Page 121 of The Marriage Narrative
“Your dad hasa lotof guns. You could’ve warned me.” He laughed, not looking any worse for wear.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t think he’d take you in there.”
“It’s all right. What happens now?”
“They’reconferring.” Zinnia glanced toward the house and crossed her arms. “They might want to switch. I’ll talk to my dad. You’ll talk to my mom.”
“Got it. I’d kiss you, but I think even my rated G behavior would be too much.” He grinned. “So, do I get to have a hometown tour while we’re here?”
“No.”
He eyed her with a patient smirk. “That’s it? No jokes.”
Excluding her parents and Shelby, there was nothing for Zinnia in the place where she’d grown up.
She smiled brightly. “If I showed you around, there’d be a lot of ‘this is where I used to get jumped’ and ‘this is the church that I stopped going to when I was fourteen and broke my mom’s heart,’ and can’t forget ‘this is where I got so drunk I almost died of alcohol poisoning.’ Being here really stresses me out.”
“Ah.” He nodded and then wrapped his arm around her shoulders, pulling her into a hug. “When you think of home, is it people and not a place?”
“It’s always been people, but it’s also the townhouse,” she said, looking up at him. “I think I’m the only one who cares about it, though. Grace has always wanted to try living on the East Coast, New York or Connecticut. Fiona wants to settle in the country on a small farm. I know they’ll end up doing both, probably at the same time, until one sticks.”
“What about you? Where do you want to go?” Jordan had this ability where he infused so much raw sincerity into his eyes, it made her involuntarily sigh every time he did it.
“We’ve been in the townhouse years. Now I live in a high-rise in the same area. And I have my first office. And a husband with local storefronts. Those roots feel like home to me.”
“You know, I was really mad when my mom asked if you would move in with me because I’d been working up the nerve to ask you myself. It felt like one more milestone taken from us,” he admitted. “The townhouse is yours. The apartment was mine. We deserve a forever home that’s ours from the start—that’s adinosaur. Your parents have a dinosaur.”
Shelby had finally made her grand entrance. She was largerthan average and deceptively fast. Zinnia swore she purposefully moved slower while being watched to hide her true speed.
“And someday she’ll beourdinosaur,” she said, planting a kiss on his jaw. “They live a long time. I’ll have to take her at some point. Wherever we end up, we’ll need a backyard.”
He laughed. “Beta Carotene will be devastated he’ll have to share.”
Chapter 29
Jordan
In fifteen minutes,he was going to say goodbye to Zinnia for twenty-four hours.
Their return to the show was marked by Levi’s article, which was then usurped by a Zaffre wedding announcement—Bride and Groom to be revealed at a later date.
The media assumed it’d be Sadie finally. Her pregnancy was planned. She’d been dating her partner, Lucas, for seven years. But she’d asserted, repeatedly, that she wasn’t the marriage type.
The truth never stopped anyone from speculating alternatives.
The day after Jordan and Zinnia’s sabbatical ended, camera pods were incorporated into their daily lives easy enough. They maintained strict bungalow-inspired rules: no filming in their apartment or her townhouse. In return, work, all outings, and weekends were fair game. Whether they were grocery shopping, touring apartments, having lunch at ZnO2 headquarters, or making special appearances at Zaffre events, the camera pods had to follow for four months.
Gaining freedom unexpectedly changed Jordan’s opinion about filming. Being cooped up in the estate, living as comfortable as they were, was designed to be a pressure cooker. A camerapod tagging along when he took his wife whale watching on a random Wednesday morning wasn’t so bad.
And as for the wedding, they weren’t required to doanythingbecauseeverythinghad been planned down to the smallest flower. The castle-like mansion venue, catering, non-priority guest list, invitations, transportation and accommodations, all of it done.
Zinnia spent a solo weekend with her mom, Grace, Fiona, and Lulie selecting her dress in real time for the cameras. Fiona kept him in the loop, messaging cryptic snapshots of each finalist. Bits of train here. Glittering veils there. Occasional pops of unconventional colors. An out-of-focus bodice immediately followed up by blurry pictures of herself hysterically crying.
His tuxedo fitting with Wylie wasn’t nearly as exciting.
The entire wedding party arrived on location that morning; meanwhile, Sadie had arrived safely at the hospital the day before. They talked at their usual time. Then she randomly called him again at 1:32 p.m. And again at 7:04 p.m.
Each time they spoke, her voice wavered more and more. The silences were getting longer—they were basically just listening to each other breathe at some points. She asked him the same questions on repeat, whispering them every call.
