Page 77 of Pucker Up
“Now, there’s one more thing I need to clear up. There are some nasty rumors online about your relationship with Gideon Bailey and his younger brother, Ace. Our readership is comprised of young women and we want to make sure we are only including influencers that will have a positive…” She paused to laugh. “…influence on young girls. Tell me, Hailey. Are the rumors true? Did you have an ongoing sexual relationship with Ace Bailey behind his brother’s back?”
My gulp was loud enough that everyone heard. Gideon glanced at me and then leaned in a little closer.
“Oh, God. No. I made that up, but can you keep that between you and me?”
“Of course, dear.” Fern’s voice was so silky smooth that even I would’ve spilled secrets to her.
“Like I said, I made it up. Gideon was supposed to take me to a black-tie event, but we had a fight and he told me he was going to take his brother. I was so mad. That event would’ve made my career even bigger than it is now. This sounds bad, so pleasedon’t judge me for it, but I snuck into Giddy’s—that’s what I called him—house and crawled into bed with Ace. He was super wasted and didn’t even know I was there.” She paused. “Is that enough? I know it sounds crazy, but I needed to go to that event. I swore to Gideon that Ace and I had, you know, and he believed me. I went with the story because I thought the notoriety might help with my career.”
“Did it?”
I shivered at Fern’s voice. It had completely changed.
“No,” Hailey whispered. “But I didn’t care. Gideon was going to break up with me and I wanted to ruin his life. He loved his brother more than he loved me.” There was a hand clapping sound. “So I took care of that.”
There was a scraping of chairs and more muffled movement. “Wait, where are you going? What about the story?”
“May karma deal you the hand you deserve, Hailey Fleishman.”
Fern pressed stop, and a silence fell over the room. Gideon cleared his throat. “I’ve gotta go.” He turned and left the room and didn’t look back. I didn’t know if Gideon was crying, but I sure was.
“You did that for me?” I said.
Fern shook her head. “I did it for my daughter. It was easy to find the ex-girlfriend who slept with her boyfriend’s brother. It was even easier than I thought to get her to admit the truth. She is truly a terrible human being.”
“I know,” I said.
Fern handed me a tissue and I blew my nose. I took care of the tears with the sleeve of my shirt. Fern came around the table, rested her hand on my arm, and shut her eyes. It was a little creepy when her eyes started to flutter, but I didn’t pull away. “You’re going to do a slap shot from the blue line. It will be easyand will win the game for the Tigers. Your brother is going to pass it to you.” She opened her eyes and stepped away.
I took a deep breath. “Are you sure?” I glanced at Goldie and she nodded.
“My mom is good at this.”
“That play would involve my brother passing me the puck, which he doesn’t really like doing. I’ll see if I can convince him to do it.”
Fern rubbed my arm. “You don’t have to convince him to do anything. It will happen.”
I jerked my head towards Goldie. “Why couldn’t she tell me this?”
Her smile was warm, and her eyes, the same blue as her daughter’s, studied me. “Marigold can’t see things about people she loves. Give her time and maybe one day she will be able to tell you about your game.”
Tears streamed down Goldie’s face. Did her mom just tell me Goldie was in love with me? She might have repaired the relationship between me and Gideon, but I still couldn’t forgive Goldie.
“I hope that day comes soon. If she loved me she would’ve told me the truth.” Just like my brother, I turned and walked out of the room.
TWENTY-NINE
GOLDIE
It had beendays since I’d eaten a full meal. I’d used up all of my sick time to stay home and wallow, and thankfully it was Saturday, and I had the weekend to try to put myself back together enough to go back to work. There were only a handful of interviews left, and then it was analyses, which meant I could hibernate in my office and not talk to anyone for days at a time. I couldn’t wait.
“Goldie?” Mom opened the door. “Your father really wants you to come to the game. I’d like it if you could come too. I don’t want to make small talk with”—she shivered—“hockey people.”
“I don’t know if I’m up for it.” I pulled the covers over my head. Mom had crossed an international border and done some super-spy shit for me. Ace was still mad at me, but I hoped one day he would forgive me, and maybe appreciate the lengths at which my family had gone to repair his. It did make me feel better that the obstacle keeping the brothers apart had been removed. It was now up to them to forgive each other.
Cold hands clamped on my ankles and pulled me to the end of the bed. “Get up. Get in the shower, and put on something cute. We’re going to a hockey game.”
“All right, all right. Easy, Hercules.” I rubbed my foot on the other ankle where my mom’s hands had grabbed to throw me out of bed.
