Chapter 9
CHAPTER NINE
Lou wiped her sweaty hands along the sides of her cobalt blue bodycon dress. She glanced around the inn’s beautiful restaurant, somehow feeling severely underdressed and overdressed at the same time.
The place was full of the cast and crew who were working on the movie Julia had insisted be filmed on Whisling. Lou knew it was great for business and since her friends Elise and Amber owned the place she was happy for them. But she couldn’t help but feel inadequate when faced with so many of them up close. Sunlight beamed in on the heads of literal Hollywood stars and icons and Lou felt her stomach flip. And not in a good way.
The women in the restaurant mostly wore cute flowy dresses, thanks to the gorgeous day outside. Lou knew that style was much more the trend at the moment. And if Lou had a body that looked like a store mannequin, she too would have worn a cute, trendy flowy dress. But Lou had to dress to accentuate the only part of her body she was truly proud of. Her booty. Some of the pretty actresses had on dresses that were more formal than others but one thing each woman had? Their dresses showcased perfect, svelte bodies.
Lou might have been exaggerating a bit—not everyone in the restaurant had on the same uniform—but it felt like it. Especially because Lou was already feeling insecure about her double date that night. Not about Jax. She glanced to her side and ogled her boyfriend in his purple polo and dress slacks. The man was stunning but more than that he was kind, loyal, and for some reason adored her, but it was the other couple they’d be dining with that made her feel nervous.
Back when Jax had played guitar for a living, he’d met his fair share of the who’s who of the music industry. Since Joshua Baker was going to be creating one of the main songs for the movie soundtrack, he’d invited his favorite producer to come up from LA to work with him on the island. Jax happened to be good friends with that same producer, Adam, so that was how Lou found herself at Whisling Island’s version of The Ivy on a Saturday evening, feeling out of her element.
Lou had been all for Jax meeting up with Adam, until she’d found out Adam had brought his wife along. So what Lou had thought would be a fun boys’ night was now a double date with Adam and his ex-supermodel wife, Alaina Pedroza. Could one ever be an ex-supermodel? It seemed like the kind of title that if earned, one should be able to keep for life.
And though Lou knew no one would compare her to Alaina—the Brazilian bombshell was in a league all her own—Lou also knew Alaina was the kind of woman people had expected Jax to end up with. Not a middle-aged, cheated on, and discarded mom of four from a tiny island off the coast of Washington state.
Lou had had all kinds of thoughts, intrusive and otherwise, accompany her all day. What if Jax took one look at all of the women he could have and decided to take off? What if his memory of what had been was jogged when he was once again surrounded by the kind of people he’d loved to rub shoulders with in the past? What if Jax had become annoyed by Lou’s lifestyle of soccer practices and piano lessons and this was his way of soft launching their breakup?
Lou knew most of these were ridiculous fears. But they were all based in some truth. Jax was young, fun, and oh so hot. This world had once been his world. And though Jax had proven himself time and time again, promising her he wanted for nothing in their relationship, Lou’s stupid insecurities would not leave her alone.
Jax suddenly turned and Lou watched as he was pulled into a bro hug. Lou recognized the wavy blonde hair and ultra-tanned man as Adam from pictures Jax had shown her. His smile was somehow even whiter in person.
Lou glanced above Adam to the stunning beauty Jax didn’t need to share any pictures of for Lou to know exactly who she was. Lou had seen Alaina’s face and body on hundreds of magazine covers, dozens of commercials, and many, many runways. And of course Alaina was dressed in a white sundress, the top a corset that molded perfectly to her body, while the skirt flared beautifully to her toned mid calves.
Though Lou was still nervous, she had to give Adam and Alaina credit. She loved that Alaina was so much taller than Adam and neither seemed to mind. Alaina even had on a pair of sky high heels. In a world like theirs, that took confidence Lou hoped one day to have.
“It’s so good to see you, Jax,” Adam said as he hit Jax’s back.
“It’s been too long, man,” Jax responded, returning the favor.
Alaina shot Lou a smile and Lou felt some of her unease release. Lou returned the smile and then stepped around the men.
“Since those two are too busy hugging . . . ” Lou teased with a wink.
Alaina smiled and Lou thought maybe the evening could go better than she’d thought it would. Alaina was human, after all. One of the best looking specimens of their race, but human.
“I’m Alaina.”
“Lou,” Lou said as she took Alaina’s outstretched hand.
“Your table is ready,” the hostess said as soon as all the greetings were complete.
