Me: not home, at his, come here ...
I wondered if I should ask Jack first, then I decided if Jazz knew about Jack, she may as well know where I was, too. I sent her the address just as another phone beeped from the other chair. Jack’s phone.
Instinctively, I reached for it, then froze. I wanted to look at it so badly. At the very least I thought I should probably take it to him ... and if I happened to see his text on the way? What if it was from Audrey? It was none of my business, except that the Audrey angle really affected me ... I struggled with the temptation to grab his phone and realized I was staring at it like it was a coiled up Copperhead snake.
I needed to talk to Jack about what his plans were with Audrey. I knew he had contractual appearances with her and stuff, but surely the rest of their relationship was over. Jack had intimated as much, and surely now ... I banged my head back on my lounger as I realized how na?ve that last thought was. A few kisses and handholding did not a boyfriend make.
I wondered if Jack had even spoken to Audrey since he’d gotten here. Probably. And here I was acting like we were ‘going steady’ just because we’d both acknowledged our mutual attraction and shared a couple of kisses. God, I really was acting young.
I needed to remind myself that whatever this was with Jack, it was temporary, it had to be. Firstly, he would be leaving, and secondly, I had no business opening my heart up to any more agony. It was going to be hard enough to say goodbye when the time came. Throw in a few more kisses and feelings, or worse ... ending up in his bed, and I may never get out of my bed again.
Just then I heard voices. The sound of Jack’s deep and amused voice as well as the lilt of my best friend’s laugh.
Damn, but I really should have been there to witness Jazz meeting Jack Eversea for the first time.
I couldn’t help grinning as I stood and threw on my cover-up. Grabbing our towels and seeing Jack’s phone again, I finally gave in and picked it up, careful not to look at the screen. My eyes caught Audrey’s name though, and I glanced down again despite myself. I literally couldn’t help it; it was like a magnet. Words like “fix this,” and ... “thank you,” and ... “I love you too,” swam in front of me not making sense. Too?
Either I was having a head rush from standing too quickly, or it was the words I was reading, but suddenly my vision blurred around the edges and I felt sharply nauseous.
The issue wasn’t helped by the fact that Jack chose that exact moment to come out of the patio door above me. He was in mid-sentence when he saw me with his phone.
I quickly held it out, swallowing the bile that threatened to come up.
His face, that had initially flashed with concern, probably due to the fact I looked like I’d seen a ghost, went carefully and swiftly blank. He came down the stairs and slowly took the phone from my hand.
I needed to leave and think about what I’d just read. Glancing at Jazz, I saw her smile fade, her eyes snapping back and forth between Jack and me in confusion.
“Uh, Jazz. I was just getting ready to go.” I looked at her pointedly, hoping she would go along with this and not point out I had literally just told her to come over. “And ... uh ... ” I searched blindly for something that was important enough, when Jack stepped in.
“Yeah, I got a bunch of scripts I need to read through,” he said, his tone polite, but agonizingly cool. “It was nice to meet you, Jazz. I’ll walk you guys out.”
I tried to catch his eyes, but they skated over mine as he headed back the way they had come. Oh my God, he totally thought I’d been looking through his phone on purpose. I guess he interpreted my reaction as getting caught with my hand in the cookie jar.
Well, I hadn’t meant to snoop. I wasn’t going to feel guilty about that. I thought maybe I should apologize anyway, but the other part of me was rationally saying he wouldn’t be mad if he had nothing to hide. Then again, this was Jack Eversea, who had to keep everything in his life hidden and private due to the nature of his work. I had a small twinge of understanding for him before my thoughts landed back on the text. He should be feeling guilty right now, and I had every right to feel the way I did.
We got inside and I headed straight for the front door, pausing only to grab my backpack and shove my feet into my sneakers. My clothes in the laundry room would have to stay. I definitely wasn’t coming back for them. My hands shook. This needed to be over.