Page 12 of Crossing the Lines for Love

“That means you owe her a meeting, an apology, and a thank you. I can’t wait to hear how it goes,” Ma said.

Yeah, me too.

I was tempted notto answer the unknown number, but since the area code was local, I swiped my thumb across my screen just before it stopped ringing.

“This is Aranda.”

“Aranda? Is this Randi Sampson?”

I immediately recognized his voice but wouldn’t let him know that.

“Yeah, this is Randi. Who is this?”

“My bad. This is Niko.”

“Who?”

“Niko Kemper. Captain of the BEU lacrosse team.”

“Oh, yeah. How did you get my number, and why are you calling me?”

“Coach Crawford gave me your number.”

“Why?”

“He wants us to meet to discuss the team.”

“I have the film from last season. I think I’ll manage. If Coach Crawford asks, I’ll tell him we met.”

“I believe I can give you more insight on the team than you’ll get from watching film.”

“That’s probably true, but I’d rather not deal with your attitude and not-so-subtle disrespect.”

“Randi—”

“Coach Sampson.”

“Coach Sampson, your first impression of me wasn’t the greatest.”

“Nor was the second or third.”

“Hold up. What was wrong with the second impression? I thought I gave you and your parents great service, and I know you enjoyed the food.”

“You didn’t cook the food, and the service was okay, but what’s your point?”

“Give me a chance to apologize in person and thank you for not throwing me under the bus with Coach Crawford.”

I sighed as I thought about what occurred this afternoon. When I stormed from the conference room, I ran into Coach Crawford. Not enough time had passed for my meeting with Niko to be over, so I had to give him a believable reason why I was leaving.

Instead of telling Coach Crawford that Niko was a chauvinistic asshole, I made up a lie about him having an emergency. Coach Crawford believed me, and I left it at that.

Niko and I had a rocky start, and since we had to work together for the next few months, it was only fair that I give him the opportunity to smooth things over.

“Fine. We can meet in the conference room tomorrow morning at ten.”

“I’ll see you then.” I ended the call without saying goodbye.

The next morning came too fast because I was up until two in the morning watching the film from last season. From what I’dseen, the team was solid, but we had to replace a few people who had graduated.

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