AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I’m standing in the shallow end of the pool with him and his sweet wife, plus, Colin and his adorable girlfriend. Also, Josh and Kat, and Henn and Hannah. Behind us, Zander, Aloha, Keane, and Maddy are playing an enthusiastic game of chicken.
“Sure,” Dax says. “Reed mentioned you’re trying to come up with unique angles for all your interviews?”
“That’s the idea,” I say. “For instance, with Dean Masterson, I’m going to hang out with him at his house in Malibu. I’ll watch him surf. He’ll make me some stir-fry and show me some personal photos. I’m hoping to be able to write something really different about him than the world has seen before.”
“That sounds cool,” Dax says.
“You guys could show Georgina around Seattle,” Kat suggests. “It could be an ‘origin story’ type thing. You could show her where you guys used to rehearse in Mom and Dad’s garage. And where you used to skateboard. I have a thousand photos I could show you, Georgie.”
Dax says he’s in favor of the idea, and his drummer, Colin, agrees.
“Should we ask Fish if he’s okay with it?” I ask, glancing across the pool at Fish and Alessandra.
“Nah,” Dax says. “Fish is always cool with whatever.”
And, just that fast, it’s settled: In the near future, I’m going to spend the day in Seattle with 22 Goats!
“You should stay with Josh and me when you come,” Kat says. “That way, we can hang out and relax while I show you all my photos and tell you all the stories the Goats would never want you to hear.”
I laugh with her. “That sounds amazing, Kat. Thank you.”
“Let’s exchange numbers, so you can use me as your point of contact to schedule everything,” Kat says. “It’d take you five times as long to get anything done if you had to go through official channels.”
And off we go to the ledge of the pool to grab our phones and exchange information.
“So, hey,” Kat says, after she’s input my number. “I think I might have put my foot in my mouth earlier, when I said that thing about my brother, Ryan, not liking Reed. Josh overheard that and got pissed at me. He doesn’t want you thinking badly of Reed, and neither do I. Reed is actually a good guy, Georgie. A sweetheart, once you get past all that swagger.”
I open my mouth to reply, but quickly close it again. Kat knows about Reed and me? Or is she simply concerned she’s said the wrong thing about her husband’s best friend to the woman assigned to write an article about him?
Kat continues, “Honestly, Georgie, I can’t even count all the times I’ve seen Reed being a fantastic friend or brother. Did you know he paid for all his sister’s schooling? He also hosted Henn and Hannah’s wedding here at his house. Also...” She looks behind her, apparently making sure nobody is within earshot. “This is off the record, okay? Not for your article.”
“Sure.”
“Don’t tell my brother, Keane, but Reed really helped his career behind the scenes.” She looks behind her again. “When Keane first moved to LA to try his hand at modeling and acting, his agent wouldn’t send him out to audition for anything serious. Every role he auditioned for was a dumb jock or stripper or frat boy. Keane was grateful for the work, and excited at first, but after a while, he really wanted to throw his hat in the ring for more serious roles. So, he took acting classes, and really worked hard, but, still, his agent wouldn’t take him seriously. So, Maddy told me about Keane’s predicament. She said Keane was getting discouraged. So, I mentioned it to Josh, just, you know, to catch my husband up on my life. I didn’t expect Josh to do anything with the information. But Josh, being Josh, he immediately took action and called Reed. Who then called the head of Keane’s talent agency—because Reed knows everybody in this town—and Reed told the guy it would be a personal favor to him if Keane’s particular agent would start taking a chance on him and send him out to a few serious auditions. And guess what happened? Keane got hired for the first serious role he tried out for! And that led to the next role, and the next. And now he’s starring in a hit show!”
Of course, none of this surprises me. Indeed, everything Kat just said sounds exactly like something Reed would do. Like Reed told me that day in the gym, he won’t compromise his professional judgment, but he’ll do just about anything else for the people on his short list. And since Josh Faraday is one of the people on that list, all he had to do was give Reed a call to send him into action.
