Catching Cameron: A Love and Football Novel by Julie Brannagh

statement: lovely.
    “It’s only the first day of training camp, ladies and gentlemen, and it’s already quite a ride.” He gave the camera a you-can’t-resist-me grin. “The Sharks’ head coach allegedly made some objectionable comments to Ms. Ondine and a local female sports reporter, Ms. Larsen, this morning. Coach Phillips has been suspended indefinitely by the team as a result. The Sharks organization apologizes to Ms. Ondine and Ms. Larsen for the alleged comments, and promises it won’t happen again. As a result of this morning’s incident, Sharks assistant coach Ryan Stewart has been named the team’s interim head coach.” He gave the camera another nod. “I’m sure I speak for everyone on the team when I say we’re looking forward to working with him.”
    “We’ll also look forward to an interview with the Sharks’ new head coach at his earliest convenience, then. And I’d like to thank my guest, Zach Anderson, for visiting with us tonight. I’ll see you next week. As always, keep it on PSN for breaking news from the NFL. From this special edition of NFL Confidential , good night.” She waited for the usual signal from the production staff that they’d gotten it all on tape, and glanced through her mostly unused notecard questions.
    Zach’s voice was quiet. “So, that’s it?”
    Her head jerked up. “Yes. That’s it. Thanks for the interview.”
    “You didn’t ask me very many questions, Cameron.” They were sitting close enough to each other that a whisper would suffice. Even more interesting, the production staff had gone silent, too. Of course they were eavesdropping.
    She closed her eyes briefly, and fought to control the tone and volume of her voice. “No, I didn’t. I didn’t want another sermonette about how money is just not that important to you, and how much you prize loyalty.” She looked into his eyes. “You didn’t seem to care about “loyalty” or sticking by me ten years ago in Vegas. The only thing you cared about was seeing how quickly you could get away.”
    “That’s not true. I meant what I said when I married you. I would have stayed with you until the end of time. You can’t tell me you had nothing to do with what happened.”
    She could hear the gasping and “Oh my Gods” through her earpiece from the production booth.
    “What happened? You walked out, you never came back, and I had to deal with my family,” she said.
    He leaned toward her again. “You didn’t want me back.” He got to his feet, pulled the microphone off the neck of his polo shirt, grabbed the battery pack out of his waistband, yanked it all loose, and dropped it onto the chair across from him. She heard the door open seconds later.
    C AMERON HEARD THE producer’s voice in her ear as she jumped out of her chair. “It might have been nice to know that you had prior history with Anderson.”
    She heard another voice responding to him. “We’ll cut the personal stuff and figure out how long we still have to fill.” She didn’t need her earpiece to hear multiple people arguing over what to do now, and oh-em-gee , how did no one in the world not know that Zach and Cameron were married before?
    If the previous interview was a disaster, this was the complete and total collapse of her career and her privacy. It reminded her of the Vegas hotel implosions she’d seen on videotape. A few seconds later, all that was left was rubble. She resisted the impulse to blurt out a word that was definitely not permissible by FCC standards.
    “I’ll be right back,” she said. Nobody seemed to care.
    Despite the fact her eyes were re-adjusting to the dimness of the surrounding room as she negotiated the electrical cords on the floor, she managed to make it into the hallway. Zach was lounging against the wall, which was a surprise.
    “I can’t believe you’re still here.”
    His mouth curved into a slight smile. “Hey, darlin’.”
    “Don’t call me that. What the hell? All we had to come