Page 25 of Solid Foundation
“I didn’t mean—sorry. I was just curious.”
“Axton runs a garage in town. He’s my closest friend. We’ve known each other since high school. Since then, we’ve collected a few more. Slade and Knox. We spend our nights shooting pool and shooting the shit. Axton is usually working on a car he’s rebuilding, if he doesn’t have client work to do. We have what we need.”
It was probably the longest speech Jake had ever given me. “That’s awesome. Sterling is my best friend, but almost every one of the production crew is a part of my inner circle, so to speak. Gideon, Kieran, Micah, and Brooks. I brought them all with me from New York. We’ve been close for years.”
“And they know you’re…”
“Gay? Yeah. I’ve been out since high school. I’m guessing your friends and family don’t know, then?”
“Definitely not. It’s been…” He frowned, seeming to do some mental math. “It’s been a long time. Ten, fifteen years. Something like that. I never, I don’t know, saw the point.”
My breath caught in my throat. “And now?”
He hesitated, looking down at his pizza for a second before looking back at me. “Now I do.”
Warmth flooded me. “I do, too.”
A few minutes later, someone pounded on the door with their fist, and Jake spun to see who it was.
“Boss?” It was Troy, the carpenter.
“Yeah?”
“Just letting you know the pizza’s gone and we’re headed back to work.”
Jake nodded. “Thanks, Troy. I’ll be out in a minute.”
“Sounds good.” With that, Troy was gone.
“Well, I’d better get going, too,” Jake murmured.
I cleared my throat. “This was good. Thanks for having lunch with me.”
His soft smile loosened something tense in my chest. “Yeah. Same to you.” And then he was gone.
I spent most of the afternoon holed up in the trailer, continuing to work on scripting for Sterling and storyboarding, and about thirty minutes before quitting time, my phone rang. Doug’s name flashed on the screen and I answered immediately.
“Hey, boss. How’s it going?” I pulled up a notepad and a pen, ready to write down anything important he said, or just doodle while we talked.
“I’m good, Max. How are things going down there?”
I gave him a quick report on how nicely production was moving along. We were moving quickly that week, and he seemed pleased to hear it. “I’ve also been working on a side project that I think might be good for the show.”
“Really? Tell me what you’ve got.”
“I found this box in the house when I was doing my walk-through before we started filming. It was filled with letters. Old love letters from the nineteen twenties.” I could feel the excitement bubbling up inside of me. I was really wrapped up in the letters and I wanted to share them with the world.
“Interesting. How do you see this integrating with the show?”
“I’m not quite sure yet, but it looks like they belonged to the landowner. It doesn’t look like the couple ended up together. Maybe we can weave in some of their story in the interviews.”
He hummed thoughtfully. “Well, see what information you can get me and report back when you have a plan.”
“Sounds good, boss.” I hung up, nervous energy coursing through me. How would Jake feel if I told him Doug was on board with putting the letters on the show? He was a private guy—maybe it wasn’t a great idea to air his family history for the world to see. I’d talk to him before I moved any further forward with that piece. I didn’t want to violate his trust that way.
As I pulled into the driveway that evening, Sterling chattered on by my side about how great he was feeling about the show. I was disappointed I’d barely seen Jake that afternoon, wishing we’d been able to sneak a few clandestine kisses in the production trailer, but no such luck. The moment I put the car in park, my phone pinged with an incoming text. My stomach fluttered, hoping for a message from Jake, but when I checked, it was from my mom.
Mom: Haven’t heard from you in a while. Everything okay?
