5. Cami
Cami
“ C am!”
I’ve barely cracked the door of my car when Mom comes racing across the driveway to meet me. The second I’m on my feet, her arms are around me and her cheek is pressed to mine.
“I missed you.”
I laugh. “You saw me three days ago.”
“Two days too many to go without a Cam hug.” She smacks a kiss on my forehead then lets go. “Come on. I’ve got dinner ready. Your father is in his office on a call. He’s been fielding them since the interview aired. Great job, by the way.”
“I didn’t stick around the studio to watch it once we got it cued to go.” I wanted to but I also didn’t. I saw it. Lived it. I knew it was good. And I was still nervous as hell about it anyway. “Is Dad happy or…”
“Oh, happy doesn’t come close to describing it. He’s got rival networks throwing money at him to get their hands on it.”
I stumble to a stop. “Really?”
She palms my face with both hands, her own face split wide with a huge grin. “The interview isn’t all they’re trying to buy. You, my dear, are as much a smash hit as the secret you were privileged to reveal. ”
“I didn’t reveal it.”
“No, but you got the real scoop, didn’t you? Draper is making noise about you stealing his story, but no one is listening.”
“Shit. I don’t need him coming after me.”
Mom shrugs. “He’ll do what he does, and we’ll do what we do.” She gives me a wink. “I know a really good lawyer.”
“She won’t need one.” Dad stands just inside the front door, a smug smile on his face. “C’mon, we’re having your favorite for dinner.”
“Hot dogs?” I ask smiling.
“No.” He shakes his head with a laugh. “Your other favorite.”
“I thought we were having pancakes for breakfast?”
“Get in here.” He wraps his arm around my neck and yanks me close. “You did good, baby girl, so good.”
“Mom was just telling me the feedback on the interview is good.”
“Good? Lord, baby, that thing is blowing up the airwaves. I’ve got national networks trying to get their hands on it and you.”
“And those are good things?”
“They are if you want a national platform.” He leans back and our eyes lock. “But you don’t want that.”
I shake my head. “No. I’m happy at the paper. I’m happy for the interviews to go national though.”
“Okay.” Dad lets me go and grabs my hand. “We’ve got a lot to talk about then. Good thing you’ve got your legal rep here.” He sends a wink over his shoulder at Mom.
“I need a lawyer?”
“Not like you’re thinking.”
When we reach the kitchen, I see Mom has set the table in the breakfast nook and there is a pile of paperwork to one side. “What’s all that?”
“Your new contract with FNB.”
“New contract?”
“Sit down, Cam. Let’s not spoil dinner with work talk. We’ll deal with it after we eat.” Mom moves toward the fridge. “What do you want to drink.”
I glance at the table. At the new contract. “Water.” I want wine but I’m going to need all my wits to get through those pages. With a sigh, I slip into a chair and reach for the paperwork. “May as well get this over with. Letting it sit here while we eat is going to spoil it anyway.”
Dad smiles at me from across the table. “That’s my girl.”
“We’ll see if you still say that after I’ve read this.” I hold up the bundle. Dropping it back to the table I start to read. “I’m freelance?”
“It’s the best for you. FNB and KAW and its associated investments too,” Mom says, putting a glass of water in front of me. “If someone digs and publicizes your involvement with KAW they’ll connect you to the Rogues. I spoke to Oakley earlier and she’s getting your lawyers to draw up a contract between you and the Rogues to cover the interviews.”
“So even though I technically own the team, we’re drawing the line between ownership and journalist?”
“Exactly. And, we were talking about possibly donating your earnings from the interviews to one of the Rogues’ designated charities or one of your choosing.”
“Hmm…” I glance back at the contract. It doesn’t take me long to work my way through it in spite of it being twenty pages long. There’s nothing I see that worries me and the monetary value is more than acceptable. In fact… “Don’t you think the dollar amount is a little high?” I ask Dad.
“It was less until this one got involved.” He points at Mom. “Good thing she’s on our side. She had valid arguments as to why I should up the figure to that amount.”
“You’ll notice the clause about income received from the pieces too. Anything FNB brings in from the interviews or articles will be split between you, FNB, and a charity of your choice.”
“If I donate my earnings I’ll effectively be working for free.”
“You don’t need to work, Cam.”
I look at Dad. “I know. You made sure of that, but I still have bills to pay, and you know I haven’t touched my trust fund for anything other than the start-up money for Rogue sportswear and the Rogues franchise.”
“I do and yet, you’ve barely dented it.”
“Half a billion is more than a dent Dad.”
“It is, but not when you put it up against what you have.”
I can’t argue with him. My trust fund has been invested well over the years and while I’ve taken money out of it, there’s still well over a billion in there. And then there’s my personal accounts. The ones holding my share of the Rogue sportswear profits.
Looking at Mom, I ask, “You think I should make everyone aware I’m donating my earning from these interviews or keep it on the quiet until someone starts pointing fingers?”
“Up to you.”
“I have an idea.”
I turn to Dad. “What?”
“You probably won’t like it but I think you should leave the owners of the Rogues until last.”
“But Blake and Nat work for the team, I can’t leave the assistant coach and GM out of these interviews.”
“No, you can’t. And that’s not what I’m saying. I think you should interview them as GM and assistant coach. Don’t mention them being part of KAW.”
It takes barely a moment for his words to form a picture of what he’s suggesting. “The owners, Oak, Nat, Blake, and me.”
“Yes.”
“And who would do that interview?”
“You.”
“How the hell would I do that?”
“The same way you do the players and staff, except the girls can turn any question back on you or ask something else.”
“The interviewer becomes the interviewee?”
