20. Ian
Chapter 20
Ian
I ’m about to kiss Mia when my saving grace suddenly storms through the patio doors and onto the deck where Mia and I are standing.
“ARE YOU KIDDING ME? Why am I not the FIRST person you call? Why, Ian? How can I control this… this… mess,” she flails her arms around, “if you don’t call me? Why?” Brinna says as she approaches both of us.
“Brinna.” I try to calm her down, but once she’s on a rampage, it’s just best to let her rant.
“Don’t you dare ‘Brinna’ me, Ian. This is exactly what you pay me a shit ton of money for, but how am I supposed to help manage this if I don’t know about it until the press — THE PRESS, IAN — is blowing up my office?”
I take Mia’s hand, “Brinna Stewart, meet my fiancé, Mia McIntosh. Mia, this is Brinna, my very angry publicist.”
“You’re damn right I’m angry.” Brinna says and turns to Mia and holds out her hand. “Nice to meet you, Mia.”
“Hello.” Mia shakes her hand.
I lead Mia into the house. “Brinna, would you like to join us for dinner? We’re having Thai food.”
I can hear her huff and stomp her feet behind us. “Yes, I would, since we need to talk about a few things. Mia, do you mind if I join you?”
“No, of course not.”
“Great. Do you want to call your publicist and have them join us? It’ll be best if we can hammer out the details in one sitting.”
I hold out Mia’s chair at the table for her to sit. “Mia doesn’t have a publicist. I’ll ask that you handle everything for the both of us.”
“Ah… I don’t think I need a publicist.” Mia says as she watches Brinna sit down across the table from us.
As Brinna loads food onto her plate, the girl can eat a horse and still be on the cover of Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition, “You most definitely need a publicist.” She says to Mia and then looks at me. “I’ll be billing double for you both.”
“I wouldn’t expect anything else from you, Brinna.” I smile at her and then turn to Mia. “Brinna is the best in the business.”
“I am.”
“And very humble as well.” I say sarcastically. Mia already looks a bit overwhelmed, so I fill up her plate with some Pad See Ew. “We eat first, then we talk business.”
Mia starts eating as Brinna closes her notebook and gives me a dirty look. “Fine. Mia, tell me about yourself.”
Mia wipes the corner of her mouth with her napkin. “You first.”
Brinna’s fork stops halfway to her mouth, and she smiles, “Oh, Ian. I like this one.”
“Me, too.”
We finish dinner and move to the couch in the living room. “Okay, Brinna. Give it to me. How much have I screwed up?”
Brinna sits down and opens her tablet and a notebook. “You’ve screwed the pooch, moneybags.”
“What does that phrase even mean, ‘screwed the pooch’? I’ve never understood that. I mean, I know what it means, but how the hell did it become a phrase to use? It’s so weird.” Mia questions.
“I’ve never really thought about it, but you’re right. It really is a weird phrase.” Brinna looks off into space but then shakes her head. “Either way, you’ve fucked up.”
“That phrase is better. How have we fucked up?” Mia asks as I just watch the two of them banter back and forth.
“You’ve fucked up by not telling me about it before the world got a hold of it and then not calling me the minute it hit the news. And then…”
“Okay, okay,” I hold up my hands in defense, “we get it. What do we need to do now?”
Brinna looks like she just won the lottery with my admission of guilt. “Well, we have a lot to get done, actually. First, we need to schedule either a press conference or do a sit down with one of the morning shows. I prefer the latter and the sooner the better.”
“Do we really need to do either?” Mia asks.
Brinna nods, “Yes, we do and the sooner the better. It’ll help with the rumors and vile things people are saying about you and Ian. Plus, since Ian is a public figure thanks to his mom’s interview last month, everyone wants to know about how you both met, your history, and what it is about him that you love. To be honest, everyone thinks this is just a move to help your business, Ian, and quite frankly, that’s exactly what it looks like right now.”
“Brinna, this has nothing to do with business. Mia and I met, and it was love at first sight for me. I’ve had to convince her to marry me.” I turn to Mia and kiss the back of her hand and watch the blush crawl up her neck and into her cheeks. “And I’m so grateful that she’s agreed.” I turn back to Brinna. “What more do you need to know?”
