When Oren picked Eli and me up after school, Alisa was in the passenger seat—and Landon was in the back, tapping furiously away on her phone.
“Everything is fine,” Alisa assured me, which was pretty much the opposite of comforting. “We’ve got this under control, but—”
“But what?” I glanced over at Landon. “What’s she doing here?”
There was a beat of silence. That was all it took for Alisa to craft her reply. “Skye and your father are offering themselves as an interview package to the highest bidder.” Alisa expelled an aggrieved breath. “If we want to quash the story, Landon is going to have to make it worth the high bidder’s while to bury it.”
I’d had enough on my mind these past few days that I’d barely thought about Ricky Grambs. I tried to read between the lines of Alisa’s statement.
“Are you saying you’re going to pay off whoever buys their interview?”
Landon finally looked up from her phone. “Yes and no,” she told me before turning her attention to Alisa. “Monica thinks she can make the network pony up, but we’re going to have to guarantee them Avery and at least one Hawthorne.”
“They’ll pay for exclusivity from Skye?” Alisa asked. “Complete with an NDA preventing Skye and Grambs from taking their story elsewhere?”
“They’ll pay for it. They’ll bury it.” Landon pinched the bridge of her nose, like she could feel a migraine coming on. “But the latest they’ll agree to for a sit-down with Avery is tomorrow night.”
“Good lord.” Alisa shook her head. “Can she handle it?”
“I’m sitting right here,” I pointed out.
“She’ll have to.” Landon spoke over me. “But we’re going to have to crunch.”
“Crunch what, exactly?” I asked. Everyone in the car ignored the question.
“Avery’s interview is nonexclusive,” Alisa told Landon, “and they have a deal.”
“They’ll want an embargo on other interviews for at least a month.”
Landon’s reply was automatic.
“Three weeks,” Alisa countered. “And it applies only to Avery, not any of her surrogates.”
Since when did I have surrogates? I wasn’t running for president here.
“Which Hawthorne am I offering as part of the package?” Landon asked, all business.
My brain was struggling to keep up, but I was pretty sure that what was happening here was that we were giving my first interview to whoever bought Skye’s, under the conditions that the interview with Skye and Ricky never aired and whoever bought it contractually prevented the duo from talking to anyone else.
“Why do we even care about their interview?” I said.
“We care,” Alisa said emphatically. Then she turned back to Landon.
“And you can tell Monica that we’ll guarantee a sit-down Wednesday evening with Avery and… Grayson.”
