Page 3 of Face Off

“Hi. I’m so sorry about being late.” I sat in the chair she gestured to. “It took longer to get to the preschool than I expected, then my daughter had a breakdown––”

“Please, don’t worry.” She waved me off. “I’m a mom too. I know how those mornings go.”

I laughed and leaned back in the chair. “I really appreciate that.”

She put her elbows on her desk. “And being on your own is new, right?”

I was careful not to mention being a single mom during the interview process, but Chloe seemed to have a sixth sense for knowing things. She saw the connection between my social media and mom blog, and how I could apply those ideas to building the social media presence for the team and individual players.

“Yeah, it is,” I admitted.

Normally when people heard that, they looked at me with pity or judgment. Chloe did neither. She just nodded. “How long?”

I almost laughed. I’d been raising Sadie on my own long before my ex, Peter, and I separated, but that wasn’t a story for the first day.

“Officially, four months, but I filed nine months before that.”

“And you have sole custody?”

I nodded.

“Most of what you’ll be doing is flexible, so if you need to work from home while she’s sick or anything like that, we’ll adjust as needed.”

That was more generous than I could have imagined. “Wow. That’s really great to hear. Thank you.”

“Plus, if you ever need babysitters or playdates, you’ll have plenty.”

“Oh, there are a lot of parents in the office?” I asked.

“And on the team.” She grinned and turned a frame on her desk to face me. I’d been studying the players to make sure I knew the guys I’d be talking about, and I easily recognized the five in the picture: Erik Shultz, Olli Letang, Grant Fisher, Brandon Cullen, and Reese Murray.

I froze. “Reese.”

“Is my husband,” she finished. “And Erik is my brother.”

I blinked. I should have known that. “Wow.”

“I’m not showing you to impress you. I’m showing because if you look, each of them is holding a child or two. We’re a big family here, and we help each other out.” Her smile warmed. “You’ll fit right in.”

I highly doubted that, but I nodded. “Thanks.”

“Now, let’s see if Taylor is available so we can dive into the good stuff.”

2

Mikey

As if my week couldn’t get any worse, my agent had to call and tell me he flew in this morning for a meeting. At first, I assumed there was a rookie he was trying to sign, or he was going to go to the university to check out some up-and-coming star.

No. He was here for me. Jackson had been to Salt Lake exactly once, back when we signed my contract for the Fury. He had no reason to come in and check on me. I only had a few endorsements, and last I checked, I still had two years with each of them.

Jackson didn’t do casual visits, so something was going on.

“Meet me at the front office at eight.” That was all he said before hanging up, giving me thirty minutes to shower, dress, and get to the arena.

I pulled out my wireless earbuds and shoved them in my pocket as I stepped out of the elevator and headed to the conference rooms. Jackson stood by the door, typing on his phone, and only looked up when I was in front of him.

“What’s going on?”