Page 25 of Ready, Willing and Abel

My thoughts are ping-ponging through my brain so quickly I can’t catch any of them to focus on. So I just stand there in my doorway wondering what the hell is going on.

Half an hour later we’re stepping into Dane Whitmore’s home. His wife Shelby, whom I’ve met on more than one occasion, comes over to greet us. Then she introduces Mia and me what she calls “the rest of the gang.”

Jack and his wife, Lucy. Flynn and his wife, Temple. Beau has a very pregnant Daisy on his lap. Liam and Wren have their son, Keller.

Shelby looks around. “We’re missing one. Where’s Romeo?” she asks.

“He went on a run over to Beaumont to pick up some shelter dogs that were displaced with that recent hurricane,” Dane says.

“Picked up something else along the way too, from what I understand,” Flynn says with a grin.

“Serves him right after all the crap he gave us about our girls,” Beau says, then drops a kiss on Daisy’s cheek.

“Her brother is likely to kill him when they get back,” Dane says. “She’s young.”

I don’t know who they’re talking about, but suddenly it feels like I shouldn’t be here. I don’t belong with all of these couples. And with Abel’s brother and his pregnant fiancée.

“Stop that. I can see your mind working, and whatever you’re thinking is a big, hairy lie.”

“He just sent me a text and says five minutes,” Evan says loudly.

Shelby helps Mia and me find a seat and then proceeds to lay snacks out on all the tables bookending their living room furniture.

Dane turns on the television, and then Evan is standing over there with him while they get whatever connected. Soon, Abel’s account is up on the big screen and the countdown is nearly done.

The couples seem to all count down with the ticker like it’s New Year’s Eve and we’re watching the ball drop. But my eyes are glued to the television screen.

It goes black, and then there he is, looking straight at the camera.

“He is really hot,” Mia mumbles.

Mine,” I hiss.

“Meow. I didn’t say I wanted him.”

Then the camera pans out and I see that he’s on the set of one of the most successful and long-running podcasts.

What is he doing?

chapter

thirteen

Abel

Thanks for joining us. I’m your host, Meredith Banks. On today’s episode of From Fat to Fit we have everyone’s favorite chubby boy turned hot heartthrob. Let’s welcome Abel Cartwright.

Abel Cartwright: Thank you for having me.

Meredith Banks: Of course.

Meredith Banks: As you well know, the diet industry is a massive one and you could have monetized this. A tell-all book. A cookbook. A cooking show.

Abel Cartwright: If I had to cook for myself, the world would be in danger of burning to the ground. Sadly, I am a walking disaster in the kitchen.

Meredith Banks: You sound like my husband.

Abel Cartwright: You are right, though. I could have monetized this a lot over the last decade. The offers have been there. But I’m not going to put my name on something that’s going to be marketed as the silver bullet for weight loss. I lost all my weight the way millions of other people have lost theirs.