Page 21 of The Chemistry Coach
Sheesh, kids were rough.Nobody could get you to evaluate your feelings like a seven-year-old.She pretended to think hard about her answer.
“All the Connors are pretty cool.I don’t have a favorite.”
“But if you had to choose one though.”Dylan pressed and heat climbed in Daisy’s cheeks.
Sarah pulled her son closer and ran her fingers through his hair.“They don’t have to choose favorites, sweetheart.Maybe they don’t know them well enough.”
Roxie didn’t show any surprise at meeting her ex’s sister.The woman must be quite a few years younger than them, and as far as Daisy knew, Roxie had never met Connor’s family.Roxie snorted.“No, no.We do have to choose favorites.Mine’s Hazy.That man seems like a riot.What do you say, Daisy?Is Beanie suiting your fancy?”
Daisy elbowed her best friend in the ribs and plastered on a smile.“It would be unprofessional for me to voice an opinion on the matter, considering I work with them all,” she said through gritted teeth.
Sarah placed her hand over her heart and raised her eyebrows.“Don’t worry.OurConnor seems to like you, even if he’s your least favorite.After your little activities he wouldn’t shut up about it.He was all, ‘Daisy bought me circus cookies, and Daisy showed us this game.’He bought the game and played it with Dylan.”
Dylan nodded dramatically.“It’s so fun!And I didn’t have to ask him to play!He always says no when I ask to play video games.”
She could imagine Connor sprawled on a couch with his nephew, talking about who needed to chop and who needed to serve.Daisy’s lips twitched.She hoped her plan for the boys would work.They needed all the help they could get.
Dylan abandoned the conversation when the scrimmage started, and Daisy focused on the dynamics of the team as they played.Valentine won a face-off, and Connor picked up the puck, gaining the zone.Daisy watched the passing between players, thrilled to see that their passes were connecting.When Beanie scored a goal, she did her best to remain in her seat.She couldn’t explain it, but his goal felt like her own personal victory.It wasn’t her influence helping, but they weren’t quite as abysmal that day.Hopefully, it wasn’t a fluke.
The next few days at work were huge disasters.When she got back from watching the early practice on Tuesday, Rob pulled her into his office and told her they had lost a huge client.Daisy assumed he meant the NHL, but after letting her stew in her panic and disappointment for a few seconds he explained that one of the large corporations they had been doing business with for decades had canceled their contract.
Daisy hated doing extra work just because she was good at her job, but instead of Rob cleaning up his own mess, he tasked Daisy with the chore.Daisy had to plan out activities for her own clients while also contacting every Collaborative Craft client to get feedback about their experience.She’d been on the phone for hours every day in addition to having teenagers following her around.Every hour she contemplated whether she needed to buy groceries or if she could walk out of the office and never return.
Close call, but she needed the paycheck.And if she quit, she wouldn’t get to help the Connors anymore.She was excited for the chance to get to know them better.
Daisy decided to take a dinner break when her brother called.
“Hey,” she answered.
“Daisy!How’s it going?”
“It’s an absolute shit-show,” she replied, leaning back in her chair and putting the call on speaker while she chewed a potsticker.“What’s up with you?”
“Nothing much.I’m calling to check in.A little birdie told me you met a Freeze player.Is that true?”
The potsticker lodged itself in her throat.She coughed, and little pieces of pork and vegetables launched across her desk.She wiped them away with a napkin as she asked, “What fucking birdie told you that?”
She could picture her brother’s smug face when he said, “So it is true!You met him?”
“Fucking Patrick.Yeah.I met the Connors.”
“All of them?He only told me you met Beanie.Did you drool all over him like in college?”
Oops.She wasn’t supposed to be telling people she worked with the Connors.She tried to avoid that part of the question.
“You and Patrick blew this way out of proportion.I had a teensy crush on a guy I never spoke to.I don’t constantly bring up your crush on Selena Gomez.”
“Yeah, because I’ve never met her.If I met her, you’d be like, ‘Ooo, when are you going on a date’?”
Daisy rolled her eyes.She couldn’t argue; he had a point.“No.I didn’t drool.”
“Patrick said you were going to woo him.”
“Patrick is an idiot.It would be unprofessional to date him.”
“Wait.What do you mean, unprofessional?Did you get a job with the team?Why didn’t you call me?”
Kicking herself, she tried to backtrack, but her voice came out too loud and squeaky.“I mean, if the podcast gets big.”
