19. Cara
CARA
Cara was jerked awake by the sound of the phone ringing.
At first she was shocked, disoriented. She couldn’t figure out what was happening or why. Liam stirred beside her in the darkness. “Time is it?”
She squinted at the screen of her phone. It was three a.m., and the call was from Alastair.
Horror bloomed in her chest. Had he discovered, somehow, what was going on between her and Liam? Was he calling to reprimand her about it? Maybe he thought it was a bad idea. Maybe he thought it was shockingly unprofessional—which she would have to concede that it was.
“I’d better take this,” she mumbled, crawling over Liam to go out into the hall so that he could go back to sleep. There was no reason he should be disturbed. She was the one who had broken the boundaries of professionalism here. Sick shame crawled through her.
But it was accompanied by something else—a surprising anger.
She had done so much for Liam’s publicity.
If Alastair had somehow found out what was going on, would he really dare to intervene?
Should he even have the right to? What if she gave it back to him?
What if she told him she didn’t care what he thought, and that she was just going to go on seeing Liam regardless?
She answered the phone. “Alastair…what the hell? It’s the middle of the night.”
“I could ask you the same question,” he snapped. “This is the third time I’ve called you. Were you ignoring me?”
“I was asleep. Why are you calling me at this hour?”
“I guess you haven’t seen the news, then.”
“The news? Do you think I check the news in my sleep?”
“I’m starting to think you should,” he snapped. “This is bad, Cara. Did you vet those women at all?”
“Women? What women?”
“The women! The ones you tried to get to marry Liam Sims! First that girl backs out on the day of the wedding, and now this!”
“And now…what?” She was starting to realize that she had been worrying about the wrong thing altogether. “Is this about Stephanie?”
“She went to the press,” Liam said. “She told them everything.”
Cara’s blood froze. “No. She couldn’t have done that. She was under an NDA. I made sure of it. She even mentioned on the day of the wedding that she had spoken to a lawyer and that she wasn’t going to violate the terms of her nondisclosure agreement.”
“Well, she must have changed her mind,” Alastair said bitterly. “I’ve had news outlets calling me for comment for hours. They know I’m his publicist. I’m surprised you haven’t gotten calls yet.”
“My number isn’t publicly listed.” Cara felt numb.
“You know how these hounds are. It doesn’t matter what’s public. They’re going to have it by sunrise, and you just better be ready to answer some questions.”
“What am I going to tell them?” Her head was spinning. “Do I stick to the story? Say our marriage was real? Or should I come up with something else?”
“Cara, I honestly don’t know at this point,” Alastair sighed.
“It’ll be a miracle if you can work your way out of this one.
I have no idea what’s going to happen. I know the Colorado Lions aren’t returning my phone calls, though.
I got through to a low-level assistant about ten minutes ago and she told me they’ve heard all about this and they want me to stop calling. ”
Cara’s heart plummeted. “Liam was depending on that offer.”
“Don’t I know it. I have no idea how you’re going to clean up this mess, but you’ve got your work cut out for you. Get in touch with me when you have a plan.”
He hung up.
Cara stood frozen for a moment, panic gripping her. What was she going to do? How was she going to explain all this to Liam?
Well, I’m just going to have to find a way.
Slowly, she made her way back into the bedroom. He was sitting up in bed, blinking at her. “What happened? You took off like a bat out of hell. Is everything all right? What did Alastair want?”
She took a deep breath. “Liam…the story is out there. The story about your marriage to Stephanie. She went to the press and talked about how we tried to arrange a fake marriage for the two of you.”
Liam’s eyes went wide. “What?”
“We’re going to manage it,” she said quickly. “We’re going to set up some interviews so you can tell your side of the story…just as soon as I figure out what that is.”
“I don’t want to do interviews,” he said at once.
“Liam. You have to. If you don’t address this, the press is going to run with whatever story they’re trying to tell.”
He folded his arms. “Let them.”
“You absolutely cannot decide that before we’ve even seen the story. If we’re lucky, someone will reach out to you for a comment before anything runs…”
“No,” Liam said firmly. “You’re not listening, Cara.
I don’t want to do any of that. I’m sick of this.
I’m sick of every move I make being scrutinized.
I’m sick of having to live my life in the way that’s most palatable to reporters who don’t even know me.
It was a little cute yesterday morning when you were so worried about what was going to happen to the two of us after we just had to get divorced to keep up our story, but I’m getting so tired of it.
I can’t get angry at a kid who’s trying to agitate me, because it might not look right.
