by Alison Mello
“What do you mean?” Vincent asks oblivious.
I shrug. “They’ll call Marissa or I to tell us what is going on at their office. Like when Ralf got in shit for not reporting his client’s finances properly. I knew as you were finding out.”
His eyes go wide. “Are you serious?”
I nod. “Unfortunately.” I sip my diet soda. “We’ve made it clear that we don’t want to be part of that type of gossip and if they’re caught, they can be fired. It’s slowed it down.”
He rolls his eyes. “Women.” My brows shoot up. “Sorry, you know what I mean.” He quickly recovers.
“Yeah, well don’t clump us all together.”
He smiles. “I’m sorry. We’ll do what we can to keep it in our office. You’re going to have to train the new assistant. I would try to keep us out of the conversation for now. Once we see if she’s going to work out, we can go from there.”
“I agree. What do I tell her if she asks why I’m switching bosses?”
“She doesn’t need to know you were my assistant. Simply you’ve been with the company for a while, and you know what is expected of her.”
His name is called out, so he excuses himself to go grab our tray of food. It smells amazing, and I’m glad because I’m starving. He puts a plate in front of me with a wrap, some fries, and a pickle. I grab the dill pickle and without even thinking I stick it deep into my mouth, slowly pulling it out as I suck all the dill juice off. However, I don’t fully realize what I’ve done until I stick it back into my mouth and Vincent’s eyes go wide, locking onto my lips.
“Really?” His brows shoot up as I pull the pickle from my mouth, scrapping my teeth across the top to remove the seeds. “That’s really how you eat a pickle?”
“It is. I’m sorry.” I laugh. “I always scrape the seed off and then eat the rest of it.” I shrug putting the pickle back on my plate.
He sighs and shakes his head, picking up his turkey wrap. “It’s a good thing you won’t be my secretary much longer. You keep that up, and we won’t be having too many lunches at the office.” I burst into laughter. “What’s so funny?”
“While I was on my way in this morning, I was thinking about all the billionaire boss books I’ve read. You know the boss sleeps with his assistant and then starts demanding she goes to work with no panties on.”
He laughs. “First, I don’t know because I’ve never read anything like that and second, don’t tempt me.”
Heat rises in my cheeks just imagining what he would do to me in his office. Would he bend me over his desk? Maybe at the conference table? “We need to change the subject.”
He chuckles. “I agree.”
We go into a comfortable silence eating our lunch. I’m sure not to do anything more to my pickle besides eat it in a normal way. I can’t let a yummy dill pickle go to waste. As soon as we’re done, he clears our tray.
“Come on, we should get back,” he mumbles under his breath, “before I turn you into dessert.”
I pretend not to hear it as I sway my hips walking back to his SUV. A fine Monday it is.
“Dad, this place is crazy today,” Ethan says as he sees the line of parents and students outside the school waiting to get in.
“It is, and you have to be here for a while so please be sure to stay in the gym where I can keep an eye on you during the day,” I warn.
“I will. I want to see what we could be up against.”
I shake my head. “Always so competitive. You got that from your mom.” Laney’s love for winning is why she became a lawyer. For her, it’s not about helping people. It’s about winning an argument and proving people wrong. And when she does, she’s so proud.
“I’m sorry, Dad. I just like to win. It’s fun.”
“I know it is, and sometimes it’s good that you have that drive. Please remember, this isn’t the pros, and you’re not going to win millions. It’s supposed to be fun. I’m going to do what I can to pull some of your friends onto my team, so keep that in mind.”
“I will.”
The coaches are all pulled together for a meeting before they open the doors. Before the meeting begins, I inform Greg, the guy running the league, that Trystan will be my assistant coach and that his son will need to be on my team. He then goes over the rating system ensuring there are no questions. There’s a spot for kids to request a certain coach, and as long as it doesn’t stack the team it’s usually fine, but we have to see how everyone is rated before final decisions are made.
As soon as the meeting is over the coaches head into the gym and the doors are opened. There are four different stations, and we’re at station two. We start by rating our own children in our perspective areas. I have layups, so each child will come through and show me a few layups from either side of the net and then pass it off to the next person. We’re rating both their shooting average and their passing skills. When they’re done, they move on to another station.
There’s a line of boys forming at the door. Mark is running station one, therefore he’s in charge of calling the boys into the gym. He calls the first six boys in. The boys give him their names and the number they were issued before they start dribbling the ball up the gym between cones.
They move onto my station next, and he calls in the next six kids. I watch as the boys do their layups, and I grade them based on the system set up. We continue on like that until the gym is full of kids.
My cluster of kids is done, but station three is backed up, so I tell them to keep going. Kids this age can’t just sit around, or they’ll start acting up.
That’s when Trystan comes in. “Hey, man.” I shake his hand. “Dude out front didn’t want to let me in at first. He didn’t believe I was your assistant.”
“Yeah, they forgot to put you on the list. I took care of it just before they opened the doors. Sorry about that.”
