“Casual dating, man,” Steve replied. “After my divorce, I totally swore off love. Never been happier.”
“She’s hard to resist,” Jamie admitted.
Steve rubbed the back of his neck uncomfortably and said, “I’m sure it’ll all work out, buddy. Now can we forget that I asked you about this and focus on the game?”
Jamie laughed and said, “As you were.”
As the buzzer sounded for the third quarter, Jamie stopped checking his cell phone. Clearly she would have texted if she was going to. Tomorrow, he decided, he’d talk to her about all of this. Rather than trying to figure out what was going on in her head, he’d just ask.
When he finally managed to push her out of his mind, he enjoyed the rest of the game. The Bruins were in top condition and the Schooners looked like crap. The best part of these seats is that they were so close to the opposing team’s bench that he could hear the coach yelling at them in between plays. It wasn’t even what the guy was saying that was so funny. It was how unbelievably pissed off he seemed.
It got to the point that he and Steve stopped watching the game and focused on the coach. At one point, someone was taking some heat for a foul. Jamie saw the player’s mouth moving, but wasn’t able to hear what he was saying.
Suddenly, the coach cut him off and said, “Because he’s a better fucking player than you are. Now sit down. I’m not gonna be your goddamned babysitter tonight, Hobbs!”
Jamie almost shot cola out of his nose when the player slumped down on the bench to pout. He quickly swallowed the sip he took and said, “Please god, Steve. Tell me you heard that!”
He looked over to Steve, who was silently laughing as he rubbed his eyes. Eventually he said, “What a nutjob. And he wonders why they play like shit. They’re probably angling to get traded!”
By the time the game was over, the Bruins ended up winning by thirty-six points. Their moods jovial, they made the long hike back to the car, then sat in traffic for half an hour waiting to get out of the parking lot.
When Jamie finally made it home, it felt like he’d been awake for days. Then again, most of his day had been spent staring at a computer screen. Moving from strictly campaign management back into the actual technical work would definitely be a transition. His eyelids were heavy as he stripped out of his clothes and slid into bed. There were things he needed to do, but they could wait until tomorrow. Now? Sleep.
By noon the next day, he had already hit the gym, purchased a conference table, and had the consultation with the vet’s office. He was planning to spend the rest of the afternoon working on new marketing materials for them. Everything they had was developed by the previous owner of the business. The new owner was looking to distance themselves from that as they’d discovered a lot of overcharging in the patient files.
They were on the right track with a name change and re-branding. He’d completely agreed with their rationale. No one wanted to be known as the vet that ripped people off. They’d done all the heavy lifting with the name change itself, but they had no idea where to begin with the re-branding process.
That, of course, was where he came in.
When he finally looked away from his monitor again with a tired sense of accomplishment, he realized that the rest of the day had flown by. He picked up his phone and saw that he had missed two phone calls from his mother.
He rubbed his neck guiltily, as he hadn’t called her in over two weeks.
He took a moment to save his work, then dialed. He braced himself for what he was sure would be a session of guilt and prying.
When Molly answered on the third ring, she said, “He lives!”
“Yeah, yeah, Mom. I’m alive. Sorry I haven’t called. I’ve been pretty busy getting things ready for the office and trying to drum up business.”
There was a moment of silence on the line before Molly said, “And I also hear you’re spending a little bit of time with Cora.”
Jamie narrowed his eyes, cursing whoever had relayed the information and said, “Kinda difficult to avoid her since Patti rented me an office three doors down from hers.”
“I heard about that crazy man in her office the other night. I’m glad you were there, baby.”
He let out a sigh and said, “Yeah. Me too. It was really strange. She doesn’t know the guy, but he seems to know her. I can’t really picture her ruining anyone’s life, but he’s pretty convinced.”
“Just...be careful, please,” she responded.
“I always am, Mom,” he said.
There was a long pause and then his mother said, “I’ll let you get back to work. Whenever you two figure out what the hell you’re doing, you bring her out to see me.”
“Sure thing, Mom. Love you.”
“Love you too, baby. Bye-bye.”
Jamie disconnected and shook his head. The woman was freaking uncanny when it came to her children. He’d never been able to keep a secret from her.