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Reese nearly spit out her coffee. “No, he’s not,” she said, her voice nearly a shriek. “He’s nothing like her.”
Cam stifled a laugh as he took a bite of his omelet. “Okay, tell me how they are different.”
“Jordy has supported me.”
“Right. Let’s dive into that. When we won a gold medal in Beijing, he said he had meetings and couldn’t come. And your mom? She thought the flights were too expensive even though you offered to pay for her flight.”
She hated that Cam had a point, but she wasn’t backing down just yet. “It was her nerves. He said he didn’t like the tension.”
“Hmm, sounds like the same thing to me.”
“They are not the same.”
“You’re right. Jordy isn’t a hoarder. Or is he?”
“He’s not. And stop this.”
Cam reached out across the island and grasped on to Reese’s hands. “Kidding aside, I want you to be happy, and I want you to surround yourself with people who support you. Who love you unconditionally. You have enough going on right now. Don’t let him add to your stress.”
They let the subject drop and returned their attention to breakfast. While Cam was out getting groceries, Reese attacked her ancient laptop and tried every password she could think of to no avail. When Cam returned, he found her staring vacantly at the decaying machine.
“No luck?” he asked, setting the groceries down on the kitchen counter.
“Nope. I’ve tried everything.”
“It’s time to hand it over to John. He’ll know someone who can get into it.”
“Great. And that means apologizing to Jen.”
She watched him put away the groceries, knowing she should help but too exhausted to get up. She felt defeated. Jennifer Brennan had finally won a game Reese had stopped playing years ago.
“Think of it as two minutes of your life. Before you know it, this will be over, and you can start moving on.”
“With my reputation in tatters. I’ll have to rebuild. Hope I don’t lose my business.”
“You won’t. John’s been pretty savvy about this. He’s already released statements from other skaters who’ve said Jen was the bully. No one has come forward to defend her.”
“Karen Demchuk will. Don’t you remember the two of them? Always plotting. I’m surprised she hasn’t already come out and vilified me.”
“Karen quit skating pretty early. She was the one who didn’t like to work hard, right?”
“She always had an excuse to ditch training early.”
“Her period,” they said in unison.
Reese laughed at that, and it felt good. She hadn’t had much to laugh about.
“Let’s not focus on Jen,” Cam said, putting away the last of the groceries. “I want you to stay as positive as possible. And when John and the gang get here, we’ll practice what you’re going to say, and then rid Jen from our lives forever.”
If only it could be that easy. Reese wasn’t so sure.
* * *
John and Marnie arrived a few hours later. Cam made another pot of coffee, while Reese went over the script. She tried to keep her anger in check as she read it over a few times. She hated every part of it.
“The way this apology reads, I’m taking full responsibility for everything? That she’s the saint, and that I made her life hell? This isn’t accurate at all. Look, I take responsibility for my part in what happened, but this? No, it’s too much.”
John muffled a groan. “We can soften the language, but you need to be contrite. We want to get this over and done with.”
