Page 112 of The Last Second Chance
“We’ll have two café cubanos to go, please,” he said, swiping his credit card.
Joey looked at him in horror as he escorted her toward the pick up counter. “What the hell is a café cubano? And did you really just pay thirteen dollars for two cups of coffee?”
“Relax. It’s all part of the experience.”
“Is this what homesickness feels like?” she wondered out loud.
Jax laughed and his eyes crinkled in that way that made Joey’s stomach feel warm and slippery. “God, I love you. I’m so glad I brought you out here. I can’t wait to see you at the premiere tonight.”
“Oh. My. God,” a breathy baby angel voice floated about the din of the coffee shop. “Jackson Pierce! When did you get back in town?”
Joey turned toward the sound of the nebulous voice and almost poked her eyes out on a pair of breasts the size of prize-winning watermelons. The breasts looked vaguely familiar.
The breasts and their owner, a curvy, perfectly made up woman with silver blonde hair and wide brown eyes, were now hugging Jax. She gave him a smacking kiss on the cheek leaving behind a crimson stain.
Joey would have stepped in with a nice right hook, but the look of pure fear on Jax’s face was enough to make her temporarily holster her temper.
“Didi,” was all Jax managed to say. He was gaping like a fish looking back and forth between Joey and Didi. She had to give him credit, at least he was looking the woman in the eyes and not the rack. And that’s when it clicked. During one of her backslides into looking Jax up online, she’d come across a picture of Jax with Boobs Magee on his arm at some red carpet thing.
“Didi,” Jax began again, “this is Joey. Joey, this is Didi.”
Joey held out a hand to the woman and was immediately engulfed in a very soft, squishy hug. She wondered if it was possible that boobs that big could be real.
“Ah, okay. You’re a hugger.” Joey patted her awkwardly on the shoulder.
Didi giggled. “Guilty! We’re all huggers back home.”
Judging from the twang, home was somewhere in the heart of Texas.
“Joey’s my girlfriend,” Jax said, still working through the shellshock.
“We’re seeing each other, sort of,” Joey corrected reflexively. Jax glared at her and Joey stuck her tongue out at him.
“What a coincidence! Jax and I dated a while back,” Didi said, looking inordinately pleased.
“Oh, you did, did you?” Joey shot a pointed look at Jax who looked like he was praying the bamboo floor would open up and transport him anywhere but here.
“We sure did. That was what a year or two ago?” Didi said tapping a neatly manicured fingertip to her chin. “Wait a minute. Are youtheJoey?”
Joey wasn’t sure if she wasthe Joey. She also didn’t think it was possible for Jax to be more uncomfortable.
“This is so exciting!” Didi chirped. “You’re the reason Jax and I broke up. I always knew you two would end up together.”
“I’m…sorry?” Joey looked back and forth between Jax and Didi wondering what alternate universe she’d stepped into.Oh, right. L.A.
“One night we had too much sake and Jax here just spilled his guts—figuratively—about this girl he left at home. And just the way he talked about you, I just knew you were his one and only. So I broke up with him and now here we are!”
“And here we are,” Joey echoed.
“Oh, my goodness! I almost forgot. Congratulations on your guild nomination. You must be over the moon,” Didi gushed.
Jax’s color rose, and Joey listened raptly. A window to the L.A. world that Jax lived had just opened for Joey.
“Nominated for what?” she asked.
“Modest to a fault, this one,” Didi said shaking her head. “Jax was nominated for best original screen play.”
“It’s not a big deal,” Jax said, shrugging uncomfortably.
