AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Thankfully, she smiles and covers our entwined hands with her free one. I don’t want to hurt Adelaide, and she would be hurt if she knew that the truth is that part of my heart will always belong to Lilah. We went through too much together—things that connect us for the rest of our lives. But that doesn’t mean I’minlove with Lilah or that I want a future with her—or even have her in my life.
“Okay then. I’ll drop the subject, but I think you should at least consider the role. It would be great for your career.”
“My career is already great, but thanks.”
“Okay, okay.” She dislodges our hands and puts her hands up in a placating gesture. She grabs her phone and puts her hand back between mine. “Let’s do that again for our Instagram friends.”
Since our engagement, there’s been a shift in Adelaide’s attitude. She was always a driven and focused woman whose career took precedence. When the press revealed our engagement, the news was on the front page of every industry magazine and tabloid. Whereas before, our relationship was all about the two of us, lately Adelaide’s focus is on what everyone else thinks. Her image on social media, and what the public will say and how they’ll react to anything having to do with us, is forefront on her mind.
“Let’s forget social media and have a nice dinner, okay?”
She nods, but she bites her lower lip which means there’s still more she wants to say on the subject. “Can we at least get the waiter to take a picture of us? The fans love it when they see us doing something romantic.”
I groan and lift my beer to my lips again. “You know I hate when you post that shit of me online. I saw the pic you posted of me running on the beach.”
She smiles. “I think that was my most-liked pic. It was a nice surprise for me to wake up and see you from the deck. I thought I should share how great my life is.”
The public gets enough of me. I don’t feel the need to give them any piece of my personal life, but Adelaide is almost obsessed.
“Come on, James. I have almost thirty million followers. I’m trying to get there before the end of the week, and pictures of the two of us together always get the most likes and comments.” She puts her hands up in front of her in a prayer pose.
Whether it’s the guilt that another woman is taking up my head space or not, I find myself waning. “Fine.”
She can see I’m not happy, but she squeals and waves over the waiter. After she instructs him through at least twenty different pictures, she takes her phone back and buries her head in the screen.
“'Spent the day wedding planning and now I’m enjoying dinner with a sunset view with my love,'” she says as she types her caption. “'Hashtag 3 months and counting, hashtag true love, hashtag best guy ever.' There.” Adelaide sets her phone facedown on the table. “Now we can enjoy a nice dinner together.”
“Finally,” I say with a practiced smile that feels forced. My phone is like a bomb in my pocket and the timer is slowly ticking down until it blows everything to pieces.
* * *
We enjoya nice dinner and head back to my Malibu beach home rather than Adelaide’s condo in Los Angeles. Although she prefers the condo to the beach, because it’s more accessible to everything, I spend as much time in Malibu as I can because of the seclusion it offers.
No one would think we’re A-listers if they saw our nightly ritual. We lounge on the couch before heading to bed. She changes into her sleep set, and I put on a fresh pair of boxers. We both slip under the covers. We lean into the middle of the bed, and I give her chaste kiss.
“Night,” she says, and rolls over so her back is to me. She can only fall asleep on her right side, but only if she’s on the right side of the bed.
Sometimes I feel an inkling that we should have the passion I shared with Lilah. Is something amiss because we’re about to get married and it doesn’t take a lot of fingers to count how many times we sleep together in a month? But what I have with Adelaide is steady and predictable. Maybe that’s why the passion with Lilah was so intense. We were always hurdling over peaks and falling into valleys. There was never a time to just be.
I lie on my side, wide awake, staring at my phone on my nightstand. After dinner, I didn't have an opportunity to slip away and call the PI back, at least not without raising Adelaide’s suspicions. Something I can’t afford to do since I’m doing this for her in the long run. She’ll never understand why I need to shut the door completely with Lilah.
Once her breathing turns slow and steady, I slip out of bed, grab my phone, and head down the hall. I bypass the living area and quietly slip out the sliding door and onto the deck. I look behind me to make sure I didn’t wake Adelaide before I pull up the missed call. It’s just before eleven thirty at night. Not too late to call. I hope. I hit the PI’s number and suck in a deep breath.
Maybe he never found her, and she’ll finally slip out of my mind.
“Hello?” His tone suggests I didn’t wake him.
“Hey, it’s James. I missed your call.”
“Yeah, hey, James. I found her.”
Oxygen rushes from my lungs and blackness accosts me for a minute. I sit on a lounger to collect myself.
“You were right about her being in Kansas.”
I swallow the lump in my throat. How did I think he wouldn’t find her?
“You still there?” he asks.
