Off Season (The Blake Boys Book 15)

by Rhonda Laurel

  But Riley was only a small part of the troubles with the Tomcat organization. Seth had done some recon on his own and it seemed the whole organization was disjointed. They were dropping the ball on trades, and their draft picks were questionable. T.K. had the framework there, but the team was in dire need of streamlining and needed some new blood pumping in its veins if it were ever to become a Super Bowl contender. Riley was supposed to be the solution but was rapidly becoming another problem.

  Seth shook his head. This was precisely why he’d turned down T.K.’s offer. He had his own team at home that needed his attention. Morgan had seemed back to her old self this week but he was still keeping a close eye on his wife. He was man enough to admit he’d been a little worried about her. The health and happiness of the people he loved were the only things that mattered to him.

  * * *

  After a long talk with Michelle last night, Morgan knew she couldn’t put off scouting for a space for the second bookstore any longer. She hadn’t seen Michelle this excited about anything in a long while. It all made sense on paper and it was part of their original plan to expand. This should have been a piece of cake. She called Sam, who was happy to tag along with her the next day to give her a security assessment. She also enlisted Isabelle for another dose of moral support.

  The commercial space wasn’t the only issue she was avoiding. She hadn’t made that doctor’s appointment yet. She’d managed to change the subject twice when Seth had asked, but she knew she was pressing her luck. His appointment with T.K. gave her a reprieve, but she knew she’d have to come up with a good answer by this afternoon.

  Morgan pulled into Tate and Isabelle’s driveway to find her cousin watering the plants on the porch. No one would have ever guessed she’d given birth to her second child a few months ago. Morgan laughed at her attire. Isabelle had on a cute pink shirt and a pair of khaki Capri pants too. They inadvertently dressed alike all the time.

  “Hi, Izzy.” Morgan waved.

  “I’ll be down in a sec.” She stepped back into the house with the watering can and came out a minute later with her purse and a gift bag and got into the car. “Hey. Are you excited?”

  Morgan pulled onto the road that led to Sam and J.J.’s house. “Excited about what?”

  “John Jacob swears that once you see this space, you won’t need to look any further.”

  “You’re right. He doesn’t dole out random seals of approval sight unseen. Which means there’s something I don’t know about this place.”

  “It can’t be anything bad.”

  “We’ll see. So what’s in the bag?”

  Isabelle pulled out a jar of creamy peanut butter. “A ‘Mackenzie Says Mommy’ kit.”

  “Please elaborate. I like where this is headed, but I don’t want to go to jail for child endangerment.”

  “You know how peanut butter sometimes sticks to the roof of your mouth and you try to get it off?” Isabelle made an open mouth gesture.

  “Yeah?”

  Isabelle made the same movement with her mouth again. “It feels like you’re trying to say the letter M. Which will help her say ‘mommy.’”

  Morgan laughed. “She doesn’t have a problem enunciating the letter M. She can say money just fine. That little girl is trying to get back at me.”

  “For what?”

  “I called her out for being a daddy’s girl. I think she coughed to see how fast Seth would run over to her. She wanted to make it clear she’s first in Seth’s life.”

  “Morgan.” Isabelle squinted at her. “She is not aware of things like that yet.”

  “Isn’t she? I’m a daddy’s girl from way back. I know the signs. And last time I checked, you were part of that club too.”

  Isabelle smiled. “I admit I’ve been paying my monthly dues for some time now.”

  “Don’t get me wrong. I respect her hustle. She’s got Seth wrapped around her little finger. This is just the beginning of a lifelong chess game between the two of us.”

  “How do you know that?”

  “I saw it the moment I looked into her eyes.”

  “What?”

  Morgan exhaled. “There’s an extraordinary feeling when you look into your child’s eyes for the first time. It’s like you see their potential and get a glimpse of who they will become.”

  “How so?”

