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Chapter 15

Rina

M onday mornings at Space City Arena are never the same. Some days are slow and mundane. Others can be chaotic and full of back-to-back meetings.

Today, after dropping off Stella with Ryker's mom for the day, I came into my office to find it oddly quiet. Too quiet.

The boys had a morning skate, and they'll leave to go nap and eat before the home game tonight. But other than the typical press conferences, the only thing on my agenda is a certain brown-haired, brown-eyed fiend of a team captain. He should be coming in any minute so we can get to work on the campaign he signed off on.

I glance over at the empty new desk on the other side of my office. I haven't seen Jenny all morning, even though she's bombarded my email all weekend.

I look over at Toby, whose fingers are flying over his keyboard. The constant clacking is the only noise currently filling the quiet office.

"Hey, Toby?" I ask calmly.

He stops typing and looks up from his laptop. "Yeah, boss?"

"What are you… what are you working on over there?"

"Oh," he pushes his glasses up his nose. "Well, Ms. Cobbs asked me to create a document outlining every single marketing project that we've worked on this year."

I squint in his direction and push away from my desk, rising to join him at his. He watches me move toward him and starts to clear his throat.

"Sh-should I not be sending her that information?"

I look at his screen. He has calendars, workflows, and emails pulled up. He must have over twenty tabs open.

"I already gave her what she needed."

"Yes, well. She said she needs to know the timeline for the season and when things need to get done. She wants to make sure everything is covered."

I scoff. "I ran two departments on my own last year. That was before I was even able to hire you on to help. Of course, she'll be able to accomplish more than I ever did. We've set her up."

"I mean," Toby hesitates.

I look at him. "Spit it out."

"It's not a competition, right? Our goals are all the same."

He's right. Level-headed, even when he's scared, Toby does make sense. We're not in competition. I never was and never wanted to compete with Jenny. Not now, not in college. She just came from a world where that's what was expected of her.

"You… are absolutely right, Toby."

He looks at me like I just grew an extra eye. "I am?"

"Yes, you are. This office is not a place of competition. It's a place of collaboration. We all have the same goal. You're right."

He's still watching me like I might suddenly change my mind, call him an idiot, and tell him to get back to work.

But when I don't, he tilts his head. "You're…" he clears his throat. "You're in a really great mood."

I straighten and cross my arms over my chest. Is it that obvious? All it took was a few screaming orgasms and some baby snuggles over the weekend, and I do feel like a new woman. Not that I'll ever admit that to my assistant.

There's a light knock on the door, and I hurry to fix my hair and straighten my jacket top. Toby watches me from his desk with a gentle grin.

Keelan is here to get things started. And I really wish I could stop being so obvious that I might be even just a little excited to see him. But as I walk to the door, I struggle with what I'm going to say after he had his face buried between my legs last night and his fingers inside me.

Hi, Landry. Good to see you. Weather's nice. Thanks for making me come back-to-back in your sister's guest room…

No, definitely not that.

I walk to the door and pull it open. And both fortunately and unfortunately I won't have to figure out what to say to him after all.

Standing in front of my door, eyes sunken, flowers in hand, and hair mussed like he's been pulling at it the whole way here, is Redmond.

My chest constricts at the sight of him. "Wh—" I can't form words. "What are you doing here?"

He places a hand on the doorframe and attempts a smile. "Hello, Rina." He looks down at the bouquet of flowers—beautiful and bright, with some that are out of season- meaning he must've spent a small fortune on them.

He holds them out to me. "For you," he says gruffly.

I look back at Toby who's temporarily halted his clacking and is now watching me and my ex with rapt attention.

I push Redmond back into the hall and shut the door behind me, glancing down both ends of the hall to make sure nobody is around.

"Why are you here, Redmond?"

"What? Can't a man come visit his wife while he's in town?"

I give him a look that can't be mistaken for anything other than utter annoyance. "You lost the privilege to call me your wife."

He drops the hand holding the flowers. "That's what are you, Rina."

I scoff. He can't be serious.

