“What? Why?”
“Because he fired you.”
“Travis,” I say, shaking my head, “I violated my contract. I deserve to be let go. Jeffrey is great at his job. He doesn’t deserve this.”
“Well, I think you’ll be better.”
“Excuse me?” I set my diploma down on what used to be my desk. “What do you mean?”
Travis steps into my office and stalks over to me. With his hands firmly on my hips, he pulls me to him. “Exactly what I said. I think you’ll make an even better business manager.”
“But I’m not—”
“But you can be. I Googled it before I even asked you to marry me. I hadn’t forgotten about your contract with Jeffrey, and I wanted to know your options. You don’t need a degree to do this. You only have to know how to negotiate contracts, and I know you can do that. Plus, you have to have your client’s best interest in mind, and I think if my wife is my agent and business manager, I’ll probably make out pretty well.”
I eye him warily, unsure if I’m fully grasping what he’s saying. I love that he has confidence in me, but I’m not sure if this is something I can do.
“One client won’t pay the bills.”
“Cooper Bailey is looking for an agent as well. The one he has is someone his father found for him, and since he and his father aren’t speaking, he wants to break free.”
“I see.”
“And that means you can come to spring training with me, if you wanted,” he adds.
A smile spreads across my lips. “As your wife I could go, but as your manager, I have to ask: Are you pulling your resignation off the table? Do I need to call Stone and tell him to forget everything?”
He steps back and shakes his head. If I had to guess, I think his own admission about spring training caught him off guard. I know deep down he doesn’t want to quit, and once his name is cleared, the public opinion about him will change. He just needs to get his story told.
“I don’t know, Saylor. Right now, it feels right to leave. The city, the people—they’ve turned their backs on me, and that is really hard to swallow.”
This time I’m cupping his cheek and caressing the worry lines away. “Let’s give it time, Travis.”
“Who is saying that?” he asks as his hands slide under my sweater. “My wife or agent?”
My catches as I find myself made vulnerable by his question. “Your agent,” I reply, unwilling to bring myself to say the other word out loud.
“Well, she would know,” he says with a wink.
They both know, Travis…
They both know.
Thirty-Three
Travis
After convincing Saylor to take me on as her first client, I made a phone call to Irvin and read him her termination papers. He suggested she quit, which would allow her to represent any of her current clients if they chose to leave Jeffrey. Needless to say, when Saylor handed in her handwritten letter of resignation, he knew her plan. If Saylor decides to only represent me, that’ll be enough for her to stick it to him.
I understand where he’s coming from and how things look, but there’s a reason behind my proposal and our upcoming marriage. Jeffrey could’ve listened to her instead of saying the shit he did. Honestly, that is what prompted me to fire him. Sitting outside his office and hearing the words he was saying to her really pissed me the fuck off. If anything, he should’ve been yelling at me, but he’d never do that.
“Are you okay?” I ask after we leave her office. She had tears in her eyes as she packed her things, and while I felt bad for her, I knew this was going to be a good thing. Our marriage is going to start off as one of the rockiest ones in history.
“I feel lost. That’s been my job for so long. I don’t know what I’m going to do on Monday.”
“Well, you could make my breakfast.” I laugh, but the look on her face tells me to shut up. “Or not,” I say, setting her box in the back of the SUV.
“We need to set some ground rules,” she states as she climbs into the front seat. I don’t know how I feel about rules. It’s been years since I’ve lived with someone, and the only person who spends any considerable amount of time with me is Ethan Davenport, and that’s when we’re on the road.