Page 34 of The Marriage Narrative
“The past ten minutes suggest differently.”
“I’m just smarter than I look,” she joked. “You don’t know me, and I don’t know how to act. I can only be myself. That’s what Jordan wants anyway.”
“Then what do you suggest? Because the problem is you’re never going to fool me. Viewers will figure out that I don’t believe you two are madly in love and our best bet is to lean into that. If we set the scene right, we can make them choose sides. You against the family with Alfie in the middle.”
“That actually might be the single worst storyline to put me in,” she said. “I always try really hard to get everyone to like me. I give people second and third chances even when they don’t deserve it. My eternal sunshine and optimistic mind can be really annoying. I’m not your villain, but I can be yoursweetheart—endearing to some, disliked by others, and just as polarizing.”
That had been Grace’s idea. Only she could deliver a mildly backhanded compliment with such thoughtful and loving care.
Amber considered her pitch. “I can see how that might bebetter for Alfie. All of this is as much for him as it is for Sadie. He’s home now. We need to make sure his debut goes smoothly.”
“It will.”
“It better.” Amber stared her down. “And you better convince the world that you love my sonor else. This storyline won’t end well for you.”
Chapter 10
Jordan
“Damn it, Alfie!”Mabel banged on the bungalow’s front door. “Isaidthis betternotbecome ahabit!”
He was sitting on the couch, staring at the ceiling and trying to disassociate because if he didn’t, he’d start climbing the walls.
Zaffre Hourskept a strict shooting schedule. Forced togetherness in the main house was mandatory. But he couldn’t bring himself to leave until Zinnia came back.
Since he’d gone into hiding, whenever an ex questioned his commitment to their relationship, he ran away rather than telling them the truth about his family. That wasn’t an option this time. He had to face her. He needed to apologize. He wanted her to stay, even though he’d given her nothing but reasons to leave.
Served him right.
When the front door finally opened, he leaped to his feet. His heart raced as a wave of dizziness rushed to his head. He couldn’t remember the last time he had eaten anything.
“Hey. You look better,” Zinnia said.
He’d forced himself to shower and get dressed before becoming one with the couch. “I’m sorry. I am so, so sorry.”
“For what?”
“Yesterday.”
Zinnia took off her shoes, stripped out of her sun-yellow cardigan, and placed them in the closet. Seconds later, she was sprawled out on the love seat adjacent to his couch.
“What about it?” She smiled broadly. “Whyare you sorry, Jordan?”
An apology meant very little without an acknowledgment of wrongdoing—he knew that. But he didn’t anticipate her being so cheerfully stern about it.
“The entire day was a complete disaster because of me. I should’ve been honest and I wasn’t,” he admitted. “I convinced myself that you didn’t need to know specifics. That you’d be able to sense what I wanted and—mygod, that soundsfuckingdelusional.”
She snort-giggled. “I hear you…”
That unspokenbutfelt like being stabbed. He was desperate for her to believe him, the feeling of it setting all his nerve endings on fire.
“Can we start over? We promised, we vowed, to be partners. Believe it or not, that’s important to me and so are you. I know I can’t erase what I did but if you give me another chance, I swear I’ll make it up to you. Will you stay with me?”
“If I had to answer now, I’d say I’m tentatively leaning toward staying. But. You have to tell me the truth first. About everything. And yes, thisisa test.” Her flirty, teasing smile nearly took him out because she was dead serious. If he fucked this up, he’d never see her again.
Jordan collapsed from relief back onto the couch. He felt cold now, a little shaky with stiff fingers. He rubbed his hands against the couch fabric to ground himself, but it wasn’t working. “This might sound weird, but can I hold your hand?” he asked.
Surprise rippled across her features, but she didn’t hesitate to stand up and sit next to him with her hand out. “That’s not weird at all.”
