I turn the corner and head toward my office when I hear soft mumbling. My steps slow as I make one more turn, finding Hannah, wrapped up in her jacket, already at her desk, flipping through notecards, muttering names and titles. You’ve got to be kidding me. “Tell me you haven’t been here all night playing memory with the company org chart.” Hannah lifts her head and barely registers my presence before sticking her nose back into her cards.
“I’m prepping.”
“For what, the name game?” I make it to her desk and look over her shoulder. Indeed, she has notecards with names, titles, contact info, and purpose for contact. I chuckle at how ridiculous that is, worrying she actually has been here all night with the amount of coffee cups already lined up on her desk.
“It’s important to gauge the people you’re working with. Knowledge is power.” I laugh out loud. She’s seriously one of a kind. “See? Look. Braydon Connor.” She smiles, waving his personal notecard. “He already left me a message asking me if I need any advice on any new cases. Offered to sit with me and show me some of his litigation cases.”
The mention of Braydon blackens my mood. That little shit has no business reaching out to Hannah. His litigation cases have nothing to do with what she’ll be handling. I snatch the card out of her hands and toss it in her trash. “Enough playtime. I need you in my office to help me prepare the Miller case for this morning’s meeting.” I walk past her, not bothering to acknowledge the anger building in her eyes. Entering my office, I throw my bag onto my couch, place my coffee on my desk, and settle into my chair. A small memory of this chair from my dream filters through my mind, and I quickly shake it off.
“You didn’t have to do that, you know,” she says as she walks in dressed in a gray suit dress. Her hair is pulled back into a tight bun, and I wonder why she doesn’t let it down like she used to in high school. She places her pad of paper down on my desk and takes a seat in the lounge chair opposite me. As I pull out my laptop and get set up, she looks around my office, taking in some photo frames, certificates, and my law degree.
She stalls on my football trophy.
“You ready to go over the Miller litigation files for today’s meeting?” I try pulling her attention away. She takes a few more seconds to stare at a college trophy before drawing her eyes back to mine. “Yeah, of course.” She opens her notebook, clicking her pen. “Can I ask you a question?” And here it goes. It was only a matter of time before she asked. “What happened with football? I swore you would have gone pro. The way you were with that ball, it was like no other. I mean, no one else stood a chance against you. You owned the field, the game, the whole school…”
I lean to the side of my open laptop with a raised brow, smiling at her rambling.
“Oh…well, um…I meant to just say you were really good. I guess I didn’t need to…uh, go all—”
“It’s fine, Hannah.” I grin, and her cheeks flush. “So, you thought I was good, huh?” I poke, watching her cheeks redden even more.
“No. I mean…yes. I mean...”
I burst out laughing. “I’m messing with you. I was good. But thank you for feeding my ego. It’s been a long time since someone gave me any football praise. To answer your question, I was drafted, but I turned it down.”
Her shocked gasp makes me laugh again. “Why in heavens would you do that? You were the best!”
I shut my laptop to offer her my full attention. “Because I wanted to have a future. A future in football isn’t always guaranteed. I chose to secure mine by getting a degree. I still got to play in college. Broke some records. But it ended when I graduated.” Her eyes become sad. “What’s wrong?” I worry I’ve upset her. I didn’t mean to make fun of her response. I push my laptop aside and lean forward, grabbing for her hand resting on the desk. “Hey, what did I say? I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you.”
“No. It’s just…you loved football. It was your dream. The way you used to talk about it. It makes me sad you had to choose to let it go.” My lips twitch at her confession. My worry dissipates, and a smirk creeps along my features. “What? What’s so funny?” she asks.
I squeeze her hand. “So, you used to listen to me, huh?”
Busted.
I laugh harder while she tries to hide the fact that she just gave her own secret away. I continue to stare at her, enjoying the way she squirms in her chair. Her hand fidgets under my palm, her eyes bright.