Page 16 of No More Billionaires

“Oh, well, I don’t know,” I mumbled. “I didn’t really tell her ‘yes.’ I’m just not sure I can. I’m not really…”

He rose from the desktop. “Oh—my bad. I thought you were doing it. Well, if I can answer any questions for you about the story, let me know. Have a safe drive home.”

* * *

Of course I called Heidi after work. “What are you doing next Thursday and Friday?”

Picking up a whiff of possibility, she asked, “I don’t know. WhatamI doing? Are you coming here? Did you get some time off already?”

“No, they actually want me to field produce a piece at Vanderbilt Med School. If I came, would you have any time to see me after work?”

Heidi had accepted a noon and five-thirty anchoring job in Nashville, her dream job. A few months later, her fiancé Aric had gotten a job there in sports, so she was pretty much living the dream, professionally and personally.

“Of course! And you have to stay with me—don’t stay in a hotel, okay?” she said.

“Well, I’m not a hundred percent sure I’m coming, but thanks for the offer. I’d love to stay with youifI come. It would give us more time together.”

“Oh, you have to come, Kens. We’ll take you out somewhere fun. And we can talk wedding plans.” Her high-pitched excitement was contagious.

I laughed. “Okay—well, I’m not sure I can refuse now that you’ve played the bride-card—so unfair.”

“Good. I’m glad it worked. Just let me know when you get into town. I’ll come pick you up whenever you’re finished with your shoot, or you can come to the station or whatever.”

“Okay, I’ll call you.”

“That’s a yes!” Heidi squealed.

“That’s a maybe. I’ll call you—either way.”

* * *

The Nashville plan got an even better reception from Momma a few days later when I mentioned it before dinner.

Which I never should have done. She immediately launched into full catch-a-man scheming mode.

She marched upstairs to my room with me following, going to my closet and pulling out coordinating items with the religious fervor of the truly inspired.

“Nowthiswould be perfect for the flight. It won’t wrinkle and it’ll hide the way your hips have widened recently. Then when you get there, you can change into this darling little—”

“Momma. Calm down.” I planted my hands on my apparently monstrous hips. “No one’s going to see what I’m wearing. It doesn’t matter.”

She gave me the whose-child-is-this look she wore so often lately.

“Ofcourseit matters, Kenley.Larsonwill see you. This is your chance to catch his attention and show him you’re not the pitiful, mousy thing you’ve been pretending to be, that you can fit right into his world of finance-people and fashion-people and celebrities.”

I rolled my eyes behind her back. “What about Mark?”

“What about him?”

“I thought you wanted me to get back together withhim.”

She flipped her hand in a who-cares gesture. “Oh, you don’t need him. He was just practice. Larson Overstreet is the real thing. You have anopportunityhere to use what I’ve worked so hard to teach you girls your whole lives. With a little work, you can show Larson that you can be just the kind of girl he likes.”

My fingernails pressed into my palms until the pain was almost as severe as the anxiety twisting my gut. She drove me insane, but she was still my mother, and I’d been raised to be respectful whether I felt like it or not.

“IfI decide to go, the only thing I’ll be showing Larson is that I can be an effective field producer.”

Momma didn’t appear to have heard me. She held up a dress against her own carefully-maintained figure.

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