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“This is Kevin Henry, owner of the Colorado Coyotes,” Kevin says. “I’d like to talk to Gage.”
“Please hold while I see if he’s available,” I say, doing a pretty good imitation of a perfect assistant who would never drop an important call. I put Kevin on hold and transfer the call to Gage’s office. Then I grab my notebook and scurry into Gage’s office.
He’s looking at his ringing office phone, exasperated. “Violet, I told you to check if I want to take a call before you transfer it. I was in the middle of—”
“You’re going to want to take this call.” I settle into the chair across from his desk to take notes. “It’s Kevin. He’s calling about the Coyotes.”
Gage straightens, his eyes locking with mine.
It’s like I can see the restrained energy racing through him.
He blows out a breath. “This is it.”
“This is it,” I agree.
Gage squares his shoulders and answers the phone, putting it on speakerphone. “Kevin. Hey. I hear you want to talk about the Coyotes.”
“Well, that was conjecture on the part of your secretary,” Kevin chortles. “I didn’t actually tell her that. Women, huh? Always thinking they know more than they do.”
I fantasize about stabbing him with my pen.
Gage rolls his eyes at Kevin’s attempt to play it cool. “Kevin, it looks like I have another call coming in. If you could get to the point, or you can let my assistant know what you’d like to talk about, she can schedule a formal meeting for us.”
Kevin clears his throat. “Oh. Well. Right. In this particular case, she was right. This is about the Coyotes. We’ve looked through the bids of everyone interested in buying the team.”
“Oh?” Gage sounds downright bored, but under the desk, his knee is going up and down like a jackhammer.
My own heart is pounding just as fast. I don’t give two shits about baseball, but Gage’s whole heart is in this deal.
Apparently, that means mine is too.
“Your bid was quite impressive. The most impressive, in fact.”
Gage freezes. “What are you saying?”
“I’m saying, with a few adjustments to the deal points, the team is yours.”
I silently pump my fists up and down in the air, smiling so hard it feels like my face will crack.
Gage grins at me, but he holds up a hand to signal he’s not done focusing yet. “Kevin, those deal points were worked out with both your lawyers and mine. And you’ve already admitted that no one is going to give you a better deal than me. Take it or leave it.”
My eyebrows shoot up. I can’t believe what I’m hearing. I writeWHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOINGin my notebook and hold it up for him to read.
I don’t want him to lose the team he desperately wants because he’s too proud to cave on a few deal points.
But Gage confidently takes my notebook and scrawls a note of his own, then tosses the notebook back to me.
I’m winning.
On the other end of the speakerphone, Kevin blows out a huge sigh. “I don’t know, Gage, we had some pretty good bargains...”
“Your fourth-place bid wants a two-year payment plan. That’s because he’s on the verge of bankruptcy and in denial,” Gage interrupts. “Your third-place bid is going to pull out because he was buying the team to get back at his estranged wife, and they just reconciled. That leaves your second-place bid, Scott Chaney. I’m not saying he’s about to be arrested for securities fraud, but...” he trails off pointedly.
“You’re lying,” Kevin blusters. “You can’t possibly know all of that.”
“Maybe,” Gage says. “But do you want to take that risk? You could sell to me and get out with your pride and a nice chunk of change. Or, when you realize I’m right, you can settle for that paltry fifth-place bid. Your brother-in-law made that bid, right?” Hetsksin mock sympathy. “I heard you don’t get on that well.”
“You smug bastard,” Kevin says.
