“This is normal, jackass,” Catherine threw back at him.
“There’s the Catherine we know and love,” he tossed back.
“Anyway,” she glared at Cade. “I don’t need most of you to talk. It will primarily be Evan and Kayla, but I’m going to line everyone up behind them to show support. Jake and Lauren, you’ll be in the front. No one is to answer any questions without my approval. Got it?”
Everyone nodded and a few words of agreement were mumbled.
“Great. I have teams working on all the angles we could think of to try to find this liar, but I don’t have any success yet. If anyone has any ideas on who or why, please let me know.”
“She hired a private investigator,” Cade confided to the men.
“That’s fucking dangerous.” Ryker sat up straighter as he folded his arms across his chest.
“It was that or she do it herself. Besides who knows when it might be good to have a private investigator on the payroll.” He shrugged.
“Still dangerous,” Ryker muttered.
“Evan, Jake, please join us over here.” Catherine motioned for them to come to the table they’d set up for the conference. “People will be showing up within the next half hour, and I want to make sure we’re all clear on how to respond.”
As he and Jake walked up, Kayla and Lauren were deep in their own conversation and didn’t notice them at first.
“How was your date the other night?” Lauren was asking Kayla.
Since when had she had a date? And she hadn’t even mentioned it to him? Sure, he’d been a little, or a lot, caught up in his own, but to not even know she had one was unsettling.
“Have a seat here, Evan.” Catherine directed him and then moved Jake and Lauren where she wanted them.
The next half-hour passed with Catherine grilling them with questions and then judging their answers. To her credit, each time she stopped them from replying, she would explain why or how it could be misinterpreted.
As they wrapped up and a few reporters showed up, Catherine ushered them away from the table. They always took forever to set up, and then they would all walk in together. It was a part of the plan, in addition to cherry-picking the reporters who got the invitations.
Evan had no right to be as annoyed as he was, and he knew it, but that didn’t stop his frustrations from creeping up at finding out that Kayla had been on a date. Why wouldn’t she have told him? Was it someone he knew?
The questions flowed through him as he waited for the press conference to start. A few times he almost pulled Kayla to the side but decided against it before they went out there. It was best left for later when their friends were gone and so was the press.
The conference itself lasted a little shy of half an hour. They were able to answer all the questions regarding Blind Date. Most of the reporters were satisfied with the answers, all except the one who ran the original article. He name was John.
John kept pressing the same things regarding background checks and the company they used. Catherine then pressed for his sources to show his story was credible, and that finally stopped him.
It was a quicker process to take everything down and they were easily wrapped up. Catherine was smiling, satisfied with the outcome, and Kayla looked slightly more at ease.
“Can I talk to you for a minute?” Evan whispered to her as their friends chatted.
“What’s up?” She faced him.
“In private.” He led her to the empty kitchen before facing her again. “Why didn’t you tell me you had a date?”
“Wh-what?” Her hair swirled around her as she shook her head.
“I heard you talking to Lauren and she asked about your date.” He leaned a hip on the metal counter as he folded his arms and waited for her to respond.
Her eyes widened at first before she returned to her practiced calm demeanor. He knew she didn’t want to tell him and couldn’t figure out why it bothered him so much.
“Evan, I don’t owe you an explanation of my dating life.” It came out calm yet forced.
“You don’t.” He nodded in agreement. “I’m wondering why you wouldn’t tell me, though. Is it one of our friends?”
Kayla’s jaw actually dropped like something out of a cartoon before she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “No. And I haven’t told you anything because it was a first date and you’ve been a little preoccupied with yours. However, since you insist on knowing, I didn’t go on the date.”