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The air had grown warmer the week we arrived back in Chicago. It was like the weather was even reflecting what had happened between me and Tommy. We still hadn’t addressed the kiss we shared when there were no cameras around, but that didn’t stop the two of us from passing looks at each other or reaching out to give the other a fleeting touch during our travel day back. It felt as if the dynamic between us had changed completely and the rules that had been there before were now gone, leaving us to try to find the new outline for whatever we were becoming.
But the safety of our time away quickly faded the moment we walked back into the stadium. May was waiting for me inside the gate of the employee parking lot like she was ready to pounce the second I walked inside. And pounce was exactly what she did. She wrapped an arm around my shoulder and began to steer me toward the elevators that led to the C-suite.
My entire body deflated on the elevator ride up. The last time I had ridden this elevator, my life had been forever changed. I was beginning to like the path my life had started on, and I was really hoping this visit with Monica wouldn’t change it again.
“Before we go in,” May yanked me to a stop just outside the conference room, “Monica wanted me to give this to you.”
She handed me a white envelope. My name was scrawled across it. My fingers slipped underneath the seal to tear it open. Inside was a pay stub with a check attached. My eyebrows pulled together in confusion. I wasn’t due for a check for another week.
“What is this?”
“Your advance for the agreement,” May told me. My eyes snapped back down to the pay stub that detailed the payment for “team publicity.”
My stomach dropped, and when I glanced back up, May’s encouraging smile felt like a joke. When I first agreed to this entire thing, the money had sounded like a nice perk. But now, with the check in my hands, all I wanted to do was rip it up.
“Come on,” May gestured toward the conference room. “They’re all waiting for us.”
I pushed the guilt bubbling in my stomach down as I followed her. It was exactly like the first time I had walked into the conference room. Everyone was already there when May and I walked in. Tommy was sitting in the same spot, except this time he looked less defeated than before. His eyes tracked me as I walked in, a question in them like he was trying to make sure I was okay. Monica drew both of our attention away from each other before I could try to answer him.
“There are my two lovebirds!” My body tensed with fear at Monica knowing that something more was happening between us. But I pushed that thought aside as she continued, “You guys are doing such a wonderful job. The talk surrounding Tommy has been much better these past few weeks. It even seems like they’re turning over a new leaf when it comes to what they think about Tommy.”
I glanced away from Monica to look at Tommy. His eyes were already on mine.
“We want you two to attend the ESPYS together. Walk the red carpet, look truly in love. We think it will really seal the deal for the media on your relationship.”
It wasn’t the worst thing that Monica could have said. We had already done a red carpet event together. That wasn’t anything new. But from the look on Tommy’s face, it was something completely new for him. He looked like he had swallowed something sour, and as soon as Monica told us that was all she wanted to see us for, he left the room like a bat out of hell.
My chair screeched as I raced after him. He was jamming his finger into the button to close the elevator door when I slipped through, like someone had flipped the script from the first meeting. Tommy let out a sigh as soon as I stopped next to him.
“What?” I asked him, feeling like I was wading through uncharted waters with this new side of him that I hadn’t seen.
“It’s nothing,” Tommy replied, his eyes firmly on his shoes.
“It’s clearly not nothing.”
When Tommy decided to stay silent, I reached out and pushed the emergency stop button on the wall in front of us. He startled as the elevator jerked to a stop. His hand thrust out to steady himself against the wall, but I didn’t have the forethought to do such a thing, so I went flying straight into his chest.
“Ow!” I groaned as my nose bent at an awkward angle. Tommy’s arm wrapped around my waist before I went bouncing away from him. The two of us froze as our eyes locked, almost exactly like one of the romance movies I liked to watch. Tommy cleared his throat before he let me go and took a small step away from me to give us room.
“What are you doing, Maggie?” Tommy asked, almost on a sigh.
“I don’t know,” I admitted, turning to pace toward the other side of the elevator. “You were running away and you wouldn’t talk to me, so I had to do something.”
“Like shutting down the elevator?”
“It felt like the right thing to do.” I wrapped my arms around myself as my mind began to outpace me. “I want you to talk to me.”
Tommy watched me from across the elevator, like he was weighing if he actually wanted to give in and tell me what he was wrestling with inside. After a moment, the tension in him seemed to release like a dam.
“I haven’t been back to an event like that since before.”
“Before what?” I pressed.
“Before I changed.”
“Changed?”
I took a few steps closer to him, nervous that if I moved too fast I would spook him. He looked at me as I drew near and didn’t speak again until I was back inches from him.
