Chapter 5
My hope that this PR war ends with the first shots fired is quickly extinguished.
The week after my call with Bailey looks like this: in response to her statement, which had fans siding with her, River (under the guidance of Luke, I’m sure) wears a T-shirt out in public that says “fool me once,” which the internet goes wild for.
This one muddied the waters, with some fans questioning Bailey, surmising the shirt meant this wasn’t her first offense, and some still blaming River.
Translation: It wasn’t good.
In retaliation, Bailey, who has finally stopped asking when Simone is coming back and accepted that I’m her contact now, once again wanted to take the high road. Which looked like me contacting her manager and having someone I tipped off photograph her out and about and looking unbothered.
It went as I hoped, because the post that came out from You Oughta Know literally said: Bailey Lockhart, out and about looking unbothered after recent breakup with River Rhodes.
Even so, it didn’t do the job because, according to Brandwatch, River’s T-shirt was still pulling sympathy, with some online influencers (including freaking You Oughta Know) already wearing shirts with the same slogan.
Which was . . . also not good.
Two days later, Luke must have decided to double down, perhaps to push the needle further in his favor, and he had River post another picture with his puppy, this time with him laughing, the fluffy thing licking his face. The caption said: Bear gets it. Good boy.
This had me wondering if maybe Bailey did need to adopt a puppy after all, because it totally worked. People were mostly siding with River again.
But Bailey, on the advice of someone in her camp, decided her best bet was to do nothing at all with this one. That was not good advice, and I told her that—kindly, of course. And I was right; as I suspected, it didn’t work.
Her silence was her admission, or so stupid You Oughta Know said in a post. Which was liked and shared tens of thousands of times. I really hate that account.
Because we were in another holding pattern, I had no choice but to binge-watch Kingdom of Flame and Moonlight with Sam.
We’ve made it to the middle of season three, and honestly .
. . I get why people care. I found myself wanting to post things like Kaelric and Elora FOREVER!
! online. The writing is so good, and the chemistry is off the charts.
At one point I was literally kicking up my heels on the green couch, I was so giddy.
I can even understand why people care that they broke up in real life.
It just feels so wrong that one of them cheated.
Allegedly, of course. But still, how could they do this to us?
And with them finally getting together in season four? It’s devastating, honestly.
By day six of River basically winning the internet, I finally got a call from Bailey telling me she might be willing to get off the high road for a bit. Which I absolutely agreed with. And so, we came up with a plan.
Which is why I’m currently sitting at a small table in the back of Marlowe’s, an upscale restaurant in WeHo.
I picked this one because, well, it’s one of the places people come to be seen.
Not for the food, although I’ve never had a bad steak here, but for the deep, curved, high-back leather booths that face large floor-to-ceiling windows where you can sit and eat your food with your chosen company and expect to be photographed.
They’ve even put some bushes in the back of the parking lot for paparazzi to “hide” behind, giving them the perfect view.
Bailey is here with five friends—three famous, two not, though one of the not-famous ones has a following large enough to matter. All here to support their girl in her time of need. Completely organically, obviously. If “organically” in this case means it was a total setup.
“So, Claire, tell me more about yourself,” says the man sitting across from me—Tanner. He’s in his mid-thirties, with dark-brown hair and gorgeous hazel eyes, and is wearing a light-blue button-up open at the collar.
Yes, that’s right. I’m on a date.
Simone would never be caught dead combining anything social with a client op. But she’s also been happily married to the same man for fifteen years, whereas I’m trying to break a generational curse.
The same holding pattern that had me bingeing Kingdom of Flame and Moonlight also got me back on dating sites.
I promised myself fifty kisses before giving up, and I still have one left.
So, I swiped right on Tanner, and we ended up messaging for a while—long enough for him to ask me out for tonight.
What I didn’t know when we set up the date was that Bailey would be ready to stop being the bigger person and it would just happen to be the same night.
I wanted to be here to make sure everything went off without a hitch but felt bad about canceling, so I thought, why not combine them?
It’s not like I have to direct Bailey; the dinner needs to look organic, even if it’s definitely not.
She knows I’m here, but because we’ve never officially met in person and I don’t have Simone’s clout, I get to do this incognito.
Luckily for me, Tanner was happy to meet me here and didn’t question my choice of restaurant. Which means he’s got no idea about pop culture. Perfect.
