Family Fortune

She let several silent seconds tick by, then reached for her handbag and pulled out the envelope. Since Cale paid no attention to the rustle of paper, she cleared her throat.

He threw her a wary glance. Crystal saw more than she wanted to see. More than he wanted her to see. The man was hurting, and not just on the outside. She doubted it had anything to do with his physical condition.

“What’s that?” Cale shifted his gaze to the neatly typed page she’d unfurled.

“An offer of employment from Lyon Broadcasting. One of our sportscasters took a job in L.A. Nate Fraser, the sports director at WDIX-TV, wants you to replace him. So does André Lyon, and Michael McKay, head of personnel. It’s all in this letter of intent.”

“I’m not some over-the-hill quarterback you can dress in a monkey suit and slap behind a desk to talk about the game. I’m a player. A damn good one. I’ve got six more years in me if I’ve got a day.” He plucked the letter out of her hand and ripped it in two. As the pieces settled, he said venomously, “Tell Fraser to get the hell out of my face. Goes double for you, lady.”

Once again Crystal changed her opinion of the great Caleb Tanner. He was a spoiled brat. An egomaniac, too. She slammed the lid on her sax case as the outer door opened. In whisked the wiry man she’d seen leaving Tanner’s room yesterday.

“Cale? I heard you shouting all the way down the hall.” The newcomer trained his eyes on Crystal. “I don’t know the problem, so I can’t apologize for my client. I’m Cale’s agent, Leland Bergman.”

“It’s a case of killing the messenger. I could have brought Nate back a simple no just as easily.”

“Nate?” Leland rested his briefcase on Caleb’s bed.

Crystal hefted her sax and her handbag and started for the door, never glancing at Tanner. “I had the dubious honor of delivering Nate Fraser’s offer to hire Mr. Tanner as a WDIX-TV sportscaster.” She inclined her head toward the two halves of the letter. “I’m on my way now to relay Tanner’s refusal.”

“Hold on.” Leland loped across the floor. He tugged Crystal back into the room. After releasing her, he fitted the letter pieces together and read them.

Caleb sat through the whole ordeal without moving, as if carved from rock.

When Leland finished, he dropped the pieces into Cale’s lap and waited until he bad his client’s attention. “It’s a good offer,” Leland said with a catch in his voice. “I don’t mind saying, Cale, it’ll make my news a little easier to take. The Sinners won’t wait on another doctor’s opinion. They’ve given you the final sack, old buddy.”

Crystal had to turn away and blink her eyes. The last time she’d seen a man look so utterly devastated, she’d been eight. The news had been as bluntly delivered. A doctor had stridden into a waiting room where Crystal sat with her father and announced that her mother had died in recovery after a simple tonsillectomy. She’d hemorrhaged, and no one had been able to stop the bleeding. Crystal’s world—and her father’s—had shifted on its axis. Tanner’s had clearly just done the same.

Bergman was talking about a career change, not death. Still, Tanner obviously wasn’t going to do it. In her opinion, WDIX would be better off without him, although Nate and the others would be disappointed. She’d better go call them. Except that she still hadn’t fulfilled her promise to Skip’s friends.

“Mr. Bergman, there are five kids in a ward down the hall who’d love a signed photo of your client. They will always be his fans.”

Caleb rallied, emerging from his misery. “I forgot. Leland, are there any promo shots left in the bottom dresser drawer?”

Leland found them and shoved a stack at Crystal. “You want the little lady to hold off telling Fraser no—don’t you, Cale?”

“I want to play, Lee. Call Miami. They were sniffing around in the spring.”

“As soon as they hear the Sinners wire-brushed you due to injuries, nobody’ll be interested anymore. At least consider Fraser’s offer.”

Cale looked stubborn. “The money’s pocket change, Leland.”

Crystal almost swallowed her teeth.

The agent slicked a hand through thinning hair. “So ask for a hundred grand.”

“They’ll never pay it,” Crystal sputtered, fearing in her heart that they would.

Leland hustled her to the door. “Ask them, darlin’,” he whispered loudly. “Come back later with a counter. I’ll keep the Sinners from releasing a statement until Cale hammers out this deal.”

Crystal found herself outside in the hall staring at the closed door. A hundred thousand dollars to comment on a few games a year? They were out of their ever-loving gourds.

CHAPTER THREE

CRYSTAL DECIDED to grab some lunch and call André before going to see Skip and the other boys to give them their keepsakes. The crowded cafeteria pulsed with noisy chatter. Doctors and nurses who ordinarily ate in one of the hospital’s three open courtyards had been driven inside by the storm.

She chose a shrimp salad and a cup of coffee and settled into a corner table by a window. Fat raindrops beat steadily against the glass. Warming her hands on the cup, Crystal dreaded calling André. It was hard to gauge how he’d react. Probably he’d be upset. She ought to have explained to Tanner how generous the offer really was. But no, he wanted more. He wouldn’t have listened to reason. To top it off, he’d acted as if eighty-five thousand was a paltry amount.

