Page 39 of The Marriage Playbook

“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.”