Chapter 10
Jordan
“Damn it, Alfie!” Mabel banged on the bungalow’s front door. “I said this better not become a habit!”
He was sitting on the couch, staring at the ceiling and trying to disassociate because if he didn’t, he’d start climbing the walls.
Zaffre Hours kept a strict shooting schedule. Forced togetherness in the main house was mandatory. But he couldn’t bring himself to leave until Zinnia came back.
Since he’d gone into hiding, whenever an ex questioned his commitment to their relationship, he ran away rather than telling them the truth about his family.
That wasn’t an option this time. He had to face her.
He needed to apologize. He wanted her to stay, even though he’d given her nothing but reasons to leave.
Served him right.
When the front door finally opened, he leaped to his feet. His heart raced as a wave of dizziness rushed to his head. He couldn’t remember the last time he had eaten anything.
“Hey. You look better,” Zinnia said.
He’d forced himself to shower and get dressed before becoming one with the couch. “I’m sorry. I am so, so sorry.”
“For what?”
“Yesterday.”
Zinnia took off her shoes, stripped out of her sun-yellow cardigan, and placed them in the closet. Seconds later, she was sprawled out on the love seat adjacent to his couch.
“What about it?” She smiled broadly. “Why are you sorry, Jordan?”
An apology meant very little without an acknowledgment of wrongdoing—he knew that. But he didn’t anticipate her being so cheerfully stern about it.
“The entire day was a complete disaster because of me. I should’ve been honest and I wasn’t,” he admitted. “I convinced myself that you didn’t need to know specifics. That you’d be able to sense what I wanted and—my god, that sounds fucking delusional.”
She snort-giggled. “I hear you…”
That unspoken but felt like being stabbed. He was desperate for her to believe him, the feeling of it setting all his nerve endings on fire.
“Can we start over? We promised, we vowed, to be partners. Believe it or not, that’s important to me and so are you. I know I can’t erase what I did but if you give me another chance, I swear I’ll make it up to you. Will you stay with me?”
“If I had to answer now, I’d say I’m tentatively leaning toward staying. But. You have to tell me the truth first. About everything. And yes, this is a test.” Her flirty, teasing smile nearly took him out because she was dead serious. If he fucked this up, he’d never see her again.
Jordan collapsed from relief back onto the couch. He felt cold now, a little shaky with stiff fingers. He rubbed his hands against the couch fabric to ground himself, but it wasn’t working. “This might sound weird, but can I hold your hand?” he asked.
Surprise rippled across her features, but she didn’t hesitate to stand up and sit next to him with her hand out. “That’s not weird at all.”
Her skin was as velvety soft as he remembered, and holding her palm to palm eased the discomfort rumbling deep inside his chest.
“Whenever you’re ready,” she prompted. “Start with who knows what.”
He nodded. “Well, we know why we got married. Everyone else believes we eloped because of the whirlwind eight-day love story I made up.”
“Real marriage. Fake backstory. Got it.” The sudden sullen look in her eyes made him hesitate. She obviously didn’t like that. Understandable.
“Zaffre Hours is Sadie’s creation, beginning to end.
She left my mom in charge of storylines.
I didn’t agree with her choices, so I made my own, which I told you about.
That was the truth. Sadie volunteered to secretly help us—Mabel too.
They’re going to make sure our Newlyweds storyline is everything it should be. ”
“Estranged Son. Secret Wife. Newlyweds. Got it.” Her expression sharpened into wariness. “I overheard some of your conversation earlier. It seemed like Amber would’ve been willing to go with a different storyline if you’d been honest with her.”
“Maybe at first. But somehow, someway, I still would’ve ended up in a storyline to marry my ex-girlfriend. I told you—it’s curated but it’s also real. She’s convinced we’re soulmates.”
Her eyes widened. “Wow. If she ever finds out we have a business marriage, she’ll probably have me killed after all.”
“What? Did she threaten you?”
“Oh no, that’s just a joke.” She chuckled. “She did offer me money to divorce you, though. I’m sorry to report that you’re not worth a billion-dollar bribe in her eyes.”
“Because we don’t have it. We’re not that rich.” Despite how awful he felt, she still managed to make him laugh. “A billion dollars, Zinnia? Really?”
“Are you saying you think you’re worth less?”
