6. Milk And Cookies

6

MILK AND COOKIES

“ H ow was your holiday?” Jamie asked Laken on Wednesday.

“It was good,” she said. “We flew home to spend it with my mother.”

“We?” he asked.

He figured she knew enough about him that it would be time to learn some about her.

Or maybe it had to do with the fact he couldn’t get her out of his mind.

She wasn’t a woman he’d ever think twice about spending a lot of time with. Definitely not date.

And yet when he closed his eyes at night, the vision of her popped into his head.

“West, his girlfriend, Abby, Foster and I flew to North Carolina where our mother lives. I know you’ve met Braylon, but he spent Thanksgiving with his girlfriend’s family.”

“It was only a few of you there?” he asked.

She shut one eye at him as if she was trying to figure out what was going on. “No. It was seven out of eight of us. My mother likes her kids all home for the holidays. Though you know how many of us there are, you might not know we are spread out.”

“One brother in North Carolina has a brewery,” he said.

“Elias,” she said. “Figures you’d know that part.”

She was joking when she said it, but he didn’t want her to think he was some lush. Not sure why when he didn’t care about those things in the past, but he did care about what Laken thought of him.

“I only know what I read. Though I have had his beer when I’ve been in North Carolina. Years ago,” he said. “I’m not much of a drinker now.”

“Because of Penelope?”

“Yes. Most of my, you could say bad habits, were around drinking and hanging out with those that did the same. It’s not that I don’t drink at all, but it’s socially now. And trust me when I say my social life is catered more toward milk and cookies.”

She laughed as if she thought he was kidding, but he wasn’t. “I saw you on TV Thanksgiving.”

“Did you now?” he asked. “Did you like what you saw?”

It was hard to break a lifetime of flirting and it just slipped out more than anything.

“Maybe,” she said. “But I was there with family and it’s not like I’m going to start talking about carrot sticks.”

“What?” he asked, frowning.

“Nothing,” she said as she laughed. “Private joke between my sister and mother. I got caught in the crossfire. Never mind.”

He’d have to take her word for it because he was clueless and maybe it was better to keep it that way.

“So you got a few days off?”

“When?” she asked.

“For the holiday,” he said. “You went home.”

“I was working again on Friday,” she said. “I don’t get much time off even if I’m working from home. I even got yelled at a few times for talking about work on Thanksgiving.”

“Geez,” he said. “Got to give your brain a break.”

“Yeah,” she said. “It doesn’t work that way. Not if you run or own a business.”

“I’m not letting it dominate my life,” he said. “Which is why I was willing to give up so much of it. I want it for my daughter and I’m going to take an active part, but I’m not going to be on the floor or whatever. Or in an office every single day. I’ve got three more years on my contract with Fox and I hope it goes beyond that.”

He never thought he’d like doing this as much as he was, but it almost felt as if he still had a part of the game in his life.

Since it was seasonal and not full time at that, it was a great way to spend time with his daughter and watch her grow up while keeping a steady strong income to invest.

The last thing he was going to do was spend forty plus hours a week at another job when he wanted this more as an investment.

He knew what it was like to come from humble beginnings, and though he spent his fair share of money early on, he never once touched more than a fraction of his salary and invested all of his sponsorship money.

It was coming in handy now for this venture.

“I’d think it would,” she said. “You’ve got a presence on the screen. An appealing one to many women who enjoy the sport.”

Now they were getting somewhere. “Are you included in the many women comment?”

“I believe we covered the part where I said you were pleasing on the eye. I think you need to have your ego fed. Is that a problem that you don’t get it from the sport anymore?”

She had her head angled. It was a serious question that he wasn’t sure he wanted to answer.

He would though if it would get her to open up.

“Growing up, I didn’t need anyone to feed anything. I knew I was going to be great. I needed to get the hell out of where I was and away from my parents. Looking back, I was wrong and maybe they were right.”

“Oh,” she said. “Care to elaborate on that?”

Normally she was all business so this was nice they were warming up another way. “I know you did some research on me.”

“You are from outside of Bentonville, Arkansas, and your father is a pastor, your mother is active in the church also.”

“Yes,” he said. “I had religion shoved down my throat. Don’t get me wrong. I believe in God and all, but I don’t go to church. I don’t think you need to show up every Sunday in your best clothes so other people know what rules you may or may not follow.”

“I’m sure you didn’t follow a lot of the rules,” she said.

“No. Not even close. I’m not sure I tried either. My parents supported my football career, but when I started to come home from college and had different thoughts than them, they weren’t happy.”

“We all should be entitled to our opinions,” she said. “Just like I don’t agree with my mother having eight kids while my father was away so much. My uncle and his wife, they’ve got nine kids. They believe that the bigger the family the better life is. I’m not sure I feel that way. I definitely don’t feel a woman should be a birthing machine and then stay home and change diapers all day either.”

He shuddered. “I’m so glad we are done with diapers.”

She laughed. “Imagine having eight of them.”

