Chapter 24 #4
The applause is polite, but that’s to be expected. These people haven’t seen Jeffrey around One Life. They haven’t seen him today. They just see a guy in a thousand-dollar suit when everyone else is wearing sports gear.
Which one of these is not like the others? For once, it’s not me.
But Jeffrey takes the mic with ease, giving Ross a firm, warm handshake. “Thank you, Ross. Everyone, a round of applause for Ross Andrews!” After a longer, warmer round, Jeffrey continues.
“I have great news I’d like to announce,” Jeffrey says, his white grin flashing over the crowd and surely looking good for the camera.
“Ross introduced me as a part of the One Life family, and I have to thank him for that. Because I’m actually a newer addition to the family, and what you see today is the hard work of the original team.
” He holds his hands out expansively, gesturing to the building behind him.
“When Ross and Kaede came to me, they had a dream that I found compelling. A dream to bring this sort of excitement, this sort of community, this sort of family to cities all over the country. Maybe even all over the world! So it’s with great pleasure that we are ready to announce that we’re taking our next step as One Life partners with Sanders Investment Group to bring One Life to the Charlotte, North Carolina area! ”
There’s big applause for that, and I can see the crowd’s happy to hear it, but they want things to move along. They’ve been here all morning and are probably ready to get back to their families, though some of the hardcore folks will probably go inside for even more of a workout.
Come on, Jeffrey. Shit or get off the pot, as Mom used to say.
“I’m glad to be a partner with the remarkable people here at One Life because their goals are my goals. Family first. I know that Ross and Kaede believe in the importance of family too.”
Oh, shit.
“So, I’d like to take a moment to just say thank you to their families, Ross's wife, Violet Andrews, and Kaede’s fiancée, Courtney Andrews.”
There’s a heartbeat of stunned silence as Courtney’s name rings out over the parking lot, and then more applause rings out. My eyes jump to Jeffrey, thinking surely, I heard him wrong.
No way did he just say that! No, no, no.
But when I find Courtney, I know I heard correctly.
If looks could kill, Jeffrey would be a big pile of ashes right now.
Or Courtney’s supposedly the Ice Queen, so maybe he’d flash-freeze into one big iceberg?
I get a mental flash of a Scooby Doo rerun I watched as a kid with some Neanderthal guy in ice, but it was the professor in disguise, I think. That could be Jeffrey.
“I know they’re a little shy and like to stay behind the scenes, but together, we will all make One Life Gym the next national brand everyone turns to for fitness, wellness, and health.” Everyone claps, and Jeffrey leaves the stage.
Ross picks up the mic and tries to recover, giving one last thank you to everyone and then officially ending the event.
I numbly follow everyone offstage where I see Jeffrey’s already talking to some of the newspaper folks who are covering today’s events for the local papers. With Missy behind him, Jeffrey is dropping names all over the place—Ross, Kaede, Kayla, AJ, Stacylynne . . . Violet and Courtney.
Missy looks over at me with a smug smile, and I watch as she draws a nice big checkmark on her iPad.
So this was her plan?
She went up to Morgan’s office to check behind the scenes and realized that Courtney and I are a lie.
We fucked up the chess match. She’s a move ahead of us. Think, Kaede. Salvage this.
Wait. If she told Jeffrey the engagement is fake, he never would’ve gone through with the announcement, especially without challenging me on it. I know that.
So, what did she tell her father?
Occam’s Razor. If you hear hoofbeats, think horses, not zebras.
I review the things I do know. Missy knows. She didn’t tell Jeffrey. He announced Violet and Courtney.
Shit. She told him we changed our minds and wanted to give them credit for their roles in our lives. And that’s why he announced them with the whole family push. He thought he was supposed to and has no idea that he just got played by his daughter.
Ross can’t let this go, and neither can I, even though the ship has sailed . . . and crashed, so as the media disperse, Ross says, “Jeffrey, we said—”
Missy interrupts. “Daddy, your next appointment . . . you don’t want to be late.”
“Ah! Correct again, honey.” He smiles at Missy as though she’s as sweet as peach pie. To us, he simply dips his chin. “Great job, gentlemen. I’ll be in touch.”
And with that, he swooshes Missy into the waiting limo and the driver pulls away.
Ross and I look at each other in total shock, feeling very much like we just lived through a torpedo strike. “What the fuck was that?” Ross whispers. “We specifically said not to mention Violet, and for sure, not Courtney.”
“Fuckin’ Missy,” I hiss. “She had to have figured it out when she went to your Dad’s. But I don’t think she told Jeffrey. I think she told him we wanted him to announce Vi and Court. I just don’t know why.”
“What do we do now?” Ross says. “Got a contingency for this one?”
I look over at Courtney, who’s frozen, her phone in her hand. She looks pale. Actually, her face is going pale as a ghost.
I want, no, need to go to her, to tell her that it’s going to be okay. I want to hold her, reassure her. I want to tell the whole damn world to fuck off because it’s true and she’s mine. Except it’s not. Right?
I take a step, but she turns and leaves before I can say anything, and I have to focus on Ross as he starts ranting quietly, trying to figure out our next move.