“They played a lot better than last week. If not for that late fumble.”
“I know. We’ll get them next week. Where’s Mom?”
“In the lounge with Grandpa.”
Jake stepped fully into the three-story foyer with a sweeping staircase built in all marble that he knew had been imported from Italy. The house had always seemed more like a museum than a home. To him, it was cold and uncomfortable. Which could also describe his relationship with his father-in-law, Lars Kingston.
Jake followed Piper down a hallway to his left, which eventually spilled out into what the family called the lounge. It reminded Jake of a luxurious hotel lobby, with its multiple fireplaces and sitting areas. The entire Kingston family gathered here for every holiday and birthday celebration.
Sarah walked over to him, a glass of wine in her hand. She was a fit brunette who had run cross-country while attending Columbia back in the day. She still jogged nearly every morning before breakfast. Jake used to join her several days a week but not lately. He’d been leaving the house earlier than usual to put in more hours at the football offices and try to somehow rescue the season. Plus, he had been avoiding a growing tension between them. His body was paying for the lack of exercise—a slight softness around his belly that had not been there the first forty-two years of his life. There was also now a touch of gray in his wavy brown hair. Coaching could age a man quickly, especially when he was riding a serious losing streak.
“Hey,” she said. “How’re you holding up?”
“Tough night,” he replied.
“Yeah. They’ve all been tough lately.”
She said it without much warmth behind it. He could tell being a coach’s wife was taking its toll on her. When they’d married thirteen years ago, she’d liked that he was just a normal guy with a salt-of-the-earth type of job working with kids. Sarah came from major wealth, and until that point had dated only guys who were born and bred in her pampered lifestyle. At the time, she’d wanted something different. They’d fallen for each other in that opposites-attract kind of way. But the pressure of mounting losses was also wearing on Sarah. She’d been getting yelled at herself during games while sitting in the stands. High school football could bring out the best and worst in people. They were currently living through the worst of it, but Jake knew it would pass. Growing up in a coaching family had taught him that.
Jake’s father-in-law stood over by a fancy bar wrapped in colorful Italian tile. He had a glass undoubtedly filled with expensive Scotch in his hand. Wearing a black sweater and gray slacks, Lars was a physically imposing man at around six five with broad shoulders and a thick gray beard. Head of Kingston Financial, Lars liked to use his physical stature to intimidate others. But it had never worked on Jake, who at six two was only slightly shorter and still had his own set of muscular shoulders.
“Something to drink, Jake?” Lars asked him.
“Sure. I’ll have what you’re having.”
Lars kind of scoffed. “This is from a ten-thousand-dollar bottle of Scotch. How about a beer instead?”
Jake barely hid rolling his eyes. From the first moment Sarah had brought him around, Lars had treated him as lower class—unworthy of drinking his expensive Scotch. Jake came from a poor family. Both his late father and grandfather had been high school football coaches like he was. There had never been any extra money around. Lars had clearly wanted his only daughter to marry someone from another wealthy family—just like her three older brothers had. Lars probably spent more money on new business suits each year than Jake made at coaching. Early on, Jake was convinced he could eventually win Lars over with his old-fashioned Southern charm. But that dream was dashed one fateful night when Jake unwittingly walked into the Kingston home and found Lars engaged in a sexual tryst with someone who was not his wife. Jake immediately bolted and never said a word to anyone. But he knew that Lars had seen him. From that point forward, Jake became a serious threat. And powerful men do not like to feel threatened. Lars clearly hated him for it.
“Actually, I don’t need a drink,” Jake said. “I just want to go home.”
“I need a few minutes first,” Lars insisted.
When Sarah invited Piper to join her in the kitchen to get a snack, Jake knew something was up. Sarah had been hinting at wanting a change for weeks. And now she’d pulled her damn father into it.
“What do you want?” he asked his father-in-law.
“To offer you a job opportunity.”