Faceoff

Chapter One

Friday night. Six o’clock. A briefcase full of documents to review for the coming week that would occupy pretty much her entire weekend. Super fun.

Kyla MacIntosh rode the elevator down from the twenty-ninth floor of the Richardson Building, immune to the ear-popping speed of the elevator after years of working at the law offices of Ingram Howell Grant. Alone in the elevator, she leaned her head against the wall, then straightened and rolled her head, trying to ease the tightness in her neck that was causing a feeling of pressure around her head. The headaches were so constant now she barely noticed them, but at that moment she longed for some ibuprofen. And a massage. Her massage therapist was getting rich off her lately.

She came to a halt in the building lobby at seeing the pouring rain outside. Damn. With slower steps, she wandered into the hotel adjoining the office building to peer out the front doors. She set down her briefcase and purse and was about to slide her arms into the beige trench coat she carried over one arm when a burst of laughter from the lounge off the hotel lobby had her turning her head in recognition. Several of the lawyers from the firm sat on stools at a high round table, drinks in hand, laughing at something one of them had just said. Including her mentor, senior partner Jim English, and her biggest competition for partner, Alex Covell.

She blinked at them. Damn. They’d gone for drinks without her again. She looked down at the gleaming stone floor, then back up. She pressed her lips together and lifted her purse and briefcase, then straightened her shoulders and strode into the bar.

“Hey, guys,” she said, pasting on a smile. “I didn’t know you were going for drinks tonight.”

They all looked up at her, Jim, Alex and a few other partners and associates. “Hey, Kyla.” After a short pause, Jim said, “Why don’t you join us?”

“Thanks!” One of the men pulled another stool up to the table and she smiled at him as she climbed up onto it. “It’s been a long week, I could use a drink.”

The jocular conversation had come to a screeching halt and Kyla sighed inwardly. What had they been talking about? Probably her. She ordered a martini from the waitress with determined cheerfulness. “Pouring rain out there,” she said. “Maybe by the time I’ve had a drink, it’ll stop.”

Reduced to talking about the weather. You could always talk about the weather in a city with four distinct seasons, where the temperatures ranged sixty degrees Celsius or more over the course of year. “It’s supposed to clear up for the weekend,” Jim said.

“Heading out to the lake?” Alex asked him.

“Yeah. Pam’s been up there all week. Jason and Lacy are bringing the kids this weekend,” he said, referring to his son and daughter-in-law.

“How about you, Kyla? What are you up to this weekend?”

“Oh not much.” She smiled. “Work.”

They all made understanding noises. The conversation stuttered again.

She wasn’t the only woman at the firm. There was, in fact, one female partner, but Kyla suspected Morgan had actually once been a man. Seriously. Not that Kyla had any issues with transgendered folks, but since Morgan had never married and, as far as anyone knew, had no family, she certainly didn’t have to struggle with issues of maternity leave or trying to rear a family while billing as many hours as possible.

And inviting one of the female associates for Friday happy hour drinks apparently wasn’t something her mentor felt comfortable with.

Kyla took a burning gulp of her martini.

“How’s your golf game?” Hugh asked Jim. “Been out much so far this year?”

Kyla resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Jim somehow managed to golf in every big tournament in the city, which seemed to be a couple of times a week in the summer. Yeah, sure, it was networking, but geez.

“Yeah, I’ve been out a few times.” Jim also had a membership at the most expensive golf club in the city and occasionally invited some of the other lawyers at the firm to golf with him there. He’d never invited Kyla, even though she’d made a determined effort to learn how to golf, knowing how much networking was done on the links. She despised golf, but saw it as a necessary business skill.

The men started talking about putters and drivers, effectively shutting her out of the conversation. As usual. But she smiled and nodded and asked the odd question when she could, determined she was going to be part of this boys club.

A decision about who was going to be named the next partner at Ingram Howell and Grant was being made this month. She and Alex were both considered the front runners. She’d been working her ass off for eight years for this and her plan to make partner was seemingly on track, but last week Jim had invited Alex to join him at a big golf tournament, making up a foursome with one of their largest corporate clients, and that had resurrected all her self-doubts. She hated that after months, even years, of feeling confident and on track, all of a sudden she was hyper aware of every decision, every exclusion—like the lack of invitation to join them for drinks tonight.

