Page 111 of The Marriage Narrative
Where did they even come from?
“Hey,” Jordan whispered, caressing her cheek. “Come back to me.”
He encircled her waist, pulling her closer, and her traitorous knee wedged itself between his legs. Too close wasn’t close enough. She wanted him all over her. She wanted to wake up in the morning, every morning, in bed with him. She wanted to dance around the kitchen and tell him stories while he made them breakfast.
“How do you want to play this?” he asked.
“By ear, mostly. We have to give the people what they want,” she said. “But quickly. I want to go back to the hotel.”
He grinned. “Do you remember our code?”
How could she forget?
They made their official entrance together, immediately targeting anyone he knew who had the right connections, like potential distributors, curious patrons, and foundation chair members with discretionary grant funds. Jordan surprisingly, and proudly, pitched Find Your Zin just as well as she did Tantivy—something she hadn’t expected.
Zinnia wouldn’t call what they were doingfun, but it was wildly entertaining. Working the room together, matching dollar for dollar and dominating the not-so-complicated rich-people dance they both had memorized. Thank Jesus he’d decided to use his powers of persuasion for good. Jordan hated small talk, but that man could convince Scrooge McDuck to invest his last dollar in him.
He also had an inside edge on who to avoid. Specifically, anyone who was likely to ask about Sadie,Zaffre Hours, or Beatrix for gossip outlet bounties. He gave the signal, and she created graceful exits.
The trailer spoke for itself. No comment.
When they finally made it to the VIP balcony, Lulie screeched as soon as she saw them. Zinnia had expected nothing less.
“Happy birthday.” Jordan kissed her forehead and went to go see his parents.
“Happy birthday,” Zinnia echoed. “Are you having a good time?”
“The best, and oh my god, how are you feeling?” Lulie was bouncing on her tiptoes.
“Fine?”
“Just fine? It was your first trailer! Someone here already leaked it online. Everyone already loves you, by the way. Your tags are on fire.”
There was no way one of her chronically online raggedy cousins wasn’t sending it to her parents right now. “I have tags?”
“Don’t worry, I will personally help you adjust to everything. Before you know it, this will all be old hat. My dad loves sayingthat. Old hat. I don’t even really know what it means but it sounds good. Let’s sit!”
Thankfully Wylie was at a standing bar table and she could lean against it. She had a hard enough time getting in and out of the car. Sitting in a chair was not in her immediate future.
“Happy birthday,” she said to him.
“Thanks. Why a dragonfly?”
She beamed. He actually went to her website and looked up his character. “Do you like it?”
“It’s cool.” He shrugged.
“Zinnia.” Amber appeared at her side. “I need to borrow you for a moment. Come with me?”
Zinnia looked to the twins for guidance. Lulie was emphatically nodding, while Wylie was shaking his head. “Very helpful. Thank you.” She was about to tell Amber to lead the way, but suddenly forgot how to speak.
In the far corner, on the opposite side of the balcony, Jordan was talking to Bea.
Zinnia blinked and almost rubbed her eyes to be sure before remembering she was wearing too much makeup for that. Because what she was seeingcouldn’tbe right. And then all the air wheezed out of her lungs as Jordan took Bea by the elbow and led her behind a black curtain. Their camera pods were right behind them.
Jordan
Beatrix looked different than he remembered. She’d changed her nose and her lips were fuller, but she still had familiar wide-sethazel eyes and freckled light brown skin. He let go of her elbow, shaking out his hand as if it burned to touch her.
