I wasn’t sure how my mom even heard it but she materialized in front of me to welcome the man of the hour.
She threw open the door dramatically. “Bennett Martino,welcome! You get in here right now!”
The intensity of her smiley greeting made him take a half step backward. “Uh, hello there.”
“Come in, come in, everyone is waiting for you,” she jokingly scolded him as she grabbed him by the wrist. “We were starting to get worried!”
He shot me a look as he crossed the threshold that told me he already understood.
“Yeah, sorry, lots of moving parts as we get closer to leaving for Italy, which I’m sure you understand with all your upcoming travel. We really appreciate your time today.”
At least one of us did.
“Anything for our Quinn,” she said, keeping her focus totally on Ben.
“Mr. Albright, it’s nice to meet you.” Ben stretched out his hand to my father, and they did the manly sizing-up thing as they shook hands.
“Big fan,” he replied, which I knew wasn’t true because the only sports my dad cared about were football and baseball. Even mine barely mattered to him.
Neil walked into the front hall. “Sorry to interrupt, but we have a few options for out setup. Want to come see?”
“I’ll show you my favorite,” my mom said, moving to the front of the group.
As always, the rest of us were left to follow behind her.
Chapter Twenty-Two
“We’re ready for you,” Hailey said as she peeked into the dining room.
It was the farthest spot on the first floor from where the team had set up to interview my parents on the sun porch. Ben had invited me to sit in on their solo portion of the interview, but I had zero desire to watch my mom fake-fawn over me. Besides, I already knew all her scripts. There was no need to give her the satisfaction of repeating them in front of me.
I stood up and stretched my arms over my head. I’d spent my time contorted in a highback chair, rewatching my old performances and texting Mel and Zoey for support. Anything to avoid hearing my mom’s fake laughter echo down the hall.
“I love your house,” Hailey said over her shoulder as I followed her. “It’s perfect. Like a model home.”
“That’s exactly what she was going for,” I said with a snort.
Not comfortable or warm.Impressive. Envy inducing. Like the room I was just in; the white oak table beneath the hand-painted wallpaper was so wide that you couldn’t talk to the person seated across from you let alone comfortably pass the dinner rolls, and thechairs were cushioned, but the hard right angle felt like torture after an hour or so.
“It’s going really well,” Hailey continued. “Your mom issogood on camera.”
I was well aware. “How about my dad?”
“Oh, he’s great too. But it seems like your mom was more plugged into your career. He’s letting her take the lead.”
As ever.
I paused at the threshold of the room, marveling at the way the team had transformed it for the interview with big softbox lights and a maze of cords on the floor.
“Hey.” Ben met me at the doorway and I caught the slightest furrow. He glanced at Hailey hovering behind him. “I’ll get Quinn’s mic on.”
She frowned at him. “I can do it. It’s sort of my job.”
“Yeah, but I want to go over some stuff with her. Why don’t you help Neil reset for the three-shot?”
Hailey nodded and moved on, leaving the two of us alone in the corner of the room a safe distance from where my parents were sitting. I could feel my mom watching us.
“How bad was it?” I asked softly, angling myself so my back was to her.
