CHAPTER 13 KAYLEE
I text Luke the next morning. Ben’s still asleep upstairs, but I’m sitting out back watching Buddy run around the yard chasing birds as I sip a Diet Dr Pepper for my morning caffeine fix.
Me: Family dinner is at your house tomorrow, but can Ben and I host instead?
Luke: I’ll check with Ellie, but I don’t see why that would be a problem.
Me: How’s the agency coming along?
He officially retired after winning the Super Bowl last season, and his goal after retiring was to run a sports agency alongside Ellie’s public relations firm so they could work together on endorsements and contracts for their clients, sort of like a one-stop-shop agent and publicist for players.
Luke’s goal is to work with players right out of college since they’re one of the top groups to get scammed by shitty agents.
He’s an honest guy who works hard and is very by-the-book, so whoever ends up with him as their agent is pretty damn lucky.
Luke: Great. I have four clients already, and that reminds me, Ellie wants to talk to you but she was waiting for the end of the school year. Do you have some time today?
Me: I’m going to Mom’s for lunch and old movies so I can swing by before that.
Luke: We’ll be here.
I pour myself a bowl of cereal and add in extra marshmallows.
I’m sitting at the counter eating it when Ben saunters down the stairs a few minutes later.
He’s sleepy, his hair a mess and his scruff a little darker than usual.
“Morning,” he grunts, and then he moves in behind me and presses a kiss to my neck before swiping some golden grahams out of my bowl.
“Morning,” I murmur, leaning back into him for a second.
He moves around the kitchen, flicking the coffee pot on and grabbing the cereal box off the counter. “What’s your plan for the day?”
“Ellie wants to talk to me and then I’m going to my mom’s house for lunch. You?”
He grabs a handful of cereal and munches on it while we chat. “Jack’s place for workouts and lunch with my dad.”
“I feel like there’s some joke in there about a double date for lunch,” I say.
He chuckles. “Too close to the truth.”
I tilt my head a little and squint as the idea forms. “But a public lunch with the parents would be a chance to show how serious it’s gotten one last time before we head north. And it would give us a chance to see them together to figure out what’s going on between them.”
He glances at me as he raises his brows and nods. “You’re starting to think like a publicist. See if your mom is free for lunch tomorrow and I’ll check with my dad. And I’ll buy us a new kitchen table to accommodate your family tomorrow night.”
I laugh. “God, I love you. You’re really the best. Do you know that?”
He grins and shrugs, and I finish my cereal then shower and head over to Luke’s place.
He opens the door with a grin. “How’s twenty-three so far?”
I mirror his smile as I step in and give my brother a hug. “So far, so good.” I pull back and follow him into the house. “And I’m bringing that board game with me to Montana. Get ready to get your butt kicked.”
He laughs. “Yeah, right.”
Imagine three competitive football players along with their significant others sitting around a table, each trying to win a board game. The competition is going to get ugly, and it’s going to be so much fun.
He leads me through the house toward Ellie’s office.
Once we walk in, she glances up at me. “Hey,” she says.
“So happy you’re here. I have so much to talk to you about and I’ve been waiting for you to finish school so I wasn’t being overwhelming like Luke claims I can be sometimes. ” She shoots him a look.
Luke holds up his hands innocently. “Who, me?”
I giggle at their banter. “What’s going on?”
“I’ll leave you two to it,” Luke says, leaving us alone as he exits.
“Kate’s last day with me was Friday. She didn’t want to overshadow your birthday celebration, but she has some exciting things in the works.
She was practically working full-time for me.
It’s a huge hit to my productivity already and it’s just the first weekend without her… so what I’m saying is I need help.”
“What do you need?” I ask.
She sighs. “I need someone to step in to do everything Kate handled for me. Are you ready to start with me as early as tomorrow?”
“You had mentioned I could do this remotely, right?”
Ellie nods. “Are you going somewhere?”
“Sort of,” I admit. “We were going to talk about it tomorrow night at dinner, which reminds me—do you care if we host dinner tomorrow night at Ben’s place?”
“No, that’s fine. But what’s the plan?” She narrows her eyes at me. I’m sure she’s nervous about whatever Ben and I have planned, and she has every right to be nervous considering this whole fake relationship thing was her idea.
I ignore her question for now. “We’re probably doing lunch with my mom and his dad tomorrow, too. In public.”
“I love it.” She nods slowly. “Show the media that your parents are involved in this relationship. Totally makes it seem legit.”
It is legit. I obviously don’t say that aloud. “Ben and I are planning to head to Montana a few weeks early. I think he’s ready to escape the media circus for a little while, and I have to admit…it doesn’t sound bad.”
She shakes her head. “No, it doesn’t sound bad at all.
