.
“Move in with me.”
