“I don’t schmooze.”
Cole barked out a laugh. “After the embezzlement and sabotage here two years ago, you nearly single- handedly brought the TCC back from the brink of disaster to a solid, thriving organization.”
Mitch gave a snort of disbelief. “If this paternity thing with Brad blows up…”
“I’m sure you’ll deal with that, too. My point is, you do know how to schmooze. You’ve got the gift for talking anybody into anything.”
Mitch knew he could hold his own when it came to persuasion. He’d never thought of it as lobbying, but he supposed that wasn’t too much of a stretch.
“And your celebrity doesn’t hurt one little bit,” Cole continued. “Plus, you’ve proven your ability to engage young people beyond the realm of sports. I can’t imagine anyone more perfect for the job.”
“Do you need a soapbox of some kind to stand on?”
“Was that a joke about my height?”
Mitch barked out a laugh at Cole’s unexpected response. “Emily really got to you over the short thing, didn’t she?”
“Emily…has seen the light.”
“Congratulations on that, by the way.”
Cole gave a nod of acceptance. Then he waggled his brow. “Take a look.” He reached into his jacket pocket and extracted a black velvet box, handing it over to Mitch.
“You’re going to ask her?”
“I am.”
Mitch snapped open the box to reveal a big square-cut diamond surrounded by miniature sapphires. Something hitched in his stomach, and he found himself thinking about the ring he’d offered Jenny last night. Stupid.
He had nothing in him but a joke, while Cole was ready to take a lifetime plunge.
“You worried?” he asked, genuinely curious about how Cole could be so certain about his decision.
“Not really. I’m sure she’ll say yes.”
That wasn’t what Mitch meant. But he had to admire Cole’s confidence. “As long as you’re sure.”
“What’s not to be sure about?”
“It’s for the rest of your life.”
“Hey, when you know, you know.”
Mitch closed the box and handed it back. Would he know? Should he know? Did he know?
“Did you like the ring?” Cole asked.
“It’s fine,” Mitch answered absently.
Cole grinned. “You couldn’t give a damn, could you?”
“Not in my frame of reference,” he lied, pretending he wasn’t thinking about putting more than just a football ring on Jenny’s finger.
He shook away the ridiculous idea. This was a brand-new infatuation, a knee-jerk reaction to his career ending. And if he tried to make more of it, tried to force it, he risked hurting Jenny even more than he already had.
“D.C., you say?” he asked Cole.
“Yeah. Why do you keep asking?”
When he thought about leaving, Mitch’s thoughts went straight to Jenny.
There was no good choice in all this.
“Go to D.C.,” Cole insisted. “Check it out. See if it fits. If it does, you’ll have a great Beltway office. You’ll be doing good for the youth of America. It’ll keep you out of trouble. And they’ll pay mileage on your jet.”
Mitch drummed his fingers on the desktop. He supposed there was no harm in talking. And, who knew, maybe they’d be willing to wait a few weeks, or maybe a couple of months. Surely by then his relationship with Jenny would have run its course. She’d probably be itching to be rid of him.
“You’ll keep this to yourself?” he asked Cole.
“Won’t tell a soul. Not even Emily.”
Especially not Emily. If Mitch did this,
As she stared at the three sets of house plans taped to the wall in the mostly bare, airy room on the second floor of Cole’s house, Jenny tried to forget about the debacle two days ago, when Mitch had offered her the ring.
Mitch’s joke about going steady had driven home for her just how quickly and how thoroughly she’d fallen under his spell. In the split second it had taken for her to come to her senses, she’d realized how desperately she wanted go steady with him, to have him be an ongoing part of her life.
“Time’s up,” Emily said from beside her. “They’re shaping the foundation tomorrow. Are you going with your heart or your head?”
Emily had been the one to insist that they continue to consider all three sets of plans.
Jenny’s heart was leading her toward the whimsical French country house. But she’d trusted her heart last night, and look where it got her.
What started off as a relaxed romantic interlude had ended in awkwardness and embarrassment. She’d all but fled from Mitch’s house, and then this morning, he’d abruptly left town with the lamest of excuses, some vague story about paperwork and the football team.
“I’m going with my head.” She moved to stand in front of the two-story, three-bedroom, telling herself she’d be happy there.
Emily came up beside her. “Funny. Lately, I’m leaning toward my heart.”
Jenny forced herself to smile, not wanting to inflict her mood on Emily’s happiness. “Did he ask you yet?”
“Tonight.”
“He gave you advance warning?”
“He says he found the right ring. And we have reservations on the rooftop at Chez Jacques. I can fill in the blanks.”
“You’re going all the way to Houston for dinner?”
Emily waved a dismissive hand. “There’s a helicopter involved. Millionaires are crazy.”
Jenny leaned into Emily’s shoulder, determined to be happy for her good friend. “That’s fantastic.”
“It is,” Emily sighed. “You can’t even imagine how smart he is. He gets calls from New York and D.C., Switzerland and Brazil, movers and shakers in the high-tech world, politicians, even movie stars. They want his advice. They want to be his friend. And he’s funny, wickedly funny. But he’s not geeky. He’s not even short.”
Jenny couldn’t help but smile at that. “He magically stopped being short? Imagine that.”
Emily gave her hair a little toss. “Five-eleven’s not short. I was giving him grief about it on the dance floor, when I was asking about Emilio.” A blush formed on her face. “Man, was Cole ticked off about that. Anyway, he’s making a point, and I realized he was towering over me. And then I realized how much sense he was making, and how much I respected his opinion.”
She rolled her eyes. “Listen to me. I sound like a dork. Back to your house.”
“You’re not a dork.”
Emily pointed. “So, this one.”
“This one.” Jenny nodded. “Definitely.”
“I would have bet you were going to go the other way.” Emily cocked her head at the French country house. “I was beginning to think-”
“Mitch left this morning,” Jenny blurted out.
Emily drew back in obvious surprise. “Huh?”
“Not that I didn’t expect it. It was bound to happen sooner or later.” Jenny had given away her insecurities two nights ago, probably panicked Mitch. Why couldn’t she have just joked right back? Why did she have to freeze up like a schoolgirl?
“What do you mean, he left?”
“He went to D.C.”
“On business?”
“He said it was football business.”
