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Two years later, Mrs. Campbell passed away and she left Muffin to Keaton in her will. He’d subsequently changed his name to Mojo after Mojo refused to answer to Muffin, which Keaton understood. The dog wasn’t a “Muffin” but he was a constant reminder of the woman who left him without even a goodbye.
“Keaton, are you there?” Jessie prompted.
“Yeah, sorry.” Keaton blinked, snapping back to the present. “I have classes that start at ten, so any time before that.”
“Got it and The Cage wants to do a day in the life article pre-show as well. You know the drill, a photographer and reporter will follow you around.”
Keaton let out a sigh.
“Don’t worry. It’s Lucy Drummond. She’s always had a thing for you. It will be easy peasy. All you have to do is smile, flash those dimples, charm the host and the audience will be eating out of your hand.”
“They’re going to ask me questions,” he stated flatly.
“Yes, that is typically the job of a reporter.”
“I’m not going to lie, Jessie. You know that.” That was Keaton’s biggest issue with this entire thing. He didn’t want to lie. He didn’t want to manipulate the audience into thinking that he was something or someone he wasn’t.
“Okay,” Jessie replied as if she wasn’t seeing the problem.
“What if they ask me why I’m going on the show, or if I want to find true love?”
“Then tell them the truth.”
“The truth?” Keaton repeated. He didn’t think it would bode well for his or the show’s image if he was honest. “You want me to say that I’m only doing the show because my niece wants to impress her boss, and my aunt got excited about it, and that I do not believe that someone can find true love on a TV show?”
“You can say that you haven’t found love through traditional routes and that family is very important to you and one day you’d like to have your own. All of those things are true, right?”
Keaton knew that it was Jessie’s job to spin things, but sometimes her knack for the gentle manipulation of the truth was unnerving. He was very happy that she was on his team.
“You do still want to have a family, right?” Jessie continued. “Isn’t that why you stopped competing and settled down in one place?”
He’d done that to prove to Camilla that he could. He and his childhood sweetheart had been together for twenty years on and off. They got together when they were twelve. She’d been patient for the first ten years of his career. But in the last five, she’d grown impatient. She’d wanted to get married. To have kids. He hadn’t been ready. He’d wanted to give everything to the sport he loved. And he had.
By the time he’d reached all his goals and been ready to walk away, she’d been done waiting. Unfortunately, it had been too little too late. But did he still want those things? Yes, yes he did.
“Yes,” Keaton confirmed.
“Okay, good. And I know that you are a skeptic, but you know my sister Becca was on the show, she won it, in fact. And she and Brian are still together and happily married.”
“Right, but weren’t they friends before the show?” Keaton remembered Jessie mentioning that to him.
“Semantics. My point is, just be open to the experience. Don’t close yourself off and put up walls. You’re not Nostradamus, you have no clue what the future has in store for you. The woman of your dreams could be waiting inside Stone Castle.”
This conversation was getting a little too personal for Keaton’s comfort level since the woman of his dreams owned Stone Castle. “I gotta go.”
“Okay, I’ll send you the confirmations of dates and times for the interviews.”
Keaton disconnected the call and got out of his truck. His chest ached as his mind filled with memories of him and Avery. He should be used to it by now. It happened every time he came here, he was transported back in time, five years ago, when he’d driven up to the castle and been told that Avery was gone.
She’d just left without a note. No goodbye. No nothing.
At the time, he’d been sure it must have been some kind of emergency. He’d called but it had gone straight to voicemail. He texted and he’d been left on read. His messages had never been returned.
He did his best to avoid this place, but he was about to sign up to live here for the next two to eight weeks. Maybe this was what he needed to finally move on. To have some closure.
Maybe this would be like exposure therapy or something. Or maybe this was going to be the worst, most torturous two months of his life.
“Keaton!”
