In the Company

I stepped out of the shower to hear Ry’s bedroom door shutting and the sound of the couch settling. Pat must have still been at the apartment. Was he waiting on me to talk? I kind of hoped he was. The coffee had been good, but I’d been beating around the bush a little bit. Had that outing been our ‘hanging out’ that he’d spoken about when we’d been texting?

Glad that I had brought clean clothes into the bathroom with me so I didn’t have to take an awkward towel walk; I began doing my hair, trying to tame my waves. Getting dressed to head into the office to pick up some papers so that I’d be one step ahead the following day when I started work again, I slipped out of the bathroom as quietly as I could, and tiptoed behind the couch. Just as I was ready to grab Patrick’s shoulder and hopefully scare him, he turned the table on me.

I shrieked and jumped backwards as he whipped around and threw his arms out at me. Stumbling back, I was grateful for the wall that caught me.

“Got you,” he laughed, shaking his head. “The look on your face!”

I rolled my eyes. “You suck. How did you hear me? I swear I was like a ninja.”

“You’re not that stealthy, Rosie,” he said, following me into the kitchen. “Did you really take a two hour shower?”

“No,” I grabbed a bottle of water and threw one to him and then a banana for myself. “I talked with my mom for a little while too.”

Pat nodded, understanding. Over coffee, I had finally explained my complicated familial situation and had even given him a little insight into how Ryleigh fit in. “How is she?”

“Same as she was before I left for Canada,” I sighed. “Only now she misses me more since my brother was home for a little while.”

“You should go visit her in Dallas,” Pat suggested.

“You’ve got no idea how badly I want to do that,” I agreed. “But I don’t have the time or the money.” I cut him off before he could say anything. “And don’t you even dare say that you and the guys would pay for it. I’m already making enough money off of you as it is.” I was teasing of course.

“Still,” he shrugged. “It sucks that you can’t see her, especially when she’s sick.”

“Yeah, it does,” I agreed as my phone went off, the intro to Chelsea Dagger blaring to the apartment. Pat gave me a look as I went to answer it and I’m sure I blushed. Over the last few days, I’d come to learn more about the individual teams that I now worked closely with. I liked the Chicago goal horn song so much that I’d gone and actually downloaded it legally.

On the screen, I found another text from Brayden.

Me and the rest of the guys are headed into the office to meet with Deena. Tell Pat to get a move on.

Followed by another one just a few seconds later:

Oh, and will Ry be coming in? And you as well?

It was obvious that I had been an afterthought. It was kind of adorable how concerned he was and how obviously unsure of how to go about around Ryleigh. I knew Ry was hesitant to get back into another relationship-and understandably so. But Brayden seemed like he wasn’t just looking for that. I wasn’t quite what he was looking for exactly, but whatever it was, it could surely be found in my best friend.

I replied to let him know what was up before turning back to Patrick. “You’ve got a meeting with Deena in less than 30 minutes. Get back to your hotel and shower up. Don’t be late.”

For a few days, I had been laid back, regular Rose. But now, back in New York, I was in professional mode once again.

*~*~*~*~*~*

“So how is she?” Brayden asked as he and the rest of the boys filed into Ry’s and my office after their talk with my boss.

“She’s on the mend,” I assured him. “Pat dragged her to the clinic today.”

His face fell. “I never even thought of… shit.”

I put a comforting hand on his shoulder. “Don’t worry about it. She hates the doctor’s office. Probably likes you even more for not mentioning it.” Maybe that was a stretch.

“So are you all settled back in?” Taylor asked. “You seemed really tired last night.”

Before I could answer for myself, Tyler jumped in. “I’ll say she is! She had Pat up at the ass crack of dawn to go for a run. Which he did happily, I might add.”

“And it’s my fault he was smart and decided not to go clubbing last night?” I answered, arching an eyebrow at the boy who had quickly become like another brother to me.

Max’s eyes popped open wide. “How-how did you know?”

I smiled at him, crossing my arms. “I have eyes everywhere. Make no mistake about that.”

Claude laughed. “Told you she’d know. But seriously, how did you get this guy up?” He clapped Pat on the back, who just gave him the stink eye and flipped him off.

I chose not to respond, rather deciding to sit down at my desk and shuffle around some papers. Ryleigh, Lydia, and Deena had been angels in their own ways and made my transition back to work easy by keeping things in order for me. I scribbled a few notes, typed an email to Gabe, and put my signature on an agreement to consider renewing my contract with the firm. (That was something Ry and I would do together. If one of us wanted to leave, then we both would move on. At least, that’s what we always said.)

“Little enough signature for you?” Taylor asked, picking up the sheet of paper.

“It’s normal sized,” I swiped the document back. “It’s not my fault you hockey players have obnoxiously large ones!”

The looks on their faces said it all. Thinking about the way I responded, I realized they were all taking it out of context.

“You little shits,” I shook my head. “Freaking perverted.”

“Hey,” Pat said in between the fits of laughter he and the rest of the guys were sharing. “At least none of us said what we were thinking. It means we’re making progress.”

I couldn’t help but laugh along with them, of course. And for the rest of the afternoon, I was kept busy with them, able to ignore the new voicemails and texts that were piling up on my phone.