Page 59 of Love Unexpected
“The couch sounds great,” I said, the wheels in my head already turning. It was late—too late to do anything huge, but I could still stage some sort of a surprise, sneak into Shiloh’s room, maybe promise him the newest PlayStation. We’d just featured the newest FIFA Soccer game on one of our tech segments, airing it in conjunction with a prerecorded message from Rao Cortez, one of the players featured on the game. We’d given away a dozen game packs featuring the game, a signed soccer ball, and a set of the newest wireless controllers. I could probably get my hands on one more. Of course, it would be better if I could actuallygiveit to him in the morning, but with so little time to plan, maybe just telling him it would be shipped right to his house would be good enough.
“Seriously, Shiloh is going to freak out in the morning,” Marley said. “Thank you for staying.” She looked back to Rosie. “And for surprising me. I didn’t know how much I needed you here until you showed up.”
The women stood and hugged. “It was lucky we’re staying in Nashville.”
I stood and pulled my phone out of my pocket. “I’m going to grab our things out of the car and give Tyler a quick call so he knows what to expect.”
Rosie offered a grateful smile. “Thanks.”
It’s about branding,I thought to myself as I walked outside. I pulled Rosie’s suitcase out of the car, momentarily distracted by whether or not she’d intentionally matched her shoes to her suitcase or if she’d just gotten lucky. I’d never paid attention to her shoes before, but it wouldn’t surprise me if she had more than one pair of colorful sneakers. She definitely had a colorful sneaker vibe.
As I wheeled our bags into the house, I repeated my earlier assertion. Staying at Marley’s house was a good move for the brand. It was about taking the opportunity to surprise a fan in person. Viewers ate up those kinds of videos. And Shiloh was exactly the kind of kid I loved to help. That’s all this was.
That’s all it could be.
Chapter Twenty-One
Rosie
I followed Marley down the hallway while Isaac was out at the car. When we passed Shiloh’s bedroom door, I itched to go in and wake him up, but Marley had said he’d been keyed up over his tournament and had struggled to sleep in the first place. If I woke him up,andhe found out Isaac Bishop was in his house, he’d never get back to sleep. We’d at least have a little time together over breakfast.
I lingered over the pictures that lined Marley’s hallway while she pulled some towels out of the small linen closet beside her bedroom door. “He’s grown so much,” I said, pointing at the most recent shot of Shiloh. He was outside, the sun glinting off his dark hair, his blue eyes bright.
“Yeah, and every day he looks more and more like Blake.” Marley leaned against the wall beside me, the towels clutched to her chest.
“I still can’t believe he just went over there all by himself,” I said. We’d hashed and rehashed Marley’s day when I’d first arrived. We didn’t need to go over it again, but to think of Shiloh riding his bike seven miles across town to a neighborhood he’d never been before to meet his dad? Every time I thought of it, my heart squeezed, hurt seeping into every corner. I understood Marley’s reasoning for keeping Blake away from her kid. He didn’t deserve a relationship with him after abandoning Marley so thoroughly. The trouble was, Shilohdiddeserve a relationship with his dad. It only sucked it wasn’t possible to have one without the other.
“I’m going to have to let him start seeing Blake, aren’t I?” she asked. She lifted a finger to the picture and traced it down the side of Shiloh’s framed, freckled face.
“Yeah. I think you are.”
“It’s just my pride, Rosie. This really stings. That I’ve been here all this time, working like crazy, breaking my neck so Shiloh can have a good life, and it isn’t enough for him, you know? I’m not enough.”
“That’s not true, and you know it. He’s just curious, Marley. And how could he not be? Not when Blake is so close. Maybe this will turn out to be a good thing. Maybe Blake has changed. Grown up some, you know?”
She breathed out a heavy sigh. “Maybe.” She squared her shoulders and shook her head as if to toss off the weariness. She handed me the towels. “Let’s talk about you now.”
I fought a smile, but after the two hours we’d just spent with Isaac, it was hard to hide it.
“He obviously likes you,” Marley said.
“Right? It definitely felt like there was a...something happening between us.”
“Absolutely. We’re talking explosive chemistry. Seriously, why don’t you just go out there and tell him?”
I glanced back down the hallway, suddenly scared Isaac was back inside and close enough to hear us. I motioned for Marley to lower her voice. “I can’t tell him. Not until we get to Kansas. We’ve got all these stupid stops scheduled that we have to do for marketing and crap.”
“Well. At least sleep easy knowing that when youdotell him, he is not going to be disappointed.”
That single thought buoyed me up as I said good night to Marley, delivered towels to Isaac back in the living room, and retrieved my suitcase, wheeling it silently into Shiloh’s room. The kid was actually a pretty heavy sleeper. If I didn’ttryto wake him up, I probably wouldn’t.
I changed into a pair of loose, cotton pajama bottoms and my favorite gray tank then tiptoed to the bathroom to brush my teeth. I reached for the bathroom door handle only for it to drop out of my grasp as the door opened from the inside.
I jumped back, my own surprise reflected on Isaac’s face. “Oh. Sorry. I can just...”
“No, you’re good,” he said. “I’m done. You just scared me.”
“Yeah. Me too.”