“It’s all good. Just didn’t want you to think I was blowing you off.” He fist bumps me, and I fill him in on what we’re doing. Once DJ comes through and finishes his evaluations, he heads up onto the stage at the front of the auditorium to hang with Ethan.
“Check out number fifteen.” Trystan watches him.
“I don’t know a ton about basketball, but he looks like he’s pretty good.”
I chuckle. “He is, but he’s also a sore loser and doesn’t have a good attitude.” Trystan shakes his head. “Maybe I should pick him up. You’re great at fixing attitudes.” I laugh.
“Nah, man. I’m good. Your kid was enough.” He punches my arm jokingly, and we both laugh.
The day feels like it has dragged on, but we’re finally just about done. “What are you guys up to after this?” Trystan says as we rate the final crew of four kids to come through.
“We’re heading to Amber’s for dinner. I invited her to come to watch Ethan, but she felt like it was a father-son deal and invited us over after for dinner.”
He gives me an evil grin. “What’s up with you two?”
“Up until recently nothing. She’s my assistant.”
“What changed?”
“My partner’s assistant gave her notice, so she’s going to work for Paul, and I’m going to hire a new assistant. That way she won’t feel so bad dating me.” I jot some notes down on the clipboard while we continue to chat. I’ve liked Trystan from the moment I met him. He’s a good guy, and he cares a lot about his team. And not just if they win or lose. He cares about them getting along and learning life lessons.
“How’s Ethan?” He nods in my son’s direction.
I look over at my son. “He’s good. He has his days. He’s a bit angry that Laney left, and now she’s demanding to see him over Christmas vacation.”
“He doesn’t want to see her?” he questions.
I shake my head. “Told me she can go screw herself.”
Trystan chuckles. “He is a lot like her.”
“I know. It scares me sometimes.” Ethan and his mother have the same temperament and are both very stubbor
n people when it comes to mastering things. If Ethan wants to achieve something, he sets his mind to it and won’t stop until he does it. Sometimes that’s a good thing, and sometimes it’s all consuming, and that’s not a good thing.
“Nah, you’re a good father. You’ll teach him how to harness that and turn it into something positive.” He pats me on the back.
“Thanks, I hope you’re right. Laney let her obsession ruin her. That’s not what I want for my son. Determination is good, to a point.” He nods his agreement.
The last group of kids is finally done. We have a brief coaches meeting, and then we’re dismissed. We’ll get an email with our lineup next week, and then practice will begin shortly after that. It’s going to be a long few weeks because we practice twice a week at night and then games every Saturday.
As we’re walking to our cars, Trystan asks, “Do you need me to do anything for you?”
“No. All I need to do is get the roster and send an email out about the first practice. The league does a lot of the organizing for us, so it’s pretty easy. I’ll send you the schedule as soon as I have it.”
“Sounds good. Enjoy the rest of your day.” He shakes my hand while Ethan and DJ do some fancy handshake.
When Ethan and I climb into the car, I take a minute to call Amber. We’re actually a little early. I want to be sure she’s okay with us coming over now.
“Hey, Vincent.” I can hear the smile in her voice.
“We finished early. Is it okay if we come over now, or do you need some more time?” I’m hoping she’s okay with it. I’d like to get as much time with her as possible.
“Now is fine, but will Ethan be bored here?” she asks, concerned. “I don’t have anything for him to do.”
I look over at my son and smile. “I have an idea. What did you plan for dinner?”
“Meatloaf. It’s in the fridge. I just need to throw it in the oven, why?”
“How do you feel about making it at my place. That way you’ll still be cooking for us. Ethan can hang in his room, and we can have some time together.” At my house we’ll have a little time alone. It won’t be completely private, but I’ll take it.
“I like the way you think. I’ll pack everything up and meet you there.” She cuts the call.
“Okay, change of plans. Amber is coming to our house.”
Ethan’s eyes light up. “Even better. Can I play Xbox when I get home? DJ is going to be on, but I told him I couldn’t play.”
I chuckle. “Yeah, you can play until it’s time for dinner.”
He pulls out his phone and texts DJ and some of his other friends to get a game going online. The ride home is quiet. Ethan is lost in his phone, and I’m lost in my thoughts of how thrilled I am that Amber is coming to the house. I also silently thank God that my cleaning lady was just in. We are not super messy, but being a single father, I have very little time for cleaning, so I pay someone to come in twice a month to take care of the heavier stuff.
I pull into our garage, and the second the car is off Ethan jumps out and runs into the house. I have a bad habit of leaving the door to the house open since it’s hard to get in through the remote lift garage door. Ethan shuts the alarm and goes straight to his room. His game time is precious to him since I’ve limited it. It blew me away when I discovered Laney would let him play for hours on end, but I put a stop to that.
I’m in the kitchen emptying the dishwasher when the doorbell rings. I hurry over to find Amber standing at the door carrying a few bags. “Let me help you with those.” I take the bags from her. “Come on in. I was just in the kitchen.” I lead her through the living room to the kitchen where I set the bags on the table.
“You have a lovely home.”
I smile. “Thank you. I’ve wanted to downsize, but there isn’t much available right now that wouldn’t take Ethan to another school.” Laney picked this house, and it’s far too big. She said we were going to have a huge family, but then we started having problems, and I started traveling.
