Fireside by Susan Wiggs (autobiographies to read .TXT) 📕

“Dislike is always personal. You should have mentioned this before he came to stay with us.”

“It wouldn’t have mattered,” she told her mother. “Living with us is the best solution for AJ. I think we can all agree, he’s what’s important here.”

“And he’s the reason I need you,” said Bo, pressing his advantage. “Come on, Kim. What do you say?”

She thought of AJ, and how lost and lonely he looked, and how brave he had to be, separated from his mother. Because of AJ, she only really had one option.

“I need another tequila shot.”

Eighteen

The next morning, Kim awakened with a pounding headache…and the kind of what-have-I-done? feeling she used to get back in her sorority days. She reminded herself that people who did tequila shots were expected to do stupid things and say things they didn’t mean. And they were expected to regret them the next day.

Yet no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t figure out how to regret making the deal with Bo Crutcher. She scowled at herself in the mirror while furiously brushing her teeth. Then she spat into the sink, saying, “You swore off athletes. Now you’re breaking a promise you made to yourself.”

The woman in the mirror looked unrepentant. “I simply placed other people’s needs above my own. And, no, I’m not talking about Bo Crutcher. I’m talking about my mother, who needs the extra income, and AJ, who needs his dad to stick around.”

She raked her fingers through her hair. “And you’re talking to yourself. When did that start?”

A knock at the door startled her. She grabbed a robe but couldn’t find the sash. Clutching it in the front, she opened the door.

“Check your e-mail,” Bo said. He was fresh from the shower, and he hadn’t yet buttoned his shirt. She wondered if that was by design.

The sight of his bare chest made her weak in the knees. “I always check my e-mail,” she said, telling herself to snap out of it. “You don’t have to barge in first thing in the morning to tell me.”

“My agent’s sending you a video interview so you can decide whether or not I need the media training.”

You don’t, she thought, desperately trying to keep from staring. You just need to stand there… She ducked her head to hide a smile. “I’ll take a look.” She glanced up at him, and unlike her, he was making no effort to avoid staring. His frank gaze made her suddenly and achingly aware of the scantiness of the robe. She cleared her throat. “Did you tell AJ about our deal?”

“Yeah, and he’s fine with it. I mean, as good as he can be, considering. He needed to hear that I’m going to do what it takes in order to stick around for him.”

“You make me sound like a last resort.”

He checked out her bare legs. “You are nobody’s last resort.”

She knew she could read all kinds of meanings into that remark. “I want you to know, I agreed to do this for AJ’s sake. No other reason. And for his sake, we’re going to do a good job. By the end of the day, I intend to land an interview with Baseball Monthly, out of Cooperstown.” She’d lain awake last night thinking about him, despite the tequila. The notion of a new project was like a fresh shot of espresso, and she’d gone into planning mode, mentally going through her media contacts and planning a strategy.

“No shit.” He scratched his bare chest, then clasped his hands in his underarms, rocking back on his heels. “That’s great, Kim. I appreciate it.”

Eyes front, she reminded herself. “You’re probably not going to like working with me. I intend to be like a drill sergeant, because time is short.”

“Yeah? Well, you’re wrong about one thing.”

“What’s that?”

“I’m going to like it. I’m going to like every minute of it.”

“I’ll see you downstairs, then,” she said, shutting the door in his face. She dressed hurriedly and went downstairs. As she fixed herself a cup of coffee, she sang along with the radio.

“You’re in a good mood,” AJ remarked, coming into the kitchen.

“Am I? I guess I’m just glad to see you,” she said.

That drew a reluctant smile from him. “Right.”

“So your dad explained that he’s going to be working with me, right? Media training and public relations—what I used to do in my former job. So this way, he won’t have to go away.”

“And that’s why you’re in such a good mood?”

Yes. “No,” she said quickly. “But I think it’s good news that he figured out a way to stick around for you.”

AJ was quiet for a few minutes as he poured himself a bowl of cereal. Kim watched him surreptitiously, thinking about Daphne’s comment last night about having a romantic fling with Bo. Right here, Kim thought, is the reason there couldn’t be any fling—because she knew better than to play around when there was a fragile, frightened boy in the mix.

She watched him from the corner of her eye. She couldn’t tell if he thought it was good news or not. He probably didn’t understand what Bo was risking by skipping Fame School. More than media training and business skills development, he was going to miss out on the networking that was so crucial to a high-level career. Meeting the right people at the right time led to endorsements and alliances that could be invaluable.

She would make it her mission to find other networking opportunities. The Baseball Monthly interview would not be a stretch. A quick exchange of e-mails with someone she knew there, and it would be done. Under the influence or not, she was committed, and she intended to move forward quickly. There was an upcoming event she already had her eye on, a reception informally known as the Debutant Ball for new Yankees hopefuls, held at the Pierre in New York City. It was meant to bring the press and sponsors together with