Perfectly Messy by Lizzy Charles Read Free Book Online

forehead. “You are amazing.” She laughs, pushing me away.
    “I assume you made your team?” She nods to the varsity and JV guys, huddled around another table. Oh, right. My captain’s talk. “Go have your chat. We can meet up after, okay?”
    “Absolutely.” I turn away but my gut turns. My Psych paper’s due tomorrow and the strategy meeting with Dad and Paul is tonight. But how Lucy beams back at me is my answer. My heart twists. There’s no way I’m missing more of that. We’ll hang for dinner then I can buzz back home for the meeting with Dad and Paul. The paper will have to be an all-nighter. No big deal. It’s worth it for time with my girl.
     
    ***
     
    Paul looks up from his laptop. “Justin, be reasonable.”
    Dad shifts in his chair, not speaking when he should.
    “Dad…” I turn, excluding Paul. “An interview? No way. We both agreed I’m not doing that show. It’d be intentionally leading him on to snag money for your campaign. That’s not right. There’s no integrity in that.”
    Dad pulls his hands through his hair, like I do. He rolls his lips in before he speaks. “Justin, the preliminary stats are showing this race is too close. With his funding, we could reach so many more voters.”
    Paul butts in. “You’ll be projected as honest, smart, and responsible. No one will think badly of you. If anything, it’ll snag more voters for your father. Plus, fifty grand would make a huge difference this close to the end.”
    I throw my hands up. It blows my mind why Dad hired this guy. Paul’s always rubbed me the wrong way. Political image adviser? My ass. A reality show is a reality show. It’s going to make our whole family look like chumps.
    “Please.” Dad reaches out and squeezes my arm. “I’ve got this campaign covered on every side but through social media. The other guy is dominating out there. That’s a huge voter percentage that I’m missing. Carl would make sure that interview is posted everywhere online.”
    I suck in a deep breath. “I’m not single though.”
    “Actually,” Paul looks over his glasses at me, “you are. Single is defined as unmarried. So, even if you are dating, you are technically single. The requirements for the show are a marital status of single.” He turns his laptop around, showing me the screen. “Technically, you wouldn’t be lying.”
    “Son, I hate asking you to do something you don’t want to do. But this will help us all.”
    “The media would eat it up, Justin.”
    “Yes. Eat it up, chew on it for a week, and spit it out to the dogs.”
    “Justin,” Dad’s voice drops, “it’s TLC. Not MTV.”
    I want to scream “No!” Moving against this feeling goes against everything I’ve learned about making life choices.
    Dad reaches out and squeezes my arm. “Consider it.”
    I grit my teeth and stand. “Fine. One interview. But that’s it.”
    “That’s all we’ll need to get the funding and the social media spin.” Paul smiles. “Knew you’d come around.”
    Dad glances down at the table, pulling out a new file. I wait for him to feel my glare. Look at me . But he won’t. He’s moved his pawn and now it’s time to strategize some more. This is not the man I grew up admiring. Politics has a way of turning the greatest people into slime.
    He continues to rearrange his folders while Paul packs up and leaves. Finally, alone together, his eyes find mine. “Thank you.” He nods to an old family photo on the mantel, the one that includes all of us a few months before Jackson passed away. He’s wrapped in our arms, smiling despite the pain. “Family matters. You’ve done so much for me, son. Thank you for giving a little bit more.”
    There’s the man I know. Where was he five minutes ago? Well, now that he’s finally here ,I’m not wasting the chance to confront him about how he treated Lucy. I pull open the fridge for some turkey and lemonade. I set them on the counter and take a deep breath. If I’m doing this