Chapter 40
JOSIE
I miss home.
I miss everything to do with Crystal River. I miss my crappy little barista job where I don’t have to think. I miss Amanda. I even miss my shitbox of an apartment.
And I know this feeling is fleeting. I know it’s just one of those days when everything feels crap. I know it’s just going to be something I’ve got to learn to deal with.
But I still miss home.
I’m having a shower in the grand ensuite of this hotel. It feels so utterly stupid for me to think like this when I am literally surrounded by opulence, I know. But this is not real life – this is just a short dalliance into the life of billionaire celebrity Victor Penmayne.
What am I doing here? Sure, the hotel is nice – very, very nice – and being in Italy is a dream come true, but everything else in my life is just going to crap. I want to divorce my ex, but that’s going to be months and months away. I’ve got to spend months and months pretending to be in love with a man who everyone knows. The constant lying is going to take a toll on me.
I groan.
Victor is off somewhere doing something - gym or acting stuff or some important deal. I don’t like to ask him what he’s doing. I’m finding it hard being a fake girlfriend. I don’t know what kind of emotional investment I have to give, or when I should back away into the background. Into obscurity.
Oh, boohoo, Josie. You have to spend your days moping around a five-star hotel. How hard must that be...
Yeah, I know I should be basking in this luxury, but my mind is just so flat.
I dry myself off and step out of the shower. My phone is lying on the bed with a new notification. I go and check it. Damn, I’m addicted to my phone.
And the message instantly makes my heart drop even further.
It’s a message from my ex. Kevin has written a rambling – probably drunk – message and dumped it on me when it must be early, early morning back home…