Playing for Keeps (20 page)

“What about May?”

Erica bit back a smile. “Want to hear something nutty? I think she’s seeing my little brother. Or not seeing him, really. But texting and whatever. Nothing too sexy, but I’m pretty sure it’s happening.”

“And you don’t approve? Because she’s older?”

“It freaked me out at first, but May’s the best friend ever. And she’s shy, so maybe a younger guy works for her. And Connor seems smitten. I don’t know.” She smiled. “It’s kind of fun saying it out loud. I haven’t told anyone, even Jenna. Mostly because she would
howl
and then tease May into next week.”

“They sound like good friends,” he said, but she could see his attention had shifted to her naked breasts. “The docs want me to exercise this leg, you know. And my back. So work with me.”

She laughed and kissed him, deciding not to worry whether the blind date would be offended. They had already desecrated this spot last night, hadn’t they? And the teacher sounded smart, so she’d undoubtedly drain this tub and scrub it down, if not get rid of it completely.

“What?” he asked as if sensing her thoughts.

“Hmmm? Oh, I was just wondering how many girls you’ve done this with. And how often you change the water.”

“Nice.” He pretended to glare. “You’re supposed to be on
my
side on that stupid Player nickname.” Softening, he assured her, “Only you.”

She hadn’t wanted an answer, but this one shook her a bit, and she kissed him again, her heart pounding. And when he made love to her extra sweetly, she knew it wasn’t just because his muscles hurt. He was stuck in the same quandary she was.

• • •

After breakfast, he presented her with her Christmas gift. “I know it’s not creative, like the drawing you gave me, but it’s beautiful like you.”

She stared, awed but dismayed by the sparkling diamond bracelet. She couldn’t imagine how much it had cost. Or where she’d wear it. Maybe Steve and Caldwell would take her to an awards banquet someday. If Lager Storm’s campaign would win, she’d be there for sure. Except it would be tough to think about Johnny.

Unless you’re still seeing him. Maybe he’ll be sitting right next to you,
she told herself.
Ask him. Talk about it. Don’t just let it hang between you.

But ask him what? If he had canceled the blind date? It would be just like a guy to fail to mention that sort of thing, wouldn’t it? Maybe he just assumed she knew, given the romantic way things had developed.

“You don’t like it?”

“What? Oh, sorry! I was just wishing we could go out together. Someplace fancy. So I could wear it with you.”

“You’d do that? I thought you wanted to keep our relationship under the radar.”

She grimaced. “At least until the ad airs.”

“We’ll wait for the Super Bowl parties. I can’t wait to show you off.”

“Really? Won’t your dad mind?”

He laughed. “He’s the one who thinks I do this all the time, remember? Beautiful girls with long legs and long hair, a different one every week. He won’t be surprised.”

She sat back, offended by the response. So much for trying to discuss their future. He was as likely to hurt her feelings as put her doubts to rest.

“Well, I love the bracelet,” she told him quietly. “I’ve never owned anything this spectacular.”

“Good.” He pushed her back into the sofa cushions and nuzzled her neck, signaling the end of their long-awaited talk. And because she couldn’t resist him, she decided once again that ignoring the issue was the best approach. It would resolve itself one way or the other in February, wouldn’t it?

• • •

When they came up for air, he said with a wistful smile, “You should be an art teacher, like your dad.”

“He’s an art
history
teacher. And I
have
a job.”

“But you’re an artist, right? So let me ask you this. Beth says I need to decorate this room. She thinks it’s dull, but to me, the trees and the river and the deck—those provide all the beauty. That’s why there are so many windows, right? Adding stuff would just distract from that, wouldn’t it?”

She laughed. “You want decorating advice?”

He grinned. “Among other things.”

“Well . . .” She forced herself to be honest. “It needs something. I’m just not sure what.”

“She keeps giving me colorful pillows. They’re stacked up in the spare bedroom. And she gave me that poster over the credenza.”

Erica wandered to the dining room and stared at the mega-giant photo of the Statue of Liberty in bold red and blue. What was she supposed to say? It would have been iffy anywhere. But for this space? It was tragic.

Finally she said, “I think you should move the big mirror to this spot.”