“I work in PR,” I tell him. Kind of funny that I’m actually “working in PR” right now on this date. But I’ll keep that little anecdote to myself. “What about you?”
“I work in venture capital,” he says, the corners of his mouth pulled up into a soft smile.
Tanner is decidedly attractive. Chiseled jaw, broad shoulders, and quite a bit taller than me—and at five foot eight, I’m not short.
You never know when you’re looking at someone’s app photos if reality will match.
It’s important to put your best foot forward online, obviously, but I’ve been on too many dates where the person who shows up to meet me looks nothing like the guy in the profile picture.
But not Tanner. He’s actually even better looking in person.
“That must be interesting,” I say, leaning inward, my chin resting on my hand.
“Not really.” He gives a smile. It’s big and broad.
Wait, he makes jokes too? Where has this guy been hiding? How have I never matched with him before?
“I get that.” I smile back. Even though my job is very interesting. A little too interesting sometimes. I learned early on that I should wait to fully explain what I do because it ends up dominating the conversation. There are always so many questions.
“I have to say, you’re a breath of fresh air,” he says, leaning back in the wingback chair. “I’ve been on some crazy dates since I started online dating.”
“Well, thank you,” I tell him. I bet I can beat any story he’s got. One guy told me he liked to keep his toenail clippings in a jar. For fun.
The server arrives with the drinks we ordered earlier and then takes down our entrées, and I use the time while Tanner is asking questions to peek over at Bailey and company, to see them smiling and chatting it up.
Perfect fodder for the photog I tipped off, who should hopefully be in the parking lot right now.
“I’m starving,” says Tanner once the server walks away.
“Me too,” I say. “I’m looking forward to the—”
I cut myself off. Because I think I might be hallucinating. Either that, or I’m having a nightmare.
Because that can’t possibly be Luke Wilder walking into the restaurant.
Except I’m not seeing things. It’s him. With a petite redhead on his arm.
They follow the hostess to a table not far from me. He’s seated so he’s facing me, and as soon as the hostess leaves, he leans just slightly to the side, makes eye contact with me, and winks.
What the hell?
“Claire? Are you okay?” Tanner asks.
I shake my head and give him a quick smile. “Sorry,” I say. “Thought I saw a ghost.”
He nods. “They pop up at the worst times, don’t they?”
He has no idea.
This ghost is definitely the haunting variety, and his presence is incredibly unsettling. One thing is for certain: someone tipped him off that we would be here. There’s no way this is coincidental.
I clear my throat and smooth out the skirt of my black midi dress, attempting to focus on Tanner. But Luke is in my peripheral vision, and it’s kind of hard to concentrate.
Exhibit A: Tanner just asked me a question, and I have no idea what it was.
Get it together, Claire.
“I’m so sorry,” I say. “Can you repeat the question?”
“Of course,” he says, giving me a kind smile. “I was just asking where you grew up.”
“Burbank,” I say, trying to shake off the presence of Luke Wilder and focus on my date. “Practically born and raised. I’m a Burbanker or a Burbankian, depending on who you ask.”
“Right,” he says. “I love the beef chili at Chili John’s.”
My eyebrows lift in surprise. “You’ve been to Chili John’s?”
It’s rare to meet a nonnative who knows anything about Burbank other than the studio tours.
“A few times,” he says, the corner of his mouth pulled up just slightly and a dimple appearing.
I think under normal circumstances, this man would have me feeling some serious butterflies. Instead, thanks to a certain annoyance two tables away, I’ve got a pit in my stomach and what I can only describe as the opposite of butterflies. Antibutterflies. Moths, maybe.
I force myself to focus on my date. “Where are you from?”
“I grew up in Oregon . . .”
I’ve tuned him out once more, as Luke is now looking over at me again, this time using his menu to hide his spying from his date. When he sees me, he gives me a sly smile.
Crap. What is he up to?
“. . . but then my family moved to the Glendale area, where I finished high school,” Tanner says, and I definitely missed the whole middle part of that.
“That’s crazy,” I say, and he gives me a questioning look.
“Crazy?” he asks.
“Yeah, I mean, my, um, mom went to high school in Glendale.”
This is a complete lie. She grew up in San Clemente.