“I’m just the event planner. You should really talk to the head of the foundation and the people who work there. They are the heart and soul behind making sure these kids lead a balanced life—education, social, and family.” She looked around, hoping like hell she could find someone from the charity, nearly crying with relief when she spotted Carmen Sanchez. “Here, let me get Carmen for you.”
She hurried over to Carmen and dragged the newspeople to her. Carmen, not a hair out of place despite running around even more than Tara was, graciously agreed to say a few words about the foundation and what they offered kids who’d had a rough start and disadvantages. Tara backed away and let Carmen have the face time on camera.
“Smooth escape.”
Tara turned and faced Elizabeth, who managed to look unruffled and cool in her sleeveless top and Capri pants and kitten heels.
“What? No power suit today?”
“I have causal clothes, Tara.”
“Could have fooled me. I thought you always dressed like a shark on the attack.” Even in casual attire—which looked designer and expensive—Liz was still put together impeccably.
“You should have done the interview. It would be good for the team. For Mick.”
“You do the interview. I’m hot and sweaty and look like hell. And the foundation can make the team look good.”
“The foundation will make the foundation look good.”
Tara shook her head. “Not my area. I’ll let you find someone to make the team look good.”
Liz shrugged her shoulders. “If you insist.”
“I do.”
Glad to be rid of Liz, Tara moved off to the midway where she found a group of kids trying to best the carnies in games of water balloon darts, ring toss, and milk bottle throw. She eyed the vendors carefully, stopping at each one for long enough to be sure there was a decent percentage of the kids winning. Mr. Stokes was funding these vendors nicely, and the kids should have a good chance of winning.
They were. Satisfied, she moved on.
Food was plentiful in the eating area, and there was enough to drink there as well as at all the drink stops throughout the fairgrounds. Everything seemed to be under control, so Tara figured she’d take a minute or two and stop in at the players’ area, which was still filled to bursting with kids, players, and media.
Liz was there, giving some face time to reporters. She had a group of kids hanging with Mick. Tara was about to think the woman had a nice bone in her body, then thought twice. She was pushing Mick, making sure Mick looked good. Tara rolled her eyes and decided to come back later, but then stopped when she realized that behind Liz were the kids she was talking about while she was being interviewed, and that Nathan stood next to Mick.
Nathan was being photographed along with several other kids as Liz gave that interview.
“These kids come from less than positive backgrounds,” Liz said, motioning behind her, deliberately inclining her head toward Nathan. “Some have been abused, some have parents who’ve been involved in drugs. Some live in foster care, and some are just economically disadvantaged. The foundation and the team have set up this event to give these kids something positive in their lives, when they haven’t had many positive things to look forward to.”
Liz turned to Nathan and motioned him over. Nathan, obviously not knowing what the hell was going on, grinned back at Liz and came over. The cameras focused on him.
“Are you having a good time today?” Liz asked.
Nathan, looking utterly bashful and camera struck, nodded. “Uh, yeah. Having a great time.”
And then Liz motioned Mick over, and Mick put his arm around Nathan’s shoulders. The entire thing made Nathan look like one of the troubled kids, and Mick was offering up the hero’s helping hand.
Tara’s blood boiled. That fucking bitch. She stood there, her feet rooted to the asphalt, not knowing what to do. Ripping Nathan out of there would cause a scene and would only make matters worse, embarrassing Nathan and herself in the process. She refused to give Liz the satisfaction. And Mick seemed oblivious to the entire thing, playing to Nathan and the cameras as if he knew exactly what was going on.
Maybe he did know what was going on. Or maybe he just didn’t care.
Surely the man wasn’t that clueless. Had he been in on it the entire time? He and Liz worked closely together. He knew every time there was a promo op. Surely Liz had cleared this with Mick, so he had to have known.
Nausea bubbled up, and she palmed her stomach. The sun and the knowledge that Mick would use Nathan like that made her dizzy. She needed to sit down, but she refused to walk away, not when Nathan was so vulnerable.
Fortunately, the cameras soon moved away, and Tara could breathe again. She wanted nothing more than to grab her son and run like hell, but she was responsible for this event, and she wouldn’t let the foundation down. So she swallowed her anger and kept her focus for the remainder of the afternoon, making sure the rest of the event went off without a hitch.
When the last of the kids had piled back into the buses and everything was wrapped up, she grabbed Nathan.
“We’re leaving.”
Nathan frowned. “What? Why? Mick said we’d go out to eat.”
“Don’t ask questions. We need to go. Now.”