Chapter 43
HALLE
As Sammie led me to a secret location, my heart hammered against my ribcage.
She’d blindfolded me with a silk scarf, at Jake’s request because he wanted everything to be a surprise. I knew we were on the beach, as I could feel the sand and smell the fresh salty sea air. I was intrigued to find out what he had planned.
‘Almost there,’ Sammie said. After a few more minutes, she stopped. ‘I’m going to untie the blindfold now.’
I felt her stand behind me then the blindfold loosened.
‘Ta-da!’ Sammie whipped it off dramatically.
I blinked a few times as my eyes adjusted to the light.
There was a large projector screen, just like the one that was used for the movie night on the beach last week.
In front of it was one of the hotel’s large, comfy white double sofas with cream and gold pillows and blankets.
I guessed we must be watching a film. Probably a romcom. But from the way Sammie had hyped up the date and spoken about how much work Jake had put into preparing it, that didn’t seem right.
Jake stepped out from behind the screen and my heart skipped a beat.
‘Hey,’ he said softly.
It’d only been hours since I’d seen him, but it felt like weeks. As crazy as it sounded, I’d missed him.
And God, he looked gorgeous.
He was wearing a fitted white T-shirt and black jean shorts. So understated, but so sexy.
‘I’ll leave you guys to it – for now…’ Sammie turned then left.
‘Hi,’ I said as Jake approached the sofa.
‘Thanks for coming.’ He flashed a cautious smile. ‘I know you’ll have some questions, but first, there’s something I’d like to show you. Is that okay?’
‘Okay,’ I said.
We both sat down. I desperately wanted to snuggle up beside him, but instead, I sat at the furthest end. I was going to give him a chance to explain everything, but until then I had to keep my guard up. Just in case.
Jake pressed play on the remote control.
The title ‘You Light Up the Room’ flashed up on the screen and the sound of a guitar playing filled the air. I immediately started tapping my feet, it was catchy.
Next, a flurry of photos filled the screen.
Photos of me.
My jaw dropped and I looked at Jake, confusion written all over my face.
And then the lyrics started: ‘Whenever I’m feeling blue, when I see you, you light up the room…’
‘Wait…’ I paused, my brain scrambling. ‘This is your voice. Is this one of your new songs?’
Jake nodded, still staying silent.
More photos flooded the screen. This time it was photos of us together. The one from the horse riding, the pic Sammie took of us at The Huntington, a selfie Jake snapped on the Pacific Wheel at Santa Monica beach and so many others.
A million thoughts flooded my mind: how bloody brilliant this song was, what an amazing singer Jake was, how much I loved the lyrics, how cute we looked together in the photos, plus how glad I was that I’d got over my fear of having them taken so that I had all these memories to look back on.
And how on earth he’d managed to put all of this together.
Now I understood why Sammie thought I’d be impressed.
She was right to, because this was epic.
It was just Jake singing and playing the guitar, so it was an acoustic performance that had the kind of pop/rock feel of bands like The Script, OneRepublic and Imagine Dragons, mixed with the soulful vibe of artists like Usher, Khalid and Myles Smith, Arlo Parks and Masego. I freaking loved it.
The song ended and I instantly wished I could press rewind and hear it all over again for the first time.
But just when I thought it’d finished, Jake appeared on screen. He was at Santa Monica Pier. I recognised the Pacific Wheel in the background.
A man with short dark hair appeared with a microphone. He seemed like he was about to interview him. I frowned, not understanding what was going on.
‘So today, I am here at Pacific Park in Santa Monica with Jake Myers, who has just unveiled a brand-new single called, “You Light Up the Room”. Jake, what inspired you to write this song?’
‘I wrote it about a very special woman. It’s been a while since I’ve written or released any new music. I just hadn’t found the right inspiration. But then I met this amazing woman and the words just poured onto the page. I wrote the whole song in thirty minutes.’
I looked at Jake, then the screen, my face contorting in a million different directions. My brain was more scrambled than a dozen fried eggs.
My first thought was that it was a song about Minnie because we’d spoken about him writing something about her. But I quickly realised that didn’t track, because Jake just said he’d met an amazing woman, which sounded more recent.
Then I remembered something in the lyrics talking about kissing.
Which meant that…
No way.
Could it be about… me?
I wanted to ask, but if I was wrong, I’d feel like an egotistical twat, so I kept quiet and continued watching the interview.
