Page 44 of The Marriage Narrative
“Hmm.” He regarded her for a moment, head tilted to the side. “Alfie was right—you are a bad liar. Mind if I sit?”
Jordan
Things were getting progressively worse with Zinnia.
“Does she even like you?” Wylie had finally given up trying to juggle and slinked over to Jordan’s station with guilty puppy dogeyes. “She always looks hella uncomfortable, like she doesn’t want you to touch her.”
Zinnia didn’t even let herself relax while sitting down. She kept her back ramrod straight, sitting on the edge with her hands on her knees. One wrong move or loud noise and she’d be off like a runner at the start of a race. It was impossible to make her laugh or smile if anyone else was around. Her phone stayed glued to her hand.
Mabel wanted to take it away from her during filming hours. Jordan fought her on it—he knew that if anyone tried, she’d simply leave. No discussions, no pleading. Gone. Having access to Grace and Fiona made being there easier for her.
No, he wasn’t jealous.
But he was…something. Waiting on the outside, watching through the window, hoping to be let in…
Someday, he hoped to be enough for her too.
Jordan didn’t even have the energy to glare at his siblings. “Or maybe she’s on edge because someone has been breaking glasses for an hour and ‘accidentally’ threw one at us.”
“Itwasan accident. I said I was sorry! Twice!”
“Or maybe it’s because someone made fun of her clothes.”
She had a lifetime’s supply of those cardigans. When he finally asked her why she chose them specifically, she’d said, “I want my mom to see them when she watches the show. So it’ll feel like she’s kind of here with me.”
His wife was almost too much for him.
Lulie looked offended. “I said it waschic.She’s the one who dresses like she has five-year-olds hanging on her every word. You said she loves kids. I put two and two together and made a compliment.Hello?”
Jordan’s head was going to explode. He rubbed his temples, trying to slow the pulsating feeling down. “All I wanted was onenice afternoon with my wife and you two. Butnoooo, that’s just never going to be possible.”
“How were we supposed to know she’s so fucking sensitive?” Wylie demanded. “That’s on you for not telling us anything about her before she got here. You probably kept us a secret too, huh?”
Wylie hated never being allowed to visit.
Jordan didn’t take having a family who cared about him and his well-being, who wanted to see him succeed and celebrate his successes, for granted. They were the force that kept his heart beating, each of them woven directly into his soul. The life they’d chosen just wasn’t compatible with the life he’d wanted to live.
But what they’d done to Zinnia was unforgivable. He’d spared them from the consequences of their actions for long enough.
“I told her about you the first day we met. She had no idea the show even existed.” He paused to let the gravity of what he’d said sink in.
“Bullshit,” Lulie said. “You never tell anyone about us.”
“Not only did I tell her, but she also had no idea who any of you were.” He sighed, shoulders slumping. “Her friends knew, but not Zinnia. She really didn’t know about the pranks, and I didn’t warn her.”
Wylie was their resident wild child, but he was really fucking smart with a deeply sensitive side that almost no one got to see. Jordan watched him silently process the reveal as close as the camera undoubtedly was.
“She probably thinks we hate her.” Wylie sounded as if he hoped he was wrong.
“She does.”
“But she’s Capitol, right?” Lulie asked.
They had a few emergency phrases to help them keep secrets on air.Capitolwas code to ask if something wasn’t real.
“Who told you that?” Jordan paused to consider his options.Keep them in the dark? Tell them the truth? He eyed the camera pushing in for a close-up. “Bea was Capitol. Zinnia is my wife. I reallyneedyou both to give her a chance because she’s not going anywhere. She’s one of us now.”
The twins looked identically horrified. Wylie shouted, “Could you have fucked up any worse?” at the same time Lulie said, “Are you fucking kidding me?”
