Page 77 of Soft
"He always has opinions. He's right a good bit of the time, which is the annoying part."
Auden's mouth curved into a mischievous smile. "Good to know."
Cheyenne and Moseley tumbled back into their seats a minute later, the former smiling wide and the latter pouting. It wasn’t until I asked what was wrong that he sat up again.
“Auden was just asking about you both.” I winked at them to give the opening for the football conversation.
Sure enough, Moseley took the carrot Auden dangled before him. He chattered about the potential picks, trades, and losses ahead. The cautious version of him fled, his crush forgotten in the way of statistical data.
Auden listened with their chin in their hand and an expression that I was fairly sure they thought they were keeping neutral. It was verynotneutral.
I watched the pair closely, noting just how well matched my intern and my new business partner were. It felt a bit inevitable, really.
I’d also, at some point along the way, decided that I liked Auden Keyes considerably more than I anticipated. It wasn’t a bad thing. In fact, it was very, very good.
Back in the office, I sent Moseley and Cheyenne to get to work on the contract for Auden. They’d both given me puppy dog eyes like it would change my mind.
“You’ll be seeing plenty of me soon. Then you won’t want to chat anymore.” Auden teased them.
I sensed they wanted to argue the point, but a hard look from me sent them on. Leading Auden to my office, I closed the door to give a hint of privacy.
"I'll send the revised version by the end of the week. Have someone you trust look it over. Don’t sign it blindly.”
"No worries there. My best friend’s dad is my guy. He loves me like family. I’ll have it back to you in no time.” Auden stuck out their hand one last time. “I’ve got a flight to catch, sadly. How soon would you want me to get here otherwise?”
“Whenever you can. I won’t tell you to drop the other agency. But I also won’t tell you not to.”
They laughed as I returned the handshake. Then they were telling the others goodbye. As soon as the door closed behind them, Cheyenne and Moseley came to my office.
Cheyenne said to no one in particular, "That went well."
"Very professional," Moseley added.
I coughed to cover the laugh that had slipped free. Meanwhile, Cheyenne rolled her eyes hard enough to make me dizzy.
Moseley grumbled.“I was completely professional!”
Those two could hash it out. I had a Daddy to text.
I wanted to share how the day had been good. Plus, it always relaxed me to see his name pop up on my screen. Sometimes he’d even tell me we could do voice notes, which was the absolute best. Hearing Daddy was de-lish-ous.
Grizzly:Daddy! It was such a good day. Met Auden. They were nice.
Daddy:Yeah? That’s good, baby. I can’t wait to hear all about them.
Grizzly:*smiling GIF*
Daddy:I’m glad you texted. Pops made a ton of food for dinner. You should come hang out with us. You still haven’t been inside the new place.
I looked at the message for a moment.
His pops had already decided I was family because of how I’d handled the draft. It was a quality I found both deeply comfortable and faintly alarming, because I didn’t have a lot of experience with that level of kindness. I kept waiting for it to have a condition attached.
It hadn't, yet.
Grizzly:What did he make?
Daddy:Unknown. He won’t tell me. Said that's the exciting part.
