Total pages in book: 83
Estimated words: 78049 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 390(@200wpm)___ 312(@250wpm)___ 260(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 78049 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 390(@200wpm)___ 312(@250wpm)___ 260(@300wpm)
Baden pulls out my chair and indicates for me to sit. He takes the one next to me. “I don’t suppose you know what this meeting is about?”
“I totally know what it’s about, but that’s for Brienne to clue you in,” I reply, a stern tone to my voice but a with a playful wink.
Baden laughs and tips his chair back. “Fair enough. But you’re coming to the party on Sunday, aren’t you? It’ll be a good way for you to meet everyone.”
My belly pitches with anxiety at the thought of attending a social event. Tomorrow Brienne is hosting an informal and impromptu party for the Titans, and while I’m invited as a member of the executive management team, I haven’t yet committed. It’s hard for me to talk to people, and it has everything to do with my scars.
Before the fire, I was a spirited extrovert who could walk into a crowd of a hundred strangers without batting an eye. But since, I’ve become so shy and withdrawn due to my insecurities, the effort to be social is quite painful.
“You really need to come,” Baden says before I can deliver up some lame excuse. “In fact, Sophie and I would be glad to pick you up so we can all go together.”
I open my mouth, not quite sure if I’m going to accept or make up a semi-legitimate reason that might get me out of it, when the door opens again, and from the corner of my eye, I note more people entering the room.
Several players—those the filmmaker wants to focus on—file in, so it’s not a surprise when Gage appears since he’s a league veteran. I do know, based on talks with Baden and Brienne and just through the background research I’ve done regarding the Titans, that Gage seems to be the glue holding the team together. With him coming out of retirement to join the Titans, his story will probably be highlighted in the documentary.
Gage’s eyes meet mine, widen in surprise, and then… pleasure?
His smile gets bigger as he comes around the opposite side of the long conference table to take the seat on my other side. He lifts a chin to Baden and then nudges me with his arm. “Fancy meeting you here.”
“What are the chances?” I say with a laugh, but then Brienne’s calling for order as the players finish choosing their seats. I know them by name and by sight—I did my research on their bios. My job as media liaison requires that I know these men well.
“Everybody may be seated,” Brienne says, and I perch forward on my chair, ready to type notes on my tablet.
I glance to my right at Gage and find him watching me. I smile meekly and duck my head, my cheeks heating, but I catch the quick wink he gives me that makes my heart jump.
I take stock of how I’m feeling now. The nerves over this presentation have quieted, and now my heart seems to be tripping over itself just from seeing Gage. It’s obvious he’s had far more of an effect on me than I cared to admit, but I can’t help how I feel.
Brienne stands at the end of the table, not bothering with a chair. She looks to Callum on her right. “Where’s Coach Keller?”
Callum glances at his watch, irritation in his voice. “He said he would be here. Want me to go find him?”
A flash of ire flickers over Brienne’s face, but she brushes it off quickly. “No. I’m not going to hold up anyone to wait for him, so let’s get started. I’ll talk to him privately.”
The insinuation is clear. The private meeting will be about more than the film and probably include a good tongue-lashing for him being late to a meeting the team owner called.
Brienne leans forward and places her palms on the table, looking around at the handful of men congregated. “I’ve been approached by a well-known documentary filmmaker who wants to chronicle the rebuilding of the Pittsburgh Titans team.”
Everyone looks back and forth to one another but then back to Brienne as she continues. “I’ve given it a lot of thought and spent a lot of time talking with my management team, as well as Callum, about whether this would be a good idea for the organization. We’re making sports history, and nothing like this has ever happened in this league. I want people looking back on this inaugural team to know just how amazing my players and coaches are. How dedicated and fierce they are in their willingness to go above and beyond to help this organization rebuild. To create a team that, by all accounts, has the steepest uphill climb of any sports franchise ever. I want to memorialize the efforts and sacrifices you all are making.