Page 14 of Well Aware

“He’s great,” she said. “I’m excited to work for him. At least I know I won’t have a shitty boss that won’t work with me and my kid.”

My mouth went dry as he came down the concrete steps onto the pitch.

He looked at everyone before he said, “I know that it’s a surprise to find me as your new boss.”

There were murmurs that agreed with him.

“But we’re going to turn this team around,” he said. “We have a veteran.” He looked around the team, searching for me, but not knowing who I was. “That’s willing to come on to help focus us for our last year. And we have Nettie.” He jerked his head toward my neighbor. “That’s going to see to it that we lock our offense down this year.” He looked at us all. “I’m sorry for the crazy change in…”

He said more, but I got a bit lost in the sound of his voice. The timbre was deep. Deeper than many that I’d heard before. And he had a mesmerizing pair of lips that I knew tasted heavenly.

His hands, too, were sexy.

And, if I were being honest, so was his suit. It fit him like a glove.

There was no way that he got this one off a rack…

“Any questions?”

Shit.

How much had I missed?

Iris, who’d been surprisingly quiet until now, tugged on my shirt. Merrill had dropped her off after she’d gotten Iris fed and clothed. She’d been so good, considering the circumstances.

I looked down to see her signing.

Can I go over there?

She gestured toward the ice baths that were set out on the concrete near the locker rooms.

“Just don’t get in,” I ordered.

She loved ice baths.

I had no clue why.

But I chose not to overanalyze it.

If she wanted to get cold, who was I to tell her no?

Only, this time I didn’t want her getting in trouble without me there.

I should’ve probably left her with Merrill all day, but I wanted the people who would be taking care of her to meet her.

Iris was different.

According to her pediatricians, she had high-functioning autism.

She could speak, but she didn’t like to.

She signed anytime she wanted to get some information to you.

And at three, she’d mastered every bit of sign language there was to know.

I was somewhat fluent myself, after forcing myself to learn the language when I noticed that she’d sign to me instead of speaking around the age of fifteen months.

But still, I wasn’t nearly as advanced as Iris was.