Love Game

by Maggie Wells

  “Well, there’s a compelling argument for love,” he grumbled.

  “I love you.” Desperation took over, fraying the edges of her voice. “It may not work, but then again, it might. This is our half-court heave.”

  “A Hail Mary,” he corrected.

  “The best play we have.”

  “You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me.” He framed her face between his big, broad palms, and her legs turned to jelly. “I just want you to have everything you want to have.”

  “I will,” she answered. “Just as soon as we get in there, sign that license, and get Judge Baxter to wave his ‘I do’ wand over us, I’ll have what I want.”

  “Not even close.”

  She shrugged, then turned her lips into his palm. “Anything else is just showboating,” she murmured against his skin.

  “Kate, look at me.”

  Feeling keyed up and languorous at the same time, she roused herself from her Danny-induced stupor and rocked back to stand on her own two feet. “Yes?”

  “I promise I’ll do everything I can to stay.”

  Wetting her lips, she slid her hand down into his and gave his fingers a squeeze. “Save your promises till we’re on the inside, big guy.”

  Within minutes, they were signing their marriage certificate and a few extra autographs for the county clerk. Five minutes after that, they stood facing one another on a faded Aubusson carpet in Judge Baxter’s book-lined office. Danny had just taken her hands in his when the door flew open and Millie and Avery blew in with Mike in tow, the boss man looking shell-shocked.

  “What are you doing here?” Danny asked the athletic director.

  Mike blinked as if he’d been hoping the whole scene was nothing more than a dream, then shrugged. “Being your best man. Probably getting myself fired too.”

  “Hush. This is America,” Avery said, thrusting a weary-looking bouquet between Danny and Kate. “They can’t fire you for attending a civil ceremony, can they, Judge?”

  “No, I don’t believe that would give them cause, but this is an employment at-will state…” the judge began.

  “You hush too.” Avery stepped back, gave Kate a critical once-over, then tugged the bottom of the bride’s T-shirt down so it covered her butt better. “Besides, we’re all on our lunch hours.”

  Millie stared at Avery, clearly astonished. Then she burst out laughing.

  “Oh, can it. All of you,” Avery blustered. “It’s the maid of honor’s job to do the flowers and the fluffing the train thing.”

  Millie pounced. “Maid of honor? Who said you get to be maid of honor?”

  “I’ve never been married. You have.” Avery flashed a smug smile. “You can be matron of honor if Kate wants you to.” She turned to Kate, wrinkling her pert nose in distaste. “But personally, I think having both might be a little pretentious for a civil ceremony.”

  Kate looked at Danny, and he stared back at her, bewilderment etched into every handsome line on his face. Mike stepped up behind Danny and nodded solemnly to Judge Baxter. With some hushed squabbling about who’d hold the place of honor for Kate, Avery and Millie jostled until they stood side by side facing the bride.

  Kate shot them an amused glance, then looked down at their feet. “I think Millie’s a half inch closer.”

  “Only because she has gunboat feet.” Avery corrected the deficit, then tossed a triumphant glance at Millie. “There. We’re even.”

  “Are we ready?” the judge asked. He pinned each participant with a stern stare, but the corners of his mouth twitched with amusement.

  The cellophane wrapper on the grocery-store bouquet crinkled as Kate lifted it to her nose. She took one long sniff, then handed the flowers to Millie so she could reclaim her hold on her man. “I’m ready.”

  Danny stared straight into her eyes. “Me too.”

  *

  “Trust me on this, you do not want to come in there with me,” Mike said firmly.

  Calhoun’s bar was quiet midafternoon, but they still pitched their voices low so passersby wouldn’t overhear. “I had Judge Baxter look at the contract, and he agrees,” Kate said in a warning tone. “The way it’s worded, Danny would have grounds to fight termination for cause.”

  Mike closed his eyes in a blatant and unapologetic attempt to find the handle on his patience, and Danny knew his old friend well enough not to be offended by it. Kate, on the other hand…

  “Chancellor Martin may succeed in getting rid of him, but it’s going to cost him,” she continued, undaunted.