“Except it wouldn’t reflect anything but the fireplace. From here, it reflects the outdoors, which is what I was going for.” His voice grew eager. “I’ve thought about getting the view from the deck photographed by a professional, then blown up for a huge print. So every direction you looked, you saw the outdoors.”

She sighed. “Art shouldn’t duplicate nature, Johnny. It should evoke it.”

He exhaled slowly, as though trying to understand what she meant.

“Let me give it some thought,” she murmured. Then she gave him an apologetic smile. “It’s almost time to head out.”

“Yeah.” He pulled her into his arms. “You’ll be back Thursday night?”

“It’ll be so late,” she murmured. “And your game’s in Detroit, right? Maybe I should meet you there. Or just . . .” Her throat tightened. “Maybe watch from home. Just for that one game.”

She expected him to be upset, but he surprised her by touching her cheek. “I know you’re sick of traveling. But I really want to see you. How about if Murf gets you a private jet so you can nap at least?”

“No, he’s done enough. I’ll make my own arrangements. Detroit is a short flight, actually.”

“I’ll get you a room at our hotel. And trust me, I’ll be sneaking in for visits.”

“You’d better.”

He smiled hopefully. “Any chance you can get Monday off? Or even Monday and Tuesday? If we win, the parties here in Portland will be wild. And it’d be ten times more fun with you there.”

She shook her head. “I don’t dare ask. Not after missing the Sumpter pitch.”

“As long as I get to see you in Detroit,” he assured her quickly Then he took her by the hand. “Come on. Beth went to a lot of trouble picking out those pillows. And I just thought of a good use for them.”

Erica rolled her eyes in mock dismay, but it sounded like a fun way to end the visit. And since she had already desecrated the rest of the house by getting naked there with Johnny, including in the kitchen, why not finish the place off?

• • •

She got the bad news about Sumpter when her plane landed in New York on Monday night. Then early Tuesday morning, Steve filled in the details. The client had hated the presentation. Called it too arty, which made Erica appreciate Helmut. He may not have liked using the word “douche” in his commercial, but he had been super complimentary about the naturalistic glow of health imbued in the Lager Storm montage.

The Ink King, on the other hand, wanted comedy, which wasn’t really Erica’s strong suit. Nor Steve’s. “Don’t they know erasable ink is already a joke?” she muttered.

“If only we could use
that
,” he agreed.
“Sumpter pens, when the joke’s on you
.
”

She laughed. “Or
Sumpter pens, when you screw up a lot.”

Their old slogan,
Keep the best, erase the rest,
had seemed so perfect. And maybe it still was, Erica decided. They just had to make it less arty. Or at least, using art humor.

“Suppose instead of our old ad, we show a real artist, like da Vinci. He’s drawn something spectacular—like a sketch of the Mona Lisa—but there’s something extra that looks ridiculous. Like she has a halo or a mustache.” She winced. “Is that funny enough for them? Oh!” She grinned. “You’ve seen Botticelli’s
Birth of Venus
, right? How about if we put clothes on her? Plus, that’s something I’ve practiced drawing.”

“You’ve practiced drawing Venus with clothes on?” Without waiting for her to reply, he insisted, “Okay, let’s get it rolling. If we’re lucky we can meet with them again tomorrow and pitch a rough idea. Then we can salvage our schedule.”

• • •

They pitched it on Wednesday and had the deal closed by nightfall. Sumpter went for Mona Lisa, not Venus, which didn’t really surprise Erica. Nor did it matter. Life seemed good, and when she got home that night, it got even better.

Johnny’s call came as she walked through the door, and he sounded even more chipper than usual. “Promise me you won’t say no,” he said immediately but with a teasing tone that assured her she could say whatever she wanted.

“What’s going on?”

“Coach canceled practice for Friday. Which is the decent thing to do, since we’re all beat up. But when does
he
ever do the decent thing? Anyway, can you come here on the red-eye Thursday night after work? Or Murf can fly you. I already talked to him.”

She pictured Steve’s glowing face and knew he’d give her anything she wanted now that Sumpter was in the bag. “How about Thursday afternoon?”

Johnny pretended to sputter. “Seriously?”