Adam took the lead and Jax glanced back to Lou.
Lou gave him a subtle nod and Jax followed his friend, leaving Alaina and Lou to trail them.
“So how long have you lived here?” Alaina asked, her accent just prominent enough to give her an exotic flair.
“All my life. Proud graduate of Whisling High,” Lou said before cringing. That would have been stupid to say to a normal person. And somehow a stupid comment was magnified if the receiver of the comment was a supermodel.
“That’s lovely. And Adam told me you have children?”
“Four. My oldest, Emma, is twelve. The same age as your Gabriel?” Lou tried her hand at pronouncing the name in the Brazilian way, which she’d looked up on YouTube, but was pretty sure she butchered it.
“Yes.” Alaina seemed charmed at her attempt. Or she was laughing at Lou internally. But then again, even Lou’s friends were often laughing at her, so either way Lou would take it. “He’s my middle child and only boy.”
“You have three, correct?” Lou asked even though Jax had already told her all of this.
Alaina nodded. “Nadia is fourteen and Clara is ten.”
“My Aiden is ten,” Lou said, happy to have found more common ground. Honestly, it was pretty incredible considering Lou was as average as women came and Alaina definitely was not.
They got to the table and Jax stood beside a chair, holding it out for Lou.
“What gentlemen,” Alaina said as she sat in the seat Adam pushed in behind her.
“Shh. If you act so surprised you’ll give away my secret that this is the first time I’ve ever pulled out your chair,” Adam said in a teasing tone, his blue eyes bright.
Alaina rolled her eyes. “You’re the one who told me that Jax knows more of your secrets than anyone else. I’m pretty sure he knows this is the first time you’ve ever done this for any woman.”
The group laughed.
“Couldn’t have Jax showing me up,” Adam said with a shrug as he pointed to the back of Lou’s chair where Jax had stood.
“Maybe we should stay on the island for longer than a week. Let Jax train you a bit,” Alaina joked as she flipped her long black hair over a slender shoulder.
Lou smiled widely, loving that this felt like a meal with any of her friends on the island. Maybe she’d unfairly built up these two in her mind. They were just normal people after all.
“This view is stunning.” Alaina looked to the floor-to-ceiling window next to their table. The sun was just beginning to set over the Pacific and she wasn’t wrong.
“Isn’t it? The Inn has been recently renovated from a long-time abandoned property. Elise and Amber were smart to see a vision that others couldn’t.” Lou couldn’t help but brag about her friends.
“Forget the view. This menu is stunning,” Adam said with a pump of his eyebrows.
“This man and his food,” Alaina teased.
Adam patted his stomach. “It brings me joy.”
Alaina sent her husband the kind of soft smile that only two people who knew each other in and out could share.
“Lou!”
Lou glanced up to see Amber and Elise waving to her from two tables over. Had Lou really been so nervous about this meal that she’d completely overlooked her friends while walking right past where they sat? Considering they already had food on their table, Lou was going to guess that she had been.
She could just imagine that the sisters had seen her in conversation with Alaina and had graciously given her some time before bestowing their hellos.
Lou waved back at her friends as well as their boyfriends, Aiden and Josh.
Lou had heard the island gossip about Amber finally caving and giving Josh the title he’d been craving for months. Lou knew from many a conversation that Amber was scared; they’d talked about it so much because Lou had a lot of the same fears. But seeing the way Josh could hardly take his eyes off of his girlfriend, Amber had nothing to worry about.
Plus Amber, with her legs that went on for days and golden complexion, looked the part of movie star’s girlfriend.
Unlike Lou.
Josh sent a nod of acknowledgement to Adam, probably not feeling the need to greet him any more effusively than that since the two had been in the studio together all day.
“How’s that going?” Jax asked Adam when Amber’s table went back to their meals.
“Amazing. Josh is a dream to work with,” Adam began.
“Sorry to interrupt.” A man wearing a white dress shirt and black tie approached their table with the glass basket of bread that the restaurant was known for.
“You’re good,” Adam said.
The waiter smiled his acknowledgement before saying, “This is a basket of our famous butter rolls. If you’d like the gluten-free option, let me know.”
He paused but no one asked, so he went on, “Our specials tonight are the filet mignon topped with a sweet and savory Rainier cherry sauce. Also we have a fresh caught Dungeness crab.”
“Oh, put me down for a crab,” Alaina said immediately.
Lou liked the sound of that one as well. “I’ll take one too.”
