The repeated ding of cell phone notifications made his heart stutter. A text from his dad caught his attention first.
Katie’s in bed. She wants you to stop by and tell her good morning when you get home. I’ll be meeting the inspector at the Giuseppe’s project by then. Ryan will be here. Be safe.
It had been sent hours ago and was his only new text. The rest of the notifications were voicemails from numbers he didn’t know. Seeing them and knowing none of them were from Jasmine added to his exhaustion.
He’d been getting at least ten calls a day since the video of Katie dancing with Archer hit YouTube. News sources ranging from local Atlanta stations to the most highly rated talk shows on television were begging him to allow her to make paid appearances. He had no earthly clue how they managed to get his private cell number, but one of the first items on his to-do list now that he was home was getting a new one.
Those news sources wouldn’t be hearing from him. Katie had come too far for him to put her under that kind of pressure and risk setting her back.
In the month since she first spoke at the Family Fun Day event, she had gradually begun phasing out more signs and using more words. Although she still preferred signing, it was remarkable progress to Will’s thinking.
Gareth was also pleased. He had adjusted his therapy approach to help coax her speech along now that the proverbial chip had been made in the self-protective vocal wall she had developed. The therapy seemed to be advancing her progress.
In fact, she’d been doing so well that Will decided he was going to look into local schools during this upcoming home stand. Gareth felt Katie was ready to enter first grade from an academic standpoint. Since her social skills and comfort level had improved so much since the beginning of the year, he urged Will to consider it.
The only concern at this point was the paparazzi.
While Atlanta wasn’t the star-laden cities of L.A. or New York, it had its share of paparazzi, made more rampant by the many popular shows and movies now being filmed in the city and surrounding suburbs. As a professional athlete, he was used to being in front of the cameras. The increased media presence during this road trip hadn’t been a big deal. The team had security and a P.R. rep who took control of dealing with that stuff.
The paparazzi camped outside his house was another matter…one his dad and Gareth had been handling as well as they could during his absence. They also had the help of private security hired by Archer until things died down.
Archer had reached out to Will personally about it two days after the video went live. Will had been listening to his many voicemails to clear them and almost deleted Archer’s by mistake.
“Hey, Will, it’s Archer. I got your number from Cole. I hope that’s okay. I wanted to see how you and Katie are doing. Please give me a call on this number when you can. It’s my personal cell.”
Will was so shocked by the message that he almost called out to Duane, his roommate at the hotel where the team was staying at the time. He barely managed to keep his mouth shut and save himself some embarrassment. Feeling like a crazed stalker-fan, he had immediately entered Archer’s details into his contact list. In that moment, it hadn’t mattered why the rock star had contacted him. He felt like the coolest guy on the planet.
Archer had picked up on the second ring. “Hey, Will. Thanks for tagging me back.”
“Sure, man,” Will said, hoping he didn’t end up babbling like an idiot. “I appreciate you checking on us.”
“Of course. Look, I’m sorry about this video thing. I should’ve thought of it before I asked Katie to dance with me.”
“Don’t worry about it. That was the highlight of her night.”
“I’m glad she enjoyed it. Still, things are going to get crazy for you guys because of this. I think it would be a good idea to hire private security.”
“What? Really?”
“Yes, especially because there’s a child involved. The paparazzi are relentless.”
“But it’s just a viral video. New videos go viral every day. The paparazzi don’t chase those people down, do they?”
There had been a long pause before it finally clicked for Will. He felt heat building in the