“What meeting?”
“The meeting with Shelly.” The brain fog begins to clear, and I start to wake up. I rub my eyes and try to bring the world into focus.
Throwing back the covers, Ari pops out of bed. “You scheduled that for ten this morning? As in in ten minutes?”
“Yesterday, it seemed like a good idea. The earlier we meet, the more time we give Shelly to find us a place to get married before training camp.” Stretching my arms, I yawn loudly. “It may not have been my smartest move. I realize that now.”
“Did you at least make it a video conference?”
I wince, preparing myself for her wrath. “No, I thought it would be better face to face.”
“We can cancel the meeting because there’s not going to be a wedding because I’m going to kill you.” She smacks me over the head with a pillow. “All I wanted was one night of sleep. Just one!” The doorbell rings again. She hits me again, then says, “Go let your mother in while I hop in the shower.”
I pull on some pants and stumble downstairs. Rubbing the sleep out of my eyes, I open the door. Shelly and her assistant, Heidi; Ari’s agent, Simon; my agent, Scott; Ari’s manager, Helen; and my manager, Brenda are on my front steps.
“You said we have some urgent issues to discuss about the two of you, so I thought it would help if I rallied the whole team.” Shelly looks at my inside-out pajama pants and adds, “But maybe I should have taken this one solo.”
I open the door wider and step to the side. “No, I’m glad you did. The more people we have on this, the better. Ari and I just got in from Africa a few hours ago, so we need a few minutes to get ourselves together.” I motion for them to come in, then notice the open suitcases strewn everywhere. The entryway looks like a laundry bomb went off. Ari’s going to kill me. “Have a seat in the living room. Please ignore the mess.”
Simon smiles awkwardly as he steps over the pile of whites. “Even celebrities have to do laundry. Nothing to be embarrassed about. You should see my house.”
My agent looks around. “This is why I dry clean everything.”
“Thanks, Scott. That’s really helpful.”
Helen taps my shoulder. “We can get someone to come in here and help you manage the house if you need.”
Now our entire staff thinks we’re slobs who can’t handle themselves. Yup, Ari’s going to kill me. As they walk down the hall, I hope they don’t trip on anything and kick the door closed.
“Umph,” I hear behind me.
I spin around and see I just slammed the door on my mother’s face. She’s juggling a tray and a huge bag.
“Sorry, Mom! Let me help you with that.”
“Since I figured your fridge is bare, I brought muffins from Baker & Banker, and juice,” she says as she drops the tray in my hands. “Chase Patrick Brennan, tell me you did not answer your door in your underwear.” She points at the stairs. “March up there and put some clothes on. You were raised better than that.” She gestures for me to hand the tray back to her.
“Yes, Mom,” I mutter as I run up the stairs.
Ari’s just getting out of the shower when I enter the room.
“Don’t kill me, but Shelly decided to invite all of your people and all of my people. They’re downstairs eating muffins with my mother.”
She towel-dries her hair. “You are so lucky I’m too tired and sore to strangle you right now.”
“Honey, I—”
“Nuh-uh.” She holds up her hand. “Don’t speak. The more you speak, the angrier I get. Just get dressed and let’s get this over with.”
Ten minutes later, we walk down stairs. Ari’s classic PR smile is firmly in place. When she sees the piles of laundry on the floor, she squeezes my hand so hard, I’m lucky she doesn’t break my fingers.
“You didn’t think to clean up before you opened the door?” she says through gritted teeth. Before I get a chance to respond, she says, “Good morning, everyone. Thank you so much for coming out to us this morning. As you can tell, we’re still getting situated from our trip to Zimbabwe.”
My mom hands her a plate with a muffin. “Vegan carrot muffin for you, honey.” She leans in and whispers into Ari’s ear, “You didn’t know about any of this, did you?”
“Not a thing,” Ari replies in a sing-song voice.
Mom shakes her head at me. Fantastic. I’m scoring points with all the women in my life this morning.