“Excellent choice. Are you two ready or should I take your drink orders and come back later?” their waiter asked.
“The steak sounds pretty awesome,” Adam replied.
“Two steaks,” Jax added.
The group gave their drink orders and the men fell back into music talk.
“So you’re friends with Josh’s and Aiden’s girlfriends?” Alaina asked.
Lou loved that she’d said girlfriends instead of the women they are seeing or downplaying what they had in any way. Lou knew her friends had gotten plenty of that kind of treatment from women of the same success level as Alaina. But it looked like some women in Hollywood knew how to lift other women up.
“I am. They own this inn,” Lou explained.
“And what a beautiful inn it is. Adam and I are renting a home in the hills for the duration of our stay but I’m tempted to try to book a night here before we go back home.”
“I hear only good things. Granted, I’ve never had the need to personally stay here.”
Alaina smiled.
The waiter came with their drinks and Lou took a sip of hers as Alaina turned to her and drew in a deep breath.
Oh dear. Here it came. The reasons why Lou wasn’t good enough for Jax. The kind of women Jax had been with in the past. That Lou was keeping him here on the island when he could have an incredible career if he went back to LA.
“Adam made me promise not to pry but I can’t help it. You and Jax are just so wonderful together and I have to ask how the two of you met. I’m a bit of a romantic and addicted to romance novels. Meet cutes are my favorite part. When they happen in real life they are one thousand times better.”
Lou grinned in relief as well as amusement. Alaina wasn’t some lofty, judgy supermodel. She was a mom, wife, and romance addict. Lou was two of those three and aspired to be the third again someday.
“I don’t know if it will live up to your expectations . . . ”
“I’m sure it will,” Alaina assured quickly.
“After my divorce, my daughter Emma was looking for something new and we heard about the guitar lessons Jax was offering. She decided to take them and then convinced me to join her,” Lou began, leaning her elbow on the arm of her chair.
Alaina’s mouth dropped open. “Wait, you took lessons from him? But what about his no dating students rule? Because if I know Jax, he fell for you instantly. That must have been some good drama.”
Lou chuckled. “Good for the story, not so good for my heart at the time.”
“So you fell instantly too, right? You had to. Jax is a catch.”
Lou waited to be hit with jealousy that this gorgeous woman thought her boyfriend was a catch. But it didn’t come. Lou didn’t even feel like Alaina was implying Lou didn’t deserve Jax because he was such a catch. It was just a statement. One that Lou could agree with without putting herself down.
“Oh, I fell so hard. But of course I was sure my crush was totally one-sided,” Lou continued.
“Why?” Alaina asked, her eyebrows lifted with genuine confusion.
“Well, look at him. And he’s successful. And he’s so young.”
Alaina tilted her head. “I guess I can understand the young thing. Adam is a few years younger than I am and I was nervous about that. But you own a gym with your dad. You’re successful as well. And the look at him part, I hope you don’t think what I think you mean by that.”
“He’s a beautiful specimen of man. He’s dated women like you. And I’m . . . me.”
Alaina’s eyebrows furrowed. “Are you trying to imply you are not beautiful?”
“Alaina, I am a cheated on, divorced mom of four, with a mom body and constant fatigue to prove it.”
“I am sorry you were cheated on, but that says more about the one who cheated than you. And thank goodness you divorced because now you’re with Jax.”
Lou barked out a short laugh. She kind of loved this woman.
“And if you look like that after four kids, how lucky of a man is Jax.” Alaina pumped her eyebrows to accentuate her statement. “I now have a mom body too, and I’m proud of it.”
Lou was going to point out her mom body could not even begin to be compared to Alaina’s but that didn’t seem right. She understood what Alaina was telling her and Lou knew her new friend was right. There was beauty in both of their bodies, different as they were.
“So the rest of the story?” Alaina asked.
Lou went into depth on the ups and downs she and Jax had experienced during their love story.
“Oh no,” Alaina gasped after Lou recounted an especially tortuous night where she’d had to rescue her youngest, Hazel, from her ex-husband’s new wife. Who was now his ex-wife, thank goodness.
“Did you want to smack that woman?” Alaina asked, a hand over her mouth.
“And then some. But the thought of going to jail stopped me.”
“You are a better woman than I am,” Alaina said as their waiter brought their entrees.
“Oh, this smells delicious,” Lou said, taking in a deep breath.
Alaina nodded and the two dug in for a few minutes before Lou asked, “What was your meet cute with Adam?”
