The driver shrugged and headed towards Lake Shore. I rolled down the window and let the cool lake breeze blow across my face as we headed south. My thoughts lighted on my father.
After Jonathan died, often I couldn’t sleep. My father would find me wandering the house searching for my brother and would take me out and buckle me into the back seat of his car, turn on talk radio, and drive up and down Lake Shore until I drifted off to sleep. My mother would scold him for spoiling me, but he’d always tell her that it was a small price to pay to spend some time with his daughter. We never talked during the drives, and it wasn’t until after he died that I realized our night time drives were as much an escape for him as they were a sleeping tonic for me.
“Miss?” the driver said pulling me out of my foggy memory. “We’re here.”
“Oh, yes, thank you,” I said as one of the guards pulled up the gate and we drove around to the side of the building. I fished in my purse, pulled out a twenty, and handed it to the driver.
“Oh no, you’ve already paid,” he said pushing the money back at me.
“Keep it,” I said tucking it in his hand and smiling. “Would you wait for me here, please?”
The driver took the twenty and tucked it in his visor before turning off the ignition and leaning back in his seat. I nodded and headed into the building.
I walked down the long, dark hallway thinking about what Dax and I had negotiated and whether or not it was rational to want to accept it. Part of me felt ashamed to have treated a relationship the same way I would a business deal, but part of me was tired of trying to fulfill the expectations of everyone else while sacrificing what I wanted in the process. This deal with Dax was a way of doing something proactive while keeping my feet on solid ground. After all, it wasn’t as if there were feelings involved.
I could hear a banging noise coming from the training room as I opened the door and stepped in. On the far side of the room, Gus was pounding on something with what looked like a sledgehammer.
“Gus! What on earth are you doing?” I cried as he brought the large piece of metal up over his head and then slammed it down on the ground, making it ring like a tuning fork.
“Sweetness, twice in two weeks,” he said, setting the hammer down and wiping his sweaty brow with his forearm. “To what do I owe the honor?”
“I need advice,” I said. “And you’re the only one I could think of who would give me an honest answer.”
“Go into my office and grab a soda out of the fridge, child,” he said as he worked to catch his breath. “I’m just gonna finish my workout and then I’ll join you.”
“Is that what that is? A workout?” I laughed as I looked at the contraption he was pounding and then back at him. He motioned toward the office and I went inside. A few minutes passed, but I heard no more pounding and I wondered what he was doing. I peeked out between the crack in the doorframe and saw Gus holding a pose that I recognized from one of my yoga classes.
“I told you to sit down and be patient, child,” he said without opening his eyes. I let out a small giggle and then ducked away from the door. A few minutes later, Gus joined me with a towel around his neck and an amused smile on his face.
“You have been a nosy little thing ever since you were small,” he smiled as he opened the small fridge he kept stocked and grabbed a bottle of juice. “It’s nice to see that some things stay the same. Now what was so important that you had to come all the way out here to see me?”
“I did something today, Gus,” I said, suddenly feeling shy about telling him my news. “I think it’s a good thing, but it’s going to make my mother angry, I think.”
“Well, now that’s just fantastic, isn’t it?” he grinned, holding up his bottle to toast. “You’ve done something you think is good, and you didn’t let your mother’s expectations slow you down. Now there’s a cause to celebrate!”
“I don’t know,” I said glumly. “It’s not something normal, but it has the potential to get me the job I’ve always wanted. I’m not sure it’s the right time or the right thing to do, Gus.”
“Why don’t you tell me what this thing is and then I’ll tell you why you made a good choice,” he suggested as he sat down behind his desk and put his feet up on the stool he kept underneath it.
“Dax Connor asked me to be his girlfriend,” I blurted out. For a moment, the room was dead silent. So silent that I swore if I listened closely enough, I’d be able to hear my father and grandfather rolling over in their graves. “Say something, Gus!”
“Sweetness, I’m going to say several things, but first I want to tell you that this is the best news I’ve had all year! Congratulations!” Gus said as he pulled himself up out of his chair and came around the desk to hug me. “Good on you, child. Good on you.”
“Mother is going to be furious,” I said in a frightened voice. “And what will the media say? They’re going to play this out like a huge family drama and it’s going to affect the Bears and the Storm!”
“Shush, shush,” Gus said, patting my head like my father used to do when I’d get a little too wound up on game day. “Stop that nonsense that’s running through that big brain of yours. Now tell me how you met him and why I’ve never heard of you dating him before.”
“That’s just it,” I said dropping my gaze to the floor. “I haven’t been dating him. We negotiated a deal that will give him media exposure for the team and will give me a potential husband to present to Mother. I’m not in love with him, Gus. I don’t even know the guy, really.”
“Then why did you agree to this, child?” Gus asked calmly. “You had to have had a reason.”
“He’s going to let me sit in as acting GM and learn the job,” I explained. “And then, after he’s had a chance to conduct a proper search and interviews, there’s a chance he might appoint me as the new GM, but it’s not guaranteed.”
“This sounds a bit fishy to me, Sweetness,” Gus said skeptically. “Are you sure you know what you’re doing?”
“I don’t know, Gus!” I cried. “I don’t know if this is right or not, but I know that it will get Mother off my back about getting married, and it will give me a chance to learn the job I know I can do, but I’m worried about what people are going to say and how Mother is going to react. She’s going to be furious, Gus.”
“Oh, I don’t doubt she will be, but child, you can’t live your life worried about what people are going to say,” he said, shaking his head as he moved back around and settled into his chair. “If you live that way, you’ll be frozen in one spot forever.”