Chapter 39
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
brEAKING THE INTERNET
ELLE
Now
Rhodes and I drive over to Weston and Sadie’s place.
I’d messaged the girls asking if we could meet up as soon as possible, and Rhodes was already in the middle of a group chat with the guys, so when Sadie invited us over, Weston invited the whole crew.
Rhodes’ parents were happy to watch Levi.
It’s nice that it’s a holiday week; otherwise, I’m not sure we could’ve all pulled this off on such short notice.
My inbox on every social media platform is growing by the minute, and I don't know what to say to any of them. My agent calls while we're on the way to Sadie's and tells me to just sit tight until we can come up with a public statement. I’ll call her when I get home later.
I’m all nerves as we pull into the driveway. When Rhodes stops the SUV, he reaches over and takes my hand.
“It's going to be okay. All of these people love you and they're going to be so excited. I'll be with you—if you want me—when we talk to your parents too. They’ll have to get through me first if they want to say anything negative.”
“I’m so glad you know. I would have been mortified if you'd found out before we had worked through our feelings, but keeping this from you has been so hard.” I grin at him.
“And not sharing why I can suddenly pay for things. Last month I made more than I’ve ever made in all my jobs put together…
in one month! Granted, I’ve never had jobs that paid great, but still! ”
He’s laughing as he opens the door.
“And here I’ve been so worried about your finances and frustrated that you never let me help,” he says.
Weston opens the door and lets us inside.
Caleb runs over and looks around. “Wheh’s Yevi?” he asks.
Levi adores the way Caleb says his name.
“He stayed with his grandparents this time, buddy,” Rhodes says. “You’ll see him soon though, I promise.”
We walk back into the living room, where it’s quiet, when suddenly I’m assaulted with colorful silly string spray coming from every direction.
I gasp and try to duck, but they’re relentless. The girls are all aiming their bottles at me and laughing their heads off.
“Zoey Archer,” Sadie yells. “How in the world did you keep that from us?”
Tru is bent over, laughing too hard to grab another can fast enough. I run around the room and they chase me with it. Calista and Stephanie are in on it too, and the guys laugh at us from the sidelines.
“Your meetings are more fun than the Single Dad Players,” Penn says. “I think I want to join your group.”
“Not so fast,” Henley says. “You wormed your way into our group. You are not getting out of it that easily.”
“Tell us everything,” Sadie says, coming over to hug me.
She pulls silly string out of my hair and I pull it out of hers. I hug her and then Tru and Stephanie.
“I saw it on TikTok right before I came,” Stephanie says, “and asked Tru if she’d known all along.”
“No idea,” Tru says, pretending to glare at me.
“I didn’t even know until she accidentally emailed me from the wrong account,” Calista says.
“I felt so bad for keeping it a secret from you guys, especially when you were talking about how much you loved the book. First of all, I’m still in shock that it’s been so well received, so to know that it found its way into your bookstore, Calista, and that you all read it…
I still can’t get over that! If I could have kept it contained to only you guys knowing forever, I would have. ”
“Have you talked to your parents yet?” Calista asks.
“No. I just told Rhodes a little while ago. When you let me know that word had gotten out, I told him, and his parents know now too.”
“What do you think about having a superstar girlfriend, Rhodes?” Calista asks.
“I am fucking ecstatic,” he says, putting his arms around me and pulling me close.
“I’ve wanted her to write ever since the first time I read something of hers.
I knew she had a gift back then. The fact that it's such a huge hit is just…” He leans in and kisses the side of my head.
“I’m so fucking proud I don’t know what to do with myself.
” He laughs. “Right under our fucking noses.”
The guys congratulate me too and Penn says he’ll add it to his reading list.
“You have a reading list?” Weston teases, as I’m saying, “Oh, that's okay. You really don't need to read it.”
“I want to,” he says.
“Are you a reader?” I ask.
“No, but what better way to start reading than to start with yours? I can pull your book out and say I know the author.”
He’s teased more about it, but my phone vibrating makes everyone look at me.
“I really don't want—” I groan, as my phone buzzes with texts again.
Then it rings. I ignore it. I pick it up and cringe. I don’t recognize the number.
“People are messaging like crazy. I haven't even looked at all the videos about me. I’m scared to look.”