“No,” he said. “I have a better appreciation for what my mother did. I’m doing it alone and I’m not sure I’m equipped for some things.”

“Alone?” she asked. “Who had Penelope when you were in Detroit? Or right now?”

“I have help. A nanny who lives in a guesthouse and stays in the main house when I’m out of town. But I’m a very hands-on father.”

Unlike his father, who wasn’t always there for him. His father would be there more for parishioners than his son at times, though he’d never voiced that more than once.

That one time was enough to get the lecture on being selfish and that his father was there to serve those who were without.

Too bad his father and mother didn’t always think that maybe their own kids went without at the expense of others.

“That’s nice to hear,” she said. “I don’t remember a lot about my father. I mean I do, but he wasn’t around much. He died when West was eighteen. I was thirteen. Talia was four. She didn’t know him at all. West was more of a father to me at times and that was annoying.”

“And you are working for him now,” he said. “Can I ask how that came about?”

“We all knew what West had planned with his life. We knew he’d succeed too. He always did. Nothing was going to stop him. He had this sense of loyalty to be the provider of the family. I think it has more to do with a combination of how he wanted my mother to have a better life and then be the man he thought my father should have been. And that is horrible to say.”

“No,” he said. “It’s not. Not if you feel it. I know what I would have liked out of my father and didn’t get it, so I understand.”

“Anyway,” she said, “when I graduated from college, West already had a few businesses he’d invested in. Braylon was right there helping him out too. West said he couldn’t pay me a ton and understood if I wanted to go work somewhere else for experience.”

“You wouldn’t have,” he said.

“No, I didn’t. I worked for him. Braylon and West had been living together to save money. I had an apartment with a few friends to do the same. I made enough. And then slowly it seemed, though it was pretty fast looking back, West just hit it big. It only took that one big deal and then the money was there. He didn’t waste it though, but he was able to pay Braylon and me more. Took care of our student loans and his too. Made it easier for us to pick up and follow him here too.”

“You were going to follow West anywhere,” he said. “Even if it was a tiny town in Vermont and you’d be living in a yurt.”

“I don’t know about that,” she said, laughing. “But eight kids in a three bedroom, one and a half bath...I would have welcomed a yurt to myself back then.”

“I at least had my own room, but it wasn’t much of one,” he said. “We lived in church housing and it wasn’t as if it was that modern. There were more kids in and out of the place though so it never felt as if it was mine anyway.”

“I’m sorry about that,” she said. “When I went home last week I wanted some time with my mother alone but knew I wasn’t going to get it. None of us see her much except Talia.”

“Why not take a few days off and go visit her?” he asked.

She shrugged. “I’m busy. Speaking of which, we should get to it.” She looked at her watch. “West is joining us soon.”

“Oh,” he said. “What’s going on?”

“We’ve got an idea about the start of hiring. Or a person to bring on to get the ball rolling. West will present it.”

“You know but won’t do it?” he asked.

“No,” she said. “It’s not my place. But I do have a new staff member starting soon that is going to help implement a lot of the HR policies and procedures and help with hiring too.”

“Is this person going to be part of my HR team? Or the one for the business, or is it an employee on your team?”

“My team,” she said. “She won’t start until close to the end of the year. We’ll be hiring for months as we get the business up and running and Abby will help out and get things situated.”

“Abby?” he asked. “West’s girlfriend?”

“It’s complicated but not,” she said.

West knocked and came in. “Am I interrupting?”

“No,” he said. “Laken was just telling me that she hired your girlfriend as part of her team. Or would be.”

West looked at Laken. “Abby won’t work for me, but she’s excited to work for Laken. She will be a huge asset to the team but won’t start until around the end of the year.”

If he thought it was odd that his business partner hired his girlfriend, he was going to keep it to himself.

The guy knew what he was doing; no one could dispute that.

“Laken mentioned that you seem to have a plan in place or an idea about someone running things to help get set up. I’m assuming it's another member of your team but not someone that would solely be an employee of this business?”

“Yes,” West said. “Nelson. Our younger brother.”

“He’s mini West,” Laken said, grinning. “Or wants to be.”

“So he gets to cut his teeth on this?” he asked.

Jamie hoped to hell they knew what they were doing. This was his daughter’s future in his mind.

He’d only approached West with this deal because he felt if anyone could make it happen it was this self-made billionaire, but now he was wondering if it was more a placement for family.

“I can see your doubt,” West said. “But know one thing—we all have to start somewhere. By putting Nelson here, he will be mentored by me and Laken. I could put someone else in charge to get you set up and step back and that person would have other responsibilities at times too. Nelson will be giving this one hundred percent of his time once he closes a few other things. And because I’m the last person that would want him to fail, he will be a direct report to me.”

Which was more than he’d get if it was someone else. He understood that now.

He should have realized that West owning sixty percent of the company meant he would make sure it was successful too. It’s not like West couldn’t just make his decision without telling Jamie either.

He’d signed those rights away in a lot of decisions.

“I have no choice but to trust you,” he said. “Lay it out.”