Hell. This wasn’t the first time that had happened. She’d become aware a long time ago that Jim wasn’t comfortable asking her out for drinks. He was old enough to be her father, but their relationship wasn’t father-daughter or even father-son, like his relationship with Alex was, and having drinks or lunch alone with her, or golfing with her, were clearly things he didn’t feel comfortable with.

She stared glumly down into her martini, momentarily diverted from her cheery façade.

“How about those Jets?” Jim said. Everyone laughed. “Never thought I’d get to say that line again,” he continued with a grin. “A toast to the Jets.”

They all lifted their glasses and a chorus of “To the Jets!” filled the air. People at the tables around them regarded them with amusement and then the entire lounge was filled with people shouting “To the Jets!” and lifting their glasses in a spontaneous toast.

Kyla couldn’t help but laugh. The city of Winnipeg had never recovered from losing their National Hockey League team back in 1996 and the recent news that a couple of wealthy businessmen in town had finally succeeded in purchasing a struggling NHL team and were bringing it back to Winnipeg had created a buzz of excitement throughout the city.

She’d grown up with two older brothers who’d played hockey, although neither of them were good enough to turn pro, and her parents’ best friends, the Hellers, had four boys whom she’d practically grown up with as if they were brothers too. Three of those four boys now played in the NHL and the fourth had just been drafted. In fact, one of them played for the team that was moving back to Winnipeg, which had added to the excitement. Return of the hometown hockey hero.

She too had been following the story of the team’s purchase in the news for months, interested largely in the complex legal and business issues that had arisen. She’d done a lot of legal work for the AHL team that had played in the city since the Jets had left and found the business side of professional sports fascinating.

The guys started talking hockey, but this was a subject Kyla was capable of participating in equally. She loved hockey. Then her BlackBerry bleeped in her purse. She pulled it out to glance at the screen. Her mother. She hesitated.

Guilt made her answer the call with a smile of apology at the men before she slipped off her stool and took a couple of steps away from the table.

“Hi, Mom.”

“Kyla. Are you still coming for dinner tonight?”

Hell. She’d forgotten about that. “God, Mom, I’m sorry. I totally forgot. Why aren’t you going out to the lake tonight?”

“We’re going in the morning. We haven’t seen you in…I don’t even know how long it’s been. You won’t come to the lake, so at least come visit us tonight. We’ll be at the cottage for the next few weeks.”

“I’ve just been so busy. But, yeah, okay, I’ll come tonight.”

“We have some exciting news! So come as soon as you can.”

“Okay. I’m just having a drink with some coworkers. Then I should go home and change.”

“So…an hour?”

Her condo in the Exchange District was walking distance from the office and it would only take twenty minutes to drive from downtown to her parents’ home in Tuxedo, but that still meant she had to cut this opportunity to socialize with the guys short. “Yeah. See you soon.”

She returned to the table. “My mom,” she said to the men. “I forgot I was supposed to go over there for dinner.”

“How are your parents?” Jim asked.

“They’re okay.” Mom had recently undergone treatment for breast cancer, which had been a huge scare and stressful for everyone. “My mom’s doing amazingly well. Dad’s been busy as usual, traveling.” Her father was the president and CEO of a large aerospace company.

She tipped her martini glass and drained the last of the drink. “I’d better head out.” She smiled at the men as she again slid from her stool. “Have a good weekend, everyone.”

“You too, Kyla.”

In the lobby of the building, she surveyed the rain still pouring down outside. Damn. Walking to work was great when the weather was nice, even in the winter when it was cold, as long as you dressed for it, but three blocks in pouring rain was going to leave her wet even with her trench coat and umbrella.

She hurried along Rorie Street toward her condo in a renovated warehouse, head down, briefcase and purse bumping against her with every step, finally arriving at her building a bit out of breath. Man, she needed to get in shape. She’d never been athletic, but she knew the importance of staying fit and at one time had been a regular at the gym. But her gym membership had lapsed and working out had fallen to the bottom of her priority list lately, with work consuming all her time.