“It’s pretty fun, actually,” Calista says. “But now they’re putting two and two together and thinking maybe this story is about Rhodes.”
I make a face and look at Rhodes, who has a smug, shit-eating grin taking over his entire face.
“So glad we’d worked this out before this news came out,” I reiterate, motioning between the two of us. “I need to let my parents know before someone else tells them about it…if that's even possible.”
“You're an adult, honey,” Stephanie says.
“I know you try really hard to do what your parents want.
You're a good daughter. They should be proud of how smart you are, how kind and beautiful, and how much you love them and care what they think.
But I lived for so long in a house with a husband where I couldn't do anything without wondering how he would take it or how he would verbally beat me up over it.
I know your parents aren't doing that exactly, but anyone who shames something you're proud of...” She squeezes my hand.
“I don't care if it's your parents, or your children, or friends, or strangers on the internet…you hold your head high and be proud of who you are.”
“Thank you, Stephanie,” I say, hugging her again. My voice is wobbly as I wipe the tears dripping down my face. “I needed to hear that.”
“Well, we're proud enough of you for the whole world, but from what I’m seeing, you’ve got some serious love going on out there.” Calista holds her phone up and waggles it.
“If you need to go and talk to your parents, you can always come back here and keep celebrating with us after, you know, if you need a boost,” Sadie says.
“No pressure,” Tru adds. “If it’s a rough one.”
“You guys are the best. I’m the one who begged you to see me in a hurry. I don’t want to miss the party.”
“Oh, we’ll keep partying over this. And now that the word is getting out, we should have a signing at Twinkle Tales,” Calista sings.
“Yes,” Tru says. “We have to! And Bree would totally want to be there too. I got her to read the book and she's as obsessed as we are.”
“You guys are the best. I'm so lucky to have you. Thank you. Thanks for not hating me for keeping it a secret from you. It wasn't because I didn't want to tell you. And I'm really glad you know now. I do think I need to see if my parents are free to talk.”
They nod and I hear the guys talking about The Single Dad Playbook stuff. I’d much rather get my greedy hands on that book than message my mom right now. That stuff is gold.
I hear back from my mom right away.
Mom
We’re home. Come over.
When Rhodes and I say bye to everyone, I let them know I'll keep them posted.
As soon as my mom opens the door, I can tell I’m in trouble. We step inside and no one says a word. She walks us back to the family room, where Bernard is sitting with my parents.
“Why does this not surprise me anymore?” I say when I walk in.
Mom motions for us to sit down and we sit on the loveseat across from my dad and Bernard. It’s tight with Rhodes’ large frame, but I’d be holding onto him even if we had all the room in the world.
“Don’t blame Bernard for this,” my dad says. “My phone has rung off the hook for the past half hour. He’s dealing with it the same as we are, trying to do damage control.”
“How does it involve Bernard when we aren’t even together? I’m with Rhodes now, so Bernard doesn’t belong here. My business certainly doesn’t involve him. And what part of me having this career requires damage control for you?”
My dad gives me an exasperated look. “You’ve lived in this house, honey. You knew before you did this that it would affect us. It doesn’t look good for the pastor of a church to have a daughter writing—such explicit filth. I don't even know what to say…”
“Well, you don't really have to say anything except maybe, ‘That’s my daughter and what she does doesn’t reflect what I believe,’” I say after a long pause.
“I’m making a living as an author. It's been even better than my wildest imagination. It’s my fault that it’s such a shock to you now because I’ve sheltered you from knowing how I really felt about…
a lot of things. From dance to clothes to writing openly about sex, and the list could go on.
I respect you and how you raised me, and yet, I don’t choose to live the exact same way.
I understand if you can't be happy or excited about it, but we don't have to talk about it at all, really. I can keep my work life private—”
He snorts when I say private and I grit my teeth, knowing what's coming.
“This isn't private at all. Your life is about to be on display. Apparently, from the passages I saw, there are no holds barred. I didn’t even know you knew how to curse so well…and the sex scenes. Well…” He shakes his head. “Do you know what they're going to say about this at church?”
“I have a pretty good idea, but according to Calista, a lot of the people from church also can't wait to know when Zoey Archer's next book is coming out. So maybe you're gonna be all right.”