“The most important thing for me is to play football again. Period. I would prefer to keep what we’re doing out of the public until I return to the League, but if word gets out . . . ” Another shrug. “I guess I’ll just have to deal with it.”
Guilt twisted in Taylor’s gut at the disappointment she heard in his voice. “As someone who recently experienced a pretty awful dragging by strangers online, I can’t stomach the thought of putting you through that just because I stupidly blurted out that lie.”
“Taylor, if I had to list all the times I’ve been dragged online, it would stretch all the way up to my house in Georgetown. It comes with the territory when you’re an athlete who’s played at the professional level.”
“That doesn’t change the fact thatI’mthe reason for this particular dragging,” she said, feeling even worse that he was trying to downplay her role in this.
Jamar caught her by the wrist. “Can you please sit down? Your pacing is making me dizzy.”
She sat on the sofa, but then immediately popped back up again. “Wait. I have an idea. It’s a little crazy, but it can work. No, itwillwork.”
“What?” His apprehension was justified. At this point, Taylor wouldn’t trust herself either. But the more the idea began to coagulate in her head, the more it started to make total sense.
“Hear me out,” she began. “What if we stick with the dating story for now?”
“What?” His head jerked back. “You’re not serious?”
Okay, so she was a tad offended by the incredulity in his tone.
“For the record, I’m a catch,” she said. “But that’s beside the point. Listen, if people think we’re dating, we won’t be confined to your home gym anymore.” She put her hands up. “Don’t get me wrong, it’s the coolest home gym I’ve ever seen in my life, but I love getting outdoors too. We wouldn’t have to hide out if people think you’ve just tagged along on workouts because I’m your girlfriend.”
“I thought that was exactly what you were trying to avoid, having potential customers assume that I’m only working with you because I’m your boyfriend?”
“I know.” She sighed. “I didn’t say this was ideal, but it’s the best solution I can come up with. If I could travel back in time and not open my big mouth to that Mooney guy, I would. But that’s not happening. And, you know what? If I’m able to prove to people that I’m so damn good that I can get a guy with a busted knee back into the NFL, it won’t matter if they believe we’re dating.”
Taylor slapped her hand to her forehead. “Oh. My.God. Come on, Taylor Renee! Why didn’t you see this before?”
“You’re addressing yourself in the third person, and that kind of shit always scares me,” Jamar said. “What should you have seen before?”
“We can be the new IG power couple!” she said. She laughed at his confounded expression. “Do you spend even a second on Instagram? Because, if you do, you would know that the power couples rule Fitnessgram.”
“Are you even speaking English right now?”
“Keep up, Twenty-Three. You’re younger than I am; you should know this lingo.” She snapped her fingers. “I need something to write on.” Taylor walked over to the kitchen and grabbed a piece of mail and a pen. “We need to put together a game plan,” she said, returning to the sofa. She turned the envelope vertical and wrotegame planat the top.
“Theais backwards.”
She looked over at him. “Huh?”
He lifted the envelope from her hand and pointed to it. “Thea. You wrote it backwards in both game and plan.”
“It’s only because I was writing too fast. Now, let me finish this.” She snatched the envelope from his hands and made a list of bullet points. Once done, she turned to him, unable to stanch the smile that curled up her lips. “So this is freaking brilliant.”
“You want to share?” he asked, holding out his hand.
“I’ll read it to you,” Taylor said. She didn’t need Mr. Penmanship dissecting her messy handwriting. “This is our official dating playbook. Our overall goal is to convince everyone that we’re the hot new fitness couple on the block. I’d love to come up with a couple’s name, but all I can think of is TayJar.”
“Please don’t make me half of TayJar.”
Taylor had to bite the inside of her cheek to stop herself from laughing at the desperation in his frantic plea.
“Forget TayJar,” she said, tapping the pen in a chaotic rhythm against her leg. “It’s not important. Whatisimportant is selling this story to the public so that they’ll believe we’re really a couple.”
“And how do you propose we do that?”
“I told you, by becoming a fitness power couple. We’ll convince people you’re helping me develop new exercise routines for Taylor’d Conditioning. I’m known for my boot camp workouts, but I can say that I’m moving into a new genre—work out like an NFL player, or something.
“Now, in order to really sell this, we’re going to have to play up the whole couples routine.” She ticked items off on her fingers. “Posting pictures of ourselves together online, especially when we’re working out. Maybe even making a few YouTube workout videos together. But it can’t beallabout working out,” she stressed. “We’re going to have to stage a few dates where I get to wear cute clothes and heels.”
