Page 24 of Written with Love

She kept the camera rolling, capturing the transformation of the kitchen piece by piece. The wall came down, leaving a wide-open space that immediately made the room feel bigger. The patched-up spots on the drywall started to take shape, and the stack of new cabinets waited for their turn to be installed.

At midday, Max ordered pizzas from Baked Pizzeria in town for everyone, and the crew took their lunch outside, leaving Max and Juliette alone to eat their own lunches inside.

“So, how does it feel to get your hands dirty?” she asked, pretending her soda bottle was a microphone.

Max stretched his arms, wincing slightly. “I feel like I’ll need a long soak in the tub later. If I had a tub.” He laughed. “But honestly? It’s kind of fun.” He shot her a grin. “Maybe I should quit writing and take up construction full time.”

Juliette snorted. “Please. You’d last a month before running back to Hollywood.”

He smirked, leaning in slightly. “That depends. If you were here keeping me entertained, I might last longer.”

Her cheeks warmed and then she remembered the article for the first time since earlier.

“Sophia hinted that there was more to the story between you and Gabriella,” she said, taking a sip of her soda.

Max shrugged. “What did she tell you?”

“Nothing, other than that.”

He nodded. “I went out on three dates with Gabriella. Most of them were arranged by her agent and my people.”

“You have people?” she broke in, trying hard to sound shocked, then shrugged when he rolled his eyes.

“I had people,” he corrected. “After what went down, I fired them.”

“What did go down? Exactly?” She took another bite.

He glanced around, almost as if he was making sure no one was filming or overhearing them. Then he leaned closer to her and lowered his voice.

“Gabriella arranged to publicly trap me into marriage. For almost three weeks, she convinced the media that we were engaged. She even purchased a ring for herself.”

“Seriously?” Juliette was shocked. “It was all fake?”

He nodded and leaned back. “It took a while to figure out my next move. We had several more events to attend together for the premiere of Never Enough. I was told to let it ride until all the hype for the movie died down.”

Juliette thought for a moment, trying to remember the timeline.

“Two weeks after the movie was out, I circulated a statement that she had called the wedding off. I figured it would be best for her reputation and hoped that she wouldn’t come back and act like she was the victim of some sort of…”

“Abuse?” she offered.

He nodded and took another sip of his drink.

“Then word got out about her little sister going into rehab. I hadn’t met her.” He shrugged. “When her parents died, I thought I was off the hook. But then she started posting all that stuff about how we were getting back together. I was in New York and she was still in California. Honestly, I had moved on.”

“With Sophia?” she asked with a smile. “She told me you kissed.”

He nodded. “Now that you know the truth, do you understand why articles like the one yesterday don’t faze me?”

She nodded and avoided his eyes. “Surely you’re going to do more interviews in the future?”

He shook his head lightly. “I moved to New York since I had committed to teaching the class for a friend. Once that commitment was over, I purchased this place.” He smiled suddenly. “Sophia had gone on and on during one of our dates about her hometown. When my real estate agent told me about the lighthouse, well, I was hooked.”

She chuckled, but before she could respond, Palmer came back inside. “Break’s over! Let’s get this place ready for the cabinets.”