“But I’m not in love with you anymore, Will. How are we going to sort that out?”
The next few minutes were a blur. He couldn’t say for certain if he’d said anything after that, or if she had. The door had opened—he was pretty sure she had done that—and then he was on the other side, watching her vanish behind it. He made his way toward The Field, walking those familiar halls, surrounded by familiar people but experiencing emotions he’d never felt in his entire life.
“How’d it go, man?” Ellis asked from his office as Will walked into his own. When Will said nothing in return, Ellis replied, “Yeah. I was afraid of that.”
“Where have you been?” Kevin’s deep voice bellowed from the doorway before he made his way into Will’s office and threw a file folder on top of the cluttered desk. “I’ve been looking everywhere for you.”
Ellis bounded out of his chair and joined them. “Our man here’s had a pretty rough day.”
“Well, it’s about to get a whole lot better.” Kevin knocked his fist on the folder on the desk. “Levinson’s office called a press conference for Thursday.”
Will pulled his chair out from his desk and collapsed into it, staring blankly at his boss.
“Did you hear me, Whitaker? The commissioner of Major League Baseball is holding a press conference in three days. It’s in response to the Magician story. It has to be. And I think our new chief research analyst needs to be the one to cover it, don’t you?” There was a smile on his face that made it pretty clear that he not only knew what a huge opportunity he was giving Will but that he was thrilled to be able to give it. “What do you say? Are you up for it?”
“Sure,” Will replied softly before turning his chair to face the window behind him. “You can count on me.”
Kevin let out a frustrated breath and then turned to Ellis. “Okay, what’s going on?”
“Cadie broke up with him,” Ellis said.
“Oh.” Kevin turned back to Will. “Well, I’m sorry to hear that. I really am. But—”
Ellis wasn’t done. “So then he proposed.”
That seemed to take Kevin by surprise and, once again, he was talking to Ellis. “And how did that go?”
“Not well.”
Kevin sighed. “Sorry, Whitaker. But about the press conference . . .”
“But then, he asked her again. Just a few minutes ago.”
“You’re kidding me. What did she—”
Will couldn’t take it anymore. It was painful enough to have just lived the series of events. He wasn’t going to stand there any longer and listen to an excruciatingly slow play-by-play retelling.
“She said no again.” Will jumped up from his chair and began pacing the room. “She told me she doesn’t love me anymore and that we’re done. Thankfully that part took place in the privacy of her office, unlike the part where I actually proposed and the entire accounting staff understood the answer before I did. Now, unless there are any further questions, do you think we can get back to work?”
He returned to his desk, completely unsure if he was capable of getting his mind back on work—though he talked a good game.
“Okay, um . . . well, the press conference is at the commissioner’s office, at noon,” Kevin said, doing his best to honor Will’s request and also, no doubt, grateful to be finished talking about his employee’s personal life. “Take an A/V crew with you and get it filmed, in case it’s worth using on The Daily Dribble.”
“It might be nice to have it on tape anyway,” Ellis chimed in, “in case Levinson brutally attacks you right then and there for destroying his game. Might need the evidence for the lawsuit.”
Ellis smiled at his joke, but Kevin appeared unamused. Will, meanwhile, was hardly paying attention to any of it. He barely noticed when they both settled into the chairs across the desk, and he didn’t so much as blink when they began discussing whether or not to bring Enzo into the mix—in case the legal concerns Ellis had joked about were something they needed to consider. They began making calls—to legal, to programming, even to accounting—but Will was only slightly aware throughout.
His mind was on Cadie, her extremely annoying cousin Victoria, a McCaffrey family wedding from not all that long ago, and Dirty Dancing, of all things.
“I’m going to fight for Cadie,” Will blurted out in a near-whisper.
“Why would you fight Cadie?” Ellis asked, pulling his mouth away from his phone, though his ear remained. “We’re all sad she ended things, man, but I’m not sure that picking a fight is really the way to go.”
