Page 98 of How to Kiss a Movie Star
“Either way,” Kenji says, “we need to stay a few steps ahead of him.”
I don’t need Kenji to say the words to sense where this conversation is going.
Flint needs to stay in LA.
“Why don’t you come by the office this afternoon?” Kenji says, confirming my fear. “We’ll come up with a plan and talk about a new publicist. I know a woman. She’s young and not as well-connected as Simon, but she’s sharp. Thinks faster than anyone else I know. I’ll get her in here and see if we can draft a response to any inquiries that come in that will minimize damage, deny the story, and keep you looking like the professional you are. Then we’ll talk about how to handle Simon.”
“Can we do it over the phone?” Flint asks. “We’re flying out in a couple of hours.”
“Dude, listen. I know you hate being in LA, but this will be so much easier if you just come in. If you’re hiring this publicist, you need to meet her. Get some face time. Make sure you feel good about this.”
Flint breathes out a weary sigh. “Okay. I’ll make it work.”
“If possible, Audrey should stay too. The more the two of you are seen in public, together and obviously into each other, the easier it will be to discredit Simon’s story. Either way, I’ll see you this afternoon.”
Kenji hangs up and Flint’s gaze shifts to me, his eyebrows raised in question.
I bite my lip. I want to stay. I do. But Ican’t.I need to call the university. Talk to my summer grad students. Regroup. Figure out if there’s any money out there that can keep us funded. We need to be writing grant applications. Networking. Deciding what’s next.
Flint must read my hesitation because his expression shifts, his hope turning into resignation. He masks it quickly, but I don’t miss the hurt in his eyes, despite the effort he’s making to keep it hidden from me. “Flint, it’s not you. I want to be here with you. I do. But—I just found out I didn’t get my grant.”
“What? Why not?”
I shrug. “The organization that’s been funding me the past three years has decided to shift their efforts to research on the coast—something about the impact of global warming on oceanic temperatures. Which is timely and important, so I guess I can’t really fault them.”
“But your research is important, too,” Flint says. “Audrey, I’m so sorry.”
“That’s why I need to get home. I have to find money, somehow. Revise my grant application. I don’t know. This late in the year, it’s going to be tough. But I have to try.”
“Of courseyou do. You have to go.” He drops back into his seat. “I’m really sorry this is happening. It’s like everything fell apart for both of us all at once.”
I have to wonder if everything has fallen apart forus,too. As a couple.
“We’re going to get through it though, right?” I say, willing myself to cling to whatever optimism I can muster. “It’s going to be okay. You’ll stay here and get through your stuff, I’ll go home and get through my stuff, and everything will work out?”
He frowns. “Audrey, my stuff isyour stuff,too. We haven’t really talked about this part yet, and it really, really sucks, but the next few days are not going to be easy for you. You’re probably going to be bombarded with emails, voice mails, text messages. Gossip columnists will do everything they can to try to get a comment out of you.”
Joni nods. “He’s right, Audrey. There would have beensomemildinterest when everyone thought your relationship was real. But now that people think it was all staged, they’re going to want your side of the story. They may even reach out to your sisters or parents. All of you should probably block calls from unknown numbers, at least for the next couple of weeks.”
“And you shouldn’t go anywhere alone until you’re sure there isn’t anyone in Silver Creek who doesn’t belong there,” Flint says. He looks at Nate. “I want you to travel home with Audrey, Nate.”
“Nate isn’t staying with you?” I ask.
“No,” Flint says, his expression stern. “I want him with you.”
His words settle over me like an itchy wool blanket. Somehow, I’d forgotten to consider the fact that the other half of Flint’s fake relationship isme.Enduring all the attention when I have Flint around to help me through it is one thing.
I don’t know how I feel about enduring it on my own.
“What about your security?” Nate asks. “I’m happy to go, but I don’t like the idea of you out here by yourself.”
“Honestly, I can fly home by myself,” I say, but Flint is shaking his head no before I’ve even finished my sentence.
“You aren’t traveling alone. That’s not up for debate. If I can’t be with you while all this nonsense blows over, then Nate has to be.” He looks at Joni. “Call the security agency we used to use and have them send someone out to cover me until I fly home.”
“I assume I’m staying with you?” she asks, and Flint nods.
I sink back into my seat, my brain split between worrying about my lack of funding and stressing over the unknown attention and drama I’m facing because of stupid Simon. This isn’t how my trip with Flint was supposed to end. This isn’t howanythingwas supposed to end.
