Page 59 of Keeper
“Good. Then we won’t have any problems.”
After a twenty minute drive, the foliage grew lush and verdant and a lake appeared on our left. I pulled off the road and parked at the Arboretum.
“Okay, let’s see where he’s at,” Marta said. She tapped away at her phone, trying to coordinate with Vaughn. But minutes went by and Marta didn’t speak. Growing nervous, she pulled at and twisted her lip.
“Well?” I asked. “What’s going on? Is he on the way?”
“I don’t know,” she said. “He hasn’t replied yet.”
“To which text?”
“Any of them.”
I deflated. “That’s … not good.”
“No, it’s not.”
We sat silently in the car while Marta texted up a storm to no avail. The A/C cycled on and off to keep us at a perfect 72 on a temperate day, but the air grew thick and tense with her mounting disappointment.
With Marta’s lack of planning, I wasn’t surprised to see this shoot fall apart. I knew her well enough to know she wouldn’t pay me since we didn’t get the job done. And while losing out on that money was disappointing, I was almost a little relieved to know that I was going to miss out on all the Marta and Vaughn drama.
Of course, as soon as I had that thought, Marta’s phone began to ring.
“Oh my God, that’s him!” she said. I listened to her side of the conversation and studied the range of emotions washing across her face as she talked to the athlete.
“Hey, Vaughn! Where are you? . . . I completely understand. I went out last night, too. . . . Uh-huh. Oh, right on. . . . Yep, I already texted you the address. Yeah—the Arboretum, exactly! . . . You do?? Shutup! Me, too! It’s like, probably my favorite place in the whole world. I go there literallyallthe time. . . . Yeah, of course, no problem. . . . Okay, well, I’ll see you real soon, then. Bye, hon.Mwah.”
She hung up and looked at me with a Cheshire cat’s smile. “He overslept. But he’ll be on his way soon.”
The drama is officially back on.
“Oh, good,” I said, forcing a smile. “Now we just wait.”
“Ugh! But I can barely wait. His voice issosexy, Ainsley. Just wait until you see him in person.”
21
Tanner
Ding!
My eyes cracked open at the sound of another text message. I groaned. After last night, I wanted to sleep in. Ineededto sleep in.
Ding!
But I’d left my phone in the living room last night—too far away to reach without having to get out of bed, yet not far away enough that I couldn’t hear it. Every time I managed to start slipping back into sleep,ding!another text woke me up.
Ding!
“Alright, alright,” I grumbled, kicking off the bed sheets.
I went to the living room and grabbed my phone. A Dallas number had bombed my inbox with texts, wondering where I was. I scrolled up and realized it was that Instagram girl, Marta Mansour.
I thought I canceled that thing last night?
I checked my texts to my agent, Pete. I’d told him to cancel the photo shoot, alright—but the message never actually sent. Before I could blame the mishap on technology, I suddenly remembered dragging the felt tip of a permanent marker across a girl’s rack.
The girl who wanted an autograph,I groaned, remembering how she’d sidetracked me.Damn.
