Chapter 26
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Tate
“OK, you’re up first, Jordan. What the hell is going on with you and Alisha?” I ask as Rex steers us back onto the interstate.
“Nothing. I…” He looks over at Sophia. I glance at her, and she nods at him. What the hell? He’s known Sophia for less than a week and he’s confiding about marital issues with her? “I feel like I haven’t been a good husband lately.”
“Shit, dude, did you sleep with Monique Beaufort?” Penn asks, referencing his co-star from his last film.
Jordan glares at him. “No. Fuck no! Of course not. I just haven’t been very attentive,” he explains looking a little sheepish.
“Like…how not attentive?” Rex asks, raising an eyebrow.
“Please tell me you service her before going to pound town,” Penn says with a sigh.
“Service her?” Jordan laughs.
“You know what I mean,” Penn grumbles.
“That’s not the problem. I’ve been gone so much the last few years, and when I’m not gone, she’s gone.” He pauses as if thinking through his words. “When we first were together, we didn’t work as much, so it was…easier. And then when we did get busy, we always made time for each other. I used to fill up her trailer with flowers or send her coffee from her favorite local coffee shop.” He looks at Sophia again and I feel myself squeezing her more tightly against me as if Jordan will steal her away. “I feel her…slipping away. I don’t want to lose her.”
“Wow. I didn’t know things were that bad,” Penn says.
Jordan runs a hand over his face. “I mean, they’re not that bad, but they could be a lot better.”
I feel Sophia squirm against me and suddenly she sits up straight and looks from each of us to the other, smiling. God, her smile makes me want to be a better person. A person who can make her that happy all the time.
“What if we re-routed our mission? I came up with this whole plan for Tate, but what if we did it for you? She’s filming now, right?” she asks.
He nods. “In Vancouver,” he says slowly.
She grins. “Roses,” she says with a smile. “Hundreds of roses and I’m sure we can get you a flight out…what if we drop you off in Cleveland? No sense in going any farther east when you need to be going west.”
Laughing, he nods his agreement. “I love this idea,” he agrees.
She claps her hands and pulls her phone out. “Mark has this former military friend in Seattle. I’m sure he knows someone who flies helicopters. I’ll just need the exact location of the filming tomorrow. And, Tate”—she shoves my elbow with hers—“get Jordan a flight from Cleveland.” She pauses again and looks between us. “And seriously, you all never thought about this before. For crying out loud, it’s not rocket science. Jordan, you don’t have to give her a grand gesture daily, but geez, at least a few times a year do something special, make her see how much you love her. It’s clear you do.”
He rubs the back of his head as he gives her another sheepish smile. “Yeah, you’re right. I suppose we all just get settled into our daily rhythms and…” He trails off with a shrug.
Sophia smiles at him. “I know. We all do.” She looks between us again and points to each of us. “This is a reminder that you all need to remain attentive. If a few months have gone by and you aren’t showering your significant other with something, flowers, a special dinner, even a note on her pillow, something, fuck, anything, then you are not doing it right. Comprendé?”
“Geez, such a love sergeant,” Penn grumbles.
I laugh, giving her leg another squeeze. I lean over, my breath on her earlobe. “I like you being my love sergeant.”
I see goose bumps form on her arm. And she turns to look at me. My eyes scan her body and she shivers under my intense gaze. I fight a smirk at her body’s reaction to mine.
I watch her swallow as Penn clears his throat. “She’s good at giving love advice. I might just put myself out there.”
All our heads whip around to look at Penn. Rex’s mouth hangs open and Jordan’s eyes widen.
“What?” I ask, shaking my head because I’m not sure I heard him right.
“I was talking with the love sergeant here, and well, maybe it’s time I try a real relationship. Maybe. I’m thinking about it,” he adds quickly.
Rex laughs and gives Penn’s shoulder a light punch. “And there he is, folks. You had me worried for a minute.”
Penn shrugs and punches Rex back. “Come on. You won’t even commit to Emily. You’ve been dating forever. Maybe it’s time to shit or get off the pot, man.”
Rex’s eyes look to Sophia. “I don’t disagree. I have some real soul-searching to do. I’m thinking about going home to England for a bit and staying at my mum’s place in the Lake District. I think I need some time to really figure out what’s next and I don’t start filming again for another four months.”
