Page 119 of The Last Second Chance
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When they settledinto the backseat of the car Al sent for them, Jax pulled Joey against him. She looked like a vision, one that he would never get out of his mind. When he saw her standing there in front of him in the hotel, all he could think of was how much he wanted this woman to be his wife. He could see her, standing in a meadow wearing that dress and saying the vows he’d longed to hear. How much longer would he have to wait before she was ready for that?
“Jax?”
“Hmm?”
“Didi said something that I was curious about.”
“You didn’t ask her about her boobs, did you?”
“No, but I saw her change. They’re totally real. She’s a freak of nature.”
He smiled, brushing his lips against her hair. “What did she say?”
“She said that you put pieces of me into your characters. Is it true?”
“It is. You’ve always been a muse to me.”
“What pieces did you use? I mean, are the women…hard or mean or—”
He laughed, but weighed his words. “Is that what you think I see in you?”
“I’m not exactly the warm and fuzzy type.”
She was curled around him in the backseat of a limo. Where she got the idea that anyone would think her cold, confounded him.
“I picked the brightest, shiniest parts of you, of which there are many. Your loyalty, your confidence, your uncanny ability to keep your cool when things are crazy.”
“And people like characters like that?”
He nodded. “People relate to characters like that. You’re real. And those pieces of you make my characters real.”
She still didn’t look thrilled. “I guess maybe I’ll watch some of your movies and then decide whether your portrayal is accurate.”
“That’s very fair of you. Have I told you how absolutely beautiful you are tonight?”
“Nice dodge, but we’re not done chatting yet,” she said. “Didi made it sound like people here know of me. Why is that?”
Well, he wasn’t going to get a better lead in than that and if he didn’t tell her now he was a pathetic coward. “I’ve told our story before and it seemed to resonate with some people. In fact, that screenplay I turned in a few weeks ago? That’s us. That’s our story.”
Joey pulled back and sat up. “What do you mean ‘our story?’”
“All of it. Starting from when we were kids and moving on through high school and after.”
He could see the thoughts and questions rise, waited for her to pick one to start with.
“How does it end?” she asked.
He could hear the concern, the distrust, and he wanted to make it all go away. Jax cupped her face in his hands. “How do you want it to end?”
The car eased to the curb in front of the theater. The tinted glass divider slid down. “We’re here, sir,” the driver announced.
“Thanks, we’re about ready,” Jax told him. He didn’t like leaving the car and walking into the evening with this hanging over their heads.
“Joey?”
She shook her head. “Let’s talk about that later. Let’s get through this first before we wade into a history of us and what you deemed fit for the big screen.”
