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Summer: Are you awake?
I wasn’t expecting her to be up so early.
Alex: Yes.
I call her at the same time she calls me.
“Any chance you deleted my message last night without reading it?” she quips.
“I read it. Talked to Preston too. I know what he told you. Neither Amy nor I shared with our teams what we were going to announce, so they’d assumed we were going along with the studio’s plan. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you the plans, but you didn’t pick up your phone, and I didn’t want to put all that in a message. I couldn’t wait for you to return to the hotel to talk to you about it, we had to act fast. But I’m sorry, I didn’t handle that well. Are you at your cousin’s?”
“Yes. Why?”
“Because I’m on my way. We had a pap car behind us, but we lost the tail. I’ll be there in...”
“Three minutes,” Mike tells me.
“...three minutes,” I repeat into the phone.
“Oh, shit. I didn’t tell Val about you. She’ll freak out. She’ll fangirl. But she’s trustworthy. She won’t tell anyone.” She talks so fast that I barely catch her words.
“Baby, relax. It’s okay. I won’t stay long. I need to get to LAX, but I wanted to see you this morning. Set things straight.”
“Yes, Preston e-mailed it to me. I saw just before I texted you.”
“We just pulled into your cousin’s street.”
“I’ll come open the front gate.”
A few seconds later, the car slows to a stop. Shoving the phone into my pocket, I look around before climbing out, but the street is deserted except for a few parked cars, so I head to the front gate, which opens right away.
“I told my cousin, but I don’t think she’s had time to process it,” Summer whispers as she lets me inside the yard. A tall brunette approaches us, grinning widely.
“Alex, this is my cousin Valentina. Val, this is—”
“Alexander Westbrook,” her cousin says, looking between Summer and me before letting out a squeal. “Oh my God. Oh my God. You were talking about Summer last night at the conference?” She turns to Summer. “You’ve been holding out on me. I can’t believe this. Oh my God. My lips are sealed, though. Don’t worry.”
I smile, even though I’m getting impatient. I want to be alone with my girl.
“Valentina, right? Not to be rude, but I don’t have much time. I need to leave for LAX soon, and I want to talk to Summer alone.”
“Yes of course. I’ll just... find something to do.” Valentina nods vigorously, then climbs the steep slope of the yard, entering the house. I take Summer’s hand, leading her to the small wooden picnic table at the foot of the slope.
Then I cup her face in my hands and kiss her with all I have until we both come up for air. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about the plan,” I say, still out of breath. “I should have found a way, but there was no time. I wasn’t thinking straight. I had no idea Preston would jump to conclusions before seeing the actual conference. I would never have gone for the fake romance, Summer. I promised you I wouldn’t.”
“I know, I’m sorry. It’s just that... when we spoke yesterday afternoon you sounded so distant, and I... I know I was overthinking it, but it felt like you were pushing me away a bit, wanting to deal with it all on your own.”
I press my forehead against hers, breathing in her sweet scent. Did I do that? Admittedly, I’ve always had the tendency to push out everyone when shit hits the fan, focusing on finding a solution.
“It wasn’t my intention to shut you out. I’m sorry I made you feel that way. Sometimes I get lost in my own head when things get rough, but I promise I’ll do better. I’m a work in progress, baby, but you mean so much to me. You’re so amazing and so important to me. Don’t doubt that. I need you to promise me one thing too. That you won’t believe again that I’d do anything that could hurt you. I need you to trust me.”
“I know. I do. But Preston said it, and he knows everything that’s going on. And I know how important your career is to you. I thought... well... I thought that when it came down to it, you’d do anything for it.”
Including walking all over her feelings. I can’t even imagine what she went through last night. My sweet girl.
“I’m sorry about the text. Were you mad at me?” she a
sks.