In her condo, she dropped her purse and case in the living room, hung up her wet coat and left her open umbrella on the rug in her foyer to dry. Luckily her car was parked underground, so she wouldn’t have to go outside again until she got to her parents’.

In her bedroom she sighed as she changed out of her suit and into a pair of jeans, wishing she didn’t have to go out. She was turning into a hermit lately and she knew it, but dammit, making partner was important. In a family of overachievers, she had to do this. So all she’d been doing lately was working, other than the time she’d spent at her mother’s bedside following her surgery and then helping her at home as much as she could without missing too much time from work.

Even attending to a family illness wasn’t looked favorably upon at the firm when they were in the middle of a big important case and she had partner in sight. She scraped her long hair into a ponytail, looping the elastic around the hair to create a messy bun, surveying her face in the mirror of her dresser. She grimaced but didn’t want to bother redoing her makeup just for dinner with her parents. They would love her no matter what she looked like.

Traffic was still heavy and slow-moving on Portage Avenue when she finally got there in her car, the wipers swishing back and forth across her windshield in a steady rhythm. The low clouds had darkened the sky and downtown streets were a smear of red and green and gold from traffic lights and tail lights, the colors bleeding into each other on the wet pavement. But as she left the downtown area, traffic eased and she made the trip to her parents’ home quickly.

She parked on the tree-lined street, the dripping elms forming an almost perfect canopy of lush green above the road, then dashed up the sidewalk to the big old Tudor-style house. She didn’t knock, just walked in. This was the house she’d grown up in, her home as much as her condo now was.

“I’m here!” she called, leaning against the door to close it. The alarm system beeped softly.

“Kyla!” Mom appeared at the end of the hall from the kitchen. “There you are!” They hugged and Mom drew back to study her. “You’ve lost more weight, haven’t you?”

“Mom.” Kyla pulled back and shook her head.

Worry darkened Mom’s brown eyes. “You’re so thin, honey.”

Kyla smiled. “I’m fine, Mom. How are you?” Her mom’s cancer diagnosis had given the whole family a huge scare.

“I’m great! Come in.”

“Where’s Dad?”

“In the family room. Come on. I just made pizza for dinner.”

“You’re not overdoing it, are you?”

“I’m fine,” Mom said, leading the way. She’d faced an incredible challenge with strength and courage and an amazing attitude. She too was thin, having lost weight during her treatment, but she seemed to be back to her usual energy levels.

Kyla’s dad rose from the chocolate leather couch in the great room where he was watching television while Mom bustled around behind the big island that separated the kitchen from the family room. “Hey, sweet pea,” he said giving her a hug. “How are you?”

She hugged her dad back and smiled up at him. “I’m good, Dad. Had to come for some of Mom’s homemade pizza.”

“Would you like a glass of wine?” Mom called.

“No thanks. I had a martini after work and I have to drive home.”

They chatted as Mom served up the pizza and Caesar salad.

“So what’s this exciting news?” Kyla asked, sitting at the big island to eat.

“Oh! Scott’s coming home! Next weekend!”

“Oh wow! With the baby?”

“Yes.” Mom beamed. “And Jessica and Emily, of course. I’m so excited to see them.”

Kyla’s older brother Scott and his wife Jessica had just had their second child. Unfortunately the birth had happened right around the time of Mom’s diagnosis and surgery and so they hadn’t been able to travel home from Vancouver to see Mom and she hadn’t been able to travel to Vancouver to see the new baby either.

“That’s great! It will be nice to see them. I’ll finally get to meet my new nephew.”

“And there’s more,” Mom added. “I was talking to Doug and Laura.”

Kyla nodded and lifted her piece of pizza to take a bite. Doug and Laura Heller were Mom and Dad’s best friends. They lived across the street and also owned the cottage next door to her parents up at the lake.

“They’re pretty excited too because Tag’s home.”

Tag, the NHL player whose team was being moved back to Winnipeg. “I’m sure they are,” Kyla said with a grin. “The whole town’s excited.”

