Page 39 of One Weekend in Los Angeles

“You know how I feel about this place.”

“Why are you putting so much pressure on this, sweetheart? You want to spend more time with her, and if that time happens to be in Australia, so what? It doesn’t need to mean you’ve fast-forwarded twenty steps in the relationship. It can simply mean you want to get to know each other better. What I’m trying to say is you’re placing a bigger importance than needs to be there on who gains entry to your house.”

She was right. I was considering an invitation to Australia a gating item into a serious relationship, but it could be much simpler.

The conversation with my mother made me want to call Andrea, but before I did, I called Ollie to find out what she was up to.

“Hey, my good lad, how is the writing going?”

“It’s, uh, been okay.” If I told him it was dismal, he’d be concerned. The burning question on my mind was, “How’s Andrea?”

“You could ask her yourself, you know.”

“I’m not sure if she wants to hear from me.” I hated the insecurity in my voice. But considering I hadn’t heard from her, it was possible she wasn’t missing me at all.

His chuckle was unexpected.

“You’re laughing?”

“When something is absurd, then yes, yes I am.”

“What’s absurd?”

“Why are you calling me about Andrea? The truth.”

I didn’t hesitate. “Because I miss her. And before you say we only had the one weekend together⁠—”

“Not at all what I was about to say. Instead, I’ll tell you to pull your head out of your arse and tell her those exact words.”

“I wasn’t sure how to invite her here without it being a big deal, and putting pressure on both of us. Is she all right?”

“Yes, she’s fine. Jeff moved out, and the house goes on the market in another couple days. The lawyer you recommended doesn’t waste time. They have completed the mediation and divided the assets. It’ll take six months for the judge to sign off, but it should be smooth sailing from here.”

“Is her ex being fair?”

“She seems to think so, for the most part. Call her, Deacon.”

“Yeah. Actually I have a better idea. Mind helping?”

“Thought you’d never ask.”

Chapter Twenty-Three

ANDREA

Iwalked behind the real estate agent as she toured my house and took notes for the listing. I imagined all of my hard work in designing it would be summarized to something clinical like “newly remodeled kitchen with granite countertops and chef-grade appliances.”

Jeff had moved out a week ago. I was thankful, but once he’d signed off on the division of assets, taking his car and frequent flier miles with him, he’d checked out of the process altogether, leaving all the logistics of the situation to me.

Last I’d heard he was overseas filming some competition show. The tabloids reported that he and Paula had broken up.

I didn’t care. And it felt so freeing I no longer had to.

Switching my attention to what the agent was saying, I was surprised to hear she’d be ready to put it on the market the day after tomorrow.

“I will only accept private showings, but those will go better if you could go stay somewhere else with your dog. That way the bowls and beds are picked up, and things stay neat and tidy.”

She was right. It made sense to move out temporarily while they showed the house. I’d already boxed up a number of things and moved them to storage in order to keep the surfaces clean.