  “Call it mother’s intuition. You can sense what your child is capable of when you’re holding them in your arms that first time. Jake is my strength. Connor and Colby are my protectors. Mackenzie is my challenge.”

  “I know what you mean.” Isabelle sniffed. “I felt so much love coming from Matt, not just for me and Tate, but for everyone around him. Owen felt like a boundary pusher. He does things in his own time. He’s going to keep Tate on his toes.”

  “And I have that feeling about Mackenzie. She’s going to take independence to a whole new level, and I’m going to be there to make sure she doesn’t get into too much trouble. No doubt Seth will let her do whatever she wants and will mediate when I have to put my foot down.”

  “But it’s all kind of sweet. I want to have a little girl someday.” Isabelle fanned her eyes so she wouldn’t launch into a full tear-fest. “Damn you for making me emotional. You know I’m still cycling off those strong pregnancy hormones.”

  “You were pretty emotional before you started having babies.”

  They could hear J.J.’s raised voice as they pulled up to Sam and J.J.’s house. The eldest Blake son was talking about being reckless and having no regard for the feelings of the other people in the family. She wondered who he was lecturing. Sam hadn’t been out in the field for months. These days she mainly supervised and trained new Regency employees.

  “Wow. I’ve never heard J.J. so steamed,” Isabelle mumbled as they got out of the car and ventured to the front door.

  “Sam’s been on maternity leave, but you know her. She may have helped out and it turned into a dangerous situation.”

  Morgan pressed the doorbell instead of the quick knock and enter she normally did. It was bad enough they could hear what was going on, they didn’t want to add fuel to the fire by barging in on them.

  Then it really got confusing when Sam answered the door looking stunning, wearing a jean jumper. She had a huge smile on her face, but J.J. was still yelling from deeper inside the house.

  “Hi, ladies. You ready to go?”

  Morgan looked in the direction of the kitchen. “Is everything OK?”

  “We don’t mean to be nosey, but we heard the ruckus coming up the drive. I thought you two had come to an agreement about your security work?” Isabelle bit her lip.

  Sam continued to smile. “Everything is fine. We’ve never been better.”

  “I don’t want to hear it young lady!” J.J.’s voice echoed from the kitchen to the foyer.

  “But!” a woman’s voice replied, and was immediately cut off by another salvo from J.J.

  “Parker’s here,” Sam said.

  There was no shortage of badass women in Sam’s family. Parker Judith Carson was determined to follow in her big sister’s footsteps, and that meant earning her stripes in the police department. She was a good cop, but she always reacted first and thought about the consequences later, just like her big sister.

  “What happened?” Morgan peeked down the hall.

  “She was part of a standoff with some drug dealers they were trying to arrest. She tried some heroics that didn’t go well with her captain. When the family saw the footage on TV…well, it’s been a downhill slide from there. Luckily, her cowboy antics didn’t get her shot.”

  “Poor Parker,” Isabelle lamented.

  “No, poor Parker.” Sam grabbed her purse off the foyer table and led them out of the house. “What she did was impetuous and stupid. She’s always out to prove she’s the baddest thing around.”

  Morgan and Isabelle stopped in their tracks and looked at Sam.

  “How quickly we forget about that bomb incident,”
Morgan mused. “I think that was the reason J.J. broke things off with you. Because not knowing if you were dead or alive nearly killed him as Channing drove him to the hospital.”

  “In my defense, that was different. I didn’t go looking for the bomb. Parker looks for random gunfire.” Sam sashayed past them and got in the backseat. “She deserves that stern talking-to that John’s giving her with both barrels. It was long overdue.”

  Morgan and Isabelle got into the car too. “So she came all the way to the ranch to get chewed out? I think she would have avoided this place like the plague.”

  “I lured her here under false pretenses so he could have a chat with her.”

  “You are diabolical, Sam,” Isabelle said. “Do you think she’ll be attending the family dinner?”

  “Yeah, if he hasn’t grounded her. She was suspended from work, so she’ll be around for a while.”

