скачать книгу бесплатно
“Coach Nichols suffered a family crisis that required his immediate attention even though the school year had begun. We got wind that Chase was being heavily recruited after he retired. How lucky were we? Still can’t believe that he’s here.” Freeman’s open admiration matched its owner’s effusive nature.
If Laura didn’t have an ounce of admiration for Chase, Freeman could brainwash her in minutes with his enthusiasm.
“Let’s not overwhelm Miss Masterson. I’ll be chatting with her after your meeting. Hopefully, she’ll want to work with me, the poor substitute to the renowned Coach Nichols,” Chase remarked in a droll voice.
Freeman chuckled, his wide girth vibrating with his amusement. He pushed back his chair and stood. Laura looked into his eyes which reminded her of Newman’s intense blue ones. She really enjoyed being in Freeman’s company. His easygoing attitude set her at ease. She wished that he had more to say or that she could create a reason to delay heading off with the man standing behind her.
“Let me get going to my next meeting,” Freeman said. “I’ve got a busy morning ahead of me. Laura, again, we are so pleased that you’re on board. Chase, take care of this young lady, she’s valuable to our department and your team.” Laura headed for the door where Chase still leaned, looking like he didn’t have a care.
He grinned at her.
She didn’t return the gesture.
He had the audacity to wink at her. They walked down the hall with him leading the way. Freeman walked with her, also heading to his next appointment. They approached a cross section of hallways. To her dismay, Freeman waved and headed down another hall. She stopped, debating whether to follow Freeman, in which case, she’d have to think of a reasonable excuse to be tagging behind him.
“Laura, aren’t you coming? My office is this way.”
Again he grinned. With a long sigh at Freeman’s retreating figure, she reminded herself that she was a big girl. She could handle her ex-boyfriend popping unexpectedly into her life. Offering a tight smile, she followed him. But he slowed his steps, until they were shoulder to shoulder.
“How’s the family? Is everyone still in Hampton Mews?” Chase asked.
“Fine. For now, everyone is in Maryland.” Good gracious, now he wanted to have small talk.
“Your brother? Pierce?”
“Married.” Now where did that smugness in her tone come from? They’d only discussed marriage once. It had been in the final words before they went their separate ways. Four years later, she had done a good job pushing her feelings six feet under and sealing them with a thick layer of indifference. The effort took hard work, discipline and focus. The three reasons he’d used for calling it quits.
Chase pushed open a set of double doors with a bright EXIT sign overhead. She stepped through, then stopped short. Laura looked up at him for an explanation.
“Figured we could delay the trip to my office for a few minutes,” Chase explained.
She nodded, still not sure why they were outside the building. Outdoors, she could regroup. Laura raised her face, enjoying the sting of the brisk coolness even in Georgia. Autumn with its crisp temperatures, golden leaves and themes of harvest appealed to her sense of family. Her mother had said that it was a time for gathering those close to you. As the long winter came, you use the longer time indoors to bond. But with four children and no father, maybe that story was to keep them from fighting and arguing.
“Never could understand why you loved the cold weather so much.” Chase looked at her, bearing a wide smile. Without lingering, he continued leading the way from the building across the road to the enclosed stadium.
Traffic on campus during the midmorning hours didn’t differ too much from morning rush hour. Mostly compact cars zipped past, screeching to a halt at the four-way stop signs that dotted the campus roads, then racing off with tires squealing. Students on bikes made up the other major group, while clusters of young men and women hurried along the sidewalks and footpaths.
Campus life energized Laura with its similarity to a small city. There was lots to do and see. As a student, she’d thought of pursuing a teaching career, maybe even becoming a professor. These dreams she’d shared with Chase. Out in the real world, she hadn’t had time to think about what she really wanted to do. Maybe seeing her big brother, Pierce, settle down with his family made her realize that she was letting time slip away.
Chase recited facts about the University of Atlanta, dates of key political figures who had been students and the institution’s rankings in various athletic divisions.
In other words, her feet rested on hallowed grounds. In her small way, she hoped to participate in making an athlete’s dream come through. She’d tried to do the same with Chase in much different circumstances and with negative results.