She pulls stuff from the bags. She literally brought over everything she bought to make dinner tonight. “I’m sorry you had so much to bring over. I was thinking it would be a meatloaf.”
“We can’t have meatloaf without mashed potatoes and a vegetable. Besides, I don’t mind. Like you said, this gives Ethan something to do.” She gathers some things and puts them in the fridge. When she sees how empty it is, she looks at me. “There’s next to nothing in here.”
I chuckle. “I know. I don’t cook much, so we eat a lot of frozen things that I can just throw in the oven.”
“A well-educated, successful man like yourself can’t cook?” She truly looks shocked to know that I don’t cook.
It’s just Ethan and me, so sometimes it’s just easier to pick something up on my way home. I keep simple things around he can make in case he gets hungry before I get here, but that’s it. I shrug. “More like, it’s just not my thing.”
“Dad makes great spaghetti and meatballs, but that’s about it.” Ethan grabs a bottle of water.
“Hey!” I shout at my son’s betrayal with laughter in my voice.
“Sorry, Dad.” He runs from the room laughing as I throw a dish towel at him.
“I guess I now know the truth.” She plants her hands on her hips with a cute smirk on her face.
I pull her close. “Don’t listen to him. I’ll show you I can cook.” I stare into her eyes, making my intentions clear, before my lips crash down on hers. My hand slips into her hair, and our tongues collide for just a second before I pull away. “I’ve been dying to taste you.”
She presses her lips to mine one more time. “Me too.”
She tries to pull away, but I’m not ready yet. “I’m going to warn you, I have a habit of going at things full speed. It’s who I am. You’re going to need to warn me if I’m going too fast.” I rub my thumb over her lower lip.
“I will.” I kiss her one more time, and then she pulls away to put the remainder of the food in the fridge. “I don’t need to start this for another thirty minutes. What should we do until then?”
“Let’s go relax.” She follows me to the living room where we both take a seat on the couch. “We can look for a movie or just see what’s on TV?”
“Either is fine. How did the evaluations go?” she asks, genuinely excited.
“It went well. A lot of kids showed up, but it didn’t take as long as we thought to get them through.” I stop scrolling on House Hunters. I’ve heard Amber talking to Marissa about this show at work and how much they love watching it. “Will we see you at the games?”
“Of course. I wouldn’t miss them.” Something on the screen catches her eye. She snuggles into my side and starts to watch. I smile and kiss the top of her head. “How did you know I like this show?”
“Heard you girls talking about it. I’m very observant.” She chuckles.
“Dad, can I grab a snack?” Ethan asks.
I look down at Amber. “How long until dinner?”
“If you guys are hungry, I can start it now, but the meatloaf will take close to an hour.”
“Something small,” I tell Ethan. I’m not that hungry yet, and I’m enjoying my time with her in my arms.
Amber looks up at me. “Not hungry yet?”
I shake my head. “I’m happy right here on the couch.” I kick up my feet.
“When this episode ends, I’ll get it started,” she informs me. “Did you go through the pile of resumes I left for you on Friday? It’s amazing how many came in and so quickly.”
“No, I brought them home to go through over the weekend, but I haven’t touched them yet.”
“Let’s look at them together then. I’ll help you.”
“That’s very nice of you, but I’m not going to ask you to work over the weekend.” Although I’ve always worked random hours, I’ve never asked my employees to work over the weekend. I would pick up extra work before I would ask them to. It’s part of the problem Laney and I had. She
would work weekends, so I would work weekends, and no one was thinking how that was affecting Ethan.
“You didn’t ask. I offered, and we need to get someone on board.”
I can’t help but laugh at her enthusiasm. “Are you that nervous about kissing your boss?” I press my lips to hers once more. A huge smile lights her beautiful face. “After dinner then. I need to show you I have some cooking skills while I help you in the kitchen.”
“This should be interesting.” She jumps up from the couch, and I follow her to the kitchen. “How high should I set the oven?” she asks, testing me.
“Three fifty,” I state, very unsure of myself.
“You can, but I prefer three seventy-five.” She checks inside the oven and then turns it on. “I brought a salad over. Why don’t you peel the potatoes while I prep the salad?”
“Okay. I can do that.” I pull out a cutting board and a knife handing them over to her. I then pull out a pot and a peeler. She pulls out her phone and starts up some music to listen to while we work. It’s soft love songs from the nineties, which is funny because this is the kind of music I love.
“How did you know this is my kind of music?” I copy her question.
“I, too, am observant. It’s what you play in your office.” She hip bumps me playfully.
We get to work on our tasks, softly singing the words to the song. I’m on my third potato when it slips from my hand, and I cut myself.
“Are you okay?” she asks, seeing the blood on my hand.
“Yeah, stupid thing slipped.” I press a towel to the palm of my hand.
“Let me see.” She pulls the towel away. “Do you have a first aid kit?”
“I do.” I go to the bathroom and grab the kit from under the bathroom sink. “Here.” I hand it to her.
