Chapter 26
Salem
For the last thirty minutes, I’ve sat in this room with Chase Parker and his wife Cheyenne talking out what the plan is to get his reputation rehabilitated and his career back on track.
Like with many of my clients, I don’t like him.
Not that liking him is part of my job. I simply have to successfully promote the image these two want the world to see to get him back into the public’s good graces.
I listen as he talks about how much this whole thing with the nanny has hurt him.
That’s how he refers to it. This thing with the nanny.
No mention of the young woman’s name, who from what I understand from these two has been fired and may currently be unemployed after this thing with her.
No use of the actual terms adults use to accurately describe his behavior, such as cheating or sleeping around.
No, it’s this thing with the nanny over and over as his wife sits by his side wincing every single time he refers to what he did in such a sterile and blameless fashion.
“So basically, I want the world to see I’m the same guy they loved before I made a mistake with this thing with the nanny,” Chase says in an all-too-confident voice for my taste.
I look to the right of him where Cheyenne sits and see her force a smile for me.
As much as I don’t get personally involved in the lives of my clients, I wish I could reach over and give her hand a gentle squeeze.
I would never do that, but she’s looked uncomfortable the entire time we’ve been sitting here, and something inside me would love it if I could make her feel even a tiny bit better.
Her husband, on the other hand, only seems to have his comfort level in mind today.
I suspect this is how he’s always been—selfish, egotistical, and entirely self-involved.
He continues droning on about how hard he’s had it these last few weeks as I silently wonder if he was like this when she met him.
And if that’s the case, why did she marry him at all?
Then I remind myself that she married him right after he’d hit it big on that first TV show a decade ago, so I have to believe she knew exactly who he was. Maybe she isn’t as blameless as I thought.
I shake my head to push that thought away, though. Whatever her reason for marrying this overgrown toddler, she didn’t deserve to be cheated on with some younger woman who was taking care of their child.
“Don’t you agree?” he asks, and I realize he thinks I don’t like what he just said because I shook my head.
Since I honestly can’t say I know what he was talking about, I turn to my notes on my laptop next to me and change the conversation entirely.
“Do you have a journalist you’d prefer to do this interview with?
I have some choices, but if there’s someone you particularly like and likes you enough to handle it as we want them to, let me know. ”
I look up and see both Chase and Cheyenne shrugging. Good. I really didn’t want their input on that point anyway. I have the exact interviewer who will be perfect for this situation already.
“Okay. I’d like to speak to each of you separately, so let’s start with you first, Chase. Cheyenne, please feel free to relax in the room right next door. There’s coffee, pastries, and anything else you need. This won’t take long, and after I’m done talking to Chase, I’ll talk to you.”
She smiles and stands up, and I can’t help but notice how tall she is.
In fact, she might be the first person I’ve ever met who I would use the word willowy to describe her body.
Cheyenne Parker is nothing short of beautiful, and I notice that as she walks out of my office, she almost glides.
I also notice that Chase watches her until the door closes.
“Isn’t my wife stunning? Ever since she got that tummy tuck, she’s killing it,” he says, practically bragging about something he had no part in. “You know how it is after a woman has a kid. That tummy tuck was practically a necessity in the circles we travel in.”
I have to stop myself from muttering, “Charming.” What a delightful human being this guy is. The more I listen to him, the more I think Cheyenne Parker may be a saint. She must really love him to put up with all the nonsense he brings to her.
Ignoring his comments about his wife’s body, I ask, “So, I think we need to accept the fact that you’re going to have to answer some hard questions about this affair. One would be why did you do it?”
Oddly, he seems caught off guard by my question. Haven’t other people been asking him the same thing? It would be the first question I’d ask someone I knew who cheated.
He stammers out something about being lonely, which makes me want to punch him, but I stop him before he gets too far into his personal pity party.
“No, that won’t do. Trust me. Nobody but some guys who’ve done the same thing as you have are going to be okay with the lonely excuse.
I’m asking you to seriously admit why you did it. ”
This is as much for my job as for my curiosity. Kellen’s talk about marriage the other night has left me wondering why any man would cheat on his wife, and since I have a cheater sitting right in front of me as a captive audience, why not ask him?
For his second attempt at answering, Chase clears his throat and says, “I don’t know.
It was stupid. Yes, I was a little lonely since Cheyenne was spending time working on her makeup and skincare business, but that wasn’t entirely it.
I don’t know why, though. I love my wife, Salem.
I know it seems like I don’t, but I do and you can’t even imagine how happy I am that she’s agreed to stand by me after this terrible mistake. ”
I point at him, happy to finally hear something we can use.
“Yes, that right there. That’s what you need to project in this interview.
People can stomach a man who admits he made a mistake and that it was stupid.
They can’t tolerate a man whining about being lonely because his wife was trying to succeed at something on her own.
Stick with the part about it being a mistake and how you truly love her.
People will buy that with her sitting next to you. ”
For some reason, that bothers him, and he looks at me sulking.
“I want you to know I really do love Cheyenne. I hate that I’ve done this to our marriage.
I’ve endangered our entire life because of this.
Nobody will hire me because I’m radioactive.
At least, that’s what my agent said. That’s why she said we needed to come to you. ”
As I type a note to myself about his apparent contrition, I nod at his agent’s comment.
“She’s right. You are radioactive right now.
The key is after you do what I tell you to do, I think people will stop thinking of you as the guy who cheated on his wife with the nanny of your two-year-old daughter and will go back to thinking of you as that guy they love to see on their TV. ”
“We’ll do whatever’s necessary.”
I explain to him what my goals for the interview are, focusing on how viewers want to see a man who loves his wife but is willing to accept guilt.
We talk about what he should wear and how it can’t be red because the optics and psychology of that color scream all the wrong things we’re trying to say.
He listens intently, just as a good client should, and when I’m finished, I have a sense that he truly may be as interested in making things up to his wife as he is in getting back in the good graces of Hollywood and the viewing public.
When we’re done, I tell him to go wait in the other room and send his wife in.
With her, I need to know that she can handle sitting next to him as an interviewer makes him talk about his mistake.
While I’ve never had to endure that situation publicly or privately, I have to imagine it’s challenging.
I don’t know yet if she’s up to it, even as I believe she cares deeply about her husband.
Cheyenne walks in, again impressing me with how graceful she is, and sits down in front of me. I notice the light blue dress she wears makes her very blue eyes practically pop as I file away the idea that this shade of blue would be perfect for him to wear for the interview.
“I want to thank you for taking us on as clients, Salem. I’ve heard you’re the best in the world when it comes to this kind of thing.”
Smiling, I nod, finding it curious that both she and her husband have decided vague euphemisms are the way they want to go. I don’t know if I’m the best in the world, but at least in this country, I’ve carved out a niche as a fixer who has yet to meet a person or a situation she can’t handle.
“I appreciate your confidence in me. While it’s true that I’ve handled more than my fair share of situations like yours, I promise I treat each client individually. Every case has its own particulars, but I do know what both of you need to do to get things back on track for Chase.”
Something about referring to all of this he’s caused as something the two of them need to repair bothers me. Cheyenne didn’t do anything wrong. He did. That she’s being gracious enough to stand by him says good things about her, but it doesn’t change the fact that she didn’t create this mess.
“We’re willing to do whatever it takes. You have my word on that. Whatever you tell us to do, we’ll do it,” Cheyenne says with a smile that lights up her face.
Although I don’t necessarily need to know their entire romantic history, I’m curious to know how the two of them got together. “Tell me about the early days of your relationship. I’m interested in knowing about you two.”