“Nah. I think I need a few more weeks to think about it still.”
“You’re just stringing me along, Kins.”
I laughed. “Gotta keep you on your toes.” Then I thought of something that had been bothering me all day.
“You know, I don’t really understand what Tara has to gain from all of this. I’d understand if I was vying for her position or something, but I’m not. She made Emily cry today.”
He sighed. “She hit on me last year at a party. Well, she did it a few times, but she finally came straight out and laid her invitation on the table. Obviously, I turned her down. I don't know if she's still pissed about that or not."
"Ew. Ew. Ew. I do not want to picture you and Tara together."
"There was no together.”
“She’s like the villain in a Disney movie.”
He laughed. “Worse.”
I smiled for the fiftieth time since I’d answered his phone call, which brought my grand total of smiles for the day to fifty-one, because I was smiling then thinking about smiling.
"Can we talk about something else before I go to bed? I don't want to dream about her."
"My mom is visiting in a few weeks," he said.
"Oh really? Where does she live?"
"England. My dad relocated for work when I was young.”
“Ah.”
“She is coming in for one of my games. I'd like you to meet her."
I sucked in a breath of air. "Oh god, that was your way of calming me down before bed? Casually dropping the fact that I'll have to impress your mom in a few weeks?" I laughed.
"My mom is awesome and laid-back. You don't have to earn her approval. You'll already have it if I like you."
"Ooohh, so you like, like me?"
"I like you, like you."
"Do you like me more than M&Ms?"
"How do you know I like M&Ms?"
I laughed, thinking back to the drive-in movie. "Last night you inhaled the entire bag before I could even take some."
He chuckled into the phone. "Ah, my M&M blinders were on. Excuse my poor manners."
"You didn't answer my question."
"Kinsley, I've never liked any girl more than I like M&Ms."
I laughed and let my head fall back against the wall. "Am I getting close?" I joked.
"I'd say I like you more than regular M&Ms, but you're going to have to really step it up if you want to beat out peanut M&Ms."
"I have a tough road ahead of me."
"I think you can do it," he joked, and I smiled against the phone.
"Challenge accepted."
Chapter Seventeen
The coffee shop was crowded when I arrived for my interview with Brian King the next day. I ran my hand down the front of my pencil skirt and tried to appear confident as I traversed the table looking for a smile that was bright enough to catch my reflection. Brian King would be attached to it.
Becca had helped me pick out the perfect outfit. I was wearing a pretty silk blouse tucked into a modest skirt that was tight but fell just above my knee. My kitten heels clapped against the hardwood floor until I came to a stop in the back of the coffee shop.
Brian was sitting there at a table with a photographer, but I couldn't process the fact that Josh was also sitting at the table with him in a nice button-down shirt and slacks.
"Oh, hello?" I muttered with a soft scowl as I made my way over to them.
Josh looked up at me and beamed while Brian gave me a hesitant smile.
"Hi, Kinsley. Please, please take a seat. As you can see, there's been a slight change in plans."
I shifted my gaze back and forth between Brian and Josh.
“What’s going on?”
"The editor at the magazine called me this morning and informed me that Josh would be joining us for the interview. The magazine wants to go in a different direction with the piece."
I dropped my purse onto the ground next to my chair and took the seat that Brian offered me.
"What direction are they wanting to go in exactly?" I asked, eyeing Josh skeptically. His smile was a little too wide for my taste… like he was the cat that finally caught the canary.
"Oh, just having two rookies spotlighted instead of one,” he began as if the whole idea was fairly innocent. “Josh is a rookie on the Stars and you're a rookie at ULA, but you'll both be trying out for the Olympics in the coming months. It makes for a more well-rounded piece." The way Brian explained it, the article seemed harmless enough. If they wanted to include us both, I didn't have a problem with it.
Both men sat there waiting for my reply. "Um, okay, I suppose that's fine?" What was I going to do? Storm out over a slight change in plans? Josh was a good soccer player; he deserved the spotlight, too.