  “It’s the old ‘cheaper to keep her’ bit played out in reverse,” Avery said, lifting her glass of scotch in salute.

  They’d retreated to Calhoun’s immediately following the ceremony to sketch out a game plan. So far, all they’d agreed on was the fact that he and Kate were well and truly married. Everything else seemed to be up for debate.

  “It’s my job,” Danny pointed out.

  “You don’t have a job,” Mike countered. Lifting his beer in a toast, he smirked at the happy couple. “To the bride and groom. I hope somebody thought to bring shoes and rice. They may need them.”

  “The shoes weren’t to wear,” Millie said, taking a sip from her daiquiri without looking up from her phone. “They were supposed to symbolize the groom taking over responsibility for the bride’s upkeep.”

  Mike snorted and toasted Danny again. “Good luck keeping this girl in shoes. You’d better find a job real soon.”

  “This woman can buy her own damn shoes,” Kate shot back.

  Tired of his friend’s double-sided razzing, Danny plucked the beer mug from his grasp, returned Mike’s salute, and drained the contents for him in three long gulps. “Fine then,” he gasped, setting the empty mug down with a thud. “Deliver the message. Kate and I will share the happy news with Gene and Jonas.”

  “Sounds like a pop group, doesn’t it?” Kate asked, her smile a mile wide.

  Danny couldn’t help but smile back. She’d gotten her way, and her pleasure was utterly undimmed by their dank surroundings or their friends’ unchecked cynicism.

  God, he loved that smile.

  “Let Martin know we’ve gotten married, and see if that smooths things over a little,” Danny said, buying in to her enthusiasm. Why not? They were already all in. Might as well hope they’d turn the right cards.

  “I keep trying to remind you all that we’ve already made your termination public. Even if he wanted to back down, he can’t now. It’s out there.” Mike snatched Danny’s beer off its cardboard coaster and returned the favor. Wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, he placed the empty mug back where he found it, then slid off the bar stool.

  “He was one of those guys who spent the fourth quarter moping on the bench if you were down a few points, wasn’t he?” Kate asked, nodding to Mike.

  “Yes,” Danny replied.

  “I was not,” Mike refuted at the same time.

  Clapping a hand to his friend’s shoulder, Danny looked him straight in the eye. “Thank you for coming today.”

  Mike gave a jerky nod. “You didn’t need to send Thelma and Louise after me. I wouldn’t have missed it.”

  Danny opened his mouth to tell him that he hadn’t sent anyone after anybody, but Kate stopped him with a firm hand on his thigh.

  “We know that,” she assured him. “But it was more fun to send the Despotic Duo in.”

  Avery sniffed at the implied insult. “I’ll have you know that we honored every one of the rights granted to him under the Geneva Convention.”

  “Except this isn’t wartime, and he was kidnapped and transported, not taken prisoner,” Millie interjected, setting her phone aside with a sigh. Looking up at Mike, she tapped her fingernail against her glass. “I’m not sure you should bother much with Chancellor Martin. I think we need to take this to a higher authority.”

  Mike cringed and closed his eyes. “Why do I have a feeling I’m going to hear something I can’t unhear?”

&
nbsp; Millie cocked her head, her eyes unfocused. Danny could practically see the wheels turning in her head. Conscious that he’d most likely already put his friend at risk, he held up a hand to stop the calculating woman from saying anything more.

  “Go,” he told Mike, nodding toward the door. “Go tell him. If nothing else, you can claim you tried to warn him about whatever idea Thelma has wriggling away in that steel trap of a mind.”

  Millie scoffed and lifted her glass as if she were sipping mai tais on an island terrace and not watered-down premix in an off-campus dive. “I’m Louise,” she informed him primly, then took a gulp big enough to give an Eskimo brain freeze.

  Mike nodded and stepped around Danny to plant a polite kiss on Kate’s cheek. “You were a beautiful bride,” he mumbled as he took off for the door before any of them had a chance to recover.

  “Good thing he’s not an umpire,” Avery observed. “You guys would be so screwed.”

  “Referee,” Kate corrected.

