Billionaire's Second Chance

by Claire Adams

  In quick succession, the Storm beat the Vikings, Washington, Houston, and routed Jacksonville at home 35-14 as the fans went wild. Soon there were Storm flags flying from every business and home west of I-90 and south of 47th Street. The Back of the Yards became the home of the Storm fan base, and as the team headed into a second match up against the Vikings in the first annual Thanksgiving game at Storm Stadium.

  We stopped by Gram’s before the sun came up that morning to drop off a load of groceries that she intended to give her various guests. Dax tried to convince me that Whole Foods would deliver it if I just called and told them what she needed, but I hadn’t wanted to miss out on the sights and smells of Gram cooking Thanksgiving dinner. It had been a long time since I’d joined my family around a table for a holiday meal, and being at Gram’s felt like the perfect balm for all the pain I’d felt over the past few months.

  When we entered her little stone house, Gram was covered in flour as she rolled out the dough for half a dozen apple pies. She’d baked the pumpkin pies the night before and was fretting about whether the turkey would be ready in time. I offered to help, but when Dax muttered under his breath that I should let it go because this was her MO, I laughed and said I was sure the meal would be fantastic. She agreed to hold off on serving it until after the game because she wanted to watch her boys win. Dax kissed her cheek and said the car would be there to pick her up at 10 so she could make the eleven o’clock kickoff, and she patted his cheek and told him how proud she was of him for doing so well with the team and for finally coming to his senses and hiring me as the GM. I hugged Gram and told her I’d save her a seat next to me and have a nice Manhattan waiting for her when she arrived.

  “Darling girl, you are such an unexpected blessing,” she said as she kissed me and then patted my cheek, leaving a floury handprint on my face.

  We told her we’d see her soon, and headed off to the stadium. I was concerned that Johnny wasn’t well enough to play despite the fact that the doctors had run every test they could and found no evidence of any lasting brain bleeds or damage. I’d read the research and I wasn’t convinced that putting him back on the field only six weeks after he’d taken such a hard hit was a good idea, but then I wasn’t the coach. As we settled into the skybox, I crossed my fingers and hoped that Nick knew what he was doing if he put Johnny on the field today.

  We spent the next few hours walking around the stadium checking in with the security staff and winding our way down to the locker room where we wished the team good luck before heading up to the skybox. I looked at my watch as we settled in and saw that it was well past ten. Just as I started to ask Dax about Gram’s car, his phone rang. He looked at the screen and then sent the call to voicemail.

  “Who was it?” I asked.

  “Wrong number, I think,” he said shrugging. He settled in next to me and handed me a frosty glass of Fat Tire Ale.

  “Isn’t it a little early for this?” I asked.

  “Holidays don’t count,” he grinned as I laughed and took a drink from the cold glass.

  Kickoff came and went and still no Gram. Dax tried calling the house, and when he got no answer, we assumed that Gram had gotten sidetracked by the turkey and would be here as soon as she got it all straightened out. When the second quarter started and there was still no sign of Gram, Dax called the car service and was told that the driver had been waiting outside of the house for more than an hour and that no one responded when he knocked.

  Dax gave me a worried look as he tried the house again. Still no answer. He looked at his phone and then muttered, “I wonder if…” as he punched the wrong number and then put the call on speaker.

  “Cook County ER, this is Betty,” a voice on the other end said.

  “I got a call from this number about an hour ago, and I’m looking for my grandmother, Eleanor Connor?” Dax said. “Is she in the hospital?”

  “You’re her grandson?” the woman asked. “What’s your name?”

  “I am. David Connor,” Dax replied with a worried frown. The woman was silent on the other end of the line long enough that Dax said, “Hello?”

  “Yes, I’m still here,” she replied. “Mr. Connor, I’m sorry to tell you this, but your grandmother was brought into the ER this morning in cardiac arrest.”

  “What the hell?” Dax shouted. “Where is she? How is she? Can I speak with her?”

  “Mr. Connor, you’re going to need to come down to the ER and talk with the attendant on duty,” the woman said calmly. “Can you do that?”

