‘In this town what else is new?’
Ward settled down on a yoga mat, and she began her usual machinations on him with a variety of stretches. He did his best to push on through the pain but it wasn’t easy today and it showed on his face.
‘This hurting?’ she asked, digging an elbow into his glute.
‘No,’ he growled. ‘Everything is wonderful.’
She eased off ever so slightly but continued with consistent pressure as if recognising that he still needed to be the tough guy.
‘So,’ she asked then, evidently trying to distract him from the discomfort, ‘Johnny tells me you’re working with a publicist now?’
This earned her another growl. ‘Yeah, what’s it to you?’
Shelley flung her ponytail over her shoulder as she transferred her elbow to Ward’s right glute and dug in. He was tense all over. ‘I’m just … surprised to tell you the truth. You don’t strike me as the PR-hungry type.’
‘I’m not. But I’m being forced to work with this pain-in-the-ass girl. Story of my life.’
Recognizing the not-so-subtle dig, Shelley rolled her eyes, pushed his body to the ground and grabbed his left knee, stretching it high in front of him.
‘Well, whoever she is I’m sure she’s great at her job, but no one’s a miracle worker. Did you know that I work with a lot of pro athletes and none of them whine as much as you do?’ She pushed his leg harder, lengthening his hamstring.
‘She knows what she’s dealing with. I told her straight-up that I wasn’t going along with any lame-ass bullshit, so she’s coming back with a strategy, something I can work with.’
Shelley nodded as she released his leg and began stretching the other.
‘Like I have a strategy personalised to your needs. I guess her job and mine are not so different. I’m trying to help you improve physically and she – what’s her name?’
‘Hannah.’
‘Hannah is trying to improve you reputationally. Both of ustreating two very different sides of WildCat Ward McKenzie.’ She grinned. ‘If you ask me, she has the tougher job,waytougher.’
‘Ha. Very funny.’
‘Well, a little advice for what it’s worth: just let the girl do her job, trust her judgement and don’t expect instant gratification either. Results take time. You didn’t get to the level you’re at professionally overnight, did you?’
‘No,’ he agreed, thinking about his relatively slow and steady career trajectory, and praying that all the hard-earned gains he’d made over the years weren’t now in the rear-view mirror.
‘Don’t expect any public messes you’ve made to disappear overnight either. It took time to build up that macho bad-boy image of yours, so it’s going to take some work to rehabilitate. Just like what we’re doing with your body right now.’
Case in point, Ward groaned as she moved on to his hip flexors.
‘Yeah, but even with your help, I still have some control over this. I feel like I don’t have any over that PR bullshit.’
‘True, but that’s also probably the way it needs to be. You got yourself into this mess – someone else has to get you out of it, but the main thing is you have to bewillingto put in the work too, Ward. Just like you’re doing with me. Show this girl some mercy and meet her halfway. Make an effort to prove to her, Hannah, that you have an open mind – and for Chrissakes, don’t look for instant miracles either. Rome wasn’t built in a day. We’re all only human.’ When he rolled his eyes in response, Shelley laughed. ‘Even you.’
Chapter 26
HANNAH
Hannah got out of bed early in preparation for the marble installers to arrive.
Given his history with this stuff, she sorely hoped next door wasn’t upset by the news that there would be more work happening again today, and uttered a silent prayer that all would go OK and that the job would indeed be a one-day thing as promised. And most importantly, any noise and disruption would be kept to a minimum. Keeping the neighbour happy was quite the tightrope but she was more than willing to use all the interpersonal skills at her disposal to keep the peace and ensure her cushy living situation wasn’t put at risk. Tools of the trade and all that.
She switched her phone back off silent mode and flicked through her message notifications while toasting a bagel and sipping a mug of tea.
Then turning her attention back to the matter in hand, she brought up Courtney’s original welcome note, of which she’d taken a snapshot on her phone for reference.
‘Calacatta marble …’ she mumbled out loud, typing the words into the online search bar, and bringing up relevant image results so she was able to verify that the right stuff arrived.
