As Elizabeth turned to face the bar, it was clear Jenna was noticing.
“Ty’s not your type, huh?”
Jenna shrugged. “He has a great ass and that bad boy look that gets my panties wet. It’s been a dry spell. I’m human. But I still don’t date jocks. Too bad, because I could definitely take someone like him for a spin.”
“I’m sure he’d take you up on your offer, too. He was giving you the eye when you weren’t looking.”
Jenna gave him another quick glance, then sighed. “Why does this place attract so many guys like him? Maybe we should do some kind of promotion to attract the men I want to date, instead of the ones I don’t.”
“That’s a good idea. You should come up with something.”
“Yeah,” Jenna said, her lips curving. “In my spare time.”
“I could help you. I’m kind of good with promotional stuff.”
Jenna leaned over the bar. “That’s true. It is your area. But you’re probably busy.”
“Not that busy. I’d love to help.”
“You’re just trying to avoid everything Gavin.”
“You’re right. I am.” She lifted her glass and took a drink.
“So how are you going to solve that particular problem?”
“I have no idea what to do. I don’t think he trusts me. And I don’t honestly know how he feels about me. Being his agent and being in love with him is screwing everything up, both professionally and personally.”
“How so?”
“As his agent, I should be kicking his ass back to the game. He’s been gone way too long. As the woman who loves him, I understand how he feels. I’m empathetic to his concern about your dad and his need to be here.”
“My dad is recovering just fine, getting stronger every day. This whole thing scared the shit out of all of us, so we’re naturally hovering.”
“That’s to be expected, I think. It scared me, too. I love your parents.”
Jenna smiled and reached for her hand. “I know you do. You’ve been family for a long time.”
“But he is recovering well, and you all take such good care of him. And Gavin’s restless. I can see it, can feel the tension in him. He watches the game and he knows he needs to get back to it, but something’s holding him back. A sense of responsibility coupled with the fear that if he’s gone, something bad will happen.”
“So go put your agent hat on and kick his ass back to work. You’re just going to have to realize that sometimes you can’t be both girlfriend and agent. Sometimes you just have to be his agent and make him see that it’s time to do his job.”
She sighed. “Or I might find out that I can’t be both at all, that I’m going to have to choose one. Or he’ll choose one for me.”
Jenna gave her a straight look. “Yeah, that might happen. If he loves you, it won’t matter.”
“And if he doesn’t love me at all, it might matter a lot.”
“Are you afraid to find out?”
“I think that’s the million-dollar question.”
TWENTY-TWO
GAVIN AND MICK WERE CLEANING OUT THE GUTTERS when Gavin saw Elizabeth’s car pull up in the driveway. A twinge of guilt and something else pulled at his gut. His dad was sitting out on the back patio, watching them. It was a perfect day. The sun was out, a nice breeze blowing. Mom and Tara were out shopping.
“You know why she’s here.”
“Leave it alone, Mick.”
His dad stood when Elizabeth came through the back door.
“Front door was open.”
“Hi, Lizzie.”
She gave his dad a hug and sat down with him, not even acknowledging Gavin and Mick.
“She’s playing you, man. Just like she manipulated me. And Tara and Nathan.”
Gavin glared at Mick. “This isn’t about you. Not everything is about you.”
Mick shrugged and directed the hose into the gutter while Gavin grabbed a pile of dead leaves out of another section. Mick climbed down off the ladder to move it, and Gavin inched his way across the roof, trying not to focus on Elizabeth and his dad, who were engaged in conversation and laughing together.
“Hey, boys, Lizzie’s going to take me for a little walk. Be back soon.”
“I can do that, Dad,” Gavin said.
“I think she can handle it. Just clear out the gutters. We’ll be fine.”
Gavin looked at Mick, who frowned, but they finished up the gutter, and by the time Gavin climbed down the ladder and went in search of his dad, he was in the living room with a glass of water, his feet propped up on the ottoman. Elizabeth was in one of the chairs next to him.
Damn, she looked good in her cream-colored suit with a pale blue silk blouse underneath. Her heels showed off her killer legs, and he wanted to eat her up from top to bottom. He suddenly wanted to be alone with her, to talk to her, to get past this distance between them, to figure out what had gone wrong. But he just . . . couldn’t. There were things she just didn’t understand.
She looked up at him and offered up a smile, but it wasn’t the kind of smile he wanted to see from her. She was holding back, just like he was. “Your dad is doing so well. He walked all the way down to the corner and back.”
His father grinned. “Going to be kicking your ass in a game of hoops in no time, especially with that horrible diet of chicken, turkey, and fish your mother is making me eat.”
Gavin smiled. “It’s good for you, Dad.”
“Yeah, whatever. I miss French fries.”
“You’ll get over it,” Gavin said. “And you’ll lose that beer belly.”
“I miss beer, too.”
“You’ll get over that, too,” Mick said. “I did.”
“Get those gutters done?”
“Yup,” Gavin said. “All cleaned out.”
“Good. Mick, how about you and I go rustle up a turkey sandwich? I’m hungry.”
“Whatever you want, Dad.”
His father got up and followed Mick into the kitchen. Gavin took a seat on the sofa across from where Liz sat.
“He looks good,” she said.
“Yeah, he does.”
“He’s been home for a week and a half, Gavin. Your father is progressing remarkably well.”
“Yes, he is.”
“It’s time for you to get back to the game. You’ve missed enough.”
His smile died and he stood. “Don’t tell me what to do.”
She stood, too. “I’m your agent. It’s my job to tell you what to do. You don’t want to miss too much baseball. Your team is counting on you. You’re paid to play, in case you’ve forgotten.”
