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“What you’re doing now. Grady has a charity event Saturday night. Something to do with poor kids. Whatever. I want you there.”
She wrinkled her nose. John could be so crude. “What if Semple’s piece nails me to the wall?”
“I don’t think it will. So make sure to be seen, talk to people, be friendly, and take pictures. We need everyone to see you as the sweetheart you once were.”
John was on form. Reese rolled her eyes.
“Right. I’ll bring out sweet and nice Reese.”
“You know what I mean. Gotta run. We’ll talk Saturday morning after the piece is out.”
* * *
Reese asked Grady to run out for Saturday’sGazette. After pacing her apartment waiting for him, she put on coffee and made oatmeal she knew she wouldn’t be able to eat. Grady returned a few minutes later, paper in hand. He tried to give it to her, but she refused.
“Read it. Tell me what it says.”
“Seriously?”
“Yes. I can’t do it.”
While he searched for the section, she grabbed two mugs and filled them with coffee. Grady liked his coffee black, and she handed it to him along with her oatmeal. She knew he’d eat it. She put a splash of cream in her coffee and sat across from him at her kitchen island. She watched his eyes move back and forth and tried not to read into his expression.
Once Grady was done, he set the paper down and pushed it in her direction.
“It’s pretty neutral.”
Neutral?
“What does that mean?”
“He doesn’t say anything bad about either of you. It seems to set the stage for who you and Jennifer are. It doesn’t even get into anything juicy. I figure that’s how he plans to frame his series of articles.”
“So it’s not bad?”
“No. The worst thing he says about you is that you’re a competitor. And some stuff about your parents. It was a lot about your childhoods. You do know that your parents participated in this, right?”
Reese nearly spat out her coffee. “What?”
She snatched the paper and tore it open. She skimmed the article and there they were. Quotes from both her parents. She could understand that her father hadn’t told her, but her mother? Reese wanted to punch something. And then it hit her hard. Semple had reached out to her dad, so why hadn’t her father reached out to her? Not once since all of this had he even tried, but he sat down with Semple? She shook her head. That was for another day.
“I can’t believe this. My mother…” She stopped.
Grady took a spoonful of her oatmeal but didn’t eat it. “Your mother what?”
Reese took a deep breath. “She didn’t tell me she’d spoken to Semple. I would have stopped her. At least my dad wouldn’t have thrown me under the bus like this.”
Grady pushed aside the oatmeal and reached for Reese’s hand. “You may still be pissed at him, but it sounds like you had a great relationship with your dad up until he left. You could probably reach out to him. I’m sure he’d take your call.”
Reese bit her lip to keep from crying. “When I won gold with Cam in Beijing, my mom didn’t come because she had to dog sit for a friend. Jordy wasbusy. But…”
“Your dad was there.”
She nodded as tears escaped her eyes.
“Like I said, Reese, you can call him. I don’t know your dad, but I know he’ll pick up the phone and he’ll be happy to hear from you.”
Reese gathered herself, putting on her stoic face. “Yeah, I’ll think about it.”
