Page 94 of Best Year Ever
“You’re a good brother. Jim will get this nipped in the bud, if anyone can.”
I nod. “Yeah, that was the right call to bring him in, thanks for the suggestion.”
With a moment to think for the first time in twenty minutes, my mind turns to Rori. This isn’t anything like the Trinity situation, so I’m not worried about her reaction. Instead, I just want to be able to talk to her about it, like we talk about anything and everything—well, almost everything.
I text her the article link with the message, “Not great for Rawley, but got him some PR help.”
A minute later, her reply comes in.
RORI: UGH, that’s rough. How’s he doing?
LANDON: I can tell he’s a little scared. We need to make it right, so I had my rep Jim get involved.
RORI: Good.
RORI: He’s in college! He should be able to mess up sometimes.
I don’t disagree with her, but when you’re dealing with multi-billion dollar industries, things can be pretty unforgiving.
Johnson turns on a baseball game, and we watch while I wait for Jim to call me back. He does about fifteen minutes later.
“Had a productive conversation with Rawley,” he starts out by saying. “I had him go over every possible thing that could come up in his past. To confirm with you too, he’s never been arrested, never failed a drug test, never had anything come up with a girl that could raise questions?”
I can answer that with confidence. “No, none ofthat. He’s fundamentally a good kid, just likes to have fun and hates schoolwork”
“Perfect, that helps a lot. Just wanted to hear it from you too. When we get off, I will draft the statement for you guys to review, reach out to the school, and keep things moving in the right direction.”
Thank god for Jim. “Awesome. I appreciate it.”
“I also reached out to one of my contacts at Jalen Nash’s show,” he continues. “They’d love to do a feature interview before the pre-season games airing on Sunday.”
That would be major. Jalen’s show is one of the must-watch football shows still on network TV instead of streaming. His interviews come with a lot of eyes—and credibility.
“One more thing,” Jim adds. “They want you there too. Want to position it as a joint interview with the ‘Battle brothers,’ one tearing it up already in the NFL, the other about to. Play it up as one of those feel-good brother stories.”
Hmmm, I think. I’m in the middle of training camp, and Rawley’s football schedule isn’t much better as they officially start his pre-season college practices in a few days.
“Of course I’m willing to do it, but how’s that going to work? Would it be remote?” I ask.
“No,” he responds. “They want you both to come to New York on Sunday, make it a real in-person, sit-down vibe.”
Shit, my one day off.
“You can charter planes to go there and back on Sunday, and it won’t be an issue for either of you,” Jim says. “It would be the best thing possible for Rawley to rewrite the narrative. We’ll get him nice and prepped. I love that they want to include you, because you’re going to be more polished in dealing with everything.”
He’s totally right, and this is something I can’t say no to for Rawley’s sake. But yep, I see my one time to be with Rori for the next two weeks evaporating before my eyes.
“Well, we got to do it, I agree,” I finally confirm to Jim. “I’ll talk to Grace to get the logistics in motion.”
Once Jim and I get off the phone, and I text Rawls and Grace the update, I look up to Johnson. He’s studying me with understanding in his eyes.
“So, that conversation with Rori is going to wait again, isn’t it?”
Yes, it is.
CHAPTER 34
Rori
