They don’t. I know that with as much certainty as I know the feel of a football in my hands.
I’m starting to understand what’s beneath her armor. She has so many sides. The successful attorney. The dedicated friend and sister. The girl after the football game with the deer in headlights expression as she stood alone, trying, and failing, to find a familiar face. I want to know all of her. I want all of her to be mine.
I get the sense no one has ever taken enough time with Julie to really get to know her all the way through, which is weird considering she has such close friends and what seems like atightknit family. What I do know is that Julie is too smart to fall for the expected, which is why I’ve been texting. Letting her see me through tiny snippets of my day, funny stories, the strange and the mundane. I even sent her pictures of my new nieces on the days last week they were born. I want to keep her a little off-balance. I want to take my time.
And I want to woo the fuck out of her.
“Okay, so how much additional funding do we need if we add girls’ lacrosse and volleyball in year one? Do we have the funds to run all four camps the first year? We can always worry about year two and beyond later.”
Jeremy’s response to Emma has me tuning back in to the conversation.
Emma gives him an exasperated look that has me thinking this isn’t the first time he has suggested a big change.
“That wasn’t the plan, Jeremy. Ten months ago, you came to me and said you wanted to fundraise for hockey and football camps, so I gave you a plan for that. Weexecutedthe plan for that. I have no idea how much it would cost to run lacrosse or volleyball camps becauseyou didn’t ask me to run those numbers. But you know what I do know? Exactly how much it costs to run your football and hockey camps for two years. So do that and stop trying to change the plan.”
I stare at Emma, fascinated that this is the same woman who didn’t say a single word to me the first time we met and turns bright red and stammers every time Jeremy talks to her in a social setting.
“We can’t even give it a try?” Jeremy looks like someone kicked his puppy, and I wonder what his deal is. Two camps seem like a lot to take on when the foundation hasn’t done anything like this before. Why would he want to add two more?
Emma closes her eyes and takes a deep breath, as if willingherself to be patient. She opens her eyes and talks to him like he’s a child refusing to brush his teeth.
“Jeremy. I know these camps mean a lot to you. I know you want to go big. But you hired me to help you besuccessful. You hired me to make this work and I’m telling you, adding two additional sports on top of the two we planned for is going to overextend the foundation, and you’ll run the very real risk of all four camps failing. You know hockey. Asher knows football and is here to help all winter. Start with those two and I promise, I can help you grow.”
Jeremy blows out a breath and leans forward, elbows on his knees. “Fine. We’ll do it your way Ems. I don’t like it, but I’ll do it.”
Emma’s smile is both smug and satisfied. “Good. Glad you see things my way. Now, you both know what you need to do, and I have another client coming in half an hour so it’s time for you to go.” She stands, straightening her skirt and walking around her desk.
Jeremy practically shoves me out of the way to get to her. He tosses an arm around her shoulders and as they walk toward her office door I hear him murmur, “I love when you talk lawyer to me.”
I cough to cover a laugh when I see Emma duck out from under Jeremy’s arm, her face bright red and her eyes a little wild; she’s now a far cry from the poised, competent attorney who just handled the six-foot three former hockey star like she deals with stubborn athletes every day of the week.
Standing in the hallway outside Emma’s office after she practically shoved us out the door and slammed it shut before we had even crossed the threshold, I glance up and down the hall, wondering which closed door is Julie’s.
“It’s the one at the end of the hall.” I turn as Jeremy gestures to the last door on the right.
“What is?”
Jeremy smirks at me. “I’m not stupid. You were wondering which door belongs to a certain female Parker twin.”
I shrug. “Thought I would go see if she wanted to have lunch.” She may have said no when we were texting, but I’m willing to bet that was a knee-jerk reaction. Besides, I do my best work in person.
“It’s a little late for lunch, buddy.”
“Coffee then. Or dessert. Whatever she wants.”
Jeremy laughs. “Damn, you’ve got it bad. Good luck, dude. In all the years I’ve known Julie, I’ve never seen her date anyone. Not seriously anyway. I think she scares them all away.”
It makes me happier than I have any right to be that Julie doesn’t date, so I let the “scares them all away” comment go even though I want to tell him that’s not what she’s doing. She pushes them away before they get the chance to see her. She’s afraid if they do see her, they’ll walk away themselves.
“I’m not anyone, and I don’t scare easily. You’re one to talk about having it bad. ‘I love when you talk lawyer to me’? How long have you had a thing for Emma?”
“Too fucking long,” he mumbles under his breath. “But I fucked it up,” he says, staring at her door. “You know what? I just remembered something I forgot to tell her. You okay to leave on your own?”
I smile at him because he’s ass over tits for the freckled, redheaded conundrum who just unceremoniously kicked us out of her office. “Yeah man, I’m good.”
He turns and knocks on the door, and I head straight for Julie’s office.
I knock twice and wait, but there’s no answer. I knock again, disappointed I missed her and already thinking about what I can do later to get under her skin. I wonder if Benwill give me her address so I can send her something ridiculous.
