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I was stewing in these thoughts when we pulled up in front of the restaurant where the movie was shooting today, and I was taken by surprise when Olivia got out of the car without saying a word to me and slammed the door behind her. I don’t know what I had been expecting—I guess I thought we would take a moment to get on the same page with each other before going inside—but in hindsight, that was probably a stupid thing to think. She clearly had no interest in being on the same page with me about anything right now.
By the time I caught up with her, she had made it inside and was approaching Michael Sanders. His face was unreadable as the two of us walked up to him.
“I’m glad to see that you’re both all right,” he said. “I heard from the helicopter that brought you in that you’d been found.”
He didn’t seem to have noticed the bandage on Olivia’s arm. “She’s not all right,” I said. “She should be at the hospital, but she won’t listen to me.”
“Oh, is that so?” Michael said. “You can’t get yourwifeto do as you say?”
I paused. There was something about the way he’d said that.
“Do you have anything you want to say to me?” Michael asked.
“What—what do you mean?” Olivia faltered.
“Your families were contacted when you went missing,” Michael said. “I’m a good man, you know. I look out for the people on my team. I wanted to make sure you were all right. I reached out to your families to let them know what was going on—and that was when I learned the truth.”
“What truth?” Olivia asked, but I thought I knew where this was going.
“You’re not married,” Michael said, his eyes glinting dangerously. “Neither one of you has ever been married, and certainly not to each other. You’ve been lying to me all this time.”
Olivia was quiet, but I spoke up. “Does that matter?” I asked. “You’ve gotten what you wanted out of the bargain, right? A great writer and a military consultant. So what’s the problem?”
“Theproblem, Jake, is that I don’t appreciate being lied to,” Michael said. “I’ve provided opportunities for the two of you here, and you’ve repaid me with deception.”
Olivia stepped forward. “You’re right,” she said. “You’re right, Michael. I lied. I shouldn’t have done it, but I so wanted to work with you. I’m sure you hear that all the time.”
“Yeah, flatter him.” I was mostly annoyed that she was sayingIinstead ofwein her confession. She couldn’t have made it any more obvious that she was ready to cut ties with me.
Olivia completely ignored me. It was as if I wasn’t even there. “I understand why you’re annoyed,” she told Michael. “I probably would be too. I wanted this job so badly, and I knew that I could do it well. And Ihavedone well, haven’t I?
Not to mention the fact that—even though he isn’t my husband—I was able to provide a military advisor for you. Does it really matter that I’m not married to him? I am sorry I lied, but the important thing is the result, isn’t it?”
“Yes,” Michael agreed. “The result is what matters. And the result of this is that I can’t trust the two of you. I’m sorry, but I’m going to have to let you go.”
“You’re firing us?” Olivia asked.
“I wanted a team I could rely on. I thought the two of you would be that, but you haven’t been. You’ve fought with each other consistently, and now I understand why you haven’t been able to get along—it’s because you’ve been putting on a show. You weren’t really married, so who knows whether you even really get along with each other?”
“We don’t,” Olivia said. “I agree with you. It’s been annoying, and I don’t blame you for being irritated with us at all. But the good news is that I really am able to provide another option. What I told you about my brother being a Navy SEAL was true—Jake here is a friend of his. And I know my brother would be happy to help us out if you’d keep me on.”
I wasn’t going to let her get away with that. “If you keep one of us, you should keep both of us,” I said. “Now that we don’t have to keep up the facade of marriage, I’m sure the working relationship will be a lot better. And then I’ll have the chance to show you how Branches can benefit your movie, too. I think you’ll really be glad if you decide to go with it.”
Olivia rounded on me. “I can’t fucking believe you!” she cried. “You’re still doing this? After everything we’ve been through, you’re still trying to make this about your stupid app? No one cares, Jake. Nobody cares about Branches, so drop it already!”
I had only mentioned Branches in passing—I’d hoped the promise of a solution to the film budget tracking would be enough to make Michael rethink firing us. I definitely hadn’t expected Olivia to latch onto it and get worked up all over again, but maybe I should have.
And it clearly wasn’t going to do either of us any good now. “Get them both off of my set,” Michael said. “We’ve got a shoot to finish up here. I don’t have any more time for this.”
Instinctively, I stepped in front of Olivia as a couple of large men approached us. I didn’t want them putting their hands on her, even though I was still angry with her.
Olivia cursed at me, turned, and left the restaurant.
I caught up with her outside. “Are you blaming me for this?”
“It’s your fault.”
“It’s not my fault. You know that when they reached out to families, they talked to Danny. To your brother. And he would have been the one to tell them what was going on here.”
