Page 103 of The Marriage Narrative
Nothing slowed Amberdown. Fresh off a flight to Paris, she was in her hotel room wearing gold under-eye patches, had her hair in rollers, and was surrounded by her camera pod and travel beauty crew.
“Hey, Mom,” Jordan said to the laptop screen.
It was almost midnight. Dinner had been incredible—Zinnia was full and sleepy and honestly still a little horny, but they had to take this emergency “logistics” video call. She began tracing along the inside of Jordan’s arm with her free hand since he was holding the other.
“Alfie. You look well.”
“Oh, good. My coping mechanism is working, then.”
Amber uncharacteristically sighed. “There’s no need to get worked up about this,” she began in a reassuring tone. “As long as our next steps go according to plan, and they will, the overall impact of this incident should be minimal. Once the police report from the mall incident hit the internet, we anticipated interest in Zinnia’s identity spiking. Levi spotting you two together has unfortunately accelerated our timeline.”
“When did that happen?” Jordan tensed beside her. There was less than a centimeter of space between them—it was simply too much. She closed the gap, purposefully pressing her thighs against his.
“He’d been tailing Zinnia, you two went grocery shopping together of all things, and you’re the spitting image of your father. One plus one and a marriage license later…” she trailed off with a wave of her hand. “It was inevitable. As far as he knows, no one else moved as fast as he did, but he won’t risk not being the one to break the story—are you all right, Zinnia?”
Her expression must’ve been set to full volume. Using her to get to Jordan? Harassing his employees? Hot anger had cleaved its way to the front. She better not ever meet Levi because it was gonna be on sight.
She forced herself to smile. “Yep. Just fine.”
“Good. Everything Levi found was public record so security-wise, everything remains sound, for the most part.” Amber paused for a beat. “Sadie told me that you two aren’t living together during your sabbatical. While I’m sure your home is…lovely, it’s not as…safe as Jordan’s apartment. Damon has been on edge ever since the mall incident. Having you two under the same roof will help him worry less.”
“Oh. Umm.” She checked in with Jordan, who was waiting patiently, unassumingly for her answer.
Because it went without saying that it was her choice. If she said no, he’d stand ten toes down with her. The way her heart jolted as she looked into his eyes couldn’t have been good for her health.
“Yeah. I’m fine with that.” She lightly brushed her cheek against his shoulder, and he kissed her forehead.
“Thank you.” Amber cleared her throat. “I’ve also negotiatedto make the article an exclusive interview about the new stars of season ten. Its publication will be linked to the trailer release.”
“Thanks, Mom.”
“Of course, honey.” She paused. “Since we’re here, I’ve been meaning to ask about the twins’ birthday party. It’s scheduled for the final weekend of your sabbatical. While we respect your need for some time away, we would—Iwould love to have you there. Both of you.”
A personal invitation from Amber, who had strangely not even glared at her once, was worth considering. It’d mean a lot to Jordan—celebrating with his family, on the actual date, for the first time in a decade. She might even be able to request Grace and Fiona be added to the guest list.
“What do you want to do?” he asked.
“I love parties.” Zinnia expected him to smile, a thousand-watt stunner, but got nothing. Did she guess wrong? He didn’t want to go to the party?
“We’ll be there,” he said with no feeling whatsoever.
“Wonderful!” Amber looked relieved and quickly added, “I’ll get started on building Zinnia’s team.”
“Team?” she asked. “For what?”
Lulie Chat
LULIE:Hi! Let me know ALL your feelings about your beauty team. Flagship comes “highly recommended” but I’ve heard things. It can take a few tries to find the right balance of chemistry and talent that’ll work best so don’t be surprised fyi. If you DON’T like them tell me NOT my mom. I’ll get you set up right for next time.
She kept staringat her dress hanging on the door. Her beauty team had chosen it for her. Floor-length and seafoam green, the intricate bodice shimmered like frosted ice in the setting sunlight.
The boning looked like it would hurt, but they insisted it wouldn’t.
The slit looked incredibly high, but they told her not to worry.
The dress was selected as part of an agreement with a designer. She was required to wear it.
“Eyes closed,” Red said.