“No, I just…um…I…” He forgot his words as Zinnia stroked the length of his thumb, from fingertip to wrist, with her own.
“The thing is, I don’t want to get divorced.
It’s not something my family really believes in,” she whispered as if confessing a secret.
“No amount of money can convince me otherwise, but you can. What you and your family are doing—lying and plotting and it’s like you’re all trying to outsmart each other—I don’t like that.
I don’t want to be treated like an opponent to be conquered. Don’t do that with me.”
“I won’t,” he vowed with every beat in his heart. “Never.”
Zinnia began breathing faster, like she was nervous, and she was staring at him in a way she never had before. It made him feel powerless and unable to look away, forcing him to face the exact moment she made up her mind.
“I’m not in love with you, Jordan, but I’ll lie to the world for you until they believe I am.”
His heart and lungs seized again, just like they had the day before when seeing her crouched in the corner had sent him spiraling. Could lying be an act of love? Jordan thought it might be for someone like Zinnia.
Right then and there, he made an unbreakable promise to himself: he would never lie to his wife again. Not by omission. Not by accident. Never.
Three loud knocks sounded from behind them. Zinnia screamed, nearly jumping into his lap. Mabel was standing at the living room window watching them with a dead-eyed stare.
“Is she for real? Is she okay?”
“Her job is stressful. We’re making it worse,” he said.
“Oh. I need to call Grace and Fiona first, then we can go.” She was about to stand up, phone already in her hand.
“Or we could stay here,” he said quickly. “It’s technically the first day of our honeymoon. What did you have planned originally?”
“Bondingmoon.” With an uncomfortable grimace, she purposefully turned her back on Mabel. “We would’ve potentially been on our way to New Zealand. I’ve been saving up for almost a whole year. I want to go on the Hobbiton tour and see as many Lord of the Rings filming locations as possible.”
“Oh yeah? I’ve never seen those movies. Are they any good?”
“I think so.” She shrugged. “They’re my comfort movies.”
“Do you want to do that today? Order food and relax. Maybe give me a tour primer for our future trip while we watch?”
“Not if she’s going to stand there the whole time.” She gestured over her shoulder. “I think there’s something wrong with her.”
Mabel was now pressed against the glass, fogging it up with angry breathing.
Jordan got up and closed all the blinds while Mabel threateningly cussed him out. “Problem solved. We’ll just turn the movie up really loud.”
The bungalow seemed larger than it was because of all the empty vertical space.
They aimed the projector at the blank wall above the fireplace and made a nest of blankets and pillows as far back in the living room as they could.
She taught him the Hobbit meal structure and they made their menu starting with elevenses.
He taught her how to place an order with the estate kitchen staff.
“It’s not twenty-four hours. They’re only available from five a.m. to five p.m. because my mom cooks dinner every night,” he explained while they were waiting for their delivery.
“I would not have guessed that.”
Their food arrived in a large picnic basket.
Jordan retrieved it from the back entrance—the sunroom—instead of the front porch where Mabel was still skulking.
They set up their first meal in a picnic style, all the food shared between them as they lounged on the blankets.
In the middle of a scene full of unexpected fireworks, Jordan whispered, “Thank you for staying.”
“I almost left.” She glanced at him with a quick grin before turning back to the movie.
“I had the airline app open, tickets in my cart. I stayed because I realized that we both jumped in headfirst, hoping for the best. I thought it’d be fair if we each got one fuckup.
A free pass for a mistake that would normally tear a relationship apart.
You’ve used yours. That’s all. No big deal. ”
Oh, fuck. Kindness and generosity like that was dangerous on Zaffre Hours. Just imagining how the network would twist her willingness to forgive in their favor made him sick with worry.
“It is a big deal, actually. And I won’t forget it,” he said, trying and failing to steal her attention away.
“When you start having sit-down interviews, promise me you won’t ever tell them the whole truth about anything.
It’ll seem like they’re being friendly by asking innocent questions when really, they’re searching for your weaknesses. Don’t give them any.”
To his surprise, she laughed. “You sound like Grace. Don’t worry, I already know. Now, shush. You’re missing important exposition.”
He continued watching her instead.
Zinnia
The next morning, she sighed before opening her eyes. Her borrowed bungalow bed was gloriously just right—soft enough to sink into and firm enough to cradle her straight to sleep.