Many evenings, after Chase had practiced, they’d talked about their future while sitting in the bleachers. Those were the days when they were giddy with their love for each other, turning up their noses to life’s realities. Back then, nothing seemed to be an obstacle. At least where Chase was concerned. She’d listened to his aspirations, bursting with confidence to be the world’s best sprinter. Then she hadn’t been in his life for his only Olympic experience. She could only imagine how his dreams and expectations skyrocketed.
From the sidelines, she witnessed his popularity soar. Even though they had gone their separate ways, she couldn’t eliminate him completely. Endorsements paved the rapid path to his superstardom. He popped up in various advertisements featuring sports drinks, underwear, designer suits and even a mobile phone where he was calling his sweetheart to propose on camera. That ad she could do without seeing.
“What brings you here?” Chase asked.
“I might ask the same of you,” Laura replied.
“Last I knew, you’d thought about following in your brother’s footsteps to be a doctor.”
Laura shrugged. It was one of many career options that fizzled. Sounded good until she took a look at the curriculum.
“Not to say that I’m not glad for the career switch. Gives us a chance to visit some unfinished business.”
Laura shrugged again. His tentative offer taunted her, trying to lead her down a path that she didn’t want to go. Guess he wasn’t going to act as if they didn’t have a past. Good for him. Didn’t change much with her, though.
“After I tore a tendon in the world games and couldn’t heal enough to make the last Olympic trials, I had to make a decision. The window was sliding shut on me,” he stated with a matter-of-factness.
A slight change in his voice alerted her. She detected bitterness, maybe even remorse. His pain must hit him deeply for him to display those emotions with her.
“Don’t count yourself out of the race,” she advised, fighting the natural urge to put her arm around him.
“Always the optimist, right? May not have appreciated it, but it’s nice to hear. I didn’t count myself out. My body quit on me.” He sucked in his breath and exhaled with a heavy sigh. “A decision had to be made. I quit.”
“You retired.”
Chase shrugged off her correction. A class jogged around the field, his gaze followed their progress.
“Are you in a lot of pain?” Silly question, but she didn’t want him to open the subject and now close the shutters around it.
“Somewhat. Guess I’m turning into my grandfather who could tell when rain was coming because his knees ached. Actually, I was dead on with my prediction last Wednesday when we had that thunderstorm.” He grinned, adding a teasing wink.
They had emerged on to the track field.
“Wow!” Laura exclaimed.
The stadium had groups of various athletes probably divided into their class sessions. For Laura, many hours waiting for Chase were spent seeing the good and bad with the male athletic egos, aggressive coaches and the many girlfriends. Unfortunately, many of those relationships didn’t survive. Multi-tasking wasn’t a priority.
Chase had focused on what was important. She’d helped him, until he no longer wanted her help. She had to accept the sacrifice to walk away.
A coed class noisily jogged past them. Some of the sweat suits had the lacrosse team logo printed down the leg. Two stragglers brought up the rear, earning them a very vocal reprimand from the coach. Yep, she had witnessed those heated discussions with Chase and his coach. She wondered if he’d felt pressure to retire, rather than lose his ranking.
A flock of birds in arrow shaped formation noisily flew past them. Laura looked up at the sky, shielding her eyes in the process. She followed them until they disappeared from view.
“What?” she asked, flustered to catch him staring at her.
“Nothing.” He shoved his hands in his pocket and kicked at the gravel. “Getting used to seeing you.”
Laura led the way to the bleachers. Chase sat beside her. Her pulse jogged a few beats faster. Thankfully, he left several inches of space between them. Otherwise she’d have to slide away from him for sanity’s sake. Regardless of what her mind logically concluded, her heart had a tendency to be weak. There was no need to test that with any casual contact of body parts. She touted her emotional strength, but she wasn’t that strong.
“Don’t want you to feel uncomfortable around me,” Chase spoke, his gaze fastened straight ahead.
“Shouldn’t be a problem. You’ve got your job and I’ve got mine.”
“Mind sticking around after hours so the team can meet you?” Chase asked.