Kevin groaned. “He said he’s going to fight for Cadie, dummy.”
Ellis perked up. “Ooh! That’s much better.” He unceremoniously ended his call and returned the phone to his pocket. “Are you for real?”
“I made the commitment to love her forever. That commitment doesn’t go away just because she’s not in on the plan.”
“Well, all right!” Ellis sat forward in his seat. “So what are you going to do?”
The memory of Cadie’s cousin and a family wedding had entered his head with a tinge of déjà vu, and it took him some time to even place the context. Once the context was in place, the memory of the conversation came flooding back—as did the memory of what it felt like to have Cadie wrapped in his arms. He could still feel the softness of her skin and smell the lemon and sage scent of her hair as he whispered in her ear.
“No girl, with the possible exception of Victoria, really wants a fantasy world to play out in their life,” she’d said. “Oh, sure . . . there are moments when we’d love for our man to turn into Johnny Castle in Dirty Dancing and tell our parents that nobody puts us in the corner, but if that were the norm, I think it would just be exhausting.”
For whatever reason, that part of the conversation had made its way past his heart and into his brain, where it had remained locked and loaded in the time since.
“In the movies, those things are usually an attempt to save the relationship, aren’t they?” he had asked her then.
He jumped to his feet and began frantically pacing across the room. “You okay, man?” Ellis asked, but Will held up his hands to silence him. He squeezed his eyes tightly shut and struggled to remember what had come next.
“In the movies, those things are usually an attempt to save the relationship, aren’t they?” He whispered the words to himself, attempting to unlock the rest. He knew there was more. He knew she had said something that he needed to remember.
His eyes flew open as his memory heard the echo of her voice from then—when she had spoken to him with a warmth and intimacy that had been missing for longer than he cared to admit.
“So I guess just save all the gestures for someday,” she’d said with a smile. “When the romance is gone. And then you can plan something spectacular . . .”
She’d said those words before they’d had any reason to suspect that someday was going to be an issue for them, but Will knew that one thing was true then and it was true now.
If anyone deserved spectacular, it was Cadie McCaffrey.
“I’ve got to do something big!” he abruptly exclaimed. “Like, like . . .” He snapped his fingers and groaned. Like what? “I don’t know. I just know she loves those big moments, you know? Like in the movies. They never just talk it out in the movies. Couples don’t get back together over a nice quiet dinner in the East Village. Do you know what I mean?”
Kevin sighed heavily and stood from the chair. “I don’t have any idea what you mean. Just tell me, Whitaker . . . are you going to be ready to go by Thursday?”
“Oh, I don’t know about that,” Will replied. “I mean, I’m fired up, but I really need to put some thought into this. I might need the weekend . . .”
Ellis chuckled. “I think he means the press conference.”
“We’ll find some time real soon to grab a drink and talk, because I really do care,” Kevin said. “But I need to know that you understand that the sports world is going to stand still for a few m
inutes on Thursday, right around noon. I need to know you can handle this.”
Okay. Get your head in the game, Will. “Right. Sorry. You bet. I won’t let you down.”
Kevin patted Will on the shoulder and left the office, and Ellis—still chuckling—stood and prepared to follow him.
“Good for you, man. What you and Cadie have . . . it’s worth fighting for. Let me know how I can help.”
Will rubbed his temples, so frustrated that his thoughts weren’t all coming together the way he wanted them to.
“I wish I knew how to explain what I’m thinking, Ellis. I’m talking gestures. You know? Like, over the top, romantic, no mistaking, make-her-weak-at-the-knees types of gestures.”
“You forget who you’re talking to. I haven’t been married four times without picking up a thing or two about romance. What you’re talking about, my friend, is a good, old-fashioned wooing.” Ellis laughed and returned to his office, but not before adding, “McCaffrey won’t know what hit her.”
11
While the Sports World Stood Still
Anna, can you come here a minute?” I asked, pushing a button on the speakerphone on my desk. “And bring the November projections with you, please.”
