Page 88 of Best Year Ever
She smiles and shifts the camera down. “Thinkabout it, huh? Let me show you this little sleep set I just got.”
The camera reveals her in a tiny cotton top with bows on the straps, and similarly tiny cotton shorts that barely cover an inch of thigh.
“I know you like bows,” she says suggestively. “But I bet you’ll like this even more.”
I watch as her hand sneaks inside her shorts.
We never get to that new episode.
My press obligations start on the fourth day.
Molly, the PR assistant, stops me before I walk into the press conference room. “We told them no personal questions, like your people asked. I’ll get involved if the reporters don’t follow that direction.”
I nod. “Thanks, Molly.”
The first few questions are standard. Local and national sports reporters tend to be the only journalists present in these training camp conferences. They know the drill—ask us about football topics and we’ll happily throw them some charmingquotes that don’t contain any real news, but check a box for their reports.
The fifth question comes from a woman towards the back whom I don’t recognize.
“Hi Landon, Maryanne Tolly from WBTE, new at the station. I have a source who has told me that you had a pregnancy scare with the influencer Trinity Skittles. Care to comment?”
I stand still. What the fuck? This is something I had not mentally prepped myself for.Pull it together, Landon.
Molly jumps in as promised, giving me time to recover. “Football questions only, please.”
“Who’s your source?” I ask the reporter. Molly shoots me a “shut up” glare, but I’m too pissed to control my need to know the answer.
“I cannot comment on that,” the reporter responds.
“Well, no comment from me either,” I say, regaining my composure. The rest of the questions from the room are back on football, but I’m thrown. I haven’t even thought about the Trinity situation since I’d told Rori in June.
Shit.Rori. How is she going to react if this goes public?
I muddle through the rest of the press conference before Molly accompanies me off the podium. As soon as we’re in the private hallway, my phone rings. My press rep, Jim, is calling.
“Talk to me, Jim,” I say as I keep walking down the hall towards the player offices and locker rooms.
“I’ve got Aiden on the phone too. It’s not great, Landon,” Jim says. “It looks like one of Trinity’s friends might have spilled about your part in her pregnancy. Not that you’re the father, but that she thought you might be originally. It doesn’t change the outcome, of course—you’re not the dad—but it will muck your name around in the gossip pages for a bit.”
“Has it actually gone public yet?” I ask.
“Not yet,” Aiden says. “But sometime today, it will.” As I listen to his answer, the team’s Head of PR, Lara, is walking down the hallway, Molly following close behind.
“My office, Landon. Now please,” Lara says, pointing in that direction.
“Okay, I’m on with Jim and Aiden,” I mention.
She nods, saying, “Even better. We can coordinate.”
For the next ten minutes, they work together to find the specific talking points both the team and I’ll use as this goes public.
Landon and Trinity had a brief relationship last year.
Landon is not the father of her baby.
They parted on good terms, and Landon wishes her all the best.
I’ll say those words if need be, but hopefully Jim can handle most of the responses in my name.
