AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Loved her but hadn’t backed her when it counted. “This will only be for a few weeks. After the vote is over, it will be decided one way or another.”
Veronica’s eyes narrowed. “He was just starting to relax. This will bring it all up again.”
“I’m sorry, Veronica. I know you love Dad. But if this deal falls through a lot of people he cares about are going to be hurt.”
“A bunch of overpaid athletes. They’ll survive.”
And that sentence pretty much summed up why Maggie didn’t like Veronica. Why she’d never understood what Tom saw in her. Veronica looked at the world through the filter of “what’s best for me.” She squared her shoulders. “The Saints are more than that. There are a whole lot of people who work for us, who depend on us. And they love the Saints. Besides,” she added, “the players could be a lot more overpaid if they went elsewhere. They stay because it means something to them. We owe it to them to try and make this work.”
“Your father has spent a lifetime trying to make that team work. Anyone sane would’ve given up years ago. He doesn’t owe them anything.”
Maggie shrugged. “Well, you and I will have to disagree on that. I think you’ll find that Dad does too. But I promise I’ll try and make sure that he doesn’t overdo it. We’re just talking about a few trips and phone calls.”
“It’s never just a few trips and phone calls.”
It was hard to argue with that. “That’s who Dad is,” Maggie said. “You know that. He lives for his work. I know you want him to retire but you have to give him time to make that choice. He’s starting. He’s giving up the Saints. But you can’t expect him to just cut all ties. Besides, if the other owners vote against Alex and Mal and Lucas, there will have to be a whole other round of negotiations with Will Sutter. And whoever else might come knocking. That could drag on for months. Is that what you want?”
The blue eyes were furious now rather than cold but Veronica shook her head. “No.”
“Then you’d better start helping us.”
Alex looked up as Maggie slipped through the door and walked across the room to where they were sitting around Tom’s desk. She looked at the chair beside his but then went to sit beside her dad.
What the hell did that mean? Was she playing it cool? Supporting her dad? Or was she pissed off at him for leaving the way he had this morning?
Shit.
The fact that he was worried about that right now when he needed to have his head in the game meant that he had a problem. Maybe Maggie had been right about it being dumb to sleep together. But it sure as hell hadn’t felt dumb last night. No, it had felt pretty damned fantastic. And he was hoping he would get to do it again soon.
But first, business. Because he doubted Maggie would take it well if he let Will Sutter buy her precious Saints and relocate them to Texas.
Tom patted Maggie’s arm when she sat beside him but then he looked back at Alex. “So what are you doing about this mess?”
Alex straightened. “Well, for a start, we’ve come to ask for your advice.”
“It seems simple enough. Secure your votes, then Sutter will be left high and dry.”
“Actually, Tom, that’s what we came to talk to you about,” Lucas said. “We need your insight on how to best do just that. You know all the other owners. You know how they think.”
“I do. So I’ll tell you, Sutter isn’t much to my taste, but his dad had friends in baseball. And in all sorts of places. And Sutter has actual experience with team management. A minor league team, sure, but he has that over you guys.”
“What about the fact that you sacked him, won’t that count against him?”
“Well, officially I just turned down his offer to buy out the Preachers and he moved on. There’s no record that we encouraged him to go.”
“None at all?” Alex asked.
“I’d have to look at the HR documents. But I don’t remember anything formal.”
Maggie wondered about that. Surely there had to be performance appraisals or something? She had no idea what sort of sexual harassment policies the Saints had had in place back then. It was probably too much to hope for that Will had tried his moves on someone else and they’d reported him.
Alex glanced over at Maggie. She made a little encouraging nod, then turned her attention back to Tom.
“That’s why we need your help, Dad,” she said. “The other owners will take into account the fact that you support Alex and Lucas and Mal, won’t they?”
“The ones that like me will,” Tom said. “The others might just throw Sutter a party at another chance to rub my nose in it.”
“More people like you than don’t,” Maggie said.