Laura pretended to mull over the request. Let’s see. She had to go to the grocery store, head home and whip up her one-person meal, then catch the latest reality show. Boring. “Sure.”
“Great. Let’s head back. I’ll take you over to your area.” He looked at his watch. “Folks should be heading out to lunch in a few minutes. Maybe we can catch a few of them. It’ll be a good bonding time for you.”
They walked back to the building, down the long corridors where students milled. The various halls and offices had a honeycomb effect. She envisioned several instances where she’d be wandering the halls looking for the correct office.
Chase stopped in front of an open door. “Since we’re now at my office, I want to give you something.”
They walked in large area room where the receptionist desk stood as the gateway to various offices on either side. The block of offices and rooms housed the department of the entire coaching staff. One wall held the various bulletin boards all covered with colored papers announcing the meets, university information and other official news.
Laura stopped near the receptionist desk. She could see into Chase’s office, which wasn’t more than a closet.
“I’ll get it,” he said before entering his office.
Chase wanted to re-think the birthday gift. His imagination had failed him, making him believe that giving a gift to an ex-girlfriend who happened to be working for him was normal. As he approached Laura and saw the suspicion cloud her face, he felt ridiculous. All he could do was act as if this was no big deal.
“I know that I’m a day late, but I think it still counts. Happy Birthday.” He handed the box to her. Although shock registered, he noted the smile that tugged at her mouth.
“I don’t know what to say.” She shook her head. Her eyes lifted from the box to his face. “Why?” She shook her head again before accepting the box. “Thank you.”
Chase didn’t mind her bewilderment. He anticipated that his thoughtfulness would be unexpected. What he hoped against was her rejection of the gift. Not that it would deter him. He’d simply have to move to Plan B, whatever that happened to be.
“Should I open it now?” She held the box on her outstretched palm.
“Sure. It won’t blow up.” He attempted to lighten the moment. Thank goodness Sandy had left for lunch. He didn’t want to make a fool of himself in front of his secretary.
He watched her pull off the ribbon around the box. Then she took a deep breath and removed the lid.
“Lots of shredded stuff,” she remarked.
“Kinda grabbed it out of the shredded paper in the back.”
She handed the wad of paper to him. “Well, I guess you’d better get the secrets back before you’re prosecuted for espionage.”
Their fingers grazed each other. Yet he wanted to repeat the motion again. He wanted to feel her long fingers, warm and soft, sliding over his hand.
“Chase! You shouldn’t have.”
He looked at her face closely to see if, despite her words, she did like it. Her flat statement telling him that he shouldn’t have, matched her unwavering gaze, as in he really shouldn’t have. Of all the responses, this was not in the top list.
A delicate gold charm bracelet with three charms dangled from her fingers where it lightly rested. Gold tiny loops formed the bracelet. He’d initially seen the piece at a Costa Rican jewelry shop while on vacation six months ago. When he’d stopped to admire it Laura came to mind because of her slight obsession with charms.
“I do think it’s absolutely beautiful.” Laura sighed. “But…this is a bit much. First, seeing you. Working for you so unexpectedly. Now this.” She bit her lip, frowning deeply at the jewelry. She laid the bracelet on her palm and turned each charm flat against her palm.
“I remembered how much you liked unicorns.” He saw the small nod when he mentioned the first charm. “And you wanted to go to Trinidad for their Carnival.” Her finger traced the distinctive shape of the small Caribbean island. “Do you recognize the third?”
She stared down at the last charm. Her finger hovered above the tiny shape. Voices approached from down the hall. Classes had been dismissed and the halls filled with students and teachers. He didn’t have much time left.
The third charm was a treasure chest. He looked at her face willing her to say something, anything. Could their childhood adventures with pirates, kidnapping and all out war resonate with her as it did with him? Or maybe it was the kiss that she demanded from him as ransom for his GI Joe action figure during one summer afternoon. She had shoved her girlish tendencies aside when she and Chase had played. When they were young, she had always declared herself to be the pirate.
“I recognize it.”
“Don’t give it back. It would mean a lot to me if you’d keep it.” He placed his hand under her open palm and gently closed her fingers over the bracelet.
