“Thanks for giving me a chance, Brooke.” His earnest eyes locked with hers, wrenching her heart. “I promise you won’t regret it.”
“Okay.”
Why did I say that?
“See ya at noon,” he said, flashing his deep dimples. “Actually, you should come around eleven. Mack can give you a ride.”
“I’m driving myself!” she said sternly.
“Okay, okay,” he said, with a grin. “Whatever you say. I’ll see you at eleven.”
She hung up, proud of her victory. Until it hit her…
“Oh my goodness! I have the spine of a jellyfish.”
“Finn, I just got your message about Brooke.” Cole held the phone to his ear and lowered his voice so Brooke wouldn’t hear. “She’s here. She’s in the other room.”
“At your apartment? I thought you guys were split up for good. You know I’ve got money riding on this. You told me the marriage was only temporary.”
“I talked her into spending the day with me. That’s all,” Cole murmured, checking around the corner where Brooke was sitting on the floor in the family room, encouraging Gus to eat. “We had lunch, went to a movie, and now I’m cooking dinner.”
“You should snap a selfie together and make a media announcement. Imply that the marriage is doing great. It might calm down some of those crazies on social media.”
“What kind of threats were they making? Do we know who they are?” Cole opened the pantry door, looking for a bag of tortilla chips, which were perched on the highest shelf.
“None were out-and-out threats. If they were, they’d have the FBI all over them. These posts are just stirring up emotions. Spouting a lot of hate. That’s the kind of thing that sets off the true crazies, though. That’s why I sent you a text. Just thought you might want to be extra cautious.”
Hearing Finn speaking in such a dead-serious tone kicked Cole’s pulse up a notch.
“I don’t get it. Why are they in such an uproar today? As far as the public knows, we’re still living together. We haven’t announced the divorce.”
“Oh, man! I thought you saw the news,” Finn said. “As of today, everyone knows about the divorce. Brooke’s ex gave an interview. Said some really nasty things. Mostly, he made Brooke sound like she was sleeping around on him when they were married and doing the same thing to you, now.”
Cole slammed the pantry door, wishing it was Nathan’s head. “This is my fault. I pulled my men off Nathan two days ago when his son was born. Thought he’d be too busy for this kind of stunt.”
“Probably did it for the money,” said Finn. “Your guys couldn’t have stopped him from going to the press.”
“What should I do?”
“First of all, you should talk to Angie. She’s been trying to respond on your social media accounts, but she can’t really say anything of substance. Maybe let her post something about the baby. You could even announce the gender. Something to draw the attention away from Nathan.”
“I shouldn’t respond to Nathan’s statements?”
“Right. Ignore him, like he’s not worth acknowledging. Give evidence to counter his claims, though. And…” Finn’s voice cut off as a female spoke in the background. “Just a second. Laurie’s trying to tell me something. What?... Oh! Great idea! Laurie says to hire a photographer to take prenatal photos.”
“What’s that? Like ultrasound pictures?”
“No, no, no. It’s this goofy thing where they pose you doing embarrassing stuff like talking to her stomach. It’s kind of awkward to do, but women go gaga over those pictures.”
“And you have to be more serious than Finn,” Laurie shouted into the phone. “He cut up so much we only had one or two shots where we weren’t bustin’ a gut.”
“If you can keep a straight face, those photos ought to tug on the heartstrings of all your female fans,” Finn said. “Maybe they’ll stop hating on Brooke.”
“It’s not the female fans I’m worried about,” Cole said, holding the phone on his shoulder as he chopped a red onion and bell pepper. “The men are more likely to be violent.”
“Like that nut-job who shot your cows?”
“And the one who slashed my tires, although that could’ve been random.”
“Yeah, not likely. Yours were the only ones slashed in the entire parking garage.”
“What’s this doing to our stock prices?” Cole cringed, waiting for the bad news.
“We’re up,” said Finn. “No such thing as negative publicity, right?”
“That’s a relief.” Cole added the chopped veggies to the mango and jalapeño. Chopped cilantro and lime juice were the finishing touches. “Don’t think I’ll share this with Brooke. She’s really sensitive about this stuff. She can’t stand the idea that someone hates her.”
“She’s bound to hear about it, since it was her ex who started—” A rustling noise interrupted, followed by Finn’s shout. “Hey! Give me that!”
“Cole,” Laurie’s voice was in his ear. “You have Brooke at your house right now?”
“Yes, but—”
“Great! Whatever you do, don’t screw this up. It may be your only chance to fix this relationship.”
“You don’t have to worry,” Cole said. “I’ve got it all figured out. Mariah gave me some advice, and for once, I took it. I’m waiting for the right moment, and I’m going to lay everything out on the table.”
