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15
Sydney
“Ohmygod, ohmygod, ohmygod! Nick, wake up!” I shook Nick’s strong shoulder, barely able to budge him.
“Erm,” he groaned, burying his face deeper into the pillow.
“Nick!” I half-shrieked in his ear. “Wake up! We have a problem.”
He opened an eye, blinked. “Only one?”
I punched him.
“Syd, we’ve talked about this.” He rubbed his bicep like I really hurt him, but he did roll over and open both eyes.
“Look!” I shoved my cell into his face and he took it from me, holding it out at a distance.
“Oh, good pic.” He smiled his slow, lopsided grin, scrolling through the photos.
“Urgh, you’re so annoying sometimes!” I threw my hands up, then wrapped them around my knees, pulling myself into a tight ball. “This is a fucking problem, Nick. Remember that ‘no picture’ clause in our deal? Yeah, well, it’s busted wide open now.”
“Ahh. So you’re worried someone from work is going to see this.”
“Uh, yeah. Did you even read the post?”
He squinted at the screen, trying to make out the tiny print. “I think I might need glasses.”
“It says Nick Milton and his girlfriend, Sydney. So yeah—problem.”
“Listen, PR. It’s social media. People will scroll through it in one second, probably no one will even see it. If they do, we can just spin it. Say they screwed up the details, no biggie.”
“Unless you zoom in on the picture and notice how your arm is wrapped around me and we look like a couple.”
“Well, you are my fake girlfriend right now…” he pointed out.
I smacked my forehead. “Which was our secret deal. For your family. Not the whole freaking world.”
“It’s the Starlight Bay Historical Society account, Syd, not the team’s. No one’s going to even see it. How many people even follow this account?”
I glanced down at my phone. “Well, judging by the 6572 likes, 502 shares, and 426 comments already, plenty.”
“Shit, seriously? That’s impressive.”
“Nick! Focus. What do we do?” I groaned, leaning back against the pillows, regretting this trip so hard right now.
Nick sat up, wrapping his arm around me. “I’ll work it out, don’t worry.”
“How?” I asked, the hot prick of tears threatening.
“Not sure. I’ll shower and think about it. Don’t do anything yet. It’s not even eight AM and it’s a holiday week. We have a few minutes before HR gets involved.”
“Think of something good,” I shouted at his sculpted back as he retreated to the bathroom. “The holidays only buy us so much time.”
“Understood, Syd,” he said in a calm voice. “I’ll fix this.” Then he shut the door, leaving me to fret alone on the bed.
Thirty minutes later, we weren’t any closer to a plan. I kept frenetically refreshing my email, preparing myself for the worst. Luckily, nothing from anyone important so far.
“I’m grabbing coffee with Jackson at Bayfront Beans. I’ll be back in a little while.” Nick said, pulling a navy quarter-zip hoodie over his head.
“You want me to just stay here with your parents?” I grumbled, staring over at him with wide eyes. “Seems like an odd time to grab a casual cup o’ joe, seeing as how we’re in the middle of a crisis.”
“Jackson knows professional sports, Syd. He might have some ideas.”
I chewed my bottom lip, mulling this over. I wasn’t crazy about the idea of Nick spilling the beans to Jackson, but desperate times called for desperate measures, right?
“Fine. But be quick. And bring me back a peppermint mocha.”
