First and Ten (19 page)

Mr. Albright turned his computer screen to
Rome.

“What is your relationship with this
woman?”

Rome looked at images starting from the boat
ride with Dani to his steps of the brownstone where Dani entered,
then left, but none showing the in between before when Candace was
snapping on him. Nope, just him talking to her. He could see the
smile on his face, only he knew it was from rage. Then another
batch starting from Dani laying on the trunk of her car. Still
another from their yoga date, art museum, a dive bar that had a
band even he couldn’t understand wasn’t playing in a stadium. In
between those were pictures of Candace with his son arriving at his
home. None of her entering because she made out that she was angry
and shooed away the photographer.

“We dated for about a year, four years
ago.”

“And when she got pregnant?”

“She had what she wanted. A monthly paycheck
that required no work.”

“My wife would disagree. A child is a
responsibility, not one I take lightly.”

“Neither do I,” Rome said as he squared his
shoulders. “But this woman doesn’t raise my kid. She just wants to
move to Georgia with her boyfriend and take her paycheck with
her.”

“The pictures say otherwise.”

“This site is about the shock. They rarely
care about the facts. Have you heard of Adrian Marcum?”

“What’s that burning smell?” Dani asked as
she and her mother sat across from each other.

“Your mother’s cooking,” Ilsa said. “And I’m
not allowed to help in anyway.”

“Oh crap,” her mother took off into the
kitchen.

“Chicken again?” Dani asked.

“Cake.” Ilsa sat across from Dani who was
focused on her phone and replying to text messages from
clients.

“Everything okay?”

“So far I haven’t had any cancellations for
this Saturday, but I’m not looking forward to being anywhere around
Ramona this weekend.”

“She that girl from a few years ago.”

“Yep, tried to help her and got stabbed in
the back. Why Reguletti’s hired her is making me question my
relationship with them.” Dani chewed on her lower lip. “Would it be
wrong of me to—”

“Yes,” Ilsa said not about to let Dani go
down that hole. “You’re better than that.”

“What if I—”

“Nope, you know a few designers only sell to
Reguletti’s. You make connections. Each of those connections have
people depending on you.”

“See that’s why my first plan to get Ramona
fired has the smallest residual damage.”

“This what they teach you at that college? To
put people out of work because you don’t agree with them?”

“And by agree you mean that she slept with my
boyfriend then stole clients.”

“That’s not a reason to have someone fired.
Try harder?”

“If she’s not colorblind, she should be
arrested for putting together outfits like a preschooler.”

“Getting warmer.”

“We won’t need the fire department,” her
mother said as she came back to the table. “It’s official. I’m a
danger to myself and others.”

“Don’t say that, Mom,” Dani said with a
smirk. “Then we have to have you locked up. I think we need to see
if there’s a way we can install a sensor on the stove, oven, and
microwave that shuts it down if Mom touches it.”

“Then it would be like that year she tried to
cook the turkey for Thanksgiving,” Ilsa added.

“So we ate a few hours later,” her mother
said.

“And were ready for the Black Friday sales as
the stores opened.”

“Silver lining,” her mother smiled. “Now,
tell me about this woman messing with Jerome.”

“How many enemies do you have?” Ilsa
asked.

“When you’re sexy, hot, and rich, what do you
expect?” Dani teased. “Don’t you know you need to have enemies?
They show you the true nature of people and mean you’re
successful.”

“Then you’re successful in business as well
as love,” her mother challenged.

“I wouldn’t say that.” Dani looked out in the
hallway down to the still closed door at the end.

“He seems a very pleasant young man,” her mom
said. “Wouldn’t you agree, Ilsa?”

The door opened before she could answer and
they all turned to see Rome walking down the hall with her father
behind him.

“I smell Chinese again tonight,” he said as
he came in the room.

“I prepared dinner,” Ilsa said. “Mrs.
Albright attempted dessert.”

“Fro-yo it is, Jerome, will you be staying
for dinner?” her father asked and Dani cut her eyes to her mother
who gave her a little smile. “No phones at the dinner table?”

“Technically this is the kitchen table.”

“Go get dressed for dinner. Your guest is
properly attired, you on the other hand look like you rolled out of
a final, through a bar and down the street.”

“You’re hilarious,” Dani said then looked
down. “Actually, that’s a pretty accurate description.”

She then took in Rome and wondered if he was
recycling his look from last night. The pictures showed he was in a
button down with a pair of dress pants, but when he added the suit
coat the vision of him made her a bit weak. What was it about a man
in a well tailored suit?

“You okay down here by yourself?” she asked,
half wishing there was a way to sneak him upstairs with her.

“Whether he is or not he’ll be staying right
here,” her father said, slapping his hand on Rome’s shoulder.

“I’m good and I’m waiting on a call from a
friend of your father’s?”

Dani left and once out of sight, she sprinted
up to her room and changed in record time. Unlike the night before,
her father would want professional dress. The company set the dress
code and damn, Rome looked good. She couldn’t believe he’d come to
her house of his own volition.

“How do your contracts work?” she heard her
father ask as she approached the table and sat in the chair next to
Rome. He covered her hand with his and squeezed before going into
the legal wranglings.

“Even with a set deal you can just be traded
off to another team without your say so?” her father asked after
Ilsa had served them, then excused herself.

“Not really, that’s more with baseball.
There’s a negotiation of course, but there are a lot of guys on
three week contracts during the seasons trying to stay with a team.
I’ve been blessed to never have to do that. You come in week one
and have to learn the schemes, maybe get a minute or two in week
two. Double that in three and your contract is done. It’s a lot of
pressure to perform in a limited window.”

