“Um, did you only get a slice for him?” Nora cocked an eyebrow at me.
I laughed. “I bought two for us as well.”
“Nice! I knew I loved you for a reason. How did he seem?”
I paused to consider how the visit had gone. “He looked pale—I think he doesn’t spend much time outside these days, now that he’s not living with Winston. But overall he was in decent spirits. He always wants me to show him pictures of the house progress, and I keep having to lie about forgetting to take them. I don’t want him to get worked up about how slowly everything is going, you know?”
“Yeah, but you’ve got a windfall in your future, right? The guy from reality TV and his actress girlfriend?”
I held up both hands and crossed my fingers. “They aresoclose to signing. And the beauty of it is more than just a paycheck, it’s theexposure. The Carten-stans will do anything she says, and if she gives me a shout-out I’ll be golden.”
Nora pulled a face. “I’m sorry, what did you just say?”
“I hate that you ignore pop culture,” I pretended to kick her. “Their names are Kristen and Carter, so their fans call them ‘Carten.’”
“And what’s a ‘stan’?”
“Oh my gosh, you’re a literal grandma,” I laughed at her.
“I am,” she said in a crotchety voice, hunching over and grabbing her back. “Leave me and my husband alone.”
Nora hobbled over to Winston and sat down beside him, and for a few minutes I managed to forget about my upside-down house, and high-maintenance clients, and grumpy strangers, and focus instead on the joy of a good friend and a devoted beast.
4
DREW
My office land line lit up with a call. I could count on one hand the number of people who still used it over my cell, the most important one being my father. Like me, he hadn’t embraced technology and preferred to call me on the phone number that was still burned in his brain.
“Andrew Ashford,” I answered.
“Hey, son, how are you?”
I calibrated my answer. After my dad’s recent health scare I tried to filter what I told him. He didn’t need extra stress in his life.
“Doing okay,” I replied, easing back into my chair. “Feeling positive about what’s on the horizon.”
“And what’s that?”
So much for me trying to be vague and keep him out of the day-to-day. But then again, he was totally plugged into the recent drama at the resort and understandably wanted to know if I had a vision for turning things around. We were weathering a uniquePR challenge that had taken some of the shine off the brand, which had all of the Ashfords concerned, especially the patriarch.
“We’ve got a heavy hitter couple considering booking with us. The groom has a reality TV show and the bride is on that streaming show everyone’s talking about,End in Fire?” I didn’t mention that Kristen and I had dated once. It didn’t seem relevant and, besides, our history was ancient and Dad had never met her anyway.“If they sign with us, the exposure would be incredible. They’re here now doing a tour with Ginny.”
“A reality show? And would they feature the wedding?”
“As I understand it, that’s the current plan,” I confirmed.
“And that means the production would have to pay a hefty location fee in addition to the usual costs,” he added.
“Of course, but as we both know, it’s more than just the financial gain, it’s theoptics. The coverage from these two would be multi-platform and nonstop.”
“Okay, but is the extra headache worth it?”
It was just like him to cut through to the heart of the matter. I was also concerned that the profile-boosting event could also come at a cost. If everything went right, the whole world would see it and be impressed. But if something went wrong…
Well, I’d just have to make sure that nothing went wrong.
“Sure, we’d have to deal with some hiccups, like navigating a camera crew, but I think it’s worth it.”