“I can work a few hours in the morning, then be in Portland by four or five your time. Six at the latest. Will practice be over by then?”

“We practice in the morning and have a quick strategy session at one. It’s mandatory for me, but I can usually get out after the first hour and let the coaches duke it out.” He exhaled sharply. “This is cool, Erica. We can go back to the coast and get a room with a fireplace for two nights.”

“Mini-Aspen,” she agreed. “You’ll bring the gloves. I’ll bring the bikini and the bling. And we’ll have a party.”

“I take it erasable ink went well?”

“Really well.” She was touched that he recognized how important that was to her. “I’ll make my own arrangements, okay? I appreciate Murf, but I don’t want to take advantage. I’ll text you the details once I have them.”

“Whatever you say. But send me the bill. No arguments. You always fly first class, don’t you?”

“I do lately,” she admitted. Between flights financed by the agency and the transatlantic business class trips financed by her parents, she had gotten spoiled, and now flew first class to see Johnny even when it came out of her pocket. “So okay, I’ll let you pay. But just this once. And just because it’s so last-minute, it might really cost me.”

“Great. I can’t wait to see you. And it’ll get my mind off this clusterfuck with Deck.”

The sharp change in mood surprised her. Apparently he had just been putting on a show of optimism earlier. Still, he sounded upbeat again when he said good-bye, so she tried not to worry too much.

There wasn’t much she could do about it anyway, was there? Even her moral support was half-assed, since she had no idea what was going on in Sean Decker’s head. She hadn’t even watched all the games, and since she had been in an airport lounge, hadn’t been able to rewind and study the one where the guy fractured Bannerman’s hand
and
their friendship with one overzealous kick.

But luckily she hadn’t erased it from her DVR, so she made herself a sandwich and curled up on the couch to take another peek at the freak accident that had almost cost them the season. And since she wanted to see the good stuff, pre-accident, when the Triple Threat had still been intact, she watched from the beginning.

What she saw surprised her. Everyone had been so focused on the accident, analyzing it to death, scrutinizing every expression on Decker’s face during the plays thereafter, watching him self-destruct. And they had applied the same microscope to Bannerman’s actions and attitude. But again, only in plays and games that occurred
after
the accident.

But to Erica, it looked like the two guys were at odds from the very beginning of the game. Bannerman, who was usually the class clown on the sidelines, hamming it up for Decker and Johnny, was hanging back in the shadows, far away from his buddies. And Decker seemed distant too.

They were already pissed at each other when the game began,
she decided. So she scrolled through the list of programs on her DVR and found the game from her birthday party. It confirmed what she remembered. There were Bannerman and Decker joking around with each other before the game while Johnny was talking to the coach. After that, even when his friends were on the field, Decker was right at the sideline, shouting encouragement.

Because they were still friends then. So something happened before the bad game.

She almost called Johnny but decided it was better to tell him in person. Or better still, show him. She wasn’t sure how to load the games onto her laptop but knew May could do it, so she called her and had her come over and make the copies. First the game where Decker and Bannerman were still friendly, then the one with the accident. And for insurance, the one after Bannerman returned from his injury.

Now all she had to do was show them to the QB and let him take it from there. Find out what put Decker in such a foul mood before the game even started. Because the more she watched it, the more she could see that that was what had happened. Decker was the angry one, not Bannerman, or at least not at first. But once his hand broke, he too sported a scowl more often than not when they were around each other. And of course, in later games, there was guilt in those expressions as well.

She couldn’t show these to Johnny at some sexy coastal retreat, but that was fine with her because she had a better idea. Her aunt had a condo right outside Seattle that held amazing memories from childhood visits. She had pictured meeting him there before, but the logistics hadn’t made sense.

Now with an extra day and a half, maybe they could make it work.

It would be the perfect setting to brainstorm a solution for the Decker-Bannerman feud, especially now that they knew it didn’t start with the broken hand. And it would also be the perfect place for her and Johnny to discuss
their
future. She had spent so many wonderful times in that condo, and it was so filled with love, it would be natural to cuddle in front of the fire and make a plan. Even if the plan was to say good-bye, she wanted to know what that would look like.