I get it. It’s taxing to go from being relatively unknown to suddenly having your life splashed across the media, and you have it even worse since you took steps to protect your privacy up front and Billy Peters has been relentless on the two of you. ”
I nod. “A remote destination sounds sort of perfect. Can I work from up there? I’ll probably be bored most of the time anyway considering how packed life has been over the last few months.
Between teaching during the day and pretending to be Ben’s girlfriend at night, which is a full-time job in itself, I haven’t had much chance to just relax. ”
Ellie laughs. “Yeah, I could see that. And absolutely it’s fine. You’ll be back for Kate and Jack’s wedding?”
I nod. “We’ll come back with plenty of time for all of the events. I’m not missing the bachelorette party, obviously.”
“Good, because I’m throwing one hell of a party.” She winks at me.
“I don’t doubt it.” I giggle. “I’m really hoping for male strippers. I love how close you two have become all because of my dorky older brothers.”
She laughs. “I think you might be the only person in existence who could get away with calling them dorky.”
“I’m also the only person in existence who had to deal with them tormenting their little sister.” I shrug. “Kate trained me well for this position, so I’m ready.”
“I know you are. I’ve drawn up a contract that includes a list of your potential responsibilities,” she says as she clicks around on her computer. “It’s on its way to your email now, so look it over, sign it, and we can get started tomorrow.”
“I’m excited to work with you,” I say.
“The feeling is mutual, my friend. Whoever would’ve thought I would feel that way after you tried to stop my wedding to Luke?”
I pull a face that says oops. “Yeah, sorry about that. I thought you two were faking it.”
“To be fair, we were.”
We both giggle.
“I’m meeting Mom for lunch, but I can look over the contract now and get started today if you want,” I say.
She scrolls around on her computer a little bit. “I need captions for some photos that I have of some of the players. I also need you to find some soundbites we can use for stories and TikTok. I’ll forward everything to you now.”
I stand and walk over to Kate’s old desk…my desk now. It feels weird sitting in somebody else’s chair, but it’s better than sitting in the chair at the school where I never felt like a valued faculty member.
I feel valued here. I’m with people I love here.
I pull up the contract she sent and send it to her printer. I glance it over and sign it, handing her the papers before I sit back down at my new desk.
She stands and gives me a hug. “Welcome to Prince Charming Public Relations.”
A little heat forms behind my eyes, and it hits me from an unexpected angle. I’m not usually quite so emotional, but something about working for my sister-in-law to help her run the business my brother helped her create is meaningful and wonderful, particularly after the rough year I had teaching.
“You’re welcome to bring your own laptop, or you can use the one docked there now. Kate usually brought her own, but everything you need is on that one if you want to get started.”
“Thanks, boss,” I say.
She grins at me and we both get to work for a while.
I head over to my mom’s house about an hour later for lunch, and she is waiting for me with a little homemade salad bar already all set out.
“Question for you,” I say as we sit down at the table.
I start piling my plate high with lettuce, vegetables, chicken, and croutons.
My mom narrows her eyes at me and tilts her head a little.
“Do you want to do lunch with Ben and me tomorrow?” I blurt.
“Oh, I’d love to. That sounds really nice.” She smiles.
“I should also mention Ben is asking his dad, too.”
She narrows her eyes at me a little harder. This is almost a glare. “Way to trap me,” she says, her lips pressing down into a disapproving thin line.
“It’s not a trap!” I protest. “I am simply trying to further our media agenda by making it seem as though our parents are involved in our relationship.”
“I’m not buying what you’re selling about this being a media ploy.” She says it with the clipped tone she uses when she thinks one of her children is lying to her.
“I have no idea what you mean.” I shove a forkful of salad into my mouth to avoid giving any facial expressions away.
“Ben threw you a huge party where he invited your friends from college. He invited everyone important to you in your life. You don’t do that for a media ploy. And then he proposed to you in front of all of those people. Including your family.”
“My family who knows that this is fake,” I say using the same clipped tone.
“Honey, anybody can see that you have feelings for him. And it’s not just you. I can plainly see the way he looks at you.”
“We’ve gotten good at acting,” I say. “That’s all.”
“You’re telling me there’s nothing happening when the two of you are in the privacy of his home.”
“Mom!” I exclaim. “Even if there were, that’s not something I want to talk to my mother about. Unless there’s a reason you don’t want me to have that sort of relationship with him…like perhaps because you’re having those same feelings about his father?”
“Oh no you don’t,” she says. “Don’t you dare turn the tables on me and make it about Jeb and me. We are just friends.”
“As are Ben and me.” I nod resolutely. “Just friends.”
I just can’t help but wonder whether she’s lying through her teeth the same way I am.