Just a Summer Fling (26 page)

That taken care of, he turned back toward his office. “Line three?”

Allison nodded from her desk outside his door. He hadn’t liked the setup originally; Allison had been with the company since he’d been a toddler, and he was pretty sure she’d been assigned as his assistant largely to keep an eye on him. Having her stationed by his door made it feel even more like she was his sentry. His jailer. But he’d gotten used to her, just like he’d adjusted to the rest of it. And having her so intent on running his business life was actually a good excuse to delegate a lot of his work to her, so he’d started to think of her presence as a perk.

And there were other advantages to the job, he remembered as he sank back into his luxurious desk chair and swivelled around so he could look out the floor-to-ceiling windows toward the lake. Yeah, his work was boring and he had a babysitter assigned to him, but he made good money and worked in a pleasant environment. It could be worse.

He picked up the phone and said, “Zara? Thanks for calling back.” He didn’t bother to mention how long it had taken. No point in starting off with her on the defensive. “I guess you’ve probably been told about the plan by now?”

“Yeah, I’ve been told.” It had been a long time since he’d heard her voice, but she still sounded about the same. Totally pugnacious and looking for trouble. “What the hell are you up to?”

“Zane’s out in less than a month,” Cal replied calmly. “He’s going to need a job, and some stability.”

“What? I mean, yeah, okay, but what’s that got to do with me and a community center?”

“He can work there, too. He likes kids, and he told me he wants to find a way to start giving back.”

“He’s a convicted felon! You really think he’s going to be allowed to work with kids?”

“His crimes had nothing to do with children, and there was only peripheral violence. I don’t think there’s any reason we can’t trust him around young people. With adequate supervision, of course.”

“Adequate . . . You don’t expect
me
to supervise him, do you? He’s my big brother! He’s not going to listen to me. And it’s not like I know anything about any of this!”

“No, not you. We’ve got a professional manager in mind. Good experience, relevant education, the whole package. She’ll be in charge of supervising you and Zane.”

“Okay, well . . .” He could practically hear her recalculating. “Okay, if this is what Zane wants and you can find a way to make it work, then, great, it sounds like a good plan. For him. But why am I getting dragged into it?”

“Because I
can’t
find a way to make it work, not without some help.”

“I really don’t understand how I’d help anything.”

“Two ways.” Cal kicked his feet up onto the windowsill and leaned back in his chair. He was pretty pleased with himself on this one, but he tried not to let that come out in his voice. “One, you make the town more likely to accept Zane. You may not believe it, but you’re a golden girl up here now. A celebrity. Local girl made good. Pick the cliché, and you fit it. So people who might object to
just
Zane working at the center will be okay with it if you’re involved.”

“You’re right, I don’t believe it.”

“Well, if you ever came by, you’d know. As it is, you’ll have to trust me.”

There was no answer, not right away. Finally, Zara said, “That was one way. What’s two?”

“Two . . .” This one was going to take a bit more finesse. “You being involved makes it easier for Zane to accept the job. He’s a proud guy, Zara. You know that. He’s never wanted to take favors from me, not if they involved money. So he won’t want to take this job if he thinks it’s me giving him a handout.”

“You think he’s going to be more willing to accept help from me? His baby sister? You’re delusional.”

“Well, no, I’m not. As a matter of fact, once I explained how you’d be involved, Zane agreed to go along with it.”

“Bullshit.”

Cal grinned. He wished this meeting could have been in person so he’d have been able to see the expression on her face, but at least a phone call was better than e-mail. “It’s not bullshit at all. When I told him about his baby sister getting two concussions in one year and maybe facing permanent brain damage if she didn’t stay out of the ring for a while? When I told him how you were pushing to get back too early because you had nothing constructive to do with your time? When I said I’d love to get you involved in this project, but didn’t think I’d be able to persuade you if he wasn’t involved?” Yeah, this had been a good plan. Cal was proud of himself. “He knew what he had to do. He’s taking the job so that
you’ll
take the job.”

Damn, it would have been great if he’d been able to see her as she processed it all.

Finally she said, “Okay, you don’t know shit about my career, or my health. So you’re lying, really. And you’re playing us off against each other,
for
each other? You’ve set it up so he’ll take the job to help me, and I’ll take the job to help him.”

“Exactly.”

“Why? Why is this any of your business?”

Interesting that she was the one asking that question, when her street-smart brother hadn’t. But Cal had the answer already figured out, ready for when he’d been talking to Zane, so it was easy to use it now. “Because I want the community center to succeed. I want it to target kids who need it. Sure, everyone’s welcome, but you know what I mean. The middle-class kids getting dropped off by their loving parents for an afternoon of basketball or crafts or something? They don’t
need
it. But there are kids who do. A lot of them. And I think you and Zane will be good at reaching those kids.”

“Why, because we’re poor, downtrodden trash? We can speak to our people?”

“You’re not trash. But, yeah, because you both grew up without money and without strong parenting. Because you struggled with finding your places in the world. I think Zane should be involved because he can be a good lesson on what goes wrong if you don’t make the right decisions, and also a good lesson about it never being too late to change. And you? Obviously a success story. The kids need to see more of those. Probably the girls especially. You didn’t get knocked up and start a family way too young because you didn’t know what the hell else to do with your life. You broke free. The girls definitely need to see that.”

He let her ponder for a moment, then said, “It doesn’t have to be a long-term commitment. Just give it an honest try. See if it works for you. Okay?”

“I’ll think about it. And I’ll talk to Zane about it. This is my week to visit him.”

“Are you safe to drive? With the concussion?” As soon as the words were out of his mouth, he knew they’d been a mistake.

“You don’t know shit about my health,” she growled. “Remember? And I can take care of myself.”

“I know,” he said quickly. “Sorry. I’ve been talking to Zane too much—you know how protective he is.”

“How protective he wants to be, maybe. But he hasn’t been able to do much for me for the last decade, and I’ve been just fine. I don’t need either of you thinking you’re in charge of my safety. No way.”

“Absolutely,” Cal agreed. And he did agree, at least in theory. A bit harder to convince his instincts about it, but his brain was certainly aware that Zara Hale could take care of herself, and then some.

“Okay,” she said grumpily. “I’ll talk to Zane about it.”

“It’s not that terrible, Zara. We’ve got a good facility, and the town has changed. Seriously, they love you here now. There are posters of you all over the place, and they sold tickets and did a huge event at the bar for your last pay-per-view fight. It sold out, fast.”

“That fight lasted twenty-three seconds.”

“And the cheering went on for hours. Every time they showed a replay, I thought the roof was going to lift off.”

“You were there?”

“Of course. Everyone who’s anyone was there. It was the social event of the season.”

“Yeah, I’m sure your whole family showed up, furs and pearls and all.”

Well, that was a good point. But he chose to ignore it. “You should come by,” he said. “I think you’d be pleasantly surprised.”

“I’ll think about it. Maybe. After I talk to Zane. But if he’s not really into this, there’s no way I’m doing it.”

“Fair enough.”

They ended the call, and Cal sat and looked out his window. Zane and Zara Hale, back in Lake Sullivan. Back where they’d always belonged, before things had gone so wrong. Cal hadn’t been able to save either of them then, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t help them out now. He’d been
raised with every privilege, all the financial
and
the emotional support he could have ever wanted, and it had made him strong. It had also given him a pretty good dose of liberal guilt, and helping the Hales
and
disadvantaged kids was a great way to soothe his conscience.

Yeah. He was doing the right thing. He pushed out of his chair and strode out of the office with the energy that always made Allison frown suspiciously. Things were coming together. It was about damn
time.

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