“Not nearly as fun as yours. I was dating one of his artists. It was an on and off thing, the kind those singing playboys love.”
Lou pursed her lips in annoyance.
“I feel the same way now.” Alaina acknowledged Lou’s distaste with a lift of one bronze shoulder. “But I didn’t know my worth then. So that day I came in to the recording studio ready to visit my ‘boyfriend.’ I use that word so loosely. But then I saw him, Adam. I swear I felt a jolt when my eyes met him. And then every time I would look over at him, he was looking at me. I thought, who is this creeper and who does he think he is to be staring at me when I’m with this other man? My kind of boyfriend walked out of the room and Adam took the seat on the couch right next to me. Our thighs were touching and I was ready to smack him.”
Lou giggled, loving this feisty side of Alaina.
“He asked me if I was in love with, oh to heck with it, Justin, that was the name of the guy I was dating.”
Lou schooled her features even as she immediately recognized who the man must have been. Justin Maxwell. And ten years ago when Adam and Alaina had met, he had been at the top of his game, maybe the biggest pop star on the planet.
“I said it wasn’t his business and he told me it was. Because he was already falling hard for me and if I was in love with another man that meant he needed to be prepared for one more hurdle he had to jump over in order to win my heart.”
Alaina rolled her eyes.
“It was cheesy but also kind of romantic. I’d never had a man want to fight for me. And I don’t mean fight another man. Plenty of guys will do that for their own ego, but he wanted to fight whatever could prevent us from being together. So I told him that I wasn’t in love because I wasn’t. And then when Justin came back Adam told him that he couldn’t work on the song anymore. Justin was shocked and asked why. Adam said it wouldn’t be right, considering he was planning on stealing his girl. Justin laughed and said he was free to date me. He cared more about the song. Adam went red in the face and to this day I’ve never seen him as livid. He demanded Justin leave immediately. Adam didn’t do that song with Justin and never worked with him again. After that, how could I not fall as hard for Adam as he said he had for me?”
“That is the best how we met story I’ve ever heard,” Lou said, dropping her fork. She hadn’t been able to move for the past two minutes, she’d been so immersed in Alaina’s past.
“It was okay. A little embarrassing for me and Adam. I hate how much of myself I gave to a man who cared more for a song than me, and Adam feels like he went a little caveman and he’s not like that. But love, even love at first sight, makes us do strange things.”
Wasn’t that the truth?
“But even after that eventful start, it was hard to get over my past hurts and fully trust that I was doing the right thing. Though now, I’m so glad I let go of my pride and fears. Because I had about a million of them. But if I hadn’t, I would have missed out on the greatest ride of my life and the perfect love for me.” Alaina gazed at her husband, her adoration for him obvious.
Lou nodded slowly. They all had fears. Some more than others because of the baggage they carried, but that didn’t make them any less deserving of love. That didn’t make her any less deserving. Yes, her worst fear could come to pass and Jax would leave her too. But what would she miss out on if she let that fear decide her future? She glanced at Alaina, who was still smiling at her husband. All of that. That’s what she’d miss.
Lou loved Jax. And he loved her. Yet her insecurities would always be there; even Jax’s love couldn’t heal them all. But what she could do? She could stop hiding behind those insecurities the way she had been. Fully let go of it all and just allow the future to unfold.
Loving Jax meant accepting all parts of him, including his past. Without realizing it, Lou had held Jax’s past against him. In a way he’d never done to her. And she was the one with an ex, kids, and so many wounds. She was sure in some unconscious part of her mind she’d told herself it was okay to hold his past against him because his past had been glamorous, glitzy, and exciting while hers had been filled with humble toil and heartache. But looking at the facts, when it came down to it, she wasn’t being fair.
So she was going to stop it. Right then and there. She wasn’t about to miss out on the greatest ride of her life, her own perfect love, because of her fears.
Adam seemed to feel the heat of Alaina’s gaze because he turned to his wife and then whispered something in her ear. The beauty blushed and Lou glanced away.
“Thank you for coming with me,” Jax said as he took Lou’s hand under the table.
Lou looked to the man who chose to be at her side and smiled widely. “There is literally no place I would rather be,” she said, her heart flipping as she spoke the entire truth.
Because in that heart, in that moment of clarity, she knew she’d opened herself to something new. Something she was going to give her all to.
And though her fears still screamed their dread, Lou was thrilled to stamp over those fears and rule her future with faith in Jax, God, and herself. And what a bright and beautiful future that would be.