“I know that you’ve put a lot of thought into this. I also think that you knew I would be here. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have given it to me. I’m not sure where you are in your life or what problems may be plaguing you. But you can’t expect me to fill in the hole,” she remarked, her voice hardening.
“I’m not trying to buy your affection. Friends wouldn’t do that to each other.”
“Take it back.” Her voice shook slightly, but her eyes were clear of any tears. She pulled her hand from his and dropped the bracelet in his shirt pocket. “When I took a job here, it was because this was my goal after I got my physical therapist certificate. I’m here to work. I want nothing more from this. You’re now my boss, and I want nothing but an employee-boss relationship. Anything more or anything less and I’ll have to find another job.”
After Laura had long disappeared down the hall and around the corner, Chase only had her lingering, gentle scent and the memory of touching her hand to keep him company.
Chapter 2
Laura didn’t go out of her way to avoid contact with Chase. She didn’t have to. She had full days of completing therapeutic massages and daily reports for each athlete. Three weeks after her start, she continued to feel that her decision to pursue physical therapy was the right move—even if she was working for Chase. Any free time or breaks were spent with her coworkers, getting to know them.
Occasionally, she did catch a glimpse of Chase as he coached the track team on her way home. The main street narrowly snaked through the campus, linking several side roads into a network of roads. Laura had no problem driving at the posted low speed limit because it allowed her to see him at work unnoticed. She figured watching him was safer.
From all the signs, Chase seemed to be honoring her wishes and leaving her alone. She still wanted to know how he knew that she’d be working there. What man walked around with a birthday gift for an ex-girlfriend waiting for the appropriate moment?
One thing was clear, he’d thought about her. She’d never admit it to him, but he’d touched her very deeply with such a thoughtful gift. His act had rattled her defenses. She couldn’t deny the warm tingle that had seeped in between the cracks in her armor.
Determined to keep Chase from invading her thoughts any further, she accepted her coworker’s invitation to go to happy hour at a local bar and then head to a club in downtown Atlanta. She couldn’t remember the last time that she’d gone dancing.
She wanted to freshen up instead of going right after work. She raced home, mainly taking side roads to avoid most of the traffic. A half hour later, she’d showered and dressed. Satisfied with her makeup she fluffed her hair out after wearing her usual pony-tail. However, she wasn’t satisfied with her clothes. She looked bland.
She selected gold coiled drop earrings. They dangled boldly from her ear lobes. The bronze-gold color mixture stood out against the silk black shirt with tiny gold threads.
“What the heck am I doing?” she questioned the mirror. A yawn overcame her, to which she noisily succumbed. She peered into the mirror. “What a poor excuse for a party girl.”
She hadn’t dated much since breaking up with Chase. Who could blame her? Rejection stung. Not only had Chase’s family told her that she wasn’t up to par, Chase grew increasingly critical of her. It all coincided with his meteoric rise on campus, then at the state championship.
She slipped on a sensible pair of black flats. The wide shaped front made her feet look like square blocks. She frowned debating on what to do next.
A car horn honked. A few seconds later, her cell phone rang.
“Hey, Kasey.” Laura walked over to the living room and pulled back the curtains, spying her friend’s red Jeep below. “I’ll be right down.”
“Hurry up,” Kasey yelled her response. She hit the annoying horn to punctuate the order.
Laura grinned. Kasey was the most outgoing and happy person that she’d met on the job. Her stories of her crazy weekends left Laura feeling a bit envious. All she could talk about of her weekends were the cable movies she watched.
She looked down at her feet once more. With an irritated grunt, she kicked off her shoes. “Darn it, life is too short.” She pulled out a three inch heeled pair of mules. Turning from one side to the other in front of the mirror, she gave a somewhat satisfied grunt. She glided her hands down the sides of her hips frowning at the inches that seemed to expand on a daily basis. Maybe the black jeans in a darkened room would help mute the imperfections.
Another honk sounded. She flicked off the light switch and hurried out of her apartment.
“Looking good. You know how to clean up.” Kasey grinned at her. Her loud perfume matched her loud voice and her equally loud personality.
But it was all good. Laura returned her grin and settled in the car.