  “Well, I bet Teri-Lyn will be cooking her something to cheer her up.” Morgan clicked her seat belt and pulled off.

  “Sam.” Isabelle shifted in her seat to look at her. “Morgan and I were talking about what first impression we got from the kids when they were born. Care to share your thoughts?”

  “That’s easy.” Sam sighed. “Jack was all ‘I’m here and ready to take over the world.’ Gabe felt like an old soul. He was like ‘I’ve done the baby bit before.’ He always has this look on his face like, ‘I want to grow up now.’”

  “So true.” Isabelle giggled. “He always looks like he’s thinking deeply about something. Morgan seems to think she and Mackenzie are going to be the next fight of the century.”

  “I can totally see that. I’ll buy my ringside ticket now.”

  “See.” Morgan narrowed her eyes at Isabelle. “The writing’s on the wall.”

  “And if you like this space we’re going to look at, the fur is really going to fly,” Sam chimed in.

  “Why?” Morgan looked at her in the rear view mirror.

  Sam chuckled. “The name of the project is Mackenzie Square. This is one of the properties in her real estate portfolio. Jared has been working on this one for months. Didn’t John Jacob tell you?”

  “You might want to slip her an extra dessert every now and again to keep her happy.” Isabelle covered her mouth to suppress her laughter.

  “Awesome. Just awesome.”

  * * *

  Morgan was surprised that the location was only twenty minutes away from the ranch. The project manager showed them the layout for the entire project. It would host upscale shops, a movie theater, and restaurants. It promised to be a premier shopping experience and was scheduled to open in six months. The building she was interested in would be located on the main strip, so there would be plenty of foot traffic. A chic clothing outlet and a costume jewelry emporium would occupy the spaces on either side.

  She took her time inspecting the commercial space, hoping some inspiration would come to her. The plan was to keep the same charming atmosphere as the bookstore in Philadelphia. By all accounts it would be the perfect location, but she didn’t want to admit to Michelle that her heart wasn’t in it. Starting up a new business would take a lot of time, and the way she’d been feeling lately, she wasn’t up to the challenge right now. But it wasn’t fair that Michelle’s life should be put on hold because of Morgan’s chronic tiredness. She’d pepped up lately so Seth would think she was feeling better, but deep down she was worried. She was in her thirties, hardly an old woman, but some days she felt like one. There were times when she wanted to crawl back into bed and sleep for a couple of days. She didn’t have time for that. The kids were involved in million different activities, and Mackenzie required a watchful eye since she got into everything now that she was walking and bustling around the house with curious eyes and hands.

  Sam and Isabelle’s chatter brought her out of her thoughts.

  “What do you think?” Sam said as she used her phone to take photos. “There are tons of things you can do in this space. But Jared did design this unit with your bookstore in mind.”

  “He did?”

  “He took measurements at Reed Bradley and asked Michelle about any extras you guys would want in a bigger space. Of course there will be a state-of-the-art security system, and Regency’s commercial security will patrol the entire perimeter of the square.”

  Thank goodness for Michelle. She was always on top of things.

  “You could set up the café a little closer to the front door this time.” Isabelle pointed to the space in the corner. “And there’s definitely enough room for a lecture area. This could be your new home away from home.”

  “I think it’s great.” Morgan sighed. “No, it’s perfect.”

  Sam took more pictures. “Good. You and Michelle just have to sign the lease.”

  “Maybe my kid will give me a break on the rent,” she said.

  The ladies had lunch after they finished inspecting the property. Sam and Isabelle were going on about John Jacob’s grand gestures to his grandkids while Morgan tuned in and out, still lost in her own thoughts much of the time.

  When they returned to the ranch, Morgan decided to pay her generous father-in-law a visit. She dropped off Sam and Isabelle and headed to John Jacob and Teri-Lyn’s house. The aroma of fresh lemons hit her as soon as she opened the door, so she followed the pleasing aroma into the kitchen. Teri-Lyn always had a pitcher of fresh squeezed lemonade on hand.

