Page 58 of What's in a Kiss?

“Olivia?” Fenny calls. “You okay?”

“I’ll be right back!”

It’s not Fenny the cosmos is fucking with.

And suddenly, I can hear Jake, his smooth, warm voice amplified by the megaphone. It has a calming effect, even on me.

“All right, folks, get ’em while they last,” he says, right as I reach the intersection and finally see the full situation for myself.

The sideways truck, its doors flung open. I see about ten men gathered around it, scratching their chins. And what must be a thousand foil-wrapped tacos splayed out all over the street. I sense the rush hour traffic, compounding in size exponentially by the minute.

“We’ve got carnitas,” Jake’s voice soothes from above. “We’ve got chicken mole. We’ve got a spicy shrimp, which I’m told is wild caught. It’s wild to catch it here, anyway! We’ve got potato and poblano for you vegans out there. Don’t be shy! All these delicious tacos are a steal at just one dollar each! Why? Because the City of Angels needs us tonight, to do our part, clear this road, and be on our way.”

Smaller details come into focus as I look around. There’s an uncanny order to the crowd. Are they being shepherded by hidden production assistants fromEverything’s Jake? Have they all signed waivers to be extras?

The line of pedestrians patiently snakes around the palmtree where Jake is perched. When they reach the front, they gather tacos. They pay for them. Then they go back toward their cars.

“You’ll see Enrique’s Venmo handle right there on the truck,” Jake is saying. “Don’t forget to tip. He’s had a bad day, but we’re gonna make it better for him, right?”

“We love you, Enrique!” someone screams.

I shade my eyes with my hand to study Jake in his very bizarre element. He’s working the intersection like I watched him work Oprah and that panel ofEverything’s Jakefans, but something’s different about Jake right now. Maybe it’s just that I’m witnessing it in person, not through a screen, but I can see a light inside him. He looks fully alive, the way I used to feel when I performed. Like my soul was wide awake, open to discover anything.That’swhy I wanted to be an actor. Not for money or fame, though it seems, in this life, that’s what I got. What it seems I lost somewhere along the way... was this, what I see in Jake right now. He’s havingfun.

It makes me wonder. Maybe I was never meant to make it to Santa Monica tonight. Never meant to stand on a beach and—in all probability—fail to get back home. Maybe I’m meant to be right where I am, now. Maybe there’s something here I’m supposed to see.

I study Jake. Who knows what this is all about. My mom would say: take the message, Liv, and then hang up the phone. Iwantto hang up, but—

“What’s the message, Jake?” I ask aloud.

“There’s someone special whom we all need to thank,” he says, then points to an older lady in a hot pink dress standingbelow him on the sidewalk. “This is Elena, our volunteer salsa barista. She’s visiting from Dallas, and she thought she was going to seeHamiltontonight... instead, she’s here with all of us, helping out. So be kind when she ladles out your habanero sauce.”

“Elena is everything!” someone shouts and Elena gives the crowd a laughing wave.

Fenny nudges me, suddenly at my side. “You clearly married very well,” she says, nodding at Jake. “I’ll go get us some tacos?”

“Uh-huh,” I squeak. I think about how that teen girl and her mom didn’t know the name Jake Glasswell. I think about someone else confusing him for the father of a pregnant woman. Even Fenny’s comment confuses me, because it doesn’t seem like she was referencing Jake’s wealth or fame. It seems like she was referencing justJake.

A niggling feeling creeps up my chest.

“And let’s not forget our cause, everyone,” Jake says into the megaphone. “The reason we’re working together to expedite things. Give it up for Julie over here.” He gestures toward an orange Jeep, just behind the light at Highland. I squint to see a very pregnant woman in the passenger seat.

“How you doing, Julie?” Jake asks.

Out her window, she calls something at Jake and gives him a weak thumbs-up.

“Julie’s about to have a beautiful set of twins,” Jake announces. “A boy and a girl. We don’t know their names yet, but just as soon as we get Enrique and his tacos cleared, she’ll be able to get to the hospital.”

The niggling feeling is getting stronger.

“Julie’s taking deep breaths, everybody,” Jake says. “Let’s all join her in taking a deep breath now.”

I let my own chest rise and fall in a few deep breaths led by Jake. It helps. A little.

“You got this, Julie!” someone shouts across the intersection.

“Breathe, Mama!” a woman calls from a convertible.

“Julie, do you have another song request?” Jake asks the orange Jeep.

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