Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 79898 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 399(@200wpm)___ 320(@250wpm)___ 266(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79898 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 399(@200wpm)___ 320(@250wpm)___ 266(@300wpm)
After all, he had waited for four years.
Another twenty-four hours couldn’t do much more damage, could it?
25
Nico – Wednesday
“That’s great, Paul,” I said, nodding enthusiastically. “We’ve got some great picks – hell, I’m working with three guys alone who would be amazing additions to the Giants.”
Paul Carre, the head coach of the New York Giants, chuckled. “I’m sure you do, Ulrich,” he said. “You’ve never disappointed. Tell me about these kids.”
“Two of them are juniors at Texas A&M,” I said. “You wouldn’t believe the QB – insanely fast, quick as a whip, runs down the field like he was born doing it. Never been injured, either. The whole team calls him their lucky charm.”
“I was watching that game over the holiday and he was a real fast sonuvabitch,” Paul said. He chuckled again, and I could tell that I was doing well with him. “Who else?”
As I talked about the two other student athletes who would make great first round draft picks, my mind began to wander. It was wrong, but in the last couple of days, I hadn’t been able to think about anyone but Harper.
Well, Harper and her mysterious daughter.
I hadn’t heard from her since we’d gotten off the phone. I’d tried calling – just a couple of times, I didn’t want to look needy – and she hadn’t ever picked up or bothered to call me back. I’d left it alone since.
My hope was that once she figured out what she wanted to say, she’d come to me and I wouldn’t have to chase her.
I was winding down the call with Paul Carre when Clint came into my office. I held up a finger while I said my goodbyes, then hung up and looked at him.
“What’s up?” I asked.
“I should be asking you, man,” Clint said. He took a seat on the couch by the window. “Sounds like you had one hell of a win just now.”
I nodded. “He’s excited,” I said. “And I’ve met with all of these kids myself. They’re good eggs. A little green, but who in college isn’t?”
Clint snorted. “Not like they’re there to learn, anyway,” he said.
I rolled my eyes.
“I’m excited, too,” I admitted. “It feels good to focus on something.”
“Dude, this is your job,” Clint said. “You oughta be focusing on it like, twenty-four seven.”
I didn’t know what to say to that. Clint was right – and in the past, I’d done just that. I’d eaten, drank, and breathed work ‘round the clock, even when I knew that it was taking a toll on the rest of my life.
But right now, the rest of my life was so weird that I didn’t quite know what to think.
“I know,” I finally admitted. “But things are just really hectic right now. That’s all.”
Clint handed me a coffee. “Picked this up for you on the way over,” he said. “Thought you could use it.”
I took it and drank gratefully. It was a straight black deep roast, just the way I liked it, and already I could feel the caffeine seeping into my veins and giving me life.
“So,” Clint said, kicking his feet up on the couch and snickering. “This kid, you know the one, I’m trying to push him as a draft pick to the Dolphins, right? Not first round, but second maybe or definitely third. He’s got potential, but it’s definitely going to take him a few years to work up to that.”
I nodded.
“Well, I called and invited him to New York, right,” Clint continued. “And then his dad calls, and asks if I’m gonna be taking his son out to the titty bars.”
I snorted.
“Right? And I was like ... well, uh, definitely not, sir, this is strictly a professional trip.”
I raised an eyebrow.
“And then the dad had the nerve to call me a fucking pussy and tell me that he was taking his son’s talents elsewhere,” Clint finished, snickering and rolling his eyes.
I laughed.
“Things have changed so fucking much since we first started doing this,” Clint said. “If I’d known that parents now were gonna be all about the debauchery that comes with the fame, I’d have done much better earlier on.”
“Ain’t that the truth,” I admitted. My mind wandered back to years before, back when Harper was working for me.
Damnit, there she was – on my mind again.
She was impossible to shake, and I had a feeling that it was time for me to tell Clint the truth about her ... and the truth about why I’d been so easily distracted as of late.
“There’s something I want to run by you,” I said, as casually as I could.
Clint gave me a weird look, but before I could elaborate, my phone started buzzing across the surface of my desk and the sound of it made me jump. Clint chortled with laughter and I shot a glare in his direction before picking it up to see who was calling.