  “Of course, I can!” Dax shouted. “I want to know how my grandmother is!”

  “Sir, I cannot legally give you that information over the phone since I do not have signed consent from the patient,” the woman said in a voice designed to soothe the frantic next-of-kin. “But if you come down to the ER, the doctor will be able to talk to you.”

  Dax hung up and texted Geo to have the car at the entrance as soon as possible. We ran down the ramp toward the parking lot and jumped in the backseat of the Navigator. We held hands as Geo swiftly drove us to the ER, dropping us off at the entrance. Dax exited the vehicle, leaving the back door wide open, and I followed, trying to keep up with him, but he broke into a dead run and left me in the dust.

  When I finally caught up with him at the nurse’s station, the nurse had requested his ID as the doctor rounded the corner and motioned for us to follow her. Dax tossed his driver’s license at the woman on the other side of the counter, and followed the doctor. She stopped outside a room with a curtain over the window, and said, “Mr. Connor, I’m so sorry, but your grandmother was in severe cardiac arrest when she arrived here. We did everything we could to try and revive her, but after 45 minutes, we were unable to bring her back. If you would like to see her, I can let you spend a few minutes in the room with her before we have to move her down to the morgue.”

  Dax looked like he wasn’t quite aware of what was going on, so I nodded and said, “I think he’d like that, doctor. I know I would.”

  The doctor slowly opened the door and allowed us in. Gram lay on the gurney under a cool, white sheet. I couldn’t quite process the fact that she was dead because she looked like she was sleeping peacefully. I looked up at Dax and saw that he was frozen in place. Tears were welling up in the corners of his eyes, but none of them fell. I reached out to take his hand, but he shook me off and moved toward Gram and bent down to kiss her cheek and whisper something I couldn’t hear into her ear. He laid his head on her chest and closed his eyes, and after a few moments, he straightened up and said, “We need to go check Gram’s turkey and pies. She’ll be mad if they burn and can’t be eaten.”

  I thanked the doctor and told her we’d call the morgue later to make arrangements. As we walked back to the Navigator, Dax reached out and took my hand. He said nothing, but I could tell what was going on in his brain just by the way he squeezed my hand.

  Chapter Forty-Three

  Dax

  It was an odd mix of joy and sorrow, but Gram taught me well and so Payton and I drove to her house and made sure that all the food she’d gathered was distributed, and all the people who’d been invited to dinner were fed. When Gram’s death hit the next morning’s papers, the press went wild. The Storm had beaten the Vikings and while the many columns celebrating the win, others detailed my grandmother’s life and mourned our loss.

  I was numb, so Payton stepped in and took care of all of the funeral arrangements, and on Monday we were sitting in the front pew at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church listening to the priest who had known Gram for more than 50 years recall her life in a way that made us glad we’d walked the earth with her. All of the Storm players turned out, and the eight strongest defensive linemen carried Gram’s coffin from the church to the waiting hearse. It was a beautiful service and I knew Gram would have been happy to know so many people were going to miss her, but she would have also been distressed by the fact that her neighborhood teenagers would no longer have a place to hang out
and talk about the challenges of growing up with someone who loved and respected them.

  After we buried Gram next to Pop, Payton and I headed back to the penthouse. I smiled gratefully at the beautiful woman who’d so unexpectedly changed my life. I felt sad and angry that Gram wasn’t going to get to enjoy the success of the Storm or see how things turned out with Payton, but I also knew that there were tradeoffs in life and that no one lived forever. I was just grateful I didn’t have to do this part alone.

  The lawyer read Gram’s will on Wednesday. Since I’d hired the firm who drafted the will and had listened to Gram debate the best way to dispose of all of her things, there were no surprises. The lawyer said he would make another attempt to find my mother and father, but since they’d been out of touch for so long, he wasn’t optimistic that he’d find them. I signed off on all of the papers and then asked Payton to join me in bed.

