the receptionist buzzed in shortly after Mr. Jackson left. Her heart gave a lurch at the sound of his name. Jake—on the phone. She had been trying not to think of him, trying to ignore the pull on her heart every time the image of his face came into her mind. Why would he call?“Hello?”“Hi, Maddie.”His voice reached down into her and made her stomach quiver with a familiar jolt. “Hi,” she managed softly.“I want to ask you a favor.”She regrouped. Maybe this wasn’t the call she thought, half-hoped it was. “Oh. Okay.”“There’s a game in New York this weekend. They want to set up a meet-and-greet with me and a couple of the other guys. I really don’t know how these things are managed and I was wondering…would you be able to come and help out?”“Oh.” It was business. “Of course. As long as I can get Max squared away. Overnight, then?”“Yeah. They’ll put you up with the team, I’m sure. It’s a nice hotel. Do you have a pen? It’s American, flight 427, leaving Saturday at 10:30 am.
