Page 102 of The Grump I Got Stuck With

I couldn’t get over the sight. I’d have sworn on my life that the man would never.

“Welcome to those of you just joining us,” Helen said in a posh British accent. “I’m Helen Hartford. We’re here with Alistair Shaw for an exclusive interview.”

The crowd in the pub huddled closer to the TV, whispering among themselves.

All I could do was gape at the screen. “I don’t understand,” I whispered to Isla. “The man has wanted nothing to do with the media for months. Why is he up there now?”

“Maybe he changed his mind,” she said.

“Alistair, I have to say,” Helen began, “I never expected to find myself here with you. You’ve been notoriously press shy. It was quite a surprise to everyone at our program when you reached out to set up an interview.”

“That’s what I just said,” I muttered, gesturing to the screen. I wasn’t just shocked to see him, I was confused because I knew how uncomfortable something like this would be for a man who hated the spotlight and genuinely loathed the press.

Alistair nodded. “I haven’t wanted to fuel the drama and speculation in any way,” he said. “But too much has happened now, and I’m ready to tell my story.”

“Well, then,” Helen said. “Where do you think that story begins?”

I expected him to start with Jessica. If he was giving a public interview just to get his story out there so the press would stop pestering him for it, then that was where he’d begin, right? But to my surprise, he began with Voyages—how he’d originally gotten the idea, what he’d wanted the company to stand for, how proud he’d been to see it grow and flourish…and how much it had hurt when all of that had gone away, and the board had shown it no longer had confidence in his ability to lead.

It was open, honest, deeply personal—the sort of thing I’d have thought he’d rather be skinned alive than share with the rest of the world. But there he was, sharing it. And then he started talking about Jessica, and my shock got deeper. He described the most crushing details, like waking up the morning she’d vanished and experiencing the free fall into shock and horror when he realized what she’d done. He detailed the desperate scramble to try to find a way to fix things, to make them right, only to realize that simply wasn’t possible, that there was no undoing what she’d done, and that he’d have to live with it for the rest of his life. He talked about the trial, the burning humiliation of being judged so publicly for something so intimate and private. He described his decision to retreat to Dunhope, and his wish at the time that he could go there and simply be forgotten—disappear from the public stage, never to return.

“I can’t believe he’s talking about all this,” I whispered to Isla. He’d taken vulnerability to a whole new level, one that even I had never seen from him before.

On the screen, Helen was nodding along, eyes full of sympathy. “After an experience like that, I think everyone can understand why you would have wanted to withdraw. But then, of course, Jessica was found and arrested. What was that like for you?”

Alistair’s jaw ticked. “Infuriating, honestly. I finally felt like circumstances had settled, like I was starting to live my life again instead of just staying in a defensive posture all the time. When I thought about what the future held, there were things I was excited about, things I looked forward to rather than constantly thinking about how something else could go wrong. But then she was back, throwing a grenade into my life all over again. Bringing the media wolves back howling to my door.”

Helen laughed. “Not the most flattering picture of my profession. If that’s your opinion of the press, then what brought you here with me?” She gestured to the camera. “Talking to the nation. Laying it all out, opening those wounds back up. What changed your mind? Something put you in this seat.”

“It wasn’t something,” Alistair said. “It was someone. For weeks, there’s been rumors about me and the woman who was working for me as my daughter’s nanny, and I’m here to set the record straight once and for all. When I was confronted after seeing Jessica again, I said the first thing I could think of to shut the paparazzi up, and I said that Madison was just the nanny. But that’s not true. She has never been just the nanny. She’s the woman who’s been driving me up the wall since the night I met her. She’s the woman who brought my gloomy hunk of a house to life and made it into a home. She’s the woman who challenges me to be the kind of man I always wanted to be. She’s the woman I love with all my heart.”

The pub erupted. Heads whipped in my direction. Baby Andy wailed, and Isla scooped him up. I felt my cheeks turn bright red, but nothing could have pulled my attention away from the TV.

“Madison came into my life during one of my darkest moments,” Alistair continued, “and brightened my entire world. She’s made me realize how much I was missing out on by shutting myself off and how much richer life can be when you open your heart.”

“She changed your perspective on things?” Helen said.

Alistair nodded. “I’m done hiding behind my walls.”

“Where is Madison now?” Helen asked. “She didn’t come to the studio with you.”

I watched his eyebrows inch together, a grief overtaking his face. “I pushed her away.”

“Why?”

“Because I was an idiot. I took the love of my life and lumped her in with everyone else. When she very wisely pointed out that I was too busy worrying about what everyone else thought instead of concentrating on what my family truly needed, I told her she was wrong. And worse, I said that her opinion and her happiness didn’t factor into my plans.”

There were gasps all around me, and I felt people staring at me. Isla squeezed my arm, but my eyes were riveted to the TV as Alistair looked straight at the camera, like he was staring right at me. “And that was the biggest mistake of my life.”

“Bigger than putting your trust in Jessica?”

“Far bigger,” he affirmed. My heart flip-flopped. “Because this mistake was entirely my fault. I wasn’t swindled or scammed. It was my choice to let my fear get the better of me. Instead of reaching out in my time of need, I made her think she wasn’t important to me. And that couldn’t be further from the truth.”

“If she were here right now,” Helen said, “what would you say to her?”

“I would ask her for another chance to prove how much she means to me. I’d do anything for that.”

The broadcast switched away from the living room-esque set to Helen at a news desk with her colleagues, discussing the interview. All around me, conversations sprung to life, but I couldn’t hear anything over the buzzing in my ears as my thoughts spun. Then the door opened, and an awkward hush washed across the pub.