Page 10 of The Marriage Playbook

“It’s the place where the stars of the team go,” Liam said. “And that’s how Sandusky’s been acting—like he’s one of the star players, even though it was his very first practice earlier that day. He thinks he’s the new face of the team. God’s gift to football. But it wasn’t enough for him to wait for his chance to prove himself on the field. He had to start things with me right away. That’s why he was pushing my buttons, trying to get me to fight with him.”

“Which you did,” Cara pointed out.

She had only meant to make the point, not to make an accusation, but Liam’s face flushed red. “I thought you were going to be different from everyone else,” he snarled. “I thought you were here to take my side.”

“I’m here to listen to your side,” Cara told him firmly. “It doesn’t actually matter what I think about it, one way or the other. What matters is that I know what happened so I can control the public perception. And what did happen is this: You say that Garrett Sandusky tried to provoke you into attacking him, upon which you did attack him. Do I have it right?”

Liam scowled and didn’t answer, which was answer enough in and of itself.

“Don’t make the mistake of thinking that I’m invested one way or another,” Cara told him. “Honestly, Liam, it’s a good thing for you that I’m not. I’m not here to show bias toward you or defensiveness toward this Sandusky person. My job is to come up with a story that people will believe, that doesn’t stray too much from the truth. My job is to present the facts to the public in a palatable way.”

“Well, you can tell them this! Tell them that Sandusky is an attention-seeking upstart who⁠—”

“No, I can’t tell them that,” Cara disagreed. “Not unless you want everyone to see you as a victim, which I don’t think you do. You don’t want the story people to run with to be one in which you are easily manipulated. We can come up with something better than that to present to people.”

“Then what?” Liam demanded. “I’m in a hurry, in case that wasn’t clear to you.”

“Oh, you don’t need to worry about that. Your hurry is very clear to me,” Cara assured him. “That doesn’t mean I’m going to compromise how well I do my job, Liam. We’re going to get this right. I want you to remember that this is what I do for a living.” He didn’t need to know that he was her very first client. “I’ll come up with something, and it will be good. But you don’t want the first thing I think of off the top of my head, just because you’re upset and demanding immediate answers. You don’t want to be shortchanged like that.”

“Is this the way you speak to all your clients?” he asked, shaking his head in disbelief.

“Yes,” she said evenly. After all, it was true.

He regarded her quietly for a moment.

“Well,” he said at length, “I guess it’s good to be working with someone who isn’t afraid to speak her mind. Means I can trust you, and that makes a nice change.”

Cara nodded, flooded with relief. “You can definitely trust me to be honest with you,” she told him. “No matter what. I’ll always tell you the truth when it comes to your publicity. You deserve that.”

“And I guess that’s what I really need.” He pressed his hands flat to the table in front of him. “How long do you need to put together a plan?”

She had gotten him on board. Even so, she knew she couldn’t afford to draw this out for long. “Can you give me twenty-four hours?” she asked. “If you can wait that long, I can come up with something.”

“That’s a long time,” Liam murmured.

“Like I said, I’m not going to do this halfway,” she told him firmly. “That’s how long I need to come up with a good pitch for you.”

As a matter of fact, she thought she could probably do with several days. But there was no chance of that. It was difficult enough getting him to agree to give her a single day.

He was nodding slowly, though, and she knew she’d convinced him. “Tomorrow, then,” he said. “I’ll come back to see what you’ve put together.”

He rose to his feet and started toward the door.

Cara was so shocked by everything that had just happened that for a moment she didn’t even think to stand up. But then her manners kicked in and she went to open the door for him. “Thank you for coming in today, Liam,” she said.

For a moment he looked at her, his eyes locking with hers.

Her heart skipped a beat.

Was it just the fact that he was her first real client that had her pulse pounding with excitement?

Or was there something more? Something in the way his eyes held hers, as if the two of them were somehow thinking the same thing?

Before her thoughts could crystalize, he had given her a nod of thanks and walked out the door.

CHAPTER 6

LIAM