When Allyson arrived back at work, she was met with question after question about if she had been at the show, what it was like, everything. Then, as she took a sip of her water, Gretchen noticed the extra bling Allyson had on her finger.

“New York looks like it was especially good,” Gretchen said. “Do you have more than a boyfriend now?”

Allyson looked down embarrassed and laughed. “Yeah, Josh proposed Sunday night.”

This was met with a new list of questions, but she kept most of the details tight lipped, only saying, “It was really sweet and romantic.”

After a week of newly-engaged fun, JC had a not-so-pleasant message for his new fiancée. “Who all did you tell we were engaged?”

Taken a bit aback, she stammered, “Uh, my family, Shannon, Liz and, of course, my coworkers all figured it out when they saw the ring.”

“Well you’ve got someone who’s a snitch,” he said sternly.

“What’s going on, Josh?”

“On your way home, stop by the corner store and take a look at the new Us Weekly.”

“Oh no,” she started.

“Oh yes.” She had not heard him this upset since the Erin incident.

“Well, isn’t it good news that we’re getting married?” she asked, trying to cut the tension.

“Not when it’s not their news to share. This is exactly why I stay out of the public eye as much as I can. I’m gonna hit the gym and call it a night. I’ll talk to you tomorrow, yeah?”

“Yeah, I’ll talk to you tomorrow,” she said, feeling a little down.

“I love you, Allie.”

“Love you too, Josh.”

She hung up the phone and drove the rest of the way home in a bit of a daze. First, she now knew there was someone in her office who she couldn’t trust, but also Josh was retreating, which wasn’t good for anyone.

A few hours later, Allyson’s phone rang with JC’s face popping up on the screen.

“Hey, I didn’t think I’d hear from you tonight,” she said, picking up.

“I had to call. I feel awful about how I reacted earlier,” he sighed. “I know it’s not your fault, and people were naturally going to find out. I just have had so many rumors spread about me and people getting money from the tabloids by using and exploiting my name that I have a bit of a fight reaction when someone tries to tell – and sell – my story, our story.”

“I know,” Allyson said, simply. “And I get it. I didn’t think you were necessarily blaming me, but it did feel like you wanted to keep our engagement a secret. I want to scream it from the rooftops and have it on the front page of the LA Times.”

“I’m sorry, Allie. I didn’t mean to do that. I’m so excited about our future together, and I never want to minimize that. I don’t want to hide our engagement at all. I just don’t want other people telling our story – and getting money off of it – before we’ve had the chance to share it.”

“We can still control it,” Allyson said.

“How’s that?”

“Well, the Us Weekly story is nothing more than a couple paragraphs that we got engaged after the VMAs in Brooklyn. So let’s share our photos. No one can sell them if we put them out there for free. We can watermark them, so no one can steal them.”

“I’d never thought about that.”

“Come on, Mr. Twitter, get on it,” Allyson teased.

“OK, I’m liking this idea. This is why you’re the brains of the operation.”

“Not sure about all that, but I can come up with a few good plans.”

“This, New York; you’re 2-for-2, assuming this works.”

“It’ll work,” she said confidently.

“OK, let me reach out to Kevin to get the rest of the photos, and we can decide which ones we like best.”

“Perfect. We’ll take back our story.”

She could almost hear his smile. “Did you know you’re the best?”

“You’ve told me a time or two,” she laughed.

“Good, because you are. And never let me make you feel unimportant or like I don’t love what we have because you are the most important thing in my life, and I don’t think I love anything more than us.”

“I know, but I also know how this sort of stuff affects you, so I understand. We’ll fight back as a team. You don’t have to fight the tabloids alone anymore.”

He let out a long sigh. “Thank you. I love you. Have a good night’s sleep.”

“You too. Dream of me, and I’ll dream of you.”

“Always,” he said with a grin back on his face.

The next day, Allyson confronted Gretchen about the situation. Gretchen denied saying anything, but said she would help Allyson track down the person with the loose lips. One by one, Gretchen met with each of the members of the communications team with a copy of the magazine on her desk.

After the last person denied spreading the news, Gretchen sent out an email to the staff that read, “To whomever betrayed a colleague’s trust, consequences will become more severe if you do not come forward by the end of the day. We are a family, and this is not how family acts.”

Once nearly everyone had left for the day, Gretchen heard a knock on her office door and saw Tif, the community liaison assistant standing in her doorway. “What can I do for you, Tif?”

“I did it,” she said with a mix of pride and regret in her voice.
“You did what?”

“I went to the tabloid.”

“Tif, I am surprised. Thank you for coming forward. I’ll decide the consequence by the end of the week, but you have lost my trust and that of Allyson, for sure.”

“Are you going to tell her?”

“No, you’re going to tell her. But I am curious why you would sell her story.”

“Well, when you get married at 18 and realize the person you married isn’t who you thought he was, you end up with attorney fees for a divorce and custody battles.”

“I’m sorry to hear about your divorce, Tif. I know that’s difficult; I saw my sister go through it. But this,” she said, tapping the magazine, “was not the way to go.”

“I know that now.”

“Tomorrow, I’d like you and Allyson to be in my office at 8:30 before everyone else arrives.”

Tif just nodded and walked out the door as Gretchen proceeded to text Allyson about the development. Found the snitch. She has something to say. Plan to be in my office at 8:30.

I’ll be there. Should I prepare for the reveal?, Allyson quickly sent back.

Tif. I’ll let her explain.

The next day, both women were in Gretchen’s office, the only people in the auxiliary building before the rest of the staff arrived at 9.

“First of all, Allyson, I want to congratulate you again and apologize that this has spoiled it. I have taken pride in making this a family, and with that, I believe Tif has something she would like to say.”

“I’m sorry, Allyson. I shouldn’t have shared your story. It wasn’t mine to share. I just needed the money.”

Allyson nodded. “How much did you get?”

Tif looked down. “$1,000.”

“I understand you needed the money, but donate half of that – at least – here to the zoo.”

All Tif could do was nod and agree. She was in the wrong.

“You really could have caused some damage. Josh has dealt with this shit for years and goes into fight mode every time it happens. But we’re taking our narrative back. Thanks, Gretchen, for helping and for making this happen.” Before she said anything she might regret, Allyson left the other two and headed down to her office.

Ultimately, Gretchen chose to reassign Tif to a position where she would handle communications out of the reptile house, moving her out of the general communications office.

After work, Allyson headed north to JC’s so they could go through the pictures Kevin had sent over and select three of their favorites to share on their social media pages, both public and private accounts.

Logging into his Twitter account, JC selected the pictures and wrote, “My life changed forever six years ago, and I became the happiest person when the love of my life said yes and agreed to spend the rest of her life with me by my side.”

“Fairytales are true. I can’t believe I get to marry this man. How did I get so lucky?” Allyson posted to her pages.

Within five minutes, JC’s tweet and Facebook post had more than 150 retweets and shares. By that evening, the primetime entertainment shows had the pictures and the story, and anyone who tried to save the pictures was met with a giant watermark.

“You’re a genius,” JC said, kissing Allyson next to him on the couch and squeezing her shoulder.

“I’m just glad it worked,” she laughed. “Now, it’s time to focus on planning this wedding.”

“I’m locked in,” he said.