Chapter 12 #2
But she wasn’t wrong.
I juggled the keycard to the hotel room in one hand, while slipping my phone back into my pocket as I unlocked the door to my room. “What are you doing here, anyway?”
“Well, the morning of your sister’s wedding when I heard about your little elopement, I figured you would need me. So I booked the last available room here.”
I swallowed my groan. She was one of the reasons why Rosa couldn’t book a room here. Kristen paused, looking around the hallway of the Maple Grove Inn as though it was a dumpy motel and not the charming, five-star historic inn that it was.
“Well…” I said, opening the door to my hotel room. “Thanks for coming all the way up here, but I think we’ve got it handled.”
“Oh, you do?”
In the kitchenette, my eyes immediately locked with Rosa’s as she stood there with a freshly brewed mug of coffee in hand, dressed only in tiny, cotton shorts and a tank top. She looked even more shocked as I felt, her eyes locked onto Kristen.
Fuck me.
“Rosa, this is my publicist, Kristen. Kristen, this is Rosa… my wife.”
A smile twitched at Kristen’s mouth. She wasn’t an unkind person. She was just all business, all the time. There was a difference.
Kristen stepped forward, offering Rosa her hand. “It’s nice to meet you. Officially.”
Rosa smiled shyly, tucking her dark, curly hair behind her ear before taking Kristen’s hand. “Likewise.”
“Can I get you anything, Kristen? Coffee? Tea?”
“Nothing for me, thanks.”
I was already halfway toward the coffee maker, hand outstretched when Kristen stopped me with merely a look that could freeze lava. “Meeting first for both of us. Coffee later,” she said. “You’ve evaded me for long enough, don’t you think?”
“Fine.” I sighed and flopped down onto the couch, then gestured to the chair in front of me. “Have a seat.”
“I can get your coffee, Noah,” Rosa chimed in. She turned to the cabinet, grabbing a plain, white mug, setting it on the counter. With the coffee carafe in one hand, she paused mid-pour. “How do you take it?”
Kristen rolled her eyes. “Okay, you two, if this is going to be believable , she’s going to need to learn, at the very least, how you take your goddamn coffee… among other things,” Kristen muttered.
My face blanched. “Believable?”
“Yes, believable . Please. You two didn’t think I would fall for this whole star-crossed lovers elopement thing, did you?”
I snuck a quick glance at Rosa who looked just about as shocked as me. “Um… I’ve been in love with Rosa for years—” I started to explain.
“Uh-huh,” Kristen interrupted.
Rosa’s rose colored lips pressed together and she looked at me, swallowing. “It doesn’t bode well for us if she figured us out in less than five minutes.”
“Lucky for you, I’m smarter than most,” Kristen said, finally sitting in the chair across from me. “And just fyi, he takes his coffee black.”
Rosa finished pouring, then with her coffee and mine in hand, she crossed to hand me the mug.
“You might as well have a seat and join this meeting,” Kristen said.
“Why’s that?” Rosa asked, carefully as she lowered herself beside me on the couch.
“Because,” Kristen said. “If you two are going to keep up pretenses that this elopement was really a spontaneous, whimsical act of love, then we need to come up with a game plan so that both of you make it out of this with your professional reputations intact. That is the goal, isn’t it?
For you to grow your therapy practice, Rosa?
And…” Kristen paused, her gaze shifting to me.
“Remind me. What exactly was your goal in all this, Noah?”
My throat tightened. I couldn’t exactly answer: To convince Rosa we belong together . And getting out of the charity bachelor auction wasn’t quite enough of a reason to put on a year-long ruse of marriage.
“I want to be taken more seriously as an actor. I’m tired of being applauded more for my good looks than my actual talent, ” I finally answered. And it was true, too. If I had to answer another set of interview questions that focused on my ‘ideal woman,” I might barf.
And if Rosa happened to fall madly in love with me in the process? Even better.
Kristen knowingly lowered her eyes at me as if she could read right into my thoughts and see my little plan.
But instead, she merely said, “Okay, then.”
I nodded, glancing at Rosa who looked like she’d been caught tied to the railroad tracks with a train barreling straight for her.
Clearing my throat, I took Rosa’s hand and gave it a squeeze. “Maybe we can start small,” I offered. “Begin with an announcement including Rosa’s name?”
Kristen rarely showed her emotions on her face. She was calm, cool, and collected almost every second of every day. But for the briefest moment, her mask lifted. A flash of confusion, then apprehension tilted her eyebrows into a v. “Her name? Have neither of you been online yet this morning?”
Gulping, I shook my head as Rosa said, “I only just woke up.”
Kristen sighed. “Well, then, let me be the one to tell you… Rosa, your name is out there. Headlines with you and your parent’s identities went live this morning and they’ve been picked up by almost every source available.”
Shit . I looked at Rosa whose face was now whiter than the ceramic mug she held in her hands. “I–I never told my parents about the wedding.”
I winced as Kristen’s sharp intake of air displayed her disapproval of that fact. “Well, I can guarantee they know now. Or—they will as soon as they wake up out there in California.”
Rosa closed her eyes and took a long inhale. With her eyes still closed, she lifted the mug to her lips and slowly sipped her coffee. “Well,” she said quietly. “I guess there’s nothing that can be done about that now.”
“You could still call them,” I offered. “Now. Before they wake up and see the headlines for themselves. I’m sure they’d rather hear the news from you than from their manager.”
Full, wet lips pursed together before Rosa said, “I’ll think about it. Maybe after this meeting.”
Calmly, Kristen asked, “Do you and your parents not get along?” When Rosa didn’t answer immediately, she pushed a little harder. “If there’s skeletons I should know about, I’d rather find out now from you ?—”
“No! Nothing like that.” Rosa shook her head. “It’s just your average frustration with family. I love my parents, but they drive me crazy. And with their jobs, it’s hard to have a close relationship with them.”
“Very well.” Kristen gave a quick, thoughtful hm before nodding. “I have to admit, Noah, I’m shocked that your approval ratings are through the roof with this wedding announcement. People love that you’ve chosen a non-actress as a wife. A smart woman. A doctor?—”
“Oh, I’m not an MD—” Rosa began to say, but was quickly waved off by Kristen.
“Potato, potahto.” Kristen paused, looking sharply at Rosa. “I think I know the answer to this based on what you just said, but I have to ask. You don’t have a desire to go into politics like your father, do you?”
Rosa snorted. “Absolutely not.”
“Too bad. The two of you would be unstoppable. A power couple. A force to be reckoned with?—”
“And miserable ,” Rosa snapped. “Just like my parents.”
There was a long pause before Kristen said, “You know, Rosa. Not all famous couples are unhappily married. Most of my clients are blissfully in love.”
“Or they just want you to believe they’re blissfully in love.”
My heart descended into the cavity in my chest with her statement and whatever hope I had for Rosa and me sank just the tiniest bit. What the hell happened to Rosa and her parents to believe so firmly that happiness doesn’t exist for celebrities?
But despite my souring mood, Kristen merely smiled. “I’m the one person they don’t have to lie to, Rosa. Remember that,” she added, looking pointedly at me. “ Both of you. No matter what, the two of you need to be fully, and completely honest with me. Always.”
“I hear you, Kristen.”
She paused, looking over at Rosa. “And you? Do you hear me? I’m your ally in this. Maybe your only ally.”
Rosa gulped, giving a jerky nod. “I understand. I won’t lie to you.”
Like a slingshot snapping and releasing a pebble, Kristen’s entire demeanor changed and she smiled cheerily. “Great. Then, let’s get started. We’ve got a lot to plan in a short time.”