  “How’s the world’s greatest mother-in-law?” Morgan kissed her on the cheek then poured herself a glass. Whether it was iced tea at her grandma’s house or lemonade at Teri-Lyn’s, it reminded her of when people took the time to make something homemade. It just felt like a little more love was in there when someone made it themselves. There was enough to quench the thirst of an army.

  “I’m fine, sugar. Did you like the space?”

  Morgan gave her a knowing look. “I loved the space.”

  “Six months isn’t a whole lot of time. But I’m sure the family can help you pull it together.”

  “Did you know about Mackenzie Square?”

  “I sure did. Isn’t it cute?”

  “Yes, it is.” She rolled her eyes. “Speaking of my new landlady. Is Her Cuteness taking a nap?”

  “She’s having a tea party with her grandpa.” Teri-Lyn handed her a tray of sandwiches. “Can you take these goodies into the playroom for them? I’m going to check on Gabe and Owen.”

  “Sure.”

  Morgan resisted the urge to take a picture with her cell phone when she saw John Jacob hunkered down at the kiddie table talking to Mackenzie. She gave them both a kiss on the cheek and joined them.

  “I hear there’s an important stock holder’s meeting going on in here.” She winced as she gripped the table as she sat down on the tiny chair. “Hi, Mackenzie.”

  “Hi, Mo—” She stopped when she locked eyes with her mother.

  Morgan raised an eyebrow. She could have sworn her daughter had stopped on purpose.

  “Are you OK?” John Jacob furrowed his eyebrows and reached out to help her.

  “I’m fine.” She smiled. “Getting old.”

  He laughed. “I doubt that.”

  “How was the scouting mission? Did you like the space?” John Jacob’s eyes gleamed.

  “It was perfect, but you knew that.” She gave him a knowing look. “Just like you knew Seth helping T.K. with that new quarterback was a good idea.”

  “Talking to that boy will be good for him.”

  “I agree.”

  “So are you taking the space?”

  “I’d be a fool to pass it up. I’ve already sent pictures to Michelle and she loves it. Mackenzie Square is going to be a premier shopping center. There will be just enough shops for people in these parts to enjoy without making them scared about over-development.”

  “I’m glad that’s settled then.”

  “I’ll let you two continue with the tea party.” Morgan tried to push off the table and stand, but her legs weren’t
cooperating so she plopped back down.

  John Jacob gripped her arm to steady her. “Are you sure you’re OK?”

  “I’m fine. I’ve just been having a harder time bouncing back from that flu I had last month.”

  “What did the doctor say?”

  “That it was a new, wicked strain, and I may need to rest more than usual. And I didn’t follow his advice.”

  “Not surprising.”

  “I’ve got too much living to do,” she said in the Southern drawl she’d been trying to perfect over the years.

  “Using my own words against me.” He shook his head.

  “I just need to rest.” She kissed him on the cheek. “Thank you for building Mackenzie Square. One day she’s going to see that and understand what you did for her future.”

  When she arrived at home, Seth was back from the stadium. He was sitting in the family room watching sports footage of a Tomcats’ game. Books on the history of the Tomcats were strewn about on the table. She remembered those days of his intense scrutiny of the games he played so he could critique his performance. He was so engrossed he hadn’t realized she’d come into the house. It was quite the turn-on to see him so focused. She knew that was always when the big picture in his mind became clearer. Morgan slid onto his lap and put her arms around his neck.

  “I take it the meeting went well.” She gave him a light peck on the lips.

  “As well as to be expected. Riley is livid, and T.K. couldn’t care less. We set a date and time for him to come to the ranch. I don’t want our talk to turn into some kind of photo op for him.” He caressed her back. “But it was nice to catch up with Ross and some of the guys. What do you think about having Ross, Mandy, and the kids over?”

  “I think it’s a great idea.”