‘Wow, must be a very special lady,’ the man, who I noticed had a French accent, added.
‘She is. She’s smart, kind, caring, talented and so damn beautiful.’
‘And you have brought us to Santa Monica Pier. Please can you explain the significance of this location?’
‘Sure. I wanted to come here because it’s where we had our first kiss.’ Jake looked into the camera this time. ‘Right up there on the Pacific Wheel.’
OMG. OMG. OMG!
I gasped. It really was about me.
‘That’s so romantic,’ the French guy said. ‘Well, “You Light Up the Room” sounds like it will be a big hit and I hope that your special lady agrees. Good luck.’
‘Thanks,’ Jake said before turning to the camera again then saying, ‘In case you haven’t already guessed, Smiley, I wrote this song for you.’
My eyebrows hit the ceiling.
My heart somersaulted in my chest.
And a zillion butterflies fluttered in my stomach.
Jake wrote me a song.
Wow.
I fanned my hand in front of my face. If I wasn’t careful, I’d start crying.
The screen went blank then I felt Jake’s gaze on me.
‘So…’ he said, as I turned to face him. ‘Did you like it?’
‘I…’ My mouth opened and closed as I searched for the right words to convey the emotions racing through me.
Even if I swallowed a thesaurus, it wouldn’t even convey 1 per cent of the joy I felt right now.
‘I can’t believe you wrote me a song! It’s bloody amazing! Incredible! Honestly, I can’t even begin to tell you how much I love it, thank you!’
‘You’re not just saying that to protect my ego, right?’
‘No!’ I protested, wondering how he could think that for a second when the song was so brilliant.
‘I genuinely, one thousand million trillion per cent love it! And not just because it’s about me.
It’s so catchy and the lyrics are beautiful, Jake.
Honestly. It’s a banger! It’s got hit record written all over it! ’
‘Thank fuck.’ He blew out a breath. ‘I thought it sounded pretty cool, but I really wanted you to like it.’
‘How did you prepare all of this though? Recording the song, making the video and putting it all together?’
‘Sammie’s boyfriend, Romeo, put me in touch with one of the guys who’s here from the French Love Hotel, Claude.’
‘There’s a Love Hotel in Paris?’
‘Shoot! It’s supposed to be a secret for now.
They’re opening two new Love Hotels in France soon: one in Paris and the other in the South of France and he’s one of the Love Alchemists they’ve hired, so he’s kind of here to shadow the Love Alchemists in LA and learn from them.
Anyway, he’s a whizz at making videos and stuff so he helped put everything together.
That was him interviewing me. We filmed that this afternoon, not long after the whole incident with Wilma… ’
‘Oh…’ I said.
‘So, about that.’ His expression turned serious.
‘I’m sorry if I hurt you. I wanted to tell you the full story, but I didn’t want you to freak out.
I thought I was protecting you, but now I can see that I fucked up.
Yeah, it’s true that in the beginning I agreed to Wilma’s dumb reality show idea. Reluctantly.’
‘To help your career?’
‘Yeah. Wilma said it was my only chance of saving it. I told her I thought it was crazy and that I wasn’t comfortable leading someone on.
But she assured me that I’d be matched with someone in the public eye who also wanted to revive their career.
She said it’d be mutually beneficial. That’s why when we first met, I asked if you were an actress or influencer. ’
‘Ohhh.’ I nodded, as I remembered thinking that was strange. ‘But when you found out that I wasn’t and that I was here to find love, why didn’t you tell her?’
‘I did! But as far as Wilma was concerned, everyone is for sale and everyone wants to be famous.’
‘Not me!’
‘I know and I told her that. But she insisted I continue. So I went along with it whilst I tried to figure out what to do for the best. I kinda convinced myself that because you seemed to think I was a jerk, there was no danger of you getting hurt and it wouldn’t be long until we went our separate ways anyway, so I might as well enjoy my time at the hotel for however long it lasted.
But then I started getting to know you and I began to like you and…
when I realised the attraction was mutual, I tried to minimise the risk of leading you on by making it clear that I couldn’t do anything serious.
I figured that I shouldn’t make the decision for you.
If you were interested, you’d agree but if not, you’d say no and I’d have to walk away. ’
‘I respect that,’ I acknowledged. ‘Like I said at the time, I was glad that you were upfront, but I wish I knew the whole story.’