I haven’t heard from him all day as he’s been on his flight back to LA. He must have just landed.
“I was gonna go call Denny anyway,” Simone smiles, getting to her feet. “Say hi to Jake for me.”
“Hey, baby,” I murmur, answering.
“Come to LA. Now. Please. I’ll send the jet for you.”
“A simple, ‘I miss you, Tru’, would have done.” I start to chew on my thumbnail.
“I miss you, Tru. Too much. Now will you please come to LA? I’m going nuts here without you.”
“It’s only been what – thirteen hours.”
I’m not going to admit to him I’m going nuts without him too.
“Twelve, and you’re not missing me?” His voice is laced with hurt.
“I am. Like you’ll never know. Worse than I did when we were kids.”
“So why are we even doing this?”
“Because it’s healthy to spend time apart.”
“That’s just Cosmo bullshit. Tru … baby, please, I miss you so much, I can’t even begin to explain. I hate that I’m not with you right now,” he sighs. “Okay, that’s it.” He sounds suddenly alert. “I’m cancelling the PR stuff for the tour. If you won’t come to me then I’m coming to you.”
“You can’t do that!” I exclaim. But I love that he wants to.
“I’m the boss. I can do whatever I want.”
“Jake, the tour, it’s important to you and the guys.”
“Tom and Denny can do the PR rounds, which means I can be with my girl until the tour starts back up.”
“You’re talking crazy,” I giggle.
“The only crazy thing I’ve done was let you go earlier, at the airport. I spent twelve years away from you, Tru. No more. You won’t come to LA then I’m coming to you.”
I trace my fingertip over a groove in the coffee table. “I never said I wouldn’t come to LA.”
There’s silence down the line. I can hear his shallow breathing. “You’ll move in with me?” His voice is soft, tentative.
I take a deep breath. “Yes.”
“Baby, you have no idea how happy you’ve just made me, or how happy I’m going to make you.” I can practically feel his smile down the line.
“Jake, you already make me happy. All I need is you. I have you, I’m the happiest girl in the world.”
“When will you come?”
“Give me this week to sort things out here, and then I’m all yours for good. I just need to figure work stuff out with Vicky. Figure the flat stuff out with Simone, and tell my folks of course.”
“Your dad is going to kick my ass for taking you away from him isn’t he?”
“I’d say it’s quite likely,” I laugh.
“I’ll take his ass-kicking if it means I get you here with me … so I just have to spend this week away from you, then your mine, for good?”
“Yes.”
“Okay. I can live with that … just,” he adds.
We spend the next few hours on the phone making plans, talking nonsense like Jake and I do, and I love it.
Eventually I hang up the phone with him, with much reluctance, but I need to sleep as the jetlag finally catches up with me.
I go to bed, thinking about how I’m going to be quitting my job and moving to LA, and also that I’m going to have to find a job once I’m out there. I’m not sponging off Jake. I’ve got some savings so they should tide me over until I can get sorted with a job. I wonder if Vicky has any magazine contacts out there? Jake will have, but I’m not having his influence getting me a job. I want to do this on my own.
And I fall asleep thinking of Jake, and all the amazing things we have to look forward to together.
Life doesn’t get any better than this, as it is right now.
I wake to the sound of Adele singing. It takes me a minute to grasp my bearings.
I’m in my flat. In my own bed.
I squint at the clock – 4am.
Grabbing my phone off my nightstand, I see it’s Jake.
“Baby, I miss you too, but it’s 4 am.”
“Tru.”
I instantly know something is wrong by the broken sound in his voice.
“Jake, what’s wrong?” I sit up in bed, concerned, my stomach tying into a thousand knots.
“Tru, it’s–it’s my dad … he’s dead.”
My heart stops in my chest.
“Paul?” I ask, clarifying he doesn’t mean his step-dad Dale.
“Yes.”
Jake hasn’t seen his dad since he was nine that I know of. And their history … well it’s complicated, difficult, and right now I’m unsure which way he’s going to go with this.
Sadness or relief?
“Baby, I’m so sorry,” I say tentatively.
“It’s fine. I mean, he’s dead, and I hadn’t seen him since … so, you know…”
“I know,” I breathe. “I’ll come to you now. I’m getting the next flight to LA.” I start to climb up out of bed.
“No. It’s fine. I’m fine. I have to come to the UK, for his funeral.”
“You’re going?”
“He was my dad, Tru.” His tone is sharp.
“I know. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean–”
“No, I’m sorry,” he backtracks. “My head’s just a little fucked up right now.” He sighs. “I just need you, Tru.”