Page 19

I cringe at the use of my last name, knowing I’d crossed a line I can’t step back from. I might as well drive my point home. Maybe one of them will finally listen to me. “Not at all, Mr. Abrams. I think you’re in Georgia being a professional swimmer. Now, if you’d excuse me, I need to get back to my job.”

I don’t give him the chance to argue or say anything more. I end the call and turn to go back inside. When I step through the door, I’m still fuming, but now it’s for a whole other reason. Josie isn’t at the desk when I get inside, and I take that as a blessing in disguise. As close as we’re becoming, I don’t need her eternal optimism right now. If Carter and Bryce won’t take my job seriously, why should I take theirs seriously?

“Katrina!”

I glance up from the paperwork I’m looking over to see Bryce storming toward me, phone clenched in his hand. Sighing, I drop the pen and turn to face him, readying myself for battle. “What can I do for you, Bryce?”

“Did you call Carter to try to get him to agree with you about the stands after we talked this morning?”

I shrug, because what else can I do? “I wanted to make sure you were both on the same page with this. Neither one of you wanted to listen to me, so if you end up hating them, please remember they’re not easily removed.”

My words just make him angrier. “You can’t keep doing this. If I tell you we’re keeping something the way it is, that’s all you need. Stop calling him.”

I cross my arms over my chest. “You’re not the only one who owns the building, Bryce. He’s your business partner. He should be part of the decision-making process.”

The last two conversations I’ve had with Bryce and Carter were nothing but disappointing. Bryce has spent the last month making excuse after excuse for Carter, but my phone call with him this morning just proved how pointless it all is. He’s not busy, he’s taking mid-morning naps.

“I’m the one in charge while he’s training. We’ve told you this,” he snaps. “If there’s something he needs to be looped into, I’ll make the call. He doesn’t need to answer every little question you have.”

I fight back a scoff, wanting to make some joke about how easy the life of a professional swimmer seems to be. Bryce keeps insisting Carter has this packed schedule, but what more is there to it than swimming and occasionally smiling at a camera? “Oh, please, stop making excuses for him.”

Bryce gawks at me, eyes wide. “I . . . uh . . . what?”

“I know it’s not my place to say this, but it’s kind of bullshit that he’s left this all to you. He’s a professional swimmer, right?” Bryce nods, still looking shocked. “So, he swims. I can’t imagine he’s all that busy. Besides, the Olympics aren’t for months. He has time to be here.”

I think I might have broken Bryce.

He stands there, mouth opening, and then closing without a single word coming out. There’s something in his eyes, though, and the way he’s looking at me makes me shift uncomfortably. I can’t tell if he wants to scream at me or fire me. Maybe both.

He takes a deep breath through his nose, hand clenching at his side. “You have to know there’s more to it than swimming laps and showing up at the Olympics.”

I hold his gaze as my brow creases. My confidence in what I’d just said wavers slightly. “No.”

He huffs. “Most professional swimmers train a minimum of six days a week. They’re in the pool twice a day, swimming at least six miles a day, but it’s usually closer to ten. That doesn’t even consider the dryland workouts, the recovery, or the nutritional side of things.”

Six to ten miles a day? Holy shit! No wonder he was taking a nap.

Guilt claws up my chest as I take a step back. I’m even more clueless about this sport than I realized and Will certainly hasn’t helped matters any. No matter how many times I ask him questions, wanting to get insight, he changes the subject. I’ve tried asking Nadine, but she shut down after the conversation with Liam last month. As a result, I’ve been walking around here looking like an idiot who thinks she knows everything when she hasn’t got a clue.

“And the Olympics are not the only major meet for professional swimmers!” Now that Bryce has gotten started, I’m not sure he’s stopping anytime soon. Something tells me this isn’t the first time he’s given this lecture. “It might be the only one to get any real media coverage, but it’s not the be-all and end-all of swimming. My point is, this is his job, Kat. Even if you don’t see it that way.”

“Whoa!” I raise my hands to calm him down. “I never said I don’t see it—”

“Your actions implied it.” My mouth snaps shut, heat flushing my cheeks because he’s right. “Let him do his job while you and I do ours.”

I nod once before Bryce turns to go up to his office, leaving me standing there in the aftermath of my embarrassment. Heat still ignited my cheeks. I’ve been doing to Carter and Bryce, the same thing I’m fighting against in my own career. Belittling what they do, not trusting the work they put into it, and pretending like I know more than they do about what’s going on.

I pull my phone from the pocket of my leggings, going to the message thread I have with Carter, but I don’t send him anything. Instead, I stare down at the last message he sent for several seconds before I pocket the phone again. Bryce is right; I shouldn’t be bothering Carter with unnecessary details and, even though I just want to apologize for wasting his time, this doesn’t feel like the right time.

Besides, I’m too mortified to even think about reaching out to him right now. I’d been so unprofessional when I was on the phone with him this morning. Even worse, I’d been cruel. I’d acted immaturely over the fact I wasn’t getting what I wanted. Even if I felt like I wasn’t being heard, I’d been so wrapped up in doing this job well, I’d failed to do the one thing I always promised myself I’d do: listen to the clients.

The last thing I need to do is embarrass myself further. I’ll finish for the day and go home, maybe do some research, and see what else I can figure out about professional swimming. To be honest, that should have been the research I did months ago instead of looking at pretty pictures of pools.

EndofJanuary

I’m sitting at the desk in the lobby on Friday morning when Bryce and Josie come in, both wearing matching scowls. They’d gone house hunting yesterday and, by the looks on their faces, it didn’t go well.

“How did it go?” Bryce grunts, grabbing the notebook he keeps in the desk. Josie’s unpacking her laptop as she gives me a grim smile. “That good, huh?”