They’ve rearranged the room so there’s enough seating for all of us. Ari and I take our places on the loveseat they’ve left open. She takes a nibble of her muffin, then sets the plate on the coffee table and crosses her legs. She displays her left hand on her knee.
“Oh my God, look at that rock!” Shelly shouts. She jumps up and rushes over to us with open arms. “It’s about time, you two! Congratulations!”
“What? What’d I miss?” Scott says.
“They got engaged, you dolt,” Helen replies.
Everyone offers us their congratulations and gushes over the ring. I can tell Mom’s hurt she didn’t get to do this in private, but she hides it well.
“When do you want to announce?” Shelly asks when everyone settles down and is seated again.
“As soon as possible,” Simon says. “Between the clothing line and a wedding, Ari will be on the cover of everything from Shape to Vogue to Bride. The timing couldn’t be more perfect. The sooner we get this out there, the better.”
“Um, I don’t think so,” Scott says. “Chase cannot have any distractions going into this year. Distractions cause interceptions. Interceptions cause losses. Distractions cost millions. It’s out of the question. I’m happy for you two, I really am, but it has to wait.”
Ari nudges me with her elbow. “See, I told you.”
“I disagree,” Simon says. “Chase, you’re not my client, so you don’t have to listen to me, but I think a player who’s married shows the team your stability. Marrying someone like Arianna, who has deep ties to this area and the organization, they’ll know you’re committed to staying here.”
“Yeah, which means they won’t feel the pressure to bump up the offer,” Scott says, sounding exasperated. “Then I can’t pit another team against them, because Jeb Kane will know Chase and Ari won’t leave San Francisco. I honestly think you two should call it quits, maybe have some big public spectacle, so they think you’re looking for any reason to leave town and they’ll have to shell out the cash to get you to stay. Once the ink is dry on the contract, then you announce the engagement.”
“I don’t think you’re looking at the big picture.” Simon takes off his glasses. “Everyone loves Arianna. Having her as a guaranteed part of the package will only increase Chase’s value. In fact, if we plan this well, we can somehow pull the Niners in. All the buzz around the wedding could be profitable for them.”
“Why don’t we just get married at half time on the home opener?” Ari asks, her voice so full of cheerleader-esque fake pep, I can tell she’s about to lose it. “Instead of invitations, we’ll just send people tickets to the game. We could get the Stanford marching band to play—that’ll take care of music and give the old alma mater a piece of the Brennan/Aldrich pie. I’m sure Jeb would throw in a free hot dog for all ticket holders.”
“Remember they don’t call them hot dogs anymore. They’re frankfurters now,” Brenda chimes in.
Clapping, Ari flashes a sardonic smile. “Even better. That sounds much fancier.”
“This is a winning idea,” Scott exclaims. “You could wear bride and groom Niner jerseys. I bet we could get the commissioner to officiate. Think of the sponsors we could get! I bet we can work out a deal with the network for a piece of the ad revenue.” He scribbles ideas on his pad. “Why spend money on a wedding when we can make money?”
Ari pulls the pillow from behind her back and chucks it at Scott’s head. “I’m being sarcastic! We are not getting married at half time.” She takes a deep breath, trying to calm herself. “Chase, why don’t you tell them
your plan?”
I take her hand. “We’re not breaking up, we’re not waiting until next year, and we’re not using our wedding as leverage for either of our careers. We’re announcing as soon as possible, and I’d like to have the wedding before training camp.”
Ari gawks at me. “It’s before training camp again? Ha! This ought to be interesting.”
“I’m sorry, could you say that again?” Shelly asks. “It sounded like you said you wanted to have the wedding before training camp. As in less than four weeks from now?”
I stare at her blankly. “Yes.”
Shelly and her assistant look at each other and laugh.
“He’s serious,” Ari says. “Chase thinks we can plan a wedding in four weeks.”
“Oh,” Shelly says, looking embarrassed.
“We need a minimum of six weeks for invitations alone,” Heidi, the assistant says. “Anything less than that is simply rude.”
Shelly taps her chin. “Maybe we can bypass invitations if you want to do something intimate. I’m sure we could make that work.”