  Her friend leveled her with an arch stare. “You say referee, I say frustrated ex-jock who’s into zebra cosplay.”

  “God, I love you guys,” Kate blurted, reaching for Avery’s and Millie’s hands.

  “Wow. Drunk on half a beer,” Millie murmured, but her eyelashes fluttered a little faster.

  “You are the best friends I’ve ever had.”

  “Stop,” Avery groaned. “You’re not supposed to say this stuff until you’re kneeling in front of a toilet and one of us is holding your hair back.”

  “I mean it,” Kate argued, leaning in. Her knee brushed Danny’s, and he could almost feel the earnestness wafting off her. The three women exchanged some kind of telepathic message with a few darting glances, and then Kate sat up straight and reached for her beer. “Now tell me, what are we going to do to save Danny’s bacon?”

  At that moment, a long shadow fell over the table. Kate looked up to see Ty Ransom looming over them. “Hey, Ty.”

  He lifted his chin in greeting. “Did I hear that right?” He cast a wary look at Danny, then turned his attention back to Kate. “Did Mike just call you a bride?”

  “He did.” A hot flush rose in her cheeks. “I’m sorry I didn’t invite you. It was kind of a…spur-of-the-moment thing.”

  Ty nodded as he digested the information, then lifted his highball glass in salute. “Congratulations. And good luck,” he added before taking a hefty slug of the amber liquid.

  “Look at us. We’re nothing but a bunch of day drinkers,” Avery commented. “You’d think we were in college or something.”

  “Did I also hear you say something about saving Coach McMillan’s bacon?” Ty prompted.

  “Wow. No need to fit this guy with a Miracle-Ear,” Avery muttered.

  Millie shot her a quelling look, then turned to look at Ty. “Yes. They’re invoking his morals clause, and we’re trying to figure out a way to get them to let him stay.”

  Ty fixed Danny with an unflinching stare. “Seems to me you’ve already figured it out.”

  Danny bristled. “Hey, getting married was her idea.”

  Kate leapt into position to set the block. “It was my idea.”

  Ty shrugged. “Well, congratulations, Danny Boy. You have your leverage.” He leaned down and brushed a soft kiss to Kate’s cheek. “Just make sure you use it to get what you want too,” he added before wandering into the gloom of the bar, his uneven gait more exaggerated than usual.

  Millie leaned in. “Things are not going well there,” she confided.

  “Oh no.” Kate twisted in her seat, trying to spot Ty again. “With Mari, you mean?”

  “With a lot of things,” Millie answered, an ominous note deepening her voice. Straightening on her stool, she slapped the sticky tabletop with her palm to draw their attention back to her. “But that isn’t today’s problem. Today, we will take the case of McMillan and Company versus Wolcott University to the airwaves.”

  “Taking to the streets!” Avery crowed, thrusting a fist into the air.

  “To the National Sports Network,” Millie corrected. “The sports media version of The People’s Court.”

  Avery nodded, lifted her glass high above her head, and shouted, “Power to the people!”

  Chapter 20

  Dressed and ready for his time on the air, Danny stepped into an empty conference room off the main hall of the hotel and pulled his phone from his coat pocket. It wasn’t a Wednesday, but it was important that he let his mother know what they’d done before one of her cronies let it slip. Or worse, Tommy tattled on him.

  “Hello?”

  His mother sounded cautious and a little scared. As if the person who was calling at an unscheduled time might somehow be able to leap through the phone and make demands of her.

  “Hey, Ma, it’s Danny,” he said quickly, hoping to reassure her.

  A pregnant pause followed. “Danny? It’s not Wednesday today, is it?”

  “No, Ma, it’s not. I just…I have some news, and I wanted to tell you before anyone else did.”

  “You got fired again,” she said on a sigh.

  Annoyance spurted up inside him. “You know, Ma, technically, I’ve never really been fired from a job. I was asked to resign from Northern, and if you’ll recall, they had to pay me a truckload of money to get me out of there.”

  “Did the new school ask you to resign because of that woman?” she persisted.

