“Of all the possibilities that a foundation could benefit, why gambling?” I ask.
He shrugs. “It’s a slap in the face to my father while honoring my mother’s memory.”
“Okay, so who is this benefitting? What support are you offering?”
“I don’t know. I just want to find a way to put good in the same world my father tainted.” His voice is quiet, but I still hear the slice of pain in it.
“Let’s think this through,” I say, brainstorm mode activated. “Do you want to focus on prevention? Education? People?”
He nods. “All of it.”
“You know, I recently came across a headline talking about the rise in gambling on college campuses. Since the Supreme Court legalized sports betting in a bunch of states, universities have partnered with sports betting companies. So college kids are more exposed to it than ever before. What if you partnered with a Vegas casino and did some sort ofPlay Responsiblycampaign on college campuses?” I ask.
His brows push together as he thinks that over. “That’s not a bad idea.”
“And you could take it a step further and partner with college athletes and sports influencers about the dangers of gambling addiction, signs to look for, that type of thing. You could develop programs that teach responsible gaming or help identify risky behaviors.”
His brows crease even more, and I wrinkle my nose.
“Sorry. You hate it,” I say.
He shakes his head. “No. Quite the opposite. I’m impressed, Millie.”
“With what?”
“I’ve been mulling this over for a week now and couldn’t come up with what angle I wanted to use. Two seconds after explaining it to you, you whip out the angle. My angle. It’s perfect. You’re really good at this.”
My cheeks heat a little. “Thanks,” I mumble.
“No, I mean it. You have the creative brain for this kind of thing with a mix of this incredible business sense. It’s fascinating to watch.”
My cheeks heat even more. “I just keep up on what’s trending, that’s all.”
He shakes his head. “It’s not just what’s trending. You understand perception and marketing. You’re a strategic businesswoman with incredible ideas.”
I guess I’ve been dismissed so many times with mylittle blogthat I forgot that beneath the smile and perfect makeup, he’s right. I’m a fucking badass. It just took the hottie sitting across the table from me to remind me of that.
CHAPTER 29: Archer Bradley
Flippers
Our coffees are long empty by the time we wrap up work for the day, and I’ve sent an email off with details to my lawyer, agent, and publicist.
It’s perfect.
Sheis perfect.
We have a foundation name: The ARCH Initiative: Athletes for Responsible CHoices. We have a campaign name: Game Plan. We have a slogan: Train hard. Game smart. Choose responsibly.
It only took one afternoon for me to wonder if there is some way I can ask her to partner with me on this thing. She could quit her bartending job and spearhead this foundation.
Fuck, I know I’m getting ahead of myself. But I haven’t felt this sort of excitement over something in a long time, and it’s all because of her.
It makes it feel like together, we can do anything. It’s us against the world.
As I was drafting my email, I glanced over and saw her concentrating on her phone, and for the first time, it hit me why it bothers me so much.
It’s partly because she exists in a world I’m not a part of, but so much more of it is when I see the crease in her brows or the frown on her lips as she studies whatever metrics she’s looking at.
