I give Andrea a smile, then head over to the man I suspect tried to take away my entire life before I realized she was mine.
“I’m here,” I tell him as cockily as I can.
His angry stare might scare me if I didn’t want to tear his head off. “This kind of behavior is unacceptable, Soucy. The amount of money you’ve lost me in the last twenty-four hours…” He shakes his head. “I can’t even think about it.”
“Well, I’m here now. Are you going to waste more sitting around talking about it?”
His lip curls up. “Get out there.” To everyone else, he claps his hands. “Let’s go.”
The girls sit at their places at the table. My stomach somersaults. The thing is, I should try to stay on McNally’s good side, but all I care about is staying true to Tab. She needs me right now, and I’m not about to let her down.
The producer waves me on, and I walk toward the table. The girls are both dressed to the nines, and here I am waltzing up in a shirt and jeans, the same thing I wore to the bar with Tab yesterday. I can still smell her on me.
“Hello, ladies.” I usually kiss them on the cheek, but instead, I just sit in the chair opposite them. Kris throws her hair back over her shoulders while Andrea looks a little hurt. Out of the two of them, Andrea is here for the right reasons, so she might really be hurting. Kris only wants a show.
Well, I’m about to give them one.
“Thanks for meeting me here,” I tell them. I can see that Kris wants to say so much more. Who knows, maybe she’s only here because she’s under contract, too.
“It’s good to see you, Levi,” Andrea says. She reaches over to put her hand on mine, but I pull away.
“Shall we eat?” she asks, staring at her empty hand.
On cue, the waitress comes over, and it makes me wonder how staged this whole thing really is.
It wouldn’t surprise me if she was supposed to say that.
We order, and Andrea starts talking about what’s been going on with her since the last time I saw her. I try my best to keep up the conversation, when really I just wanted to come here, say my piece, and move on. Kris, though, is all about acting nonchalant with a side of pissy. She doesn’t participate in the conversation either, so when Andrea finishes, I stare at Kris and say, “What’s up with you?”
“Me? Oh, I love being followed around and asked why the star of the show has decided not to fulfill his obligations.” She peers at the producer. “Can we get this over with?”
Clearly, she doesn’t think I’m going to pick her.
The food comes out then, interrupting the tension for a bit, and when the waiter walks away, Andrea says, “I just thought Levi was busy. He had a few games. Great plays, by the way. My friends all can’t believe I’m dating a pro football player!”
My stomach drops. This is the exact opposite of what I wanted. I can’t have her thinking that we’re actually dating when my heart lies somewhere else. It’s not fair to her, and it’s definitely not fair to Tab.
“I did want to talk to you two about that. I’ve had fun,” I start. To my left, Kris rolls her eyes. Andrea, though, looks excited. “It’s been great getting to know you both.”
“Just get to it,” Kris snarls.
“You’re being rude,” Andrea states, sticking up for me.
Who knows what she’ll think in a few seconds, however. I look at the dishes in front of me that are filled with pasta. This could go very badly.
“It’s okay,” I tell Andrea. “She has a right to feel whatever she wants. The reason I’ve been putting this off is because I was uncertain about what to do. Kris, Andrea, I haven’t met my match. I’m incredibly sorry.”
Kris stands abruptly, scraping her chair across the floor, and then spins and walks away. The producer motions for a separate cameraman to follow, and that leaves me with Andrea. She sniffles. “I’m sorry, Andrea.”
“I can understand why you didn’t pick her, but me?”
“You’re a sweet girl, and it really doesn’t have anything to do with you either. My heart was taken and I didn’t know it.”
“There’s someone else?”
I nod. “I didn’t realize the depth of my feelings when I agreed to do the show. When I figured it out, I wasn’t sure what to do.”
“She is a lucky girl,” she sniffs.
