CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
I finally get a moment to myself, so I shut my door and make a call I’ve been wanting to make. I dial Queen Compton. She answers on the first ring. “Allie, honey. Can I just say I adore your mother as much as I do you?”
She sounds stronger than I expect and this pleases me. “I’m not surprised,” I say. “You’re both fighters. Strong independent women.”
“I hope you remember that lesson for the entirety of your life. I hear you’re opening new doors for Riptide. I’m pleased.”
This comment pleases me, but it also punches me in the gut. I mean, how do I leave Riptide when she has been so kind to me?
“Tell me about it.”
We chat a bit about what I’m doing and she offers ideas. When we’re about to hang up, she says, “My message to you: take control of your life.”
I frown, remembering those words from a book, maybe? “Isn’t that a quote from—I can’t quite remember who, but it’s a quote, I think?”
“It is,” she confirms. “The great basketball player Charles Barkley. Everything smart doesn’t have to come from a book. It usually comes from experience that we don’t always have ourselves. We have but one life to live, and those around us have much to offer. I’m going to go lay down because apparently beating cancer’s ass means sleeping way too much. I really hate being in bed.”
“You’ll be roaring through the halls of Riptide soon.”
“Yes, I will. You’d be good to also remember those three words. Bye for now, Allie.”
“Bye, Queen Compton.”
She laughs. “Queen Compton?”
“Oops. Did I say that out loud?”
“Yes, you did, my dear.”
“Well, now you know how I think of you. As the queen.”
She laughs. “Bye, Allie.” This time she disconnects.
“My message to you: take control of your life,” I whisper.
In other words, I can allow myself to be boxed in or I can take control. I choose the latter. Instead of waiting for life to shape me, perhaps for the first time since I dared to move to New York City, I decide to take things into my own hands. I punch in Mark’s number.
He answers on the first ring. “Ms. Wright. I do believe I’ve talked to you more since you moved to Nashville than I ever did when you were in New York.”
“I know. That is true.” I draw and breath and blurt out, “What if I want to stay here, work for Riptide, but not for Hawk?”
“You can contract scout for us. What else?”
“That’s it? Yes?”
“Yes. That’s one lesson my mother clearly hasn’t taught you well. You get nothing you don’t ask for. Consider this your job interview. You passed.”
My eyes water a bit, and I don’t know why. Joy, I think. “I might stay with Hawk. He’s trying to get me to quit Riptide. And I promised you loyalty.”
“And now you’ve given it. Loyalty is rewarded. Anything else?”
“Thank you. And that’s all.”
“Goodbye, Ms. Wright.” He disconnects.
My lips slowly curve. The queen has spoken and for once, I think she’s me.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
I’m behind my desk at almost six o’clock when Dash calls. “How soon are you getting out of there, baby?”
“Quickly, I hope.”
“What about the work-from-home situation we talked about?”
“I’m going to deal with it tomorrow. I’ve truly had way too much of the Hawk family today.”
“The Hawk family?”
“Hawk Senior was in Tyler’s office when I went to talk to him about the half-day thing and just in general wanted to tell him no to a lot of things.”
“The word no when directed at Tyler sounds beautiful.”
I laugh. “Beautiful?”
“It’s pretty damn near.”
I laugh again. “I’ll leave in the next half hour. You want me to just come home or go to the bookstore?”
“I’ll come to you.”
“Sounds good.”
“See you soon, cupcake.”
“See you soon.”
We disconnect and I smile over the “cupcake” endearment. If anyone told me I’d love being called cupcake before I met Dash, I’d have laughed. But it’s our thing. It’s reminiscent of how we met. And I love it. So much.
Eager to get out of here, I send Katie home, organize my desk, make some notes and damn it, the journal is sitting in my drawer. I just can’t help myself. I open it to a random page.
Tonight, he seduced me. The funny thing is that yes, we had crazy, wild, intense sex—more on that later—but it was also romantic. He took me to dinner. We talked and talked. He opened up to me in a way he has never opened up. He told me how his father has controlled his life. He told me why he’s so against marriage. His own parents don’t exactly have a stellar relationship. His father controls him. His mother controls his father. He controls everything around him but his parents. I can’t pretend to know what that’s like, but what I care about is what it’s like for him. And my doorbell just rang. More later…