Sophia smiles at him. “I think taking time to think things through is a great idea.”
“Wow, is Sophia a love sergeant or love doctor? Maybe both,” Penn muses.
“She’s just a love,” Rex mumbles but his lips twitch with a grin.
“You guys,” Sophia says as she waves her hand at us and blushes. “I…I’m just a woman. I think maybe women more than most men think a little more in depth about this stuff.”
“Well, whatever the reason, in one week, you’ve officially helped us all start to fix our relationships…or in Penn’s case, non-relationship,” Jordan laughs.
“That’s my girl,” I say. “Maybe you should write a self-help book for wayward movie stars who need love assistance.”
She giggles. “Maybe,” she says, drawing out the word. She turns to Penn and holds out her hand.
“What?” he asks.
“Give me your phone. We need to set you up on a dating app,” she says, motioning him to hand over his phone.
He rolls his eyes and passes her the phone. She grins as she holds it up to his face to unlock it and then downloads an app.
“Let’s see. Which photo shall I use,” she muses as she scrolls through his photos.
“Definitely that one,” I say pointing to one of him on a boulder near our campsite where he’s kissing his bicep.
She laughs. “Nah, then the ladies will think he always looks like a muscle boy. Oh wait, let’s do that one,” she says, pointing to one of him pretending to jerk off a piece of corn by the Corn Palace.
“Well, that’ll attract the wrong women,” I tease.
“Valid point. OK, this one,” she says definitively. It’s a good photo of Penn standing in front of an overlook near Devil’s Tower. He definitely looks like himself.
“You sure this won’t be weird because…I’m me?” Penn asks.
Sophia shrugs. “I mean, you are weird, so how could it be worse?” she asks, and I watch her lips twitch as she fights a smile.
“Haha. Very funny,” Penn says.
“I know some actors who have used dating apps,” Rex states.
“Seriously?” Penn asks.
Rex nods and glances over at Penn. “You got to start somewhere.”
“OK, name. Well, that’s easy,” Sophia says.
“Put Pennington Bakerfield,” Penn says.
Sophia’s fingers pause over the phone’s screen as she glances up at him. “Is that, like, your fake name?” she asks.
We all burst into laughter. “Nope…that’s, like, his real name,” Rex finally manages.
“Fuck off, guys! You don’t go by your real names either,” Penn grumbles.
I see Sophia arch an eyebrow and she looks over at me.
“Meet Pennington Adam Bakerfield, Rexton Marshall Hutchins, Jordan Asher Quincey, and…” I pause because I haven’t exactly told her my real name yet, and now I feel silly.
“Wait, Tate’s not your name?” she asks, her eyes widening.
“Brooks Tate Anders,” I explain.
“Brooks…” She lets my name roll off her tongue and I smile. I like her saying it.
“Well, nice to meet you all,” she says as she narrows her eyes. “I can’t believe I’ve been with you guys a whole week and no one bothered to mention your real names.”
We laugh, but I stop when I see Sophia’s eyes. She’s hurt. I turn toward her and take her face in my hands.
“Look, none of us typically go by our real names unless we need to shield our identities or we’re in court or something. I haven’t gone by Brooks since high school, and even then, I’d sometimes go by Tate.”
She sighs. “I just wish you would have told me,” she murmurs as she looks into my eyes. Fuck. I hate that she’s upset. I gently kiss her lips.
“I’m sorry, M. Come on, let’s finish making Penn an account and then we can sort out everything for Jordan,” I suggest.
She nods and we spend the next hour doing just that. She laughs with the guys and shares little inside jokes. I really do love how she gets along with them. I see the hurt dissipate as the guys tell her funny stories of how they ended up shortening their names to what they are now.
She eventually curls back up against my side and I tuck her in tightly under my arm as she leans against my chest and naps while Penn takes a turn driving us. There’s so much we still have to learn about each other, but for the first time in a long time, I’m excited to start from the beginning, to take my time now and learn everything about this woman. I know I can’t stay on the East Coast forever, but I do want to stay for a little while if I can. God, I hope I can.