Saving Maverick by Debra Elise Page A

overserved, wanna-be golf pro who pawed me every chance he could. Until he passed out in our booth, that is.”
    â€œHe did not.” Kelsey was instantly sympathetic. “Damn, you had such high hopes for George too.”
    Noel rubbed her arm. “Me too, Lara. I thought he might be a keeper.”
    â€œYeah, well, he was doing his best to keep his drinking problem a secret. I think something happened to tip him over the edge. He broke down on me last night and confessed some past sins better left in the vault. I don’t know how you do it with your clients, Kelsey. Listening to their problems and confessions, then having to fix them. Doesn’t it ever get you down?”
    Kelsey looked at her “life is good” friend and took a moment before she answered. She’d had plenty of things in her life get her down, but what she did for a living wasn’t one of them. An absentee father and an alcoholic mother who both hopped from one bad relationship to another had tested Kelsey’s resolve, but she never let it bleed over into her work.
    Kelsey knew at a young age she wasn’t going to let herself end up like her mom. And she thought if she took psychology courses in college along with business classes she could fix her mother. Too bad it didn’t work. But it taught her an important life lesson. People only changed if they really wanted it bad enough.
    Funny how life worked. She ended up using her minor in psychology to help in her media consultation business. She might not be able to change a person’s thoughts or behaviors but she could guide them and give them the tools to make better decisions. Her business boomed.
    She went from Kelsey the fixer in grade school to Hollywood’s most sought-after PR consultant. And it was in school where she and Lara and Noel first met.
    One day in second grade, Kelsey came to her best friend’s defense without making the bully or Lara feel bad. In the end the bully had become another lifelong member of their circle. Noel. She wasn’t really a bully, just lonely and in need of friends.
    â€œLara, do you remember when Noel was teasing you about your shoes back in grade school?”
    Lara nodded and sat forward, crossing her arms in front of her on the small table. Long over the trauma of the event, both women grinned at each other.
    â€œThat was the day I felt it,” Kelsey said.
    â€œFelt what?”
    â€œThe rush of helping. And not the ordinary, ‘oh you dropped your package, let me get that for you’ helping. No, that was the day I realized I could make a difference in how someone else thought, felt, and looked at others and themselves.”
    â€œHmm, come to think of it, you did seem pretty jazzed when Noel sat down at lunch with us.”
    â€œ Yup, and even when I went home that day and told my mom what had happened, I didn’t let her reaction dim my happy glow. I ignored her scolding me, that ‘no good’ would come of helping someone because everyone was out for themselves, blah, blah, blah.”
    â€œRight, didn’t she ground you or something?” Noel asked.
    â€œI’m sure she did. But you know, looking back, it’s all been worth the crap she put me through. I’ve come to terms with how she couldn’t be anyone other than who she is, even when she refused to help herself. And even though I still want to fix her to this day, I no longer feel sorry for that little girl who ended up being more mother than daughter.”
    Lara leaned over and placed her hand over Kelsey’s. “You’ve come so far, Kelsey. And now you’ve got a great business, and both Noel and I are so happy to have you back with us. Now, tell us what we really want to know.”
    â€œAnd that would be?”
    â€œTell us about all the hot players you got to hang out with last night and don’t leave anything out.” Finishing off her croissant, Kelsey smiled at the women