Chapter 25
brEAKING: LOCAL WRITER DECLARES HERSELF A FAILURE Statement immediately challenged by a very persistent wide receiver
Alaia
I collapse on my sofa and rest my feet on the coffee table. I’m beat. I forgot how exhausting working the lunch crowd at Bootlegger can be.
Silly me. I thought the absence of women dressed as mermaids would be a bonus. I didn’t realize every smuggler on the island would stop by for a drink and a chat. As if I’m going to spill everything I know about the Steel City Seals.
I write a gossip column. I’m not a gossip. There’s a difference.
My phone pings and I dig it out of my pocket. I have a new email. From the sports magazine I pitched the Knox story to.
My hands shake with excitement. This is it. My big break. Proof I’m worth it. Proof I don’t need my dad to make my career. Proof I can do things on my own. Proof I don’t need a man to manipulate things for my ‘own good’.
No one else has managed to secure an interview with Knox Nichols. It’s an exclusive I know the magazine will love. An exclusive that will launch my career regardless of whether the Gazette closes.
I open the email. We regret to inform you…
Blazing bootleggers! It’s a rejection letter.
I scan the email. They praise my writing style but claim this is not an article their readership is interested in. What in the name of mermaids do they mean? It’s a sports magazine. The article is about one of the most popular offensive line coaches in the NFL.
My phone rings. I want to ignore it. But it’s the twins. Ignore them at your peril. I’m not stupid.
“What?”
“Someone’s grumpy!” They chant together.
I sigh. “What do you want?”
“What’s wrong?” Their initial cheer is gone. My sisters are a pain in my ass, but they’re supportive when I need them.
“My article was rejected.”
“Their loss,” Anne says.
“Yep,” Beth agrees. “You’re an excellent writer.”
My heart warms. “Thanks.”
“Do you want us to burn the newspaper building down?” Anne asks and I groan.
“No committing arson on my behalf. Besides, the Gazette didn’t reject my article; a sports magazine did.”
“We can train a bot to write nasty comments on all of their online articles,” Beth suggests.
“No. No revenge is necessary.” A bot will only be the beginning. I shiver to think what the end will be. “I’ll accept a drink, though.”
“We’ll be there in thirty minutes,” they declare in unison before hanging up.
I’m still sitting on my sofa dissecting the email and every single comment the editor made about my article when my doorbell rings thirty minutes later. I probably should have spent the time cleaning up since I smell of moonshine and beer.
I push to my feet and shuffle to the door. I open it and frown at the person standing there. “What are you doing here?”
Tanner smiles. “Your sisters messaged me.”
My brow wrinkles. “You’re in touch with my sisters?”
“And your dad and mom.”
I roll my eyes. “The members of my family enjoy sticking their noses in where they don’t belong more than I do, which is saying a lot.”
His smile dies. “Does it bother you that your family messaged me?”
“I don’t care that they messaged you. I care why they messaged you.”
He perks up. “You seriously don’t mind if I’m in touch with your family?”
“Why would I mind? My family likes you. A little too much considering this relationship is over in a few short weeks.”
My stomach sours. I don’t want this relationship to be over. But it’s what I agreed to. And I don’t have the headspace for heartbreak over a man right now. I’m too busy being heartbroken over my career.
“I’m such a failure,” I mutter.
Tanner grasps my hand and leads me into the living room. He sits on the sofa and tugs on my hand. I tumble into his lap.
“What are you doing?” I ask as I sit up and straddle him.
“I want to support you. I want to listen to what happened. But I need you close to comfort you when you make outrageous claims about being a failure.”
My body warms at his words. He wants to comfort me? Support me? Listen to me?
Tanner Long is the best man I’ve ever known. No wonder I love him.
I gasp. I love Tanner.
I want to deny it. I want to claim I’m merely falling for him but haven’t fallen in love yet. I want to protect myself from the heartbreak in my future. I want to protect myself from the loss of my freedom if we enter a relationship.
But I can’t. Because it’s true. I love Tanner.
He’s sweet and kind. Not to mention sexy. And he carries this big heart inside him most people don’t get a chance to experience.
Except me. He’s opened up to me. He’s shown me a side of himself he doesn’t show to others. It’s no wonder I fell for him despite my best efforts to stop from falling.
Tanner palms my cheeks. I nearly forgot I was sitting on his lap during my revelation. I shove the whole I love him revelation to the side. I’ll deal with those feelings later.
“You are not a failure.”
“Yes, I am.”
“What happened?”
I want to lie, not admit to what a failure I am, but when I gaze into his green eyes and notice how sincere and open he’s being, I can’t.
“I told you about the sports magazine I interned with?” He nods. “I still have contacts there. I thought they’d be thrilled to publish the article I wrote about Coach Knox. But they rejected me.”
“Hold on. They didn’t reject you. They decided not to publish an article you wrote.”
“Same thing.”
“No, gorgeous, it’s not. Did I ever tell you about how I got drafted into the NFL?”