“Yes! Of course Tag’s moving back permanently, but the other boys are all coming home too. Just for a visit. Jason’s coming from Chicago with his new girlfriend. Laura met her when they went to Chicago a few months ago. Matt’s here for the whole summer and Logan’s home for a few weeks too. They put on that big charity golf tournament every year, you know.”

“Yeah.” She resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Another golf tournament. But this one she was definitely playing in, because it was the Heller brothers, after all. Her near-brothers. Though she hadn’t seen much of them for quite a few years. It seemed like every time they were home, which wasn’t that often these days, she was too busy with work to see them.

“So Laura and I had this great idea! We should have a big two-family reunion up at the lake! We’ll all get together for a whole week and it’ll be just like old times! Except of course Jessica and the kids will be there too, and now Jase’s girlfriend.”

Kyla’s heart sank. It sounded like so much fun. But there was no way she could take a whole week off work just now. “That’s a great idea, Mom.” How was she going to break this to her though? She sighed inwardly. “I wish I could come too.”

As expected, Mom’s face fell. She glanced at Dad. “You can’t come?”

“You know I’m going crazy right now. They’re making the decision about who’s going to make partner in the next few weeks and I have this huge case I’m working on. In fact, I should be at home working right now.”

Mom’s eyebrows slanted down and her bottom lip pushed out a little. “Honey. You can’t work all the time.”

“I have to.”

“Look at you. You’ve lost so much weight. You’re pale, even though it’s July.”

Damn. She knew she should have taken a few minutes to fix her makeup. Maybe put on a little bronzer or something. Now Mom thought she was ill.

“You’re a beautiful young woman. You should be out having fun. Dating. Coming up to the lake and relaxing on the beach.”

Kyla’s insides tightened up. The headache that had faded a little began to pound behind her eyes again, and her neck and shoulders ached. “I’m sorry. Hopefully I’ll get to see Scott and everyone while they’re here.”

“They’re coming straight up to the lake from the airport,” Mom said. “They’re really looking forward to it. Emily will have so much fun there.”

Did that mean she wouldn’t get to see them at all if she didn’t go up to the cottage too? She caught her lower lip between her teeth.

“Kyla,” Dad said. “You look like you need a holiday. I’m sure taking a week off for a family reunion isn’t going to jeopardize your chances of making partner. They’ve probably already decided and I’m sure you’ll get it.”

It could be true that they’d already decided, but she wasn’t as confident as Dad was and didn’t want to take the chance of screwing up this close to winning the prize. “It’s just really bad timing.” She pushed away her plate with the half-eaten piece of pizza on it.

“Is that all you’re eating?” Mom asked. “Kyla…”

“It’s really good, Mom, as usual. I’m just not that hungry.”

The worried expressions on their faces only made her feel worse. She felt guilty for disappointing her parents, but also felt sorry for herself that she was going to miss out on the fun of seeing her family and the Hellers. As a girl, she’d followed all six boys―her two brothers and the four Heller boys―around everywhere. Especially Tag. She had so many memories of those summers at the lake, not all of them good, but even the embarrassing ones had faded into less unpleasant memories with time.

“Tag will be living here now,” she added. “I’m sure I’ll see him some time.”

“Your father is taking holidays,” Mom said. “You know how hard it is to get him to take time off work.”

“Guess that’s where I get it from,” she said with a bright smile.

Mom frowned. “I meant, if he can take time off for the family, then you should be able to.” Her frown eased, replaced with a trembling bottom lip. Oh my god. Mom never cried. She’d been through a cancer diagnosis and a mastectomy and Kyla had barely seen a tear. “You never know what could happen,” she said. “This could be the last time we’re ever all together as a family.”

Oh no. Kyla stared at her, her insides going icy cold. “Mom, is there something you’re not telling me? You’re okay, aren’t you?”

“Yes! I’m fine. I mean, as far as we know. I’m just saying, you never know.”

She studied her mom’s face. It was true. With cancer, you never knew. What if it came back? Oh my god. “I’ll see,” she said. “I’ll talk to Jim on Monday and see about taking a week off.”

Mom’s face cleared and she blinked eyes that were just a little shiny. “Oh that’s great!”

“Thank you, sweet pea,” Dad said.

She nodded, still smiling. Now she really needed that ibuprofen.