It Had to Be You (Chicago Stars #1)(29)

“Implementing your ideas.”

“That’s true.”

She rubbed her forehead. “This is terrible.”

“If it’s any consolation, firing me was the proper decision. If a GM in the pros is going to be effective, everyone who works for him—from the office staff right up to the coaches—needs to fear him at least a little bit. The men don’t even respect me, let alone fear me. I’ve got the brains to do the job, but I don’t seem to have the personality. Or maybe I just don’t have the guts.”

“I do.” She straightened in her chair, as surprised as Ron that she had spoken aloud the words she had merely been thinking.

“I beg your pardon.”

Her mind raced. Bert had wanted her to be a figurehead. He had expected her to spend her days sitting in his old office, obediently signing the papers that were put in front of her and doing what she was told. It would never have occurred to him that she might try to learn something about the job.

She had vowed she wasn’t going to play her father’s game, and now she saw a way to fulfill the terms of the will but keep her self-respect. “I have the guts,” she repeated. “I just don’t have the knowledge.”

“What are you saying?”

“So far, the only thing I know about football is how much I hate it. If my father had suspected that Carl Pogue would quit, he would never have let me anywhere near the Stars, not even for a few months. I was trapped into doing this, first by Bert and then by Dan Calebow, but that doesn’t mean I have to do everything their way.”

“I still don’t understand—”

“I need to learn something about running a football team. Even if I’m only going to be in charge for a few months, I want to make my own decisions. But I can’t do that without having a person I trust to advise me.” She gestured toward the papers she still held in her hand. “I don’t know anything about these men.”

“The candidates for the GM job?”

She nodded.

“I’m certain you can trust Dan and Steve to have picked the best qualified.”

“How do I know that?”

“Perhaps your cousin Reed could advise—”

“No!” She forced herself to speak calmly. “Reed and I never got along. I won’t go to him under any circumstances. I need you.”

“I can’t tell you how much your confidence means to me.”

She slumped in the chair. “Unfortunately, I promised Dan I’d get rid of you.”

“His request wasn’t unreasonable. I’ve been doing a dismal job.”

“That’s only because he doesn’t understand what you’re capable of. He doesn’t know you the way I do.”

“I’ve known Dan for several years,” he pointed out gently. “You and I only met two hours ago.”

She had no patience with that sort of logic. “Time isn’t important. I have good instincts about people.”

“Dan Calebow isn’t the sort of man you should think about crossing, and right now, you need him a lot more than you need me. Winning football games is the only thing that counts in his life. I knew that when I convinced Carl to hire him away from the Bears.”

“You’re the one who hired him?”

By now, she knew Ron well enough to anticipate what was coming.

“Oh, no. Bert and Carl made the final decision.”

Based on Ron’s hard work. “I need some time to think.”

“I don’t believe there’s much to think about. You gave Dan your word, didn’t you?”

“I did, but . . .”

“Then that’s that.”

Ron was right about one thing, she thought glumly. She didn’t like the idea of crossing Dan Calebow.





7


The humid night breeze blew the curtains and ruffled Molly’s dark brown hair as she sat in a rocker by her bedroom window reading Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca. Although Molly knew she was flying in the face of literary criticism, she thought Daphne du Maurier was a much better writer than Fyodor Dostoyevski.

She liked Danielle Steel a lot better than Dostoyevski, too, mainly because the heroines in her books survived so many terrible experiences that they gave Molly courage. She knew that in real life Danielle Steel had a lot of children, and when Molly’d gotten the flu at camp, she’d had wonderful fever dreams in which Danielle was her mother. Even when she was awake, she’d imagined Danielle sitting on the side of her bed stroking her hair while she read from one of her books. She knew it was a babyish thing to think about, but she couldn’t help it.

She reached for a tissue and blew her nose. The flu was gone, but she’d been left with a minor respiratory infection. As a result, the headmistress at Crayton wouldn’t let her have early arrival privileges. Phoebe had been notified, and Molly had been forced to come home just a few days after her sister’s return to Chicago. Not that this horrible house felt like home.

She wished Phoebe would leave her alone. She kept making suggestions about renting movies or playing a card game together, but Molly knew she only did it out of duty. Molly hated Phoebe, not just because of the way she dressed, but because her father had loved Phoebe. She knew her father didn’t love her. He’d told her more than once that she gave him the “goddamn creeps.”