  She curled up next to me in my bed in the master suite, and lay there breathing softly as she waited for me to speak. My thoughts were spinning a mile a minute, and I couldn’t stop them long enough to pick out the ones I wanted to focus on so I lay there holding Payton and gently stroking her hair until I fell asleep and dreamed of the summer evenings when Pop would sit out on the front porch smoking his pipe and Gram would bring out a tray of lemonade and cookies and we’d sit and talk until the stars came out and Gram shooed me off to bed.

  Chapter Forty-Four

  Payton

  I did my best to comfort Dax as he worked through the loss of Gram, and I felt a huge hole in our lives as we moved through the rituals of mourning and tried to get ready for the next game between the Storm and the Saints. When Sunday rolled around, Dax and I were up early and at the stadium hours before the fans were scheduled to be let in. There were a few groundskeepers doing last minute maintenance work on the Storm logo in the end zone, but aside from that, the stadium was silent and empty.

  “She loved being part of all of this,” Dax said as we walked out on to the empty field.

  “She loved you and she loved being part of your life,” I said reaching out to twine my fingers through his. I could feel the weight of his loss and I, although I’d suffered my own losses, I didn’t know how to ease the pain he was feeling in any way except to be near him. “You brought her so much joy, Dax.”

  “She loved you, too, you know,” he said, looking over at me. I swallowed my grief, and nodded as I squeezed his hand. He pulled me into his arms as he whispered, “I think she knew I was going to be okay.”

  “I’m sure of it,” I murmured as I wrapped my arms around his waist. I knew that grief had a tendency to push people toward feelings that, under normal circumstances, they might not ordinarily feel. It happened to me after Daddy died, and I knew it would be a mistake to get caught up in an emotional whirlwind brought about by loss, but I also knew that during the months since Dax and I had signed our contract, things had changed. I wasn’t sure what this meant in terms of our future, but one thing I was certain of was that he was a good man.

  “Do you think we’ll win today?” he asked. I chuckled at the abrupt shift in the conversation.

  “I’m certain of it,” I said, leaning back so I could look up at him. “We’ve got the best team in the league, and they’ve got Gram on their side. How could we lose?”

  “Well then, let’s get this show on the road, shall we?” he said leaning down to give me a quick kiss. I took his hand and together we climbed to the top of the stadium.

  Several hours later, we sat chatting with the Storm guests in the skybox. The room was full of people who’d known Gram and Pop, and Dax had had a photo of his grandparents framed and hung on the wall above the bar. I’d quietly asked the bartender to make a Manhattan and find one can of PBR to set under the photo, and when Dax saw the tribute, he’d smiled.

  Before the game started, the Storm players took the field and stood in a long line, holding their helmets while the stadium announcer read a statement they’d written. “The Storm would like to acknowledge the passing of Eleanor Connor, owner Dax Connor’s grandmother. She was their biggest fan and most ardent supporter, and she will be missed. Today, the Storm would like to dedicate the game to her memory and would ask that their fans donate to the library fund they’ve set up in her memory. It was an honor and a privilege to know Gram Connor, may she rest in peace.” As the announcer finished, every member of the Storm team raised his helmet toward the bright-blue December sky and looked upward as the fans burst into applause and jumped to their feet.

  “See? How could they lose?” I whispered as I turned to see Dax staring out at the field with tears in his eyes and a smile on his face.

  The game was an exciting matchup between two extremely competitive teams, and the Saints proved to be formidable opponents. During the first half, the Storm scored two touchdowns and the Saints quickly tied the score each time. At the half, both teams ran off the field into their respective locker rooms as the crowd roared. At the start of the second half, Nick sent Johnny Riggs back in, but when he took a hard hit late in the third quarter, he was quickly replaced with McKenzie. The two quarterbacks bumped fists as they traded places, and I watched as McKenzie took control of the huddle and called the play.

  The Storm pressed forward toward the goal line, but the Saints stopped them before they could get within scoring range. Neither team scored in the third quarter, and as the fourth quarter drew to a close, it looked like the game would end in a tie. On the sidelines, I could see the defense huddling together as McKenzie and his offensive line took the field for the last time. As they settled into formation, the defensive players formed a circle and began clapping in rhythm as they repeated a cheer we couldn’t hear up in the skybox.

