Page 112 of The Route to You

“You want to do ‘Top Ten Climbing Spots in Tennessee’? Great. That’s not a cinematic travel series. That’s a list show. Different product,” Davy said, clearly chewing something. “Sorry—eating breakfast. What has your knickers in a twist in the middle of the night?”

He grunted, pushed a few pillows onto his headboard, then leaned back. “I need to do something with my life, Davy. And I don’t know what it is.”

“Had enough time watching your nieces grow up and being there for every family holiday like you used to complain about not getting to do?”

His jaw worked. “I’m not complaining⁠—”

“No, you’re restless. But if you want my advice, it’s not a job thing, it’s a you thing. Still, that’s not what you called me about.”

Ouch.

She cleared her throat. “You can do your own YouTube show if you want. I’d advise you to keep it as different from Pathways as you can at first, but you’ll be in the building phase for a while. You are your own brand, luckily, so it shouldn’t be hard to lock down some sponsors for your first few episodes. People will know and recognize your face. You’ll need gear, probably a skeleton crew to get things going. College kids these days know more than most about iPhone and DSLR filmography, vlogs, and all, so they’re not a bad place to start. They’ve been cutting and editing short-form video for social for years now.”

“I feel like I should be taking notes,” Kyle said, his brain beginning to buzz—both with possibilities and overload.

Davy sighed. “I’ll try to email you something. Long and short of it: get brands on board, start building now, and don’t poke the bear that is Helixnet. Your noncompete is only for twelve months anyway, and then you’ll have more freedom.”

“What about buying the IP from Helixnet?”

“Do you have a million dollars sitting around?”

“No,” he said, releasing a short, frustrated breath.

“You know, you might consider asking Sloan to try to clear your name in that whole January debacle. Don’t know if Helixnet would want to pick the show up again—probably not, because they’re risk-averse—but someone might. Then buying the IP becomes a them problem.”

He drummed his fingers against the mattress. Truth was, it had crossed his mind now that Sloan had come back into his life to ask her about that—why she hadn’t tried to set the record straight. Sure, the kidnapping charges had been dropped, but after that, everything about the story had simply vanished from the news.

This left the impression that Kyle had been mixed up with Sloan in a salacious way. “I’m not sure how it would go over,” he said cautiously.

“Look, it’s worth a shot. I know it would mean having to probably go out and find Sloan, but you could start with her dad’s company.”

Fuck. He hadn’t told her yet. “Yeah . . . about that . . .”

“Oh, that’s never a good intro.”

“Sloan moved to Nashville recently. And I’m renting a room from her.”

“Oh, come on,” Davy muttered. “You really don’t want to do yourself any favors, do you?”

“We’re not romantically involved⁠—”

“Look, you do you, but I promise you, if Sloan tries to correct the narrative about January, the first thing Evan will do is try to spin it to his favor. If he finds out you’re living together, game over. Your reputation takes another hit, and that IP will look even less appealing to another party.”

“So, yeah, for now, maybe just an email with anything helpful.”

Davy laughed. “Got it. Anything for you, Kyle Winnick.”

“Have I told you I love you recently?”

“Yeah, yeah.” Davy sighed. “Don’t be a stranger so much. I miss our adventures. But I guess the whole thing with the wedding wasn’t all in vain—I finally got the courage to tell my parents about Amy. And it’s going okay, so that’s nice.”

Kyle smiled, leaning his head back. “Pretty okay is good.”

“You taking care of yourself? Isla and I had lunch the other day, and she said she hadn’t heard from you much recently, either.”

Isla. One more person he needed to do a better job of keeping up with. He’d gotten really close with Callum’s sister after Elle and Quinn’s wedding in Costa Rica. But now that Liddy and Callum were married, Liddy was closer to Isla than he was, which made her feel more like another bonus sister.

And the last thing he needed right now was another sister.