I have to get married, even though I’m not even in a relationship, because that’s the only way to save my image.
Now some woman decides to sell a story about me and I have to talk to a bunch of reporters about my private life because if I don’t, they’ll just print any old thing they want? ”
She threw up her hands. “This can’t possibly be news to you, Liam. You’ve been a celebrity for years. Yes, the press is going to write about you. The entire reason you hired our firm was to help you manage your image, so don’t get mad at me because I’m doing my job.”
“If you were doing your job,” he snapped, “I wouldn’t be in this mess in the first place. You didn’t see something like this happening? Of course that girl sold her story. She’s trying to make it as an actress, right? She wants her name in the headlines. You didn’t think that might happen?”
“If she wanted to be a household name, she could have just married you,” Cara pointed out.
“She didn’t need to do this. So no, I didn’t think she would.
And I don’t know why you’re blaming me, but honestly, it’s completely inappropriate.
I’m trying to help you. So get up, put some clothes on, and let’s get a plan together. ”
“I have a plan,” Liam said. “The press can print anything they want. I’m not playing into their games anymore.
Let them say I married a largemouth bass if it helps them.
I’m just going to call up the Colorado Lions and let them know that none of this is true.
As long as I can get them believing me, I won’t have a problem.
All I want is to get back to playing ball.
You know that. I don’t care about any of the rest of this. ”
Cara felt sick. “Liam, the Lions aren’t interested anymore.”
He froze. “What?”
“Alastair told me. He’s spoken to someone from their organization and they let him know…they’re out.” She knitted her fingers together, feeling like she was hanging on for dear life. “I’m so sorry, Liam, really. We lost that one.”
His jaw worked. He clenched his fists, staring down at the ground.
“It isn’t hopeless,” Cara said quickly. “There’s a lot we can still do. A lot we can try. But we need to get out in front of this. We need to figure out how we’re going to spin it to the press so that we don’t lose control of the narrative—”
“This is all I’ve ever been to you, isn’t it?” he said quietly, looking up at her.
It was enough to make her pause. “What are you talking about?”
“When you look at me, all you see is a way to practice your PR skills.” His voice was cold. “You probably like that this happened. You probably see it as an opportunity.”
“How could you say that?” Cara breathed, shocked. “You think I’m happy about this?”
“I don’t know.” His voice was cold. “You were quick enough to jump in and marry me when we both know you didn’t have to do it.”
She trembled. “You said you liked that.”
“Yeah, well, I’ve been pretty naive.” He shook his head. “I would have thought…I don’t know. I wouldn’t have expected you to act like this, knowing I just lost the one thing that matters most to me in the world. I know you’re my publicist, but I thought you were also…”
He didn’t finish the sentence.
“Liam, I don’t know what you want from me,” Cara whispered. “I’m trying to fix it.”
“I just thought you’d care more,” he said, his voice low. “I thought you’d quit trying to be a professional about it at a time like this, and just…care more.”
He got to his feet and made his way toward the door.
“Where are you going?” she asked him.
“For a walk,” he said. “I need to think.”
She shouldn’t ask. She knew she shouldn’t. The words were like rocks in her mouth. But… “Are you going to a bar?”
He stood stock-still. The tension in his back hurt her to look at. He didn’t turn to face her.
“I’ll tell you what, Cara,” he said wearily. “I promise I won’t make it your problem, okay? Whatever I do tonight, you won’t get any calls. You won’t even hear about it. You’ve got enough on your resume from me already.”
“Liam, wait…”
But the door was open and he was walking through it, and then he was gone.
The room was colder, suddenly. Cara shivered. She turned and looked back at the bed, which was probably still warm from their bodies. It would be so comfortable to get back into it.
But it would feel like she was choking, too. Because they had been happy there. Because they had been blissful and beautiful and…
In love.
They hadn’t said those words to one another.
They probably never would, now.
She didn’t know what to do. They had to come up with some sort of plan, but Liam didn’t seem like he was ever going to come around to that idea. And in the meantime, the thought of staying in his bedroom made her sick.
Should I even be in his house? He seems so angry at me. Will he want to see me here at all?
She couldn’t leave, she decided. That would create a PR nightmare, and she couldn’t do that without even speaking to him about it.
Besides, she didn’t want to go. It hurt to even imagine it.
She’d go back to her own room, she decided. She would stay there until he came for her. Which he would, eventually. Sooner or later, he would realize this wouldn’t be solved until they talked.
He would come to her.
Please, let him come to me. Let him understand.