  McKenzie took the ball, dropped back far behind the line, and looked for an opening. The Saints’ defense fought to bring him down, but the Storm players maintained a line of protection as McKenzie searched for, and then found, an opening. He launched the ball in a high arc and I watched as it spiraled in the air, heading straight for the open arms of Jamal Williams, who plucked it out of the air, tucked his chin to his chest, and plowed through the waiting defensive players to score!

  The crowd went wild as the Storm offense flooded the end zone slapping Williams and high fiving each other. I looked over to see Dax wiping his eyes and then looking upward with a big smile on his face.

  “Kind of like this football thing, don’t you?” I whispered as I slipped my arm through his and leaned against him.

  “Yeah, kinda,” he grinned.

  Chapter Forty-Five

  Dax

  The celebration after the Storm win over the Saints lasted well into the night and didn’t involve the violence or destruction that we’d seen after the Bears’ game. I felt a new sense of loyalty to the team and, as a result, I found myself wanting to be more involved with the day-to-day activities of running the team. While this drew me closer to Payton, it began to create a rift between Finn and me.

  I hadn’t heard from him since Gram died, so when he showed up in my office, it was a surprise.

  “Where have you been?”

  “Oh, you know, kicking some ideas around and seeing what’s out there,” Finn said as he fidgeted restlessly.

  “So, what’s going on with the management company?” I asked. “How far along are the offices? Are we ready to hire staff?”

  “They’re good,” he said, avoiding any specifics. I’d grown suspicious of Finn’s activities, so I’d done a little digging to find out exactly what was going on. What he didn’t know was that I knew he’d pocketed a good chunk of the money I’d given him to start the management company, and that we were nowhere near ready to open the offices. “Yeah, we can move on the staff in the next couple of weeks.”

  “Are you sure about that?” I asked, wanting to give him one more chance to come clean before I blew the lid off of his lies.

  “Huh? Sure, why?” he asked looking surprised that I’d question him this way.


  “Finn, I know what’s going on,” I said, deciding that he if wasn’t going to come clean with me voluntarily, I’d spill the beans. “You fucked up, man.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “I know you haven’t followed through on any of the plans,” I said, keeping my voice calm. “I know you pocketed most of the money and that you’re working on some other deal.”

  “I have no idea what you’re talking about,” he said avoiding my eyes.

  “We’ve been friends our whole lives, Finn,” I said. “I know you. I know what you do and how you operate. I know you’re screwing me over.”

  “Fuck you, Dax!” he shouted as he grew agitated. “I didn’t screw you over, you screwed me over! You went back on our deal!”

  “What the hell are you talking about?” I said angrily. “I did everything I promised I’d do! I gave you the money and the freedom to pursue the new venture, and you’ve screwed it all up! I don’t know how that qualifies as going back on our deal!”

  “You fell for the girl,” Finn said in a voice that reminded me of when we were kids in the school yard. “You weren’t supposed to fall for her.”

  “What the fuck?” I said caught off guard. “I haven’t—”

  “Yeah, you have,” he said shaking his head. “You just haven’t realized it yet.”

  I stood staring at him, not knowing what to say as his words worked their way into my brain. It seemed absurd that I’d have to defend myself, but Finn was right. I’d fallen for Payton, and I’d fallen hard.

  “I…I…don’t…” I began and then trailed off. “You said she was a spy.”

  “Yeah, I know. At first I thought she was, but then as I watched the two of you, I figured out she was the real deal,” Finn said. “I know it. Gram knew it. You’re the only one who doesn’t seem to know it. I started the new venture when I realized that you weren’t going to sell the team. I don’t love this game, Dax. I never have. It’s the thrill of the chase for me, you know that, but I can’t run the management company without a partner like you. You’re the one who does the heavy lifting. I’m just the front man. The deal maker. I can’t sustain a business like that without you.”