Chapter 47

S taring out the plane's window, the state I call home comes into view. I'm so happy to be back and can't wait to get my arms around Kendra. After the email I received last night from my lawyer, it seems the network, MNSports, was "displeased" to hear about the show's termination. Which is code for really fucking pissed off. Thankfully, they've chosen to break their sponsorship contract for the inaugural year. In some ways, I'm glad Kendra is out of there. She shouldn't have to deal with the fallout of this.

I don't want her to worry about anything but being healthy and having this baby. This show has brought on way too much stress over these last few months. I have no problem with her working, hell, I encourage it if it makes her happy, but every time I had to look into her eyes while I sat across from another woman… fuck, it gutted me.

The guilt has been eating me alive. Kendra said she quit, but I know she didn't leave by choice. She wouldn't go unless she was being forced to. This all happened because of me, I caused her to lose her dream job—so I will be the one to fix it. Which is why I'm Facebook stalking her friends list so I can contact Lance.Found him.

Hey.

Lance

Hey. I'm guessing you heard the news.

I did. But there's an idea that's been rolling around in my head and I'd love to run it by you.

Lance

Let's hear it.

Any chance you can meet for coffee in fifteen minutes?

Lance

Yeah. As of yesterday my schedule is wide open…

Well played. By the time we land in Minneapolis, I've got a plan. At least, a Plan A . If it doesn't work, I'll move to Plan B. Then Plan C. I'll go through the entire alphabet if I have to. I spoke with Kendra this morning, and hearing her voice was a punch to the gut. I hated that I couldn't be with her, and as soon as I finish meeting with Lance, I'm going straight to our place.

MNSports is the network that Rogues wants for the sponsor, and lucky for me, I used to play with one of the NHL commentators. I've got a Hail Mary meeting with my lawyer, theirs, and the execs in three days, which gives me a short amount of time to meet with Lance and ask him for an enormous favor. I can't do this without him. As much as I want to rush home and see Kendra, I'm afraid to look her in the eye without having something in play.

Warm air and the scent of roasted coffee beans greet me when I enter the coffee shop. It's a welcome reprieve from the dipping outdoor temps, where the roads are being blanketed in big fluffy flakes. I stomp the snow off my shoes on the rug while I scan the room for Lance. He's already sitting at a table in the corner when I arrive. He lifts two fingers in the air, and I head in his direction. I was hoping to get here before him so I could buy his drink, but it took longer than expected to disembark from the plane.

I slide the chair out and sit across from him.

"Hey. Sorry I'm late."

"No worries. What's up?"

I take a deep breath and get into it. "First, thanks for meeting with me. Since we all know what went down the other day and secrets are out, I'm going to get straight to the point. You've been filming me for the last few months, I'm sure you've caught some of the moments with Kendra and I, right?"

"I mean, that's none of my business." He sighs. "We all love Kendra, myself included. You don't have to worry about me going to the press or talking about what happened."

I close my eyes and shake my head. He thinks I'm coming here to make sure he doesn't talk, so the rest of what I'm about to say may come as a shock to him.

"Forget that. How much footage do you have of us?"

"Shit, I don't know. It's a lot. But technically, the network owns the raw footage—"

"Do you think it's enough for a show?"

"Oh… um…" He rubs his jaw and raises his eyebrows.

"I'll pay double your rate to have you pull the footage and make me a sizzle reel, or whatever Kendra called it. Something to pitch to the network, about Kendra and I meeting."

What Joey said the other day hit me, America just wants a love story. They want to root for somebody.

"You want a pitch tape." His eyes light up with recognition when he sees where I'm going with this. Kendra is my love story, so if that's what they want, then I'm ready to give it to them, but only if it's real. "Okay. Yeah… Yeah, I'm loving this idea, actually." He rubs his hand over his mouth and stares at the table, the wheels turning in his head. I'm so thankful he's on board.

"But Vault can't know about it. I don't want the show unless Kendra can do the storyline herself."

"How are you going to do that?"

"Still working on that side of things. But it's gotta stay quiet for now."

He nods. "I'll need to bring in an editor. You'd be pitching the show without a proof of concept, it has to be perfect. That's out of my wheelhouse."

" Scoring with Sully didn't have proof of concept, and they picked it up," I argue.

"Yeah, and then it bombed—no offense—so they're going to be extra cautious the second time around. I'm not going to sugarcoat it for you, man. It's going to be a hard win. And how are you planning on getting rights to the footage?"

"You still have access to the files, right?"

Lance sits back in his chair, crossing his arms. "Man…"

I dip my head and nod. I'm asking him to take a risk. "Look, I have a contact at MNSports. I'm meeting with the network in a few days, along with my lawyer to run it by them and see if I can pull some strings. But this can't get back to Pierce or Jeremy."

Lance takes a sip of his coffee. "There's a lot we can do with editing, but it might take a little bit of time. How much can you give me?"

I wince. "Couple days?"

"Seriously? Okay. Let me go through some of the highlights tonight and see what I can come up with. Luckily, I've got a little extra time since they scrapped it."

I exhale a sigh of relief. "I owe you, man."

He chuckles. "You definitely do. I'll be sending you a bill. So will the other guys."

"Done."