Page 5 of Endurance

“We’ve been dating for over two years. Of course I love him.”

“So, why not give him an answer? We’ve been friends for as long as I can remember, Kallie. I know you always act first and think later. Why are you waiting this time?”

“I’m not waiting. I’m reflecting.”

“Did your tarot cards tell you to do that?” Austin quipped.

“Shut up, Austin,” I snapped in frustration. He wasn’t helping. “I knew I shouldn’t have invited you over. But if you must know, I haven’t looked at my deck in over a month.”

“I’m just teasing you. Come on, Kallie. I’m your brother. It’s my job to razz you. You know I’ve always got your back. I just want to—”

My cell phone rang, cutting off whatever else Austin was about to say. I glanced down at the coffee table where the phone sat. My father’s name showed up on the caller ID.

“Hold that thought. It’s Dad. He’s probably calling to check on Emma.” Grabbing my phone, I headed into the kitchen and answered. “Hey, Dad! If you’re calling about Emma, don’t worry. She’s tucked in for the night and fast asleep.”

My father chuckled.

“No. I trust you have things handled with her. She loves sleepovers at your place. I’m actually calling about a business matter.”

“Please don’t tell me you’re working during your anniversary dinner. Mom will kill you.”

“I’m not,” he assured. “We haven’t even gone out yet. We had to push back our reservation time because your mother got an urgent call and had to go into the office.”

My heart sank. My mother ran Dahlia’s Dreamers, a non-profit organization that aided immigrants with a legal path to citizenship. Urgent calls usually meant someone was in jeopardy of being deported.

“Is everything okay?”

“Yeah, everything is fine for now. She just got back. But you know how it is around here—never a dull moment. We were about to head out when Devon called me about a new client in need of immediate assistance.”

“Who’s the client?” I asked.

“His name is Sloan Atwood.”

“I’ve never heard of him.”

“To make a long story short, he’s a race car driver in Los Angeles whose career ended rather abruptly. I don’t know all the details. All I know is that he’s been on a bender. His agent, Milo Birx, called me to fix it. I was hoping you could help.”

I thought about the long hours my father put in at his PR firm, Quinn & Wilkshire. While he always made plenty of time for our family, I’d seen first-hand how trying the job could be almost as soon as I started working for him. After receiving my MBA in public relations, I wanted to work for the best. My father’s nationally known firm was precisely that—and people rarely came to him when things were going well. It wasn’t until after something went wrong did clients want the firm to run damage control. Despite the perception, bad press was never good, and our job was to get people out of the negative spotlight with a positive public relations campaign. Quinn & Wilkshire did exactly that, and we did it well, no matter what time of the day it was.

“What do you need me to do?”

“Honey…” he hesitated. “I’ll be honest. Since your sister was born, I’ve been trying to limit the hours I spend with clients to have more family time. But you know how it is—it’s tough. Devon just got back from a thirty-day stint with an NBA player. Now he has a baby on the way. If he adds Sloan Atwood to his client list, his new wife just might kill him.”

“And rightly so. He works like crazy,” I said with a laugh.

“Well, considering that, Devon and I have been in discussions for the past month about lightening our workload in general. Do you remember how you mentioned one day becoming a partner at the firm?”

“Of course, but I figured that would be decades away.”

“Yeah, well… This commission is huge—too big for the firm to pass up. If you can handle Atwood, we might be willing to speed up that timeline by a few years, so you don’t have to wait decades. But, before you agree to anything, there are some things for you to consider.”

“Such as?”

“Milo emailed me a file on Atwood. After looking it over, Milo and I both decided we can’t manage this from the DC office. This is a major commitment. If you take Atwood on as a client, you’ll have to go to California.”

“That’s not a big deal. After all, I lived there for four years, and I travel all the time for clients.”

“Six months, Kallie. You’ll need to be in LA for a full six months. There would be a bonus payout of twenty thousand dollars for you after the completion of the contract. Milo is serious about this and wants a solid commitment from someone who can be there daily. He won’t get that with a long-distance rep, which is why I don’t think Devon or I should take him on.”

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