“I haven’t forgotten anything. The Rivers said I could take as much time as I needed to. Why are you pushing this?”
“I’m pushing because you don’t need to be here anymore. Mick and Tara are here to watch over your father and help out your mom. Jenna is taking care of the bar. Your father’s health is good. Half of your games are local, and you can check up on your dad when you’re here for home games. Your delay tactics are only hurting your career.”
“I’m not ready yet.”
“You’re not the one who had a heart attack and surgery, Gavin. It’s time for you to get back on the field.”
“And I’ll let you and the team know when I’m ready to get back on the field. Today isn’t the day.”
“Why are you being so stubborn about this?”
“Why are you being so insistent about it?”
“I’ll tell you why. Because she’s manipulating you for her own gain.”
Gavin shifted his focus to Mick, who leaned against the doorway to the living room.
Elizabeth did, too. “You stay the hell out of it. This is none of your business.”
Mick’s lips curled into a sneer. “When it affects my brother, it becomes my business. And I won’t let you do to him what you did to me.”
“Butt out, Mick. This doesn’t concern you. Gavin is my client, and I’m trying to get him to see that he needs to get back to work.”
“Oh, right. Like your only concern is Gavin. Please. I know you too well, Liz. I know you’re scared to death that you’re going to lose another moneymaker, that if he doesn’t get back to the game the Rivers might not pick up his next option, might not pay him so much money next time.”
She whirled on Mick. “You know what? That’s exactly right. And you know who that’s going to hurt? It’s going to hurt Gavin. And you know what else? If you’d pull your head out of your ass and stop thinking of yourself for one goddamn minute, you’d see that your brother is miserable and has been, that every time Stallings gets up to bat it kills him, that he wants to be on that field so bad it physically hurts him. But no, you’re so happy that he’s battling me that you can’t see past your own anger and spite to what’s best for Gavin. You only want to continue to get back at me, and by doing so you’re sabotaging your brother’s career when what you should be doing is kicking his ass right out of this house and encouraging him to get back in the game where he belongs. I’m ashamed of you, Mick. I thought you loved your brother.”
She turned to Gavin. “Look, I don’t know what your hang-up is about all this, but I love you and only want what’s best for you.”
He stared at her. “So do you tell all your clients you love them to get them to do what you want them to do?”
Her jaw dropped. “What?”
“You heard me. Is that your newest form of manipulation? A declaration of love? How many of them did you sleep with to get your own way?”
She went pale, and even as the words fell from his mouth, he couldn’t believe he was saying them.
“Gavin, you should know better. I have never slept with a client before. But you know what, this was a mistake. Everything about us has been a mistake from the very beginning.”
She cut her gaze to Mick. “Is that what you wanted? Well you know what? You got it. You win. I concede. Give Don Davis my regards when he signs Gavin.”
She shifted her gaze back to Gavin. “Gavin, I can no longer represent your interests since it’s obvious you want something other than what I can give you. At your earliest convenience please find other representation. I’ll follow this up in writing immediately.”
She turned and walked out the door before he could form a coherent response.
What the hell had just happened?
She’d told him she loved him, and he’d accused her of sleeping around with all her clients?
And then she’d fired him.
Of course she’d fired him, because he was a dick.
He fell into the chair and listened to the sound of her car pulling out of the driveway.
“What the hell was that all about?” his father asked as he came back into the room and took a seat.
Gavin couldn’t form words to explain to his father what he’d just done.
“Did I hear correctly, or did Elizabeth just fire you?”
“You heard right, Dad,” Mick said.
“And what part did you play in all of this?” his father asked Mick.
“A lot, I think.”
“Michael, I try not to interfere in your life, and I understand that Elizabeth made some mistakes with you and with Tara and Nathan, but don’t you think it’s about time you got the hell over it already? I’ve never known you to hold a grudge.”
Mick sat and put his hands in his hair. “I was mad. Really mad. I love Tara and Nathan like I’ve never loved anyone in my life. And what Elizabeth did, the way she manipulated them, hurt me. Hurt them.”
“And she apologized and made it right, didn’t she?” his father asked.
“Yeah, she did.”
“But you couldn’t let it go.”
“I was afraid when Gavin started seeing her.”
Gavin lifted his head, turned to Mick. “Why?”
“Because I was afraid she’d hurt you.”
Gavin let out a laugh. “You didn’t think I could take care of myself ?”
Mick shrugged. “You’ll always be my little brother, no matter how old we are. I was trying to protect you. I guess I overprotected. Shit. I f**ked this up bad, man. I’m sorry. I have to fix this.”
Gavin shook his head. “No, I think you’ve done enough. I’m the one who has to fix this. But I’m not sure I can. The things I said to her. She said she loved me, and I stabbed her in the heart.”
“You realize she was only looking out for your love of the game.”
Gavin looked at his dad.
“She knows you love the game. We talked about it on our walk. She sees what I see, how much you love baseball. It’s never been about the money with you, ever since you first started playing. You would have played for nothing. Fortunately, you had Elizabeth in your corner to negotiate a good contract, because you would have signed for nothing. She told me she’d never known anyone else who would have played for the pure love of the game. And watching you the past couple of weeks has killed her, just as it’s killing me, because the light has gone out of your eyes. She wanted you back in the game because your joy is gone. I told her to do whatever it took to convince you to get back to work.”
Gavin stood and dragged his fingers through his hair, the burn in the pit of his stomach so intense he didn’t think he’d survive it.
God, he’d hurt her. He was so afraid of leaving his dad, so afraid of losing him. What if he wasn’t here and something happened?