Page 9 of The Perfect Deal
Coach Sam stood near the side of the pool, clapping his hands as he encouraged the kids to keep pushing, but when he saw me walk in, he came over. “Hey, Quincy’s mom is here.”
Arching an eyebrow, I said, “No parents allowed inside the clinic,” I reminded him.
“She insisted she speak with you.” He shrugged and went back to cheering on the kids.
With a sigh, I glanced around and spotted the woman leaning on the wall near the exit that led to the parking lot. She was a tiny thing, maybe four-foot-ten, with bleached blonde hair, wearing tight jean shorts and a tank top.
Not knowing what to expect, I walked toward her. “Hi. You’re Quincy’s mother?”
“Hi there yourself, Coach,” she said, reaching out and resting a hand on my bare arm. I wanted to pull away, but my feet were frozen. Batting her eyelashes at me, she said, “I just wanted to thank you in person for everything you’re doing for my Quincy. It’s not easy being a single mother, and he’s really taken to you. I can see why.” She smiled at me seductively, but I wasn’t sure I followed her logic. She thought I was attractive, so it made sense her son would also like me?
“It’s my pleasure to work with him,” I said, taking a step back.
She came right at me. “Well, if you ever want to talk about how my son is performing, say, over dinner, just let me know.” She made a sort of growling sound in the back of her throat—or was it a purr? I wasn’t sure, but I knew I needed to get away from her.
“Thanks,” I said. “I’ve gotta go.” I hooked a thumb over my shoulder and backed away quickly, reminding myself there was a pool back there somewhere. “Quincy will be done in a couple of hours.”
She replied, “I’ll be waiting.”
I didn’t know if she meant it for me or Quincy, but when she walked out the door, I was relieved.
Turning around, I took a deep breath and noticed Sam laughing at me. I glared at him and headed over, ready to forget about that and start working with the kids.
As I passed him, Sam said, “You’re gonna have to start wearing a scuba suit to practice.”
I gave him a dirty look, but he wasn’t wrong. A shiver went down my spine as I thought of the way she was looking at my bare chest, like I was a piece of meat. “Thank god I didn’t wear a Speedo,” I muttered and then leaped into the pool.
6
LIBERTY
My eyes focused on the desk across from mine. At the moment, it was empty. Even though Landon had hired someone to take Poppy’s place when she stopped being his assistant and started creating artwork for the company instead, that person didn’t sit where Poppy used to. Occasionally, my best friend did pop into the office to work on a few things, and she needed a place to sit, so Landon kept her desk for her. Mandy, the woman who took Poppy’s place as Landon’s assistant, was a little older and kept to herself. Her desk was around the corner, closer to Landon’s office, which essentially left me in the large room with an empty desk and my thoughts.
And work to do.
Sighing, I went back to it. I’d been working on the same problem all morning, and it really wasn’t something I cared about. One of our clients didn’t like his marketing slogan. Somehow, that had become assigned to me to fix, even though I felt like it really shouldn’t be my concern. I’d spent hours trying to come up with something more suitable, something the angsty old man might approve of. So far, I’d been spinning my wheels and getting next to nowhere.
After lunch, I decided to go down to the café in the bottom of our building and get a pick-me-up. I’d already had a latte at breakfast, but I could feel an afternoon drag setting in and knew I was going to have to do something to get my mind back on track.
The line was relatively short, thankfully, because I didn’t have a whole lot of time to spend on this errand. I waited my turn, and when I stepped up to the counter, Henry, the sweet old man who ran the café, smiled widely at me. “Well, good afternoon, Miss Liberty,” he said with a chuckle. “How are you? It’s been a couple of hours since I saw you.”
I felt my cheeks heating up since it hadn’t been all that long. “I know. I need something to keep me awake while I figure out how to write a slogan.” I rolled my eyes, realizing I was being too open about my life with a nice fellow I didn’t know all that well.
“Sounds like you need some more caffeine,” he agreed. “Your afternoon usual?”
“Yes, please.” I gave him a thankful grin and fished my credit card out of my wallet. A few moments later, he was back with my drink and a little paper bag. “What’s that?”
“Oh, I figured you could use a snack, too.” At the cash register, he rang up only my iced coffee and gave me the total.
“But Henry, you forgot the snack,” I reminded him.
He shrugged. “It’s on me. For one of my favorite customers.”
Blushing again, I shook my head slowly. “You really didn’t have to do that.” He had a way of always making me feel important, and I appreciated that, though I’d always just assumed he was that way with everyone. Maybe not, if I really was one of his favorite customers. I paid for my drink and found some ones in my wallet to drop into the tip jar. “Have a good afternoon, Henry,” I told him as I grabbed my items and walked away.
“I’ll see you tomorrow morning,” he called, chuckling again.
Feeling a lot better, I made my way back upstairs to my desk, sipping my coffee and nibbling on the chocolate chip cookie Henry had given me. They had some of the best cookies I’d ever eaten, and I wondered why I didn’t get one every single time I went down.