“You keep saying need. What makes you think for one second that you know what I need?”
The accusatory tone of my voice made the muscles in his jaw clench, but then he took a deep breath and threw his hands out in a simple gesture.
“Because I’m your father, Gabrielle.” He said it in a way that made it seem like that simple fact was the answer to everything. Like he simply expected me to say, ‘Oh, well, in that case...’
“You are,” I said. “Yet you make me make appointments with you and then force me sit outside and wait for the exact time of the appointments, but your players are, and I quote, welcome to pop in anytime. Don’t start acting like the fact that you’re my father means anything now.” My throat burned. My eyes stung. I took a few calming breaths.
My father had the good sense to look somewhat contrite. His tone was borderline patronizing when he spoke again, however, so I guessed that the contrition had been short lived. “The players are a part of my work, Gabrielle. You know that.”
“Yeah, I know. And your work always comes first. It always has.” I crossed my arms over my chest again, trying to protect my heart from whatever he was about to say.
“No, that’s not true. You come first, Gabrielle. Why do you think I’m trying so hard to make you see that not taking the bar exam is a mistake? But I can’t exactly stop working until you come to that realization. So yes, the players, who are part of my work, have access to me while I’m here. At work.”
“Stop saying work.” It dawned on a small part of me that he was right. About the work thing and the fact that the players were a part of it. It didn’t mean that I had to like being kept waiting and having to schedule appointments with him. But he wasn’t entirely in the wrong.
“I’ve been thinking about taking the bar, Dad,” I blurted out.
His eyes widened in surprise and a slow grin spread on his face. “You have?”
“Yeah, I have. I was talking to, uh, a friend about it the other day, and it got me thinking.” Thank God that he missed the slight hesitation before the word friend.
“Well, I’m happy to hear it.” He really did look happy. Or maybe it was relief that I wasn’t throwing his dream away. Who knew? “If you need anything, just contact my office, and I’ll have Olivia take care of it.”
Nice. Of course, he would ask his receptionist to take care of it. I wanted to get out of there, so I didn’t call him on it. “Thanks, Dad.”
We said our goodbyes, and I breathed a sigh of relief when his door clicked shut behind me. Olivia was back in her seat as I walked through the reception area and surprised me by motioning me over.
She leaned towards me and lowered her voice, checking that no one was around before talking.
Weird.
“I hope the surprise is going well.” She whispered like we were part of some conspiracy before she got distracted by a ringing telephone.
I had absolutely no idea what she was talking about, so I just shot her a smile and headed to the parking lot.
As I clicked the button to unlock my car, it dawned on me that James must have told her something about a surprise to get my number.
So that was what he meant when he’d said that he had entered into some unspeakable alliances to get my number. It was pretty sneaky of him.
I liked it.
Chapter Thirteen
James
I fucking hated lunges. I loved a good workout. I knew what it took to keep my body in the shape it was in, and I knew how important it was that I did. I loved pushing my body to its limit, and I loved a good burn. But I fucking hated lunges.
Unfortunately for me, they were a necessary evil, and I’d had to endure a couple hundred of them that morning. I was in a piss poor mood by the time that I’d finished them all.
Ryder clapped me on the back as we finished and jogged towards the showers. “Later, bro.”
“Yeah, man,” I called to his retreating back and rummaged through my bag for my phone. My mood lifted slightly when I discovered a missed call from Gabrielle.
We’d been talking a lot lately, but we hadn’t seen each other since the beach last week. It had been a busy couple days for both of us.
Harper had gotten the flu, and a sick kid was no joke. Gabrielle was seriously considering taking the bar and had been catching up on a lot of study sessions with her friends.
“Are you finally done being a stereotype?” she teased as she answered her phone.