Her face lights up and I can feel the excitement that bursts from her. I think I felt the same way when he made me the offer. I shouldn’t be surprised, but it’s such an amazing and thoughtful offer—I’m still a little stunned.
“Oh my God. I would freaking love that. You two can be so funny to listen to at times and your chemistry is amazing.
“I think that’s a great idea. What’s holding you back? I would totally come on to produce the show if you guys need help,” she gushes.
I have to admit, her excitement is making me more excited about the idea. I’m truly considering whether we should and could pull this off.
However, I pump my brakes as my reasons for being reluctant begin to push their way to the surface. I have to remain grounded when it comes to the repercussions that could come from this. Our real lives come first and so does our son.
“I don’t know. Look at all the content creators who have been couples. It rarely ends well for their relationships.
“How do we do this and not risk our relationship? Let’s be honest, Bentley Coswell is a huge household name. This is going to blow up if we do this.”
“All the more reason to do it,” Erica says as she looks at me pointedly.
“I love him for making the offer, but will it work out? The last thing we need is more drama. I don’t want to lose any more time with him.”
Erica sighs and combs her hand through the front of her hair. She takes a moment as if she’s thinking over what I’ve said. I begin to add the meat to the pan with the onions and peppers as I wait for her to say what’s on her mind.
“First, since when do you ever do anything scared? Second, the way my brother loves you, that podcast would be canceled and forgotten before you could think about packing your bags or breaking up with him.
“Besides, you have me. I’m not allowing some trolls who don’t know a thing about my brother or my bestie to break them up with comments, DMs, or gossip-rag bullshit. Do the podcast, Zah.
“Fuck them people. Get your money and allow my brother to do something totally cute and romantic for you. So what’s our new podcast called?”
I laugh and smile at her. She’s made a ton of good points. I do want to do this.
“He suggested Running the Touchdown. So stinking cute if you ask me,” I say excitedly.
“Oh, I love that.” She clicks away at her phone for a few moments then looks up at me and smiles. “Done, I bought the domain name. Let’s get this thing started.”
I clap my hands and lift my shoulders to my ears happily. This is really happening. I’m going to start a podcast with Bentley Coswell.
We’ll have something new to build together. I already have so many ideas. This is going to be awesome.
I love my life.
CHAPTER 38
Episode One
Zahirah
Six months later …
“How’s it going,everyone? I’m Bentley Coswell and I’m here on this podcast with my beautiful partner in life, former all-American track star and swimmer, Zahirah Nickels. If you don’t already know, I’m the starting QB for?—”
“Bent, I don’t think there’s a person in the world who doesn’t know who you are or what team you play for,” I laugh.
He gives me an adorable smile. I’m excited and super nervous. I can’t believe we’re recording our first episode. Erica did her thing on marketing and promoting and helping me to get everything set up for audio and visual.
“I never assume people know who I am. I’m trying to remain humble, baby,” he chuckles.
“Babe, the last time you tried to come grocery shopping with me, I had to finish shopping alone, pay for everything, and still ended up waiting in the car for like an hour while you were signing autographs.
“The only reason we left when we did is because the baby started to scream his head off because he was over it. Who doesn’t know who?”
“Fair point. Sometimes it’s hard to get fans to understand you’re with your family, trying to do the everyday stuff they’re doing without being stopped for pics and autographs.”
