about it. Make it part of a larger statement, but make it clear those questions are off-limits.”
She nodded against his chest, her arm resting across his abdomen once again. “That sounds good, if the contract will let you. Mama Beach would know.”
He didn’t let go of her, but reached for his phone where it sat near the camera. “That reminds me. I couldn’t get a hold of my agent or publicist yesterday. They both told me to honor the contract, but didn’t know what it would entail.”
When he turned the phone on, there were a dozen missed calls from them, plus some text messages. “I need to call them back.” He kissed her forehead and sat up, releasing her as he did. “Do you want to take a shower before we go, and I’ll take care of this?”
“Sure.” Madi gathered some things out of her suitcase and headed for the bathroom. Before entering the room, she turned and stared at him, a contemplative look on her face.
His eyes narrowed. “What?”
“You have actual people. I have a virtual assistant who does amazing things but only like ten hours a month. And I have a literary agent, too, but she only handles book related stuff. When I emailed her about this, she said to trust the publicist and my attorney. She handled the contract with HEA TV, so it makes sense that she’d tell me to trust their publicist. She’s amazing, but she’s done a total of maybe a week’s worth of work for me in the last three years. That’s almost all she’s gotten paid for from me, too, though, since I do most of my books under my own publishing house.”
That impressed Wyatt. “I had no idea you did it all yourself. That’s fabulous. I’ve been approached a couple of times about writing a memoir. We looked into doing it with a publisher and into handling it myself when the first offer wasn’t worth having. I have the utmost respect for people who do it all themselves.”
“Thanks. Most people think it’s because our books aren’t good enough for a traditional publisher. Sometimes that’s true, but just as often it’s because traditional publication isn’t a good fit. There’s nothing wrong with either way of going about it. It depends on a person’s goals and skill set, things like that.”
Wyatt realized he’d found a subject his wife clearly had a passion for. If they ran out of things to talk about and sat in awkward silence, all he needed to do was ask a question about publishing and be sincerely interested in the answer.
A sheepish grin crossed her face. “Sorry. I tend to get worked up. I have people, too, I guess, but not like you have people. The publicist isn’t even my person. She works for HEA TV and is in charge of promoting a movie based on my book.”
His phone buzzed with another call. He held it up. “One of my people.”
“I’ll let you talk.” She went into the bathroom and closed the door behind her as he answered the phone.
“Carson,” he said, knowing his agent was likely about to read him the riot act.
“You’ve done it.” Was that awe in the man’s voice?
“Done what?”
“Gone from pariah to prince overnight. You haven’t been online yet?”
“No.”
“The story blew up a couple of hours ago. They’d been marketing it as a big surprise, but HEA TV and MyBingeFlix started advertising tomorrow night’s show with you and shared a picture from the wedding. The vows, I think. The two of you are looking at each other and it’s captioned clearly smitten. Listen to this. ‘Baseball’s biggest disappointment from the Fall Classic swings and connects in the holiday season’s biggest new reality show. Wyatt Carson hits his stride and ties the knot with author Madi Beach weeks after his spectacular implosion and a month before her HEA TV debut movie. Watch every moment with the series premiere on HEA TV and a new episode every Sunday. Streamable Mondays on MyBingeFlix.’”
“Not horrible.” Not fantastic, with the reminders of less-than-stellar performance, but not as bad as it could have been.
“The response from fans is mixed, but overall positive. Madi’s fans are ecstatic and can’t wait to hear the story and if there’s a meet cute, whatever that is.”
Wyatt chuckled. “I didn’t know until the other day, but yes, we have a meet cute. I’d already met her a couple of times before the show, but neither of us could see the other until after the choice