Thank goodness it wasn’t her problem. She coordinated all department budgets and gave input into spending patterns. The decision to spend an obscene amount of money to hire a name—and to Crystal Caleb Tanner’s name was the only thing he had of any worth—belonged to the company principals, mainly André and Gaby. Margaret always backed them. Charles had almost ceased participating, and as for his sons...well, Alain and Raymond opposed everything André put on the table. Jason rarely attended meetings. Scott avoided all family politics. But spending money always caused major bickering.

Still, she couldn’t sit here procrastinating forever. Swallowing a bite of salad, Crystal took her cell phone out of her handbag and quickly punched in André’s number. “Hi, it’s me,” she said inanely in response to his greeting. “Tanner tore up our offer, André. I hope you don’t fall off your chair, but get this. His bottom line is one hundred thousand. Plus benefits, I’m sure. I let him know the figure was preposterous.”

She held the phone away from her ear as André responded.

“You’re telling me to go for it? Do you know how much of a slice that takes out of the sports budget? We paid Jerry Davis half that and he came to WDIX an experienced broadcaster. For all you know, Tanner might freeze in front of the camera.”

Crystal cradled the phone on her shoulder while she poked at the shrimp among her salad greens. The more determination she heard in André’s voice, the less hungry she became. “Okay,” she said. “I’ll concede that might be far-fetched. I realize you’ve seen him field sports interviews. Of course Lyon Broadcasting is solvent. Yes, we have money in the discretionary fund. André, maybe it’d be better if you and Nate came and talked to Tanner. I’ll go back to the office and adjust the short- and long-term planning figures to reflect your decision.”

She shoved her salad away. “I know you want him. It just seemed such an absurd request I didn’t seriously imagine you’d go that high.”

Sighing, Crystal massaged her forehead. “Okay. Will you print another letter of intent with the new dollar amounts and run it over here? Two copies. You sign both and I’ll have Tanner do the same—maybe. If he goes for it. You might want to include a list of benefits. I have a feeling he’ll ask what all we’re offering. Buzz me when you’re a couple of blocks from the hospital. I’ll come out to the curb and collect the envelope so you don’t have to fight for parking.”

After she hung up, she drank her cold coffee and contemplated what quirk in male brains made them elevate sports figures to the top of the salary pyramid. Well, top salary for an independent TV station, anyway. And from Tanner’s remarks it wasn’t even close to what he made throwing a stupid ball around a cow pasture. But then, rock stars pulled down indecent money compared to most jazz musicians she knew. More of life’s unfairness, she supposed.

The cafeteria had begun to empty. Rather than visit the boys while she waited for André’s call, Crystal refilled her coffee cup. Better to sew up this deal with Tanner and get it out of her system. Kids were so perceptive. Skipper, especially, because of the stream of foster families he’d lived with could pick up moods easily. Crystal didn’t want him worrying about her little snit.

Ultimately she downed three cups of coffee before André called. Her teeth might be on edge from an overdose of caffeine, but at least the storm had blown over and the rain had stopped. The sun had popped out and steam rose off the sidewalks by the time Crystal jogged out to the street to meet André’s car. He wasn’t alone. Nate and Michael were with him.

“Sure you won’t handle this, André?” she pleaded again as he shoved the manila envelope into her hand. “I’ll smuggle you past the nurses’ station.”

Nate leaned across André. “Pro athletes can be superstitious as heu, Crystal. We don’t know that Tanner is, but no sense rocking the canoe, if you know what I mean. He’s talking to you, and that suits me fine. Say, André forgot to ask—did Cale mention how long it’d be before we can expect him to come on board?”

“We, uh, didn’t get to the particulars. I doubt we’d have progressed beyond him ripping up our letter if his agent hadn’t shown up.”

André frowned. “Is Bergman involved in our negotiations? If so, the tab may go even higher.”

Crystal flattened herself against the car as an SUV plowed through a puddle and water sprayed from beneath its big wheels. “Mr. Bergman’s the one who urged Tanner to reconsider taking the job. I gathered he’s only just found out for sure that the Sinners aren’t going to renew Caleb’s contract.”

“So it’s official?” Nate played drumbeats on André’s dash. “I’m glad you beefed up the benefits, André. We’ll hit him while he’s still reeling. Stay with him until he signs, Crystal. And be nice. Tell him what he wants to hear. That he’ll have a generous travel allowance and his own expense account.”

“What?” Crystal bent down and thrust her head into the car. “Am I going to have to fight with him over road expenses the way I do with you, Nate? You can’t give an employee an unlimited expense account. It’s financial suicide. Tell him, Michael.”

André cleared his throat. “It’s not open-ended, Crystal. But we’d rather wait to set the parameters after Caleb starts work and we have a better sense of what his duties will be. Can you avoid stating an exact amount? Just indicate it’ll be generous.”

“I think you’re all nuts,” she muttered. “A monkey in silk is still a monkey.”

“Oh, that’s something else,” Nate said. “While Michael drew up the new offer, I did some digging into Cale’s background. He graduated from Texas A & M with a degree in communications.”

“I’ll bet. Everybody knows college counselors give jocks do-nothing courses.”