Before she left, she turned her phone notifications back on and was met with a crash of alerts. Texts, missed calls, dozens of emails. She didn’t even dare open her social media accounts. The profile on Chuck was alive and well.
She smiled at an email from Stephanie that held the entire message in the subject line:AMAZING JOB.
She had two texts from Chuck: the kissy face emoji blowing a heart withTHANK YOUthat she took to mean he was pleased with the reception of the piece, and another that saidHow’d it go?
He’d told her that no one could have written the piece like her, and she had to agree. Because she knew him better than anyone, she’d thoughtfully cracked him open for the public in a way that only she could and finally exposed Chuck Walsh as he deserved to be seen. Based on the public response, the world had been waiting for a deep dive into his story, and now they would only want more.
She quickly texted him back.It went well. Heading home.
I can’t wait to hear about it. I love you.
She smiled that he’d responded so quickly given he too was surely drowning in messages and had sifted hers to the top.
I love you too, she wrote back, and climbed into her borrowed car.
Halfway back to her apartment, her phone rang. She didn’t have it synced to Mansi’s car, so she had to look down to see who was calling.Parker Stoneflashed on the screen, and pure curiosity made her answer it and put him on speakerphone.
“Hello?”
“Olivia!” he sang. “Good to hear your voice. How are you doing?”
“You know, Parker, all things considered, I’m doing pretty well. Please don’t ruin it with whatever reason you are calling.”
He chortled a laugh. “You know me well. But that’s not why I called.”
“No?”
“No. I’m calling for two reasons. First, I wanted to apologize for how things ended in the house. TJ wasn’t supposed to bring up Chuck’s job like that. The photos, yes; his job, no. We’d discussed it beforehand, and given the legal situation, he knew it was off-limits.”
Olivia’s grip on her steering wheel tightened. She hadn’t been expecting a sudden callback to one of her worst moments. She’d thought back to that whole scene a lot in the past weeks, and she agreed with Chuck that they’d been trying to manipulate them into fighting. And now Parker had confirmed their suspicion. The fact that it worked so easily left the memory even more shameful. Her voice came out thick. “Okay.”
“Okay,” Parker repeated. “And the second reason I’m calling is to thank you.”
“Thank me?”
“Yes. See, because of what TJ did and with the way the show ended, we were in a bit of a bind over what we’d be able to air. We’ve been going back and forth with Legal over if we’d have to edit out anything related to Chuck’s NDA, but thanks to your piece that dropped this morning—which is a great piece, by the way—the situation is public knowledge now, and we can air everything. You solved the problem for us!”
She did not exactly match his cheer that the whole messy ending of their time at the house would end up on TV—she’d honestly hoped the whole episode would get canned—but she did her best to sound positive.
“That’s great, Parker.”
“It is! And what’s better is Chuck told me you two are back together now, which, honestly, that’s all I was hoping for.”
She flinched in surprise. “You were?”
“Well, that and the massive ratings this is going to haul in. But like I said, I’m a hopeless romantic.” She could hear the smile in his voice. “Speaking of Chuck, how do you feel about a follow-up episode after this one airs? Kind of aWhere Are They Nowthing.”
“Oh my god, Parker.No.I didn’t want to be on TV in the first place. I’m certainly not signing up for it again.”
“Come on, Olivia. People wouldloveto see your happy ending!”
“No, they wouldn’t. People want to see drama. And that’s what we gave you: six days of drama.”
“It wasn’talldrama. There are some really tender moments in here too. I’ve watched all the footage.”
“Ugh.Don’t remind me.”
Parker laughed. “But listen, if you ever change your mind, you know where to find me. Also, the offer still stands on doing an interview about your parents.”