Page 68 of The Fine Line
RHETT
A cough jerks Caroline forward—sharp, sudden. She nearly chokes on the water she’s drinking, and I glance her way, instinct tugging at me to reach for her. But she recovers on her own, sputtering, then laughing like she’s waiting for someone to crack a grin and tell her this is all a joke.
No one does.
Bryan stares at the table like he’s disassociating. Bear sits silent beside him, his jaw locked so tight I can see the muscles twitching. And Linda—God, Linda—just sits there like she’s presenting next quarter’s projections.
“You’re kidding, right?” Caroline says, her voice tight, pitched high with disbelief.
The silence that follows swells so thick I can barely breathe through it.
She tries to meet her dad’s eyes, but he looks away. Looks at me instead.
That’s when I feel it—the full weight of this crashing down on me. I haven’t really looked at anyone since Linda said thewords. Just stared straight ahead, like if I stayed perfectly still, it would all disappear.
But it hasn’t. It won’t.
I don’t know how long the silence stretches before Bryan finally speaks.
“I know this must be a little shocking to take in,” he says, his voice carefully neutral, “but please understand that we wouldn’t even be suggesting this if we didn’t think it was the best possible option for everyone involved. And trust that we’ve thoroughly thought this entire plan through. It’s not nearly as intense as it sounds?—”
“I’m sorry, Bryan,” Caroline cuts in. Her tone is sharp, her spine straight as steel. “I promise I want more than anyone here for this entire situation to be erased, but spending the rest of my life with someone as the solution is pretty much the definition of intense in my book.”
“Not the rest of your life,” Linda chimes in smoothly. “We’ve determined three to five years should do the trick just fine.”
“Oh, is that all?” Caroline deadpans.
The tension in the room coils back, sharp as ever. My stomach twists. I don’t know if I’m more nauseous from the proposal or from the way her voice is shaking.
“You seriously want me to marry Rhett Sutton?” she breathes, disbelief thin and stretched across every word.
I glance toward her instinctively, even though I know I shouldn’t. Linda folds her hands neatly on the table. “We don’t want you to, but?—”
“Do you not understand?” Caroline snaps. “This will be the end of me.”
Her voice cuts through me like a blade.
“I can assure you that isn’t the case,” Linda replies, still calm.
Caroline opens her mouth, but Linda lifts a hand.
“Please, just stick with me for a minute.”
Caroline clamps her lips shut. From the corner of my eye, I see her jaw working—literally biting her tongue.
“If the public were to find out you two aren’t having an affair—but are actually in a committed, legally binding relationship—Rhett now transforms from a womanizer into a family man. And with the woman he’s tied himself to being the daughter of his head coach, it instantly boosts the perception of his loyalty to the Texas Storm tenfold.”
That one lands hard. I’m so used to hearing about my reputation that I almost forget how much damage it’s done until someone like Linda throws it back in my face.
She keeps going.
“It also changes the current narrative around Bear. Right now, social media is blowing up with claims that Rhett is making your father look like a fool by secretly bedding his daughter after being entrusted as team captain.”
I hear Bear let out a breath like he’s been punched, his forehead dropping into his hand.
And I pretty much wish the earth would open and swallow me whole.
“But with this new information,” Linda continues, “Bear’s decision suddenly becomes much more understandable. Sure, there will still be claims of nepotism, but we can easily counter those by arguing that Bear knows the character of his son-in-law, and if he can trust him to take care of his daughter, he can trust him to lead his team.”
