I grinned. “I’m kidding.”
She squinted and shook her head.
I checked out the other framed photos. There was one of her dressed in a cap and gown with her mom at her college graduation, one that she said was her grandmother, and another of Georgia cutting a ribbon with big scissors, which she said was at the opening of her first distribution center. But the one at the very end was face down. I eyed it and looked over at Georgia.
“Did this one fall?”
She shook her head. “It’s of Gabriel and me. I laid it face down before he left after an argument we had, and I guess I forgot it was even there.”
Considering she’d said he left eight months ago and there wasn’t dust on the frame, I wasn’t sure she’d actually forgotten at all. But I was curious about the guy, so I put my hand on the photo and caught Georgia’s eye.
“Mind if I take a look?”
She shook her head, so I turned it over. I don’t think I had a picture of her ex in my mind, yet he looked exactly like I would’ve expected. Tall, thin, good-looking enough… He wore horn-rimmed glasses that made him look like the English professor he was, and he was dressed in a button-down shirt with a cardigan sweater over it and slacks. Georgia was turned to the side and looking up at him with a revered smile on her face. Jealousy coursed through me.
When I looked over at Georgia, I found her watching me. Rather than set the frame back down where it had been, I tucked it inside the cabinet between some books. Turning back, I winked. “I put it away for you.”
She smiled. “You’re so helpful.”
After I finished setting up the DVD player, I grabbed the remote and went back over to the couch. Georgia looked better, so I felt her head.
“I think your fever broke.”
“I actually feel a little better. The soup and Motrin must’ve done it. Thank you.”
Four was stretched out on her lap snoring while she ran her fingers through his fur. I shook my head. “He’s such a ham.”
During the movie, we sat side by side. Georgia rested her head on my shoulder, and at one point, I realized it was no longer only Four snoring. She had conked out, too. So I turned off the TV and attempted to extricate myself without waking her. But when I stood, Four started to dance around on her lap and woke her up.
I lifted him into my arms. “Go back to sleep. Me and furball are going to get going.”
She rubbed her eyes. “Oh, okay.”
“Do you want me to carry you to your room?”
“I think I’m just going to sleep here.”
I picked up a throw pillow that had fallen to the floor and laid it at one end of the couch. Then I lifted her legs and guided her to turn and lie down.
She tucked her hands between her cheek and the pillow and brought her legs up into the fetal position.
I leaned down and kissed her cheek. “Goodnight, sweetheart. Feel better.”
“Thank you.” She closed her eyes. “And Max?”
“Yeah?”
“Happy birthday. I owe you a night out to make up for spoiling your party.”
I smiled. “I’m going to hold you to that.”
CHAPTER 6
* * *
Max
“So I have two things to talk about today.” My agent, Don Goldmann, leaned back in his chair and clasped his hands behind his head with a cocky smile. “Do you want the good news first, or the really, really good news?”
“Surprise me.”
“Let’s start with endorsements and work our way up. ProVita wants to extend their Powerade drink deal. I also have offers from Nike, a sports watch company, and Remington, who wants to put your ugly mug in their electric razor commercials for some unknown reason. All told, it’s just shy of three-point-five million.”
“Jesus Christ.”
“And you’re on a team that isn’t even making the playoffs. Think about what you could get if you were on a winning team.”
“Yeah, that’s crazy.”
“I know you like to check out the products before you decide. So I had Samantha make you a nice little care package you can take with you today, or I can have her ship it to your place, if you want.”
“Sounds good.”
Don sat up and folded his hands on his desk. “Now for the real money. We discussed three numbers—the minimum you’d take, what you’d like to get, and your pie in the sky.” He grabbed a pen, jotted some numbers on a Post-it, and slid it across the desk to me.
I lifted it to make sure I was seeing the number correctly. “You’re serious?”
“Eight-year contract. Congratulations, you’re about to become one of the top ten highest-paid players in the National Hockey League.”
I’d been expecting a solid number, but nowhere near this. I wasn’t a twenty-three-year-old spring chicken anymore. Contracts at twenty-nine that span that long aren’t easy to come by. “Wow. That’s fucking amazing.”
Don smiled. “You mean, your agent is fucking amazing.”
“Whatever. Take all the credit, if you want. For that money, I’ll wear a T-shirt that says my agent is fucking amazing.”
Don laughed. “You know I’m getting that shit printed.”
“What about the physical exam? Anything special I have to submit to with that chunk of change?”
“The usual. Labs, EKG and stress test, and a physical exam from an ortho.” Don squinted. “But this isn’t the first time you’ve asked me about the health checkup. Anything you want to tell me?”
I shook my head and swallowed. “Nope.”
He looked me in the eyes. “You sure?”
“Yep.”
“Alright, good. It’ll take a while to hammer out the details, and they have to make some moves to stay under the salary cap. But they want you, and the number is a done deal.”
I stuck around after that to talk about all the deals rumored to be in the works with other agents. Don loved to talk shop, mostly because his roster of clients was filled with heavy hitters, and most other deals paled in comparison. But he deserved to pat himself on the back. He worked his ass off and was damn good at his job.
After, I was on my way to practice when my brother called.
“What’s up, Altar Boy?” he asked.
Tate had nicknamed me that after an unfortunate incident when I was six and he was eleven. My parents were out one night, and he’d convinced me that we had another brother I had never met, who was a year older than him. He’d told me this brother had gone mad and lived in the shed in our yard. Unbeknownst to me, there was someone, or rather something living in there—a family of raccoons that my dad had just discovered that day and had yet to get rid of. He’d left the door open that night, hoping maybe they’d find their own way out.
Anyway…when it got dark, Tate made me go out into the yard and then locked me out. I started to cry and bang on the door because I was scared the brother who had gone crazy was going to get me. At one point, I heard a loud bang from behind me, and when I turned around, all I could see were two glowing eyes standing at the shed. I freaked out, crying and screaming, but Tate wouldn’t let me back in until I got on my knees and said three Hail Marys. Of course, he videoed it from the window. When he showed it to my other brothers, my nickname became Altar Boy.