“Yes. ”
I mull that over. I can see how it would work. But then something else comes to mind. “What if I let Walker and Branton, no, wait, what if we got Andrew Watts to interview us? He’s arguably the most knowledgeable and respected name in the hockey world.”
“Do you think he’d do it? Because I really like that idea.”
“I think so, but I’ll ask him tomorrow. And it might be a good idea to have Walker and Branton there with us or for them to join us at some point…”
“Okay, enough shop talk.” Mom moves the contract to the side. “Let’s eat dinner and come back to this discussion. Although you can leave the final interview decisions for now. Who knows, by the time you’re ready to film it, there may be a couple more partners to add.”
“Nat’s divorcing Johnathon.”
“Oh, I know. She’s been working on it for a while now.” Mom smiles at me.
“You knew?”
“Yes. Although I thought she would have done it before now.”
“She hasn’t said much but I think he’s being a dick.”
“He was always a dick. So was her grandfather.”
My eyes dart to Dad. “Huh?”
“Redding was a fucking prick who treated the women in his family like property.”
“I. Um.” My gaze bounces to Mom and back. “You knew Nat’s grandfather?”
“Yes. I know him. Wish I didn’t. Waste of air, that man. I hoped when he died his antiquated ideas would die with him. But then Natalie married Johnathon.”
I sit back and stare at Dad. “I had no idea you knew Nat before I met her in college.”
“I didn’t know her. I knew her grandparents and I’d met her parents a couple of times. Her father was a spineless waste of air too. I wasn’t sad to hear he’d died. ”
“Wow. This is…I don’t know what this is.”
“Tell Nat if she needs any help getting Johnathon out of her life to give me a call.”
“What could you do? She already has enough evidence from the PI to cut him loose with minimal damage. But I think she’s going to sweeten the pot for him to walk away. She’s already giving him the house in New Orleans, but Oakley said something about five hundred million to convince him to walk without looking back.”
“Not the family home?”
“No. They never lived in that. And something in her grandfather’s will means she can’t without being married so she’s leaving that as is.”
“She can’t sell it?” Mom asks.
“Again, something in the will stops that from happening.”
“Fucking prick. Did he at least leave money for the upkeep on the monstrosity?”
“Yeah. And Nat thinks she may have come up with a way to use it without living there. I can’t remember exactly what and with the start of the season on us she’s been distracted.”
“They’ve lived separate lives as long as I’ve known her. I honestly didn’t think he’d make things difficult for her.”
I look at Mom. “She’s his unlimited credit card. He’s got no money of his own and never had a job that I know of.”
“He worked for his father before they were married,” Dad explains. “Now that I think about it, I’m pretty sure Whitman senior cut him off around that time.”
“It would explain why he married Natalie.”
“You don’t think they were in love once?” Mom asks.
I can’t help the bark of laughter that breaks free. “Hell no. She told us she married him to unlock her trust funds. Although I will admit that’s new information. In all the years we’ve known her, she’s barely talked about him or their marriage. As you say, they’ve lived separate lives. I remember the documents we had to sign to guarantee he couldn’t touch Rogue sportswear and now the Rogues franchise.”
“With the money the Redding family has, I’m surprised she worried about that.”
I glance at Dad. “I think she worried about us, not herself.”
“Ah, yes, I can see that.”
“Speaking of deadbeat family.”
“Was that what we were doing?”
“In a roundabout way, yes.” I lock gazes with Dad. “You know she’s going to come out of whatever hole she’s in, right?”
“She can crawl out, but it won’t affect you.”
“I’ll be the first one she heads for.”
“Don’t talk to her. If you accidentally pick up a call because she’s got a new number, hang up and send me the number before blocking it.”
Dad’s words are firm, no room for argument, and to be honest, I’d probably do what he asked minus sending him the number anyway.
I have no inclination to talk to my biological mother. As far as I’m concerned, she doesn’t exist.
“Cam?”
“I won’t entertain her in any way. Call, in person, no matter how she tries to contact me, I won’t give her the satisfaction of getting to me.”
“If she does contact you, we’ll have another restraining order put in place.”
“We know that won’t stop her.”
“No, but it will make it easier to get her to go away.”
“I can get the paperwork drawn up, ready to go.” Mom laughs as we both look at her. “What? We all know she’s going to remember who she gave birth to once she sees you splashed all over the TV and internet.”
“Draper might dig.”
“He probably will, but I can blacklist him from a few outlets. I can’t really stop the gutter press from taking whatever he has to offer and that might be information on you.”
“Thanks, Dad, but I think we’ll see what happens before you call in any favors.”
“Say the word and it’ll be done. Of course he’s already blacklisted from the entire FNB network.”
“Since when?”
“Since Natalie called me with her demands.”
“She told you what happened?”
“Of course she did. It made her demands more acceptable.”
“Why?”
“Because he chose to attack my girls.”
“He didn’t attack us.”
“He went after Higgison. You own Higgison. Therefore, he went after you.”
“Dad.”
“Baby girl, I will do anything and everything to make sure you’re taken care of.”
“But—”
Dad holds up a hand. “I couldn’t protect you for eight years.”
“That wasn’t your fault.”
“No, it wasn’t, but it’s a father’s privilege to take care of his daughter.”
“I want to argue I’m a grown up, but I know it must be hard for you, even after all this time, to accept you weren’t there for me.”
“It guts me every day to think she left you without food, in dirty clothes.” He shakes his head. “And don’t get me started on Muskin. I can’t make that go away, can’t erase the trauma you went through, but I can damn well try to make up for it no matter how old you are.”
“I was born to love you.”
Dad’s frown instantly turns to a grin. “And you were born for me to love.”