A Model Hero by Sara Daniel Page A

of her apartment so she could do those things without losing her sanity. She needed space to be herself without constant disapproving commentary. To accomplish that, Kyle Ramsey needed to do something he’d never done in the entire decade she’d known him—acknowledge her existence.
     
    ***
     
    Kyle Ramsey set the front page of the morning paper aside and turned to the style section. The doorbell rang, and he glanced at the clock, not expecting the grocery delivery until later. He folded his reading glasses and tucked them in a drawer before he walked to the front door and pulled it open.
    The full-figured woman on the other side wore camel pants and an aqua silk shirt with a thick, woven gold chain necklace, not the usual beige embroidered delivery uniform. “Hello, Kyle.”
    Her voice jolted him out of the delivery assumption. He hadn’t seen Gretchen Meyers in years, yet he’d only needed a moment to recognize the woman who’d always been on the periphery of modeling life.
    “Glad to see you’re alive,” she said with a bright smile.
    His heart thudded at the possibility his well-guarded secret had gotten out. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
    “That you’ve avoided answering so many of my messages a person could be forgiven for thinking you’d died or forgotten all common courtesy.”
    Relief flooded him. Gretchen hadn’t discovered the real reason he’d left the business. She’d been the one person who never tiptoed around him or fallen at his feet. Although he’d changed, she hadn’t.
    “May I come in?”
    He stepped aside, even though he should have denied her. Her previous e-mails, texts, voice mails, and certified letters all spelled out what was sure to be the purpose of the visit, and he had no intention of agreeing. But her persistence intrigued him.
    After initial concern, disgust over his agent’s behavior, and a multitude of rumors about his health, potential addictions, and mental stability, everyone had accepted his disappearance from the modeling world with a shrug. Pretty faces and hot bodies were easily replaceable. His had been no different. Too bad Gretchen hadn’t gotten the memo.
    “Nice place,” she said, looking around.
    “You’ve never been here before?” He tried to see the hardwood floors and stone fireplace from her perspective. Far too big for a one person, the house bordered on ostentatious, but appearances had meant everything at the time he’d made the purchase.
    She turned to face him, a single eyebrow raised. “I wouldn’t expect you to remember the legions of women you’ve brought here for the night, but I do expect you to remember you wouldn’t have given me the time of day, let alone slept with me.”
    Had he been that shallow and self-centered? Yes. He cringed. “I meant, you never came here with your mother? I remember you used to take notes and handle paperwork during negotiations.”
    “Any negotiating you two did here didn’t need me to document it.” Her shoes clipped across the foyer as she moved away from the doorway.
    “I never slept with your mother.” The thought had never crossed his mind. He snapped the door shut, appalled at the innuendo. “Good Lord, she was my agent and old enough to be my parent.”
    “She is still your agent,” Gretchen emphasized. “And best not to mention the age thing. She’s been known to use it as a challenge to prove how young and attractive she still is.”
    Rumors of Zola sleeping with her clients had swirled for as long as he’d worked with her. In fact, he’d come face-to-face with the truth of those juicy allegations just as he’d ducked out of the public eye. But he’d had no interest in her advances. He’d preferred women his own age or younger whose physical perfection matched his own. Well, karma had given him what he deserved on that score. “I’ll be sure not to encourage her. Do you want to sit down?”
    “Love to,” Gretchen said.
    Shoot, he shouldn’t encourage the daughter