Forty-One
T he words on the computer screen blurred together and Scott gave up on reading through the terms of a player’s one-day contract so he could retire from the team he started with. they were boilerplate, but every so often a team tried to sneak in a name and likeness clause that locked the player to the team. After reading through the same paragraph several times, Scott might as well have been trying to read Aramaic.
Waiting was miserable.
Everything was in place.
All that was left was convincing Lauren she needed to listen to what he had to say. He had never been part of any deals where everything hinged on one variable that was out of his control and it was disconcerting. To say the least.
He rubbed his hand over his face and pressed his fingers against his cheeks.
The art of accurately predicting responses was where he excelled in contract negotiations. But in this case, he had no idea what Lauren would do.
The phone sitting on the table next to his laptop mocked him with its silence.
Dave had been right. The homeowners had taken all of an hour before accepting the offer and Scott was now the proud owner of the “lake house”. But it was all going to be for nothing if he couldn’t convince Lauren that she belonged with him.
He’d gotten Melody’s number from Jake and pulled her into his plan. Although she hadn’t resisted like he expected. Instead, she became a co-conspirator and came up with how they were going to get Lauren to the house.
Waiting was worse than the fourth circle of hell.
“Ring already!” He shouted at the phone on the table.
Shrill mechanical notes invaded the silence of the room.
Whoa!
Scott caused the phone to ring. No one was around to witness it, which sucked, but Scott willed it to ring. He grabbed the phone and fumbled it in his hands before stabilizing it enough to answer.
“Brandonson,” Out of habit he answered the phone with his last name. It wasn’t like the caller didn’t know who they were calling, and it wasn’t like he didn’t know who was calling him. But that was how the agent who mentored him answered the phone, and old habits died hard.
“Everything’s ready to go.” Melody’s welcoming voice came over the phone.
“Everything?” He needed to make sure. Nothing could be left to chance. There was only one shot at this. One chance to make things right. Any misstep and he could lose Lauren for good if he hadn’t already. “She Bought it?”
“Well, I don’t know if she bought it, but she’s on her way to deliver the cookies.”
“You have her dad covered?”
“Yeah, Elizabeth is volunteering to grade her papers with him so Lauren can focus on the bakery or at least that’s what Elizabeth told her.”
The doorbell rang.
“Good luck.” Melody said as she ended the call.
As he walked to the door, he replayed the future conversation and created counterarguments for every argument he imagined Lauren would come up with. He tried to imagine her saying yes to everything he asked, but he wasn’t as convinced she’d want to give them another chance as their friends were.
The word yes was wishful thinking on his part.
All too soon, he opened the door. He feared her rejection less than he feared regretting not fighting for her. Scott looked across the threshold at the most beautiful face he’d ever laid his eyes on and hoped it wouldn’t be the last time he saw her.