I’ve always loved bringing interns on staff full-time once their internships were complete. The good ones, anyway. They’re so used to working hard and going the extra mile for free that once you add a paycheck to the mix, it’s like they can’t believe their luck. Anna had made the transition to the land of money and benefits about a month prior, and I had been so pleased that my practice of hiring interns had once again paid off. She was energetic, a go-getter, efficient, happy to be there, and she laughed at all my jokes.
She was also not yet in my office.
“Hey, Anna?” I spoke into the box once again.
“She’s down on The Field with everyone else,” Darby said as she appeared in the doorway of my office.
“Oh.” I looked away and shuffled papers on my desk with an air of indifference. “That’s right.”
She sighed. “Are you sure you don’t want to watch? Your boy is on fire.”
I met her eyes briefly as I said, “He’s not my boy,” and then I returned my attention to my mindless work.
“Okay.” She plopped down in the chair across the desk from me. “All the same, are you sure you don’t want to watch? It’s not only a big Will moment, it’s also a big ASN moment. Commissioner Levinson won’t directly answer any of Will’s questions, but Will keeps pushing. That room of stuffy, looking-out-for-number-one reporters actually cheered for him a minute ago.”
I smiled. I couldn’t help it. No, I didn’t want to watch, and no, I didn’t really even want to talk about it, but I was happy to know he was doing well. How’s that for maturity?
It was strange, really. I had expected the official breakup to hit me harder than it had. Of course I was sad. And sure, I had eaten an entire package of Ben & Jerry’s “Coffee Coffee BuzzBuzzBuzz” pint slices after getting home from work the day before. And no, I definitely didn’t want to watch my ex-boyfriend bring down Major League Baseball on live television. But I really was doing incredibly, surprisingly well. I was sure of it!
Besides, the pint slices didn’t even count. Maybe they were breakup therapy, but they just as easily could have been a slightly delayed thank-the-Lord-I’m-not-pregnant celebration. It was impossible to say, really.
Darby threw her ballet flat adorned feet up onto my desk and crossed her ankles. “Want to grab lunch? If we get out now, no one will even know we’re gone.”
“I’d love to, but I’m meeting my mother.”
Darby gasped comically. “What? In the city?”
“I know, I know.” I stood from my desk and carried the papers I had been mindlessly shuffling to my file cabinet. “You’re welcome to join us. It’s a rare opportunity to spot the wild Nessa McCaffrey outside of her natural habitat.”
“Have you told her about you and Will?”
I sighed, full of dread at the prospect. “No.”
“Then I’ll pass,” Darby said, dropping her feet from the desk and standing.
“She might be fine with it, you know. After that weird phone call, asking me if I was happy with him and all of that? I still think she may have had a hunch something was up. It was just too weird, otherwise.” It was pretty weird, regardless.
“She was a big fan, though . . .”
“I know,” I replied with a sneer. How many guys had I wanted my parents to like? How many times had I felt so blessed by the fact that they loved Will? But now their fondness for him promised to be a nuisance at best.
“Well, don’t worry.” Darby smiled and winked. “I think they like you too.”
I laughed humorlessly as I grabbed my jacket from the back of my chair, put it on, and pulled my hair out from under the collar. “They used to. When they find out I’m not their innocent little girl anymore—”
“Hang on!” Darby exclaimed and then quickly covered her mouth with her hand. She hurried to the door and made sure no one was around and then shut the door anyway. “You’re going to tell them you slept with Will?”
“No! I mean, not intentionally, but come on, Darb. You know my mother. Somehow she always knows. Everything. Which is why I wasn’t overly surprised by her call, asking me if he makes me happy.” But I was abundantly surprised that she had yet to follow it up with unsolicited advice as to how to best carry on with my life.
That was probably the purpose of lunch.
I crossed past Darby, reopened the door, and was greeted by increasingly eerie silence. I looked at my watch and then poked my head around the corner into the empty accounting office.