“Actually, I was thinking we could have something similar to what Charlie had,” I say. “Five or so days filled with lots of golf, maybe a concert or two. A poker tournament.”
“That’s a fabulous idea,” Mom says. “I love it. We need karaoke, and maybe a Guitar Hero challenge.”
“Paintball,” Ari chimes in. “Oh, and a flag football tournament.”
“All I hear is the potential for injury doing something stupid. Remember that baseball player who killed his career trying to teach his kid how to skateboard?” Scott says. “Do I get a veto? Because if I do, then I veto.”
“No, Scott, you don’t get a veto,” Mom sneers.
I give Ari’s leg a gentle squeeze. Even though we don’t see eye to eye on everything, at least we have the same vision. “We basically want a chance to spend time with all the important people in our lives who we don’t get to see often enough.”
“That’s not a wedding, that’s a bachelor party,” Shelly’s assistant says, then immediately looks as though she regrets saying it. “Sorry.”
Ari chuckles. “You’re not far off. It’s a little unorthodox, but it’s us. It will be fun, and that’s really the most important thing for us.”
“Phew, when you said four weeks, I assumed it was a pipe dream, but this is very doable.” Shelly types on her iPad. “What kind of numbers are you thinking?”
“See, Shelly says it’s doable.” I take Ari’s hand and kiss it. “I told you I’d make it happen. In four weeks, we’re getting married.” I turn to Mom. “How many were at Charlie’s wedding? The guest list will probably be similar. Or at least half of it will be.”
“Five hundred forty-seven,” Mom replies. “But I would assume only two-fifty or three hundred would come for the full five days. The majority will come for the weekend.”
“Hold the phone,” Shelly exclaims. “I thought you were thinking twenty or thirty. Fifty tops. But almost six hundred? Invitations are the least of our worries. We’ll need to rent out an entire resort. That’s a tall order even with a year’s notice. Can we shrink the guest list?”
Mom shakes her head. “Charlie’s wedding was as pared down as we could make it without seriously offending people. It’ll be even harder with Chase and Ari. You two have so many more people in your lives than Charlie and Spencer do.”
“What if we trimmed it down to the bare bones?” Shelly asks. “Is that an option?”
“What’s more important to you, Chase?” Ari asks. “Having all the people we want or doing it before the season starts?”
I look her in the eyes. “I don’t want to wait. With the way our lives work, we can never know what’s around the corner.”
She puts her hand on my cheek. “I’m not going anywhere. We’re as strong as we’ve ever been. Nothing will ever come between us again.”
“Honey, I think rushing this is a mistake,” Mom chimes in. “What if we look at March? It’s after the season. We’ll have time to plan and get everything just right. You’ll be so busy with football, the time will fly by. It’s only nine months—what could happen?”
Scott points at mom. “Ding, ding, ding. I like that plan. Keep the focus on football. This off-season isn’t great, but it’s better than now!”
Shelly claps. “I second that. Ari, by the time I’m done with this, your wedding will be the most anticipated event of the decade. This is going to set your career on fire.”
“My wedding is not going to be a springboard for my career,” Ari says in a tone that makes it clear she’s not messing around.
“Don’t be short-sighted,” Simon says.
“How about we focus on planning the wedding, then we can see what kind of legs up it will give us? I’ll get you the names of a few wedding planners, and we’ll start looking at resorts. As long as we can keep an open mind, I know we’ll find the perfect place for you,” Shelly says. “On that note, I’d better get to work on your engagement announcement. I’ll send you some ideas later today.” She snaps at Heidi. “Let’s go.”
Shelly starts the exodus, and everyone files out, leaving Mom, Ari, and me with our heads spinning.
“Wedding planning by committee,” Mom says as we close the door. “This ought to be interesting.” She gives me a quick hug. “I know all of these people are looking out for your best interest, but make sure the two of you don’t get lost in the shuffle, okay?”
“Easier said than done,” Ari replies. “In my experience, what I want and what’s in my best interest are rarely the same thing.”