"Really? I was your wife. You were the one who decided you didn't want that anymore… or did you forget?"

He reaches for me. "Rina…"

"No. I'm done, Redmond. I'm done with your little temper tantrums and making me look like the one who wanted out of this marriage. I know what you're doing."

He cocks his head. "Please, womansplain to me what it is you think I'm doing?"

"Womansplain?!" My nose scrunches up at the word.

"Yes, you're going to do it anyways. You're going to tell me all the reasons why I did what I did because you're Rina Lopez and you know everything and I'm nothing but a dumb jock who has to listen to people like you all day so that my career stays intact."

I laugh. "Wow. Looks like you don't need me to explain anything after all."

"Look I came here to try to work things out, okay?"

"You want to work things out? Then let's finish this thing, Redmond. Because I currently have two hundred dollars to my name, and that's hardly going to make a dent when my mortgage is due, so…"

He looks at me solemnly. "I'm sorry I had to do that."

"What? Hold my money hostage until I acknowledge you. Real manly, by the way."

"Do you always have to be so sarcastic?" He looks at me, disappointed.

"Sarcasm is a sign of intelligence. You'd get it if you were."

He sucks in a deep breath and lets it out. "It was the only way to get your attention, Rina. All you care about is work and this damn team—"

I hold a hand up to stop him. "I cared about starting a family… with you! But you went and shit on that dream, didn't you? So don't do that, Redmond. Don't pretend like you actually want this to work. This is about your image."

A door closes down the hall and we both look that way. Michael Ferguson is walking towards us from one of the other offices. He's whistling to himself and doesn't look up from his phone until he's almost too close.

"Oh… uh." Fergie looks around desperately.

"Can we help you?" Redmond says a little too ferociously.

"Sorry, I didn't realize you two were…" He looks at me for help.

"Redmond was just leaving," I say.

Redmond looks at me. "After you have lunch with me."

"That is the last thing I want to do," I snap at him.

"One lunch, Rina. That's all I ask. Please."

Fergie is still standing there like his shoes are glued to the floor.

"What, Fergie?"

"Jenny—uh, Ms. Cobbs—asked me to come get you. She's working on the photoshoot for the updated calendar and—"

I stop him. "Wait… right now? She's working on that right now? Izzy's not even back from her honeymoon. Who's taking the photos?"

Redmond shakes his head in frustration. "That's what I wanted to tell you. Your marketing director reached out to our team and suggested doing a joint calendar. The Houston Heatwave and Austin Rhinos teaming up for a sportsmanship campaign. You didn't get that memo?"

I could hardly keep up with the insane number of emails I had to pour over this past weekend. I must've missed it.

"A sportsmanship campaign," I parrot.

The door opens behind me. And Toby looks at the three of us standing just outside my office.

"Yeah, I was going to ask you about that," Toby admits.

I rub my hand down my face.

I won't get mad at Jenny. It's not her fault. She's just trying to do her part, I reason.

"So you didn't know about the photoshoot?" Fergie confirms.

"Or that I would be here?" Redmond asks.

At this precise moment, the one person I did have on my radar decides to finally make an appearance.

His footsteps halt just outside the Heatwave locker room when he spots Redmond.

"What the hell is going on?" Keelan says.

"I'll deal with you later," I tell him. Then I turn to Fergie. "Tell Ms. Cobbs I'm preoccupied at the moment. And I'm sending Toby in my place."

Toby perks up. "You are?"

"Yes. And you," I say to Redmond. "No lunch. Twenty minutes, and my lawyer will be on speakerphone."

"Oy," he says.

"We can make it ten."

"Fine. Twenty minutes," he relents. Toby steps aside as Redmond passes through the doorway, filling it up with his stature.

When I turn around to see if Keelan is still there, he's pushing the doors to the arena open with so much force I think they might come off the hinges. They slam shut behind him.

"Find out what's going on with this photoshoot," I instruct Toby. He nods and follows Fergie back down the hall.

Now, I have an ex-husband to deal with.