“Guess you never had to deal with that,” her
dad said as he cut into his slice of beef crown roast. His knife
sliced through the meat like it was a cloud and not the top cuts of
meat. The meal alone with its parsnip puree, au jue, oven roasted
zucchini and squash and homemade dark honey wheat bread would cost
Dani most of her food budget if she’d been in a restaurant.
Especially since all products had to be organic lately.

“Chicago has been wonderful to me. I love
living in the city.”

“Lincoln Park, right?” her father asked,
although he seemed to know all. “At least based on the
pictures.”

“It’s been my off season project. Fixing it
up. I still haven’t decided what to do with the third floor, but I
ran the electrical, plumbing, and sheet rocked mostly. I’m not sure
if I want to tackle another bathroom.”

“You did all that work yourself?” Dani asked
in amazement.

“Not the decorating, but the labor, yeah. You
wouldn’t have been impressed when I got it. If it hadn’t been
between two houses, they probably would have had it torn down. Once
I had it livable by city standards, I moved in with the walls
stripped to the studs.”

Dinner couldn’t have gone better if she’d
planned it out special. Toward the end of the meal her graduation
party came up again.

“I was a little caught off guard when your
mother talked to me about it like I already had it on my calendar,”
Rome said as the plates were cleared.

“Did she now?” Dani asked with chagrin.
“Social graces aside, last night it was decided I would have an
intimate,” she stressed the word intimate, “dinner with family and
friends. I wanted to ask you privately.”

“You don’t live in a private family,” her
father informed her and his phone rang. “Excuse me, ladies; Jerome,
please come with me.”

Dani watched as they disappeared down the
hallway again. Her father answered the phone and shut the door to
his den. Dani couldn’t help fearing what was happening in the
closed off den. The comfort she felt evaporated and dread overcame
her.

“I’ve looked everywhere, Mr. Albright,” the
voice from Mr. Albright’s phone carried over the speaker. Dani’s
father had turned and placed his smartphone on the desk between
Rome and him. Rome was back in the hardbound leather chair with his
forearms resting on his knees. “There’s no indication at all this
woman has even inquired about property in any of the major cities
in Georgia. She has a spotty trail when it comes to residency.”

“What about employment?” Mr. Albright
asked.

“Not that I can find.”

“It’s not like she’d need it,” Rome
grumbled.

“Did you look under the man who has been
cohabitating with her?”

“That was the next thing I was going to bring
up,” Kingston, the investigator Mr. Albright used, said.
“Everything is in her name, utilities, lease, etc, but I tracked
down the postal worker that has her house on the route and she said
there hasn’t been anyone else receiving mail there.”

Who can get a mailman to talk? Was that even
legal? Rome had thought he made a good living and had power,
William Albright belonged in a world he could only get to through a
blockbuster movie. Taking in the man across the desk, he wondered
if he’d gotten everything he had through legal means. Rome was sure
he had, but what a stark contrast between the world Danika claimed
to have grown up in and the one he was being presented at this
meal. He knew they were both real, but he’d never known a
millionaire to be grounded and in touch really with the world. It
was then it hit him. Technically, he was a damn millionaire and he
not only was grounded, but had a grasp on reality. At least he
thought he had. Up until recently he’d just accepted what had been
laid out in front of him. He was to pay these women and accept what
happened. It was the professional athlete tax. Everyone paid it at
one time or another.

“I did verify with the photographer he’d been
getting tips on where Mr. Speed will be, as well as his child.” The
private investigator continued. “From what he said he’d lucked out
when he caught Mr. Speed with Danika. Right place, right time, but
since then he gets texts from Candace Powell. I guess she’s been
doing all his dirty work. Tracking him and such.”

“Thanks, Kingston.” Mr. Albright ended the
phone call and stared across the desk to Jerome. “You pee in her
Wheaties?”

“I’ll deal with her,” Rome promised as rage
found a new level for him. Things didn’t add up when it came to
Candi, but then again she had always been a bit bi-polar. One day
calm and reasonable, even presentable to team owners. The next day,
she’d accuse him of cheating on her because he brought home ice
cream from the grocery store.
I saw the girl giving out samples
last week.
Responding
he wished he had
probably hadn’t
been his best response, but shit he didn’t deserve this.

“How exactly are you going to do that?”

“First, I need Kingston to forward his
findings to my lawyer. He was going to hire a P.I. to help me prove
Candi was an unfit mother. I was hoping the guy she was with had a
record or something.”

“Seems he’s a figment of her
imagination.”

That’s when Rome remembered something more
about Candi and her games. The moment he didn’t pay enough
attention to her, she would pretend to come on to another man to
get him jealous. She couldn’t be doing that again, could she?

Rome thanked Mr. Albright for his assistance
and Dani walked him out to his SUV. Her fingers were intertwined
with his as she leaned against his driver’s side door.

“You came to my parents’ home,” she said with
an awestruck look in her eyes. The sun was just beginning to set,
but he could still make out the cornflower blue in her eyes.

“I did. Better to apologize in person. At
least that’s what I’d been taught.”

“It was.” Dani took her free hand and cradled
his face. Standing on her tiptoes she found his lips, for what
started as a light peck had them each needing more. Her tongue
licked at his lip and soon the passion he’d only found in her arms
returned. He’d missed the taste and feel of Dani against his skin.
Her lips scorched his as he wrapped her up in his arms. Pulling
away from her, he tried to remember his place in the world. Did he
even have one in hers? “Did my dad flip on the light or
something?”