I think I just opened us up to a whole mess of trouble. We should’ve just gone to Vegas.
Chapter Four
Arianna
“Three weeks! You said you’d be gone a few days, and you were gone for three weeks! Do you know how boring bed rest is? I’ve watched everything on Netflix. I’m too fat to read. And you just abandoned me!”
I raise my eyebrows. “Too fat to read? I don’t think that’s a thing.”
Exasperated, Charlie gestures to her stomach that is so big it looks as though she may pop. “No matter how hard I try, I can’t focus on the words. I can’t get comfortable. My belly is always in the way. I feel like a balloon that’s been blown up too big. I read a few sentences, then my mind wanders to how stretched my skin feels. Then I start worrying about stretch marks. Then I start thinking if I’ll ever look good in a bikini again. Then I think about ice cream. Then I eat ice cream, and I dribble it all over my Kindle.” She sighs. “See, reading is out of the question.”
“Ah, that reminds me.” I open the freezer bag I left on the kitchen counter and pull out the present I picked up for Charlie while I was in the city this morning.
Her eyes go wide, and she’s already salivating. “Ohhh, Bi-Rite. I might be able to forgive you for deserting me in my last weeks of pregnancy. What flavor?”
I hold the container, displaying it as if it’s a prized treasure. “Combo. Salted caramel and balsamic strawberry.”
Tapping her fingers on the kitchen table, she bites her lip. “Oh, you do know your way into my heart.”
I pull a spoon out of the drawer, then hand her the container. “Forgiven?”
“Yes!” She puts a little of both flavors on her spoon, then takes a bite. Smiling, she moans as she savors it. “I’m sure I’ll regret this later. I’ve had the worst heartburn all day, but this is heaven.”
“I had a foundation board meeting this morning and drove past it on the way home and thought of you. I feel bad I’ve missed so much of the last trimester.”
During the first part of her pregnancy, I was the perfect best friend. I went to birthing classes and on baby shopping trips. Planned the perfect baby shower. But once the Africa trip started coming together, I was working twenty-hour days, and that didn’t leave much time for Charlie. Then we left, came back for a few days, and left again.
“Before the doctor put me on house arrest, it was fine. I
was shopping like crazy and catching up with all my friends I’ll be too busy to see when the baby comes. But then I was sentenced to solitary. Now I’m bored out of my skull.” She shoves another spoonful into her mouth. “No one wants to come here and hang out with the big blob that just lays there, so I spend way too much time alone, online shopping. Spencer’s going to have a heart attack when he sees the credit card bill. Seriously, I think pointing-and-clicking is an addiction. Plus the UPS man is kinda hot. So when he brings me a package, it brightens up the monotony of my day. I always pay extra for signature-required delivery.”
“I wondered about the mountain of boxes at the curb with the recycling. There’s so many boxes, it looks as though you’ve just moved in.”
“And that’s just for this week! I’m really out of control. Yesterday I bought baby Gucci driving loafers. Five hundred dollars on shoes the baby is probably just going to stick in his mouth.” Putting her hand on her forehead, she lowers her head in shame. “This is a real problem. Spencer’s seriously going to kill me.”
“He’s not going to kill you, but let’s return the Guccis, okay? And maybe I should go through the rest of your point-and-click purchases. After spending the last few weeks with a few babies, I’ve learned the only things they do are eat, sleep, and poop.”
She dips her spoon into the container. “Not all that different from pregnancy.”
I point at the ratty polar bear slippers she’s had since high school. “As you see, designer footwear’s not required. If you want to throw money away, I know a dozen organizations that can do a world of good with it. Like buy shoes for kids who actually walk.”
“Don’t start with the do-gooder guilt, okay? I give plenty of money to charity. And I’ll come on the next Africa trip, I swear.” She puts the lid on top of the ice cream. “Take this away. I have no self-control, and if I eat another bite, I might actually explode.”
I take it from her and put it in her freezer.
Love To Love You (Love/Hate #3) Page 3