I watch as she seems to reconcile whatever thoughts she has in her head, and she nods. “Okay, then. We’re going to need pictures and have that interview. I’ll have someone from the Today Show fly out tomorrow afternoon and do the interview. You’ll both need to clear your calendar. Also,” Brinna is writing in her notebook, “tell me when is the engagement party? This Friday night, right?”
“What engagement party?” Mia and I ask in unison.
Brinna looks up from her writing. “The one your mom is putting together? She contacted my office to let us know.” Brinna sounds confused.
She’s not the only one. “My mother is throwing us an engagement party?”
Brinna laughs. “Have you even spoken to your parents since this all broke in the press?”
I pull out my phone and dial my mother’s number and put it on speakerphone.
“Hi Ian.” My mother answers.
“Hi mother. What’s this about an engagement party you’re throwing?” I ask.
“Yes. It’s Friday night at your club. I’ve worked out the details with Mrs. Wilcox and have hired a lovely event planner named Riley to organize the entire thing.”
“Mother, you can’t just throw us a party and not let us know.” I scold.
“Why not? You got engaged without telling your father and me.” My mother says with fake innocence in her voice.
Ouch. That one hurt, and she knows exactly what she’s doing. “Touche. You’re right. How about you, dad, and Sawyer come over for dinner tomorrow night? You and Mia can get to know each other, and we can talk more about this party.”
“Sounds lovely.”
“Oh, and this party, if we’re going to have it, is not happening this week, so cancel any plans you’ve made. We’ll both be in the Bahamas later this week, and possibly the entire weekend.”
“Just as well, it’s kind of last minute. You know about those things, right dear?” My mother’s barbs are sharp today.
“You’ve made your point, Mom. I’m sorry I didn’t call sooner. We’ll talk tomorrow, okay?”
We all hear her sigh. “Okay, tomorrow night for dinner. We’ll see you then.”
“Love you, Mom.”
“Love you, too, Ian. Bye.” She hangs up, and I put my phone down.
Brinna looks at me, “Wow. You’re in deep shit.”
I nod, “Yep, I am.” I change the subject, “So, there’s no engagement party, at least for this week. I’ll have to convince my mother that we don’t need one, but that may be a moot point, seeing as she loves to throw parties.”
“Yep. And her oldest is getting married. Good luck with that.” Brinna says as she types on her tablet. “Okay, it looks like one of the anchors for the Today Show will fly in tomorrow afternoon with a camera crew. They’ll be here around three, so I’ll be here around two to make sure that you two are ready.”
“What kinds of questions are they going to ask?” Mia asks Brinna.
“The basics at first, like where did you meet, how long have you been secretly dating, what do you see in each other… then, they may get personal. Actually, I’d be prepared for them to get personal since, and don’t take this wrong, since no one has ever heard of you and suddenly you’re engaged to one of the most eligible billionaires in the world.”
“I hate that moniker.” I mumble.
“Hate it or not, it’s out there and since you’ve said nothing to the press so far, they’re running it as either she’s pregnant with your love child or she’s got something on you and forcing you to marry her for the money.”
Mia jumps up off the couch. “That’s complete bullshit. All of it.”
Brinna remains unfazed. “Maybe, but that’s not what the public is being told right now. Especially since we’ve heard from your ex-boyfriend, but not from you. So, you can see why this is important to do tomorrow’s interview.”
Mia sits back down, deflated. “I don’t understand why this is anyone’s business, anyway.”
“It’s not, but people like to either knock down someone else or root for them. It’ll be up to you both to convince them to root for you.” Brinna checks her watch. “I’ve got to go. Make sure you both have your stories straight. I don’t care what you tell them about yourselves. Just make sure you both tell them the same damn thing. Okay?”
We all stand, and I walk Brinna to the door, “Thank you, Brinna and I’m sorry I didn’t call you about all of this.”
“You’re forgiven.” She hugs me and looks over at Mia. “It was nice to meet you Mia, and please make sure to call me first if you get pregnant. Okay?”
Mia blushes bright red and nods.
“Good night, Brinna.” I usher her out the door.
“Night. See ya tomorrow.” She calls over her shoulder as she makes her way to her Porsche parked in my driveway.