“Zoe! I was just about to call you. Mr. Taylor wants to see you!”
My eyebrows jumped up in surprise. “Really?”
Brandon Taylor was the owner of the Eagles. Originally, Dad started the team, but because Mom got sick, and he couldn’t focus as much on the team as he wanted, he’d sold it to Mr. Taylor. As far as I knew, the both of them were friendly, and Mr. Taylor let Dad make a lot of decisions regarding the team, but he was still the owner, and could go over my dad’s head.
Still, he was friends with Dad. I’d never tried to speak with him about my ambitions, because I knew if Dad talked to him, he would say no. Actually, he was maybe the one guy involved with the team that I hadn’t spoken too much to.
“Did he say what he wanted?”
“Yes, he wanted to talk to you about the GM job. Isn’t that good? You’ve wanted it for ages!”
“Wait, really?”
“Really! He’s in his office right now. Your dad isn’t around, either. You should hurry up and go talk to him. Before he changes his mind!”
Lily was more excited about it than I was.
“O-oh. Right.”
It was too good to be true. It had to be. Dad would have told him about me aiming for the position and how many times he’d turned me down on it. Or was Dad the reason Mr. Taylor wanted to see me?
This could be my chance!
Still, I didn’t let myself get too excited. If I got my hopes up only to have them dashed again, I really would just pick a team far out of town, apply for a position, and leave. Dad wasn’t alone anymore, and I was still mad at him, not seeing him for a while would do me good.
I stopped in front of the office and tried to calm my heart down. I raised my hand and knocked
on the door, waiting for permission before I opened it and stepped inside. It was an open room, with large windows lining one wall washing the room in sunlight, on the other wall there was a half full bookshelf. In the middle, to the back of the room was a large desk where Mr. Taylor was seated, and behind it, a glass shelf holding the achievements the team had so far.
Mr. Taylor looked up with a smile. “Zoe, please come in. It’s good that you’re here, I was about to call you.”
“Hello, Mr. Taylor. Is there anything I can do for you?”
He chuckled. “I’m friends with your dad, Zoe. We’ve known each other a long time. You can call me Brandon. Please, have a seat.”
I crossed the floor and took the seat in front of the desk as he sat down. I clenched my hands together nervously on my lap.
“What is this about?”
“I’ve heard from your dad that you want the General Manager position?”
“My dad told you?” I said in surprise.
“Hmm, yes. As you know, we’ve always kept the position open. There wasn’t any particular reason, there just didn’t seem to be the need to have the position filled. I want to start making some changes, though, for the sake of the team. I was talking to your dad about finding someone for the position, and he mentioned you.”
I was definitely surprised. Dad had said no to me so many times, then he went behind my back and offered me up for the same job he’d denied me?
Is this a trick?
That might have been something rude to think of my own dad, but this didn’t make sense. If he planned to let me have the job anyway, he could have just responded positively one of the many times I’d asked. The last time I asked wasn’t even that long ago.
Or maybe... he’d had a change of heart? Perhaps because he was happily married now, he was going to loosen his control over my life a little? If that was true, then I was suddenly ten times happier about his marriage, though I doubted the awkwardness would go away that quickly.
“Your dad left me with your resume,” he said, pulling open one of the desk drawers and pulling out some documents. “Everything will have to be done through official channels, of course, but I’ve already gone through your resume, and I find no problem with it.”
“That means...”
He set the papers down and smiled. “It means, the job is yours. We’ll have to draw up a contract for you, deal with your salary, and all that stuff. Well, you’re already familiar with everyone here, so that much won’t be a problem. You can start as soon as we sign the contract.”
“Wait, really?”
There was no way it could be this simple, right? This was something I’d been after for years and it was always just out of reach, but I could have had it this simply?
He shrugged. “The way I see it, there’s no one better for this position. You know this team about as well as your dad does, you know the game, you love it. You’ve even got the qualifications for this. I don’t think anyone will object to this decision. In fact, I’m sure if I tried to hire someone else, I’d get a few objections.”
If he had hired someone else for the position, then I would have left in disappointment. Did Dad know that? Was that part of the reason the position had remained empty this whole time, teasing me with hope? If that was the case, I’d have to wonder if Dad was being deliberately nice or cruel when he did it. I would have hated to go to another team, it wasn’t until about a month ago that I started thinking of this option. Then again, giving me reason to hope and turning me down every time wasn’t nice at all.
Dammit Dad.
I couldn’t bring myself to be angry, though. Whatever the truth was, if the position was mine now, then I could just be happy with that much.