  The tremor in her voice and the fact that she couldn’t seem to retain the names of the schools where he’d coached in recent years reminded him that his mother wasn’t a young woman anymore. Hadn’t been for quite some time. And the misadventures of her only sons were probably not adding to her chances at longevity. But how could he answer her without lying or setting his marriage to Kate up for failure in his mother’s eyes? He had been asked to resign because of her. And though his mother hadn’t already heard the news, she would soon. Danny decided it was time to throw the long ball.

  “Kate and I got married this afternoon, Ma.”

  His mother’s gasp rang sharp in his ears. “You what?”

  “We were married in Judge Dennis Baxter’s chambers this afternoon. I wanted to let you know because we’re doing a kind of a joint interview on the National Sports Network tonight. Live,” he added. “You can watch, if you want.”

  “Watch?” she repeated, sounding bewildered.

  “The interview with me and Kate,” he clarified gently.

  “Have you called Tommy to tell him?” his mother asked.

  Heaving a sigh, Danny rubbed the back of his neck. “No, Ma, I haven’t called Tommy. I called you.”

  “You should call your brother. Tell him about this Kate woman. Maybe now that you’re both married, you can put this whole thing behind you,” she insisted.

  “Ma, it was never about Tommy and LeAnn. I’ve told you that a million times.”

  “Yes, but now you’re doing well on your own and he’s doing well, you’re both married… Please, Danny, I’d like to have Thanksgiving like a normal family.”

  “We never had Thanksgiving like a normal family, because Thanksgiving is on a Thursday. You take dinner to other people on Thursdays,” he said, remembering all the times he and Tommy had seen their own portions of turkey and dressing dwindle away to nothing because someone else needed it more.

  “Being able to give to others is a blessing, Daniel,” his mother reminded him sternly.

  “I agree, Ma.” And his exorbitant salaries had made it possible for his mother to grant more blessings than most, but he didn’t bother reminding her of that fact.

  “And you only have one brother,” she added, segueing into her favorite fallback. “When I’m gone, you won’t have any other family.”

  “I’ll have Kate,” he reminded her. Thinking back on the sadness in Kate’s tone when she talked about her strained relationship with her sister, he straightened his spine and steeled his resolve. “We’ll be each other’s family.”

  His mother release
d a long-suffering sigh. “One can never have too much family.”

  Danny begged to differ, but now wasn’t the time to argue. “I have to go, Ma. It’s time for us to get ready for the interview. Kate and I are going to take a little honeymoon when she gets done with her summer commitments, but we’d like to fly up to see you when we get back.”

  “Oh, I’d like to see you too, sweetheart. And your Kate.”

  His Kate. She was his Kate now, for better or for worse. And he was going to do everything in his power to make it for better as far as his new bride was concerned.

  “I’ll talk to you soon, Ma.”

  “Talk to you on Wednesday, Danny,” she said, the correction a gentle rebuke for his daring to call off schedule.

  Danny ended the call but stared at the phone long and hard. He could call Tommy, but he didn’t really see the point in it. The guy was an NSN junkie anyway. He had to have seen the news about the coaching job by now. His brother was a professional strategist. Any connection between Danny’s job and his marriage was not going to be flattering, and Danny didn’t feel up to taking hits from anyone else at the moment.

  Pocketing the phone, he smoothed his tie over his stomach, then stepped out into the deserted corridor. It was time for him to find his Kate and get this show on the road.

  *

  Kate checked her phone for the fiftieth time, then dropped it into the pocket of her pale-blue suit jacket. She’d left a voicemail asking her sister to call her, but so far, there’d been no word from Audrey. She and Danny had agreed it would be best to call their respective family members before the live broadcast, but it looked like she wouldn’t have the chance to forewarn her sister.

  Not unless she did so via message.

  Fired up by the notion, Kate extracted her phone again and started typing with her thumbs. It would serve Audrey right to get the news via text. Maybe next time, she wouldn’t be so quick to ignore Kate’s calls. The text read simply: Tried to call U. Married Danny McMillan today. Wanted to tell U B4 you saw it on news. K.