“Still?” Darby asked, joining me in the doorway.
“What in the world could be—”
“We could turn it on. Maybe we should. Maybe a meteor hit in the middle of the press conference or something.”
I smiled at her as I walked backward down the hallway. “Are you kidding? A meteor shutting down the city before lunch with my mother? I’m not that lucky.”
“Hey, kiddo,” my dad’s voice called out as he crossed to our table at Le Bernardin, where I had arrived far too early in order to make sure I had time to breathe.
“Daddy! I didn’t know you were coming too.” I stood and hugged him and then turned to look for the maître d’, to indicate we’d need another chair.
“Not ‘too.’ Instead.” He pulled my chair out for me to sit and then took his seat across the table. “Your mother got pulled into a meeting last minute.”
I eyed him warily and smiled. “Really? Or did she chicken out at the thought of the traffic?”
“Chicken out? Never.” He chuckled and then softly added, “Think better of it? Possibly.”
My dad began intently studying the menu. My mother hates the city, but my dad loves it—and he loves pretty much everything that goes along with it. Especially the food. In Manhattan there are Michelin stars, Zagat recommendations, and James Beard Awards on every corner, and few restaurants had received more of all of them than Le Bernardin. Though I had no doubt that he was glad to have the opportunity to spend a little extra time with me, I also fully understood that my dad was chomping at the bit to satisfy his taste buds with Le Bernardin’s three courses of prix fixe.
“I’m thinking of going for the Golden Imperial caviar,” he said as he set the menu on the table in front of him. “How about you?”
I glanced at the first course selections, and my eyes flew open wide. “At an upcharge of $155.00 per ounce? I think I’ll pass.”
“Oh, come on. It’s on me.”
I took a sip of the iced tea I had ordered and smiled. “I would certainly hope so! Otherwise I’d be drinking water from the tap in the bathroom right now. But still, $155.00 for an ounce of anything feels extreme. Except for perhaps gold . . .”
“Suit yourself.” He shrugged as our waiter, Milo, approached the table, and then he proceeded to order in
the same charming, elegant, personable way he always had. Within moments, strangers effortlessly became friends to Oliver McCaffrey.
Once orders were placed and out of the way, he launched into small talk—not that it was really all that small at all.
“Will’s quite the talk of the town, isn’t he?”
“Heard about that, did you?” I bit my lip nervously. I had been hoping for at least a couple of minutes of conversation about my mom’s television show or their upcoming vacation to Sedona before being forced to confront the Will topic.
“Are you kidding? I couldn’t avoid hearing about it. I was listening to that press conference in the car on the way here. He was really something.”
I didn’t want to care. Oh, how desperately I didn’t want to care.
I fidgeted in my chair, twirled my hair, and avoided eye contact as I said, “Oh really? How so?”
Good job not caring, Cadie.
“The baseball commissioner was trying to skirt Will’s questions, and Will just wasn’t having it. I was pretty impressed. I don’t think I’ve ever seen that assertive side of him before.” I still wasn’t looking at my dad, but I could feel his eyes on me. “I’m surprised you didn’t catch it.”
“I was busy, and then I took the subway over here, so . . .”
“Of course,” he said with a nod.
Milo returned to the table with our first course—caviar for Dad, mesclun salad for me—and I took the distraction as an opportunity to furiously blink away the threatening tears and take a couple of deep breaths. As Milo left us, my dad grabbed my hand across the table and offered a quick prayer of thanks, but after “Amen” he didn’t let go.
“Your mother told me what you told her. On the phone. About Will not making you happy anymore.”
He cleared his throat, and I finally looked up at him. He was as uncomfortable as I was. I knew it because I recognized the same tried and true determination in his eyes that had been present whenever my heart had been broken through the years. He would muster all of his strength and find a way through and be exactly who I needed him to be, even if he would rather be just about anywhere else on the planet right then, discussing just about any other subject.
Wooing Cadie McCaffrey Page 12