“You got drafted into the NFL straight out of college. You’re not making me feel any better here.”
“I got dumped from the team that drafted me.”
My eyes widen. “You did?”
“Yep. The offensive line coordinator and I did not get along. He screamed at players. I don’t respond well to someone screaming obscenities at me.”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”
He squeezes my neck. “I’m not telling you this because I want your sympathy. I’m trying to point out how my getting cut from the team wasn’t a failure on my part. The coach and I weren’t a good match. It didn’t have anything to do with my ability to play football.”
“And you’re saying…”
“This magazine not accepting your article doesn’t mean you’re not a good writer or you’re a failure. Maybe the article wasn’t a good fit for their magazine. Maybe they had too many submissions.”
“Or maybe my dad didn’t contact them,” I mutter.
His brow wrinkles. “Why would your dad contact them?”
My cheeks warm with my shame. The secret I haven’t told a soul. Not even my dad knows I found out what he did.
“Gorgeous, talk to me. What’s wrong?”
I stare into his green eyes and decide to take a leap. I don’t want to keep secrets from the man I love. Even if he doesn’t know I love him. Even if he thinks this relationship is fake. Even if a relationship with him scares the mermaid out of me.
“My dad got me the job with the Smuggler’s Gazette.”
“Explain.”
“I overheard Mike, the editor-in-chief, on my first day of work. He didn’t realize I was there already.
He was complaining to the receptionist about being forced to hire me because of who my dad is.
” I inhale a deep breath and fight back the tears threatening to escape.
“My only real job in journalism, and he didn’t want to hire me. ”
“Gorgeous, he might not have wanted to hire you, but he obviously loves your writing.”
I snort. “Yeah, right. More like he’s afraid my dad’s going to go all pirate, conquering an island on him if he fires me.”
He frames my face with his hands. “I don’t believe it. No newspaper can afford to keep a journalist on staff who isn’t a good writer in this economy.”
“You have a point.” Especially considering the Gazette is probably shutting down at the end of the summer. “But it doesn’t change the facts. I would have never gotten the job without my dad helping me out.”
“We all need a little help sometimes. I never would have been able to keep Sam as my agent without Knox.”
“You might have a point – again – but obviously I’m not a good writer. Why else did the magazine reject my article? No one else has been able to get an interview with Coach Knox before.”
“What did the letter say?”
I dig my phone out of my pocket. I unlock it and open the email before handing it to him.
He kisses my nose before reading the email. I bite my lip as he reads. What am I doing? I’m exposing the man I love to all of my failures. This is stupid. I’m an idiot. I should—
“Wow. The editor loves you.”
I rear back. “Excuse me.”
He wags the phone at me. “Didn’t you read the email?”
“Of course, I did. Multiple times. It said they couldn’t use my article.”
“It also says you’re a wonderful writer and they’d love to receive more submissions from you.”
I roll my eyes. “They always say that. They don’t mean it.”
He lifts his eyebrow. “Really? They always say – and I quote here – ‘We sincerely enjoyed reading your article. Your love of the sport and the subject comes shining through. This is the kind of writing we prefer to feature in our magazine.”
“They said what?” I snatch the phone from him to read the email.
Huh. The email isn’t as bad as I thought it was at first.
“They still rejected my article.”
“Maybe you could rewrite it.”
“Rewrite it?”
Tanner shrugs. “It’s a very analytical article about how Coach Knox works. Maybe you could write an article about Coach Cha-Cha instead.”
“Coach Cha-Cha?”
“It’s Knox’s nickname. He had one too many shots of tequila at a former teammate’s wedding and decided he could do the cha-cha. He ended up with a concussion.” He smirks. “And a nickname he will never hear the end of.”
I narrow my eyes. “You’re saying I should write a more personal article about Knox?”
“It’s only an idea. You’re the writer. You’ll come up with something. I have faith in you.”
Faith in me? Those words hit me straight in the chest. Tanner believes in me. Has faith in me. He doesn’t care that my dad had to get me my first job in journalism. He believes in me anyway.
Oh mermaid. How I love him.
“Thank you.”
His smile stretches from ear to ear, and his green eyes light up. “Anything you need, gorgeous. I’m here.”
How I wish his words were true. Soon enough, he’ll be back in Steel City working on earning that Super Bowl ring he’s determined to win.
“You don’t believe me? It’s true.” He brushes my hair from my forehead before palming my neck. “I’m here for you. Anything you need. Say the word. I’d offer to contact the editor myself, but I know better.”
No wonder I love this man. He believes I can stand on my own. He’s not trying to fix my life for my ‘own good’.
“Or you’ve learned from Gage’s mistakes.”
Gage is dating my friend Addy. I’m painfully aware of all the mistakes he made while courting her.
He puffs out his chest. “Not everyone can be as charming as me.”
I bark out a laugh. There’s no one as charming as Tanner